A Black Friday Book Sale + a holiday movie with cinnamon roll heroes
Get a taste of "old school" Roni Loren books for cheap plus a movie whose name let me down
Hi again,
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I’m happy to report that the mac & cheese was a big success (and surprisingly easy to make) so yay for cooking gambles. :)
Before we get to the movie review, I wanted to drop a quick note about a few of my erotic romance books that are on sale. My two erotic series tend to run high on ebook price (I don’t set the prices), so when they drop in price, it’s a significant drop.
Therefore, if you’ve only read my contemporary romances and are curious about the darker, steamier side of my writing, there are a few options to grab on the cheap today. If you like my characters in my contemporaries and the emotional backstories, you’ll still find that in these books. You’ll just also find a lot more steam and some kinkiness.
First up is Crash Into You (on sale for $2.99, normally $15.99 in ebook.) This is my debut novel and book one of the Loving on the Edge series. Note this is the original cover, not the current one you’ll see in the link, but I’ve always been partial to this one for sentimental reasons.
Melt Into You, book 2 is also discounted to $5.99 (regular $15.99). This one was a RITA finalist. Yes, there are three ice cubes on there for a reason. ;)
I also wanted to mention a few novellas that aren’t on sale but are low-priced if you want to sample my older stuff.
Still Into You ($2.99) was so fun to write because it’s the only story I’ve ever done about a married couple. It’s novella length and you don’t have to have read the series to read it. It can be read as a standalone.
And if erotic romance isn’t your jam, I have a sexy little contemporary novella that might fit the bill. Nice Girls Don’t Ride won the RITA award for best romance novella and is only $1.99.
Alright, end of my Black Friday public service announcement. On to the movie!
The Romantic Movie Marathon
Title: The Holiday
Release date: December 8, 2006
Where to Watch: Netflix (though I think it’s leaving in a few days) & Hulu
Starring: Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Jack Black
Official description: From writer/director Nancy Meyers comes a romantic comedy about two women on opposite sides of the globe who swap houses only to discover that a change of address can really change their lives.
My description: After two women are let down by the men in their life, they want to get away for the holidays. They do a house swap (California and England), do a little healing, and meet men who may help them believe in love again.
My Review
1. Is it actually a romance?
Yes, but fair warning this is very much a HFN (happy for now) story, which I’ll talk more about in my review.
2. Romantic tropes
Rebound relationship, life swap, cinnamon roll heroes, some insta-love
3. Sweet or steamy?
PG-13 so some steamy kissing
4. Swoonworthy love interests?
Yes and no. I can totally get on board with a cinnamon roll hero. I write them sometimes. And Jude Law’s character in this movie—totally here for it. (Even though he strangely reminded me of Tom Hanks in this movie, something about his expressions, which was unexpected.) But Jack Black as the other hero? Yeah, not into it. I have liked him in other movies, but as a romance hero for Kate Winslet? No. He had that “crazy eyes” thing going way too much for him to be swoonworthy.
5 . Would I want to be friends with the main characters?
Iris (Kate Winslet’s character), yes, definitely. She was very endearing, though she really needed a friend who would look her in the eye and tell her that dude she’d been waiting around for was a) very much a jerk and b) not even cute. Amanda (Cameron Diaz’s character) was very…Cameron Diaz. I dunno. Her character grated on me a bit. Her scenes with Jude were my favorite but in the other scenes, I didn’t believe her character.
6 . Does it show its age?
Technology wise, a little. Also, it maybe felt like it was showing its age because it felt like they picked these actors because of their star power at the time instead of the actual chemistry they had together on screen.
7. Would I rewatch?
No
8 . Favorite moments:
Jude Law’s character has a secret and the scene where we find out what that is was one of my favorites because it showed him at peak cinnamon roll goodness. I also loved the moments Kate Winslet’s character shared with her elderly movie producer neighbor.
9 . Thoughts:
For being a movie called The Holiday, it really didn’t give me holiday vibes so that was disappointing. I also didn’t totally buy either of the romances. The Jude Law/Cameron Diaz pairing worked better for me than the Kate Winslet/Jack Black pairing, but I still was underwhelmed with both. The relationship I thought was most genuine was Kate Winslet’s friendship with the elderly neighbor. That was a sweet, lovely subplot and I wish that would’ve been her “healing” relationship instead of forcing a romance upon her with Mr. Crazy Eyes.
Also, the ending to this one wasn’t spelled out enough for me. Yes, I know it’s HFN and we’re supposed to assume they’ll figure it out, but uh, it’s quite a conflict that both these couples have one half that lives on the other side of the world. And uh, each couple has someone in the movie business who probably can’t leave California. And uh, Jude Law’s character has very significant reasons why he’d need to stay in England. Sooooo…. If I’d have ended a book like this, I’d get some WTF emails from readers.
So, overall, a disappointing watch. But the cinnamon roll version of Jude Law and the elderly neighbor at least made it worth my time.
10 . Rating: 3.5
New episode of RAD Reading
A new episode of RAD Reading is out. Today we’re talking about our favorite things we’ve read, watched, and listened to this month!
That’s it from me. If you’re out there doing Black Friday shopping, godspeed, my friend. I hope you all have a great weekend!
—Roni
*Book links are affiliate links (Amazon, Libro.fm, and/or Bookshop.org), which means I earn a small commission if you buy through my links. Also, I receive advanced listening copies of some audiobooks through Libro.fm’s Influencer program. However, all reviews and opinions are my own.
I too am partial to the original covers<3