It's hard to be all hurrah for Valentine's Day when you don't have that rosy glow of new love. However, my dears, never fear - check out our blog this week - we have old loves, new loves and forever loves all in the form of Fabulous Fictitious Lovers! The best part of these darling heroes is that we loved them at the start and we'll love them always - they don't make a mess or leave the seat up, and while some may make us cry, they always take us back to those blissful moments of new love.....ahhhhh (betcha never thought the cynic girl would get all mushy!) Before I start on my greatest love story for all time and the man that ruined me for all men....let's have a quick snack on some eye candy - Valentine's day special (calorie free and guaranteed to leave you wanting more!)
It will come as no shock to those who know me that my ultimate romance story is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Every bit as enticing now as it was in the Regency period in which it was written, Austen's story of two people who fall in love despite their best efforts not to, gives modern readers everything we have come to crave. Sassy, intelligent women and the arrogant alphas they love to hate and hate to love epitomized in the characters of Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy. You have action (lots of balls and gallivanting about), drama (you try dealing with the insufferable opinions of family, friends and neighbors and see what erupts!) and sexy verbal sparring. How Austen manages to create sexual tension when everyone stays buttoned and cravatted is simply amazing.
And don't get me started on the recreations of this delightful tale - both in fiction and cinema formats. Spin off divas like Shannon Hale, Amanda Grange and Helen Fielding have created P&P-esque stories that keep a reader up past bedtime. Furthermore - who, with a pulse, hasn't seen the 1995 BBC's version of P&P with hunky Colin Firth splashing in the pond or the 2005 remake with Matthew MacFayden soulfully stuttering his affections in the rain. Big ole Yumm-o!
Yes, their love is resistant. Yes they bicker and squabble and generally make each other miserable....until they get over themselves and find they are perfectly and completely right for one another. That, my friends, is what makes a True Love Story. Because it's what happens right before The End that makes a reader sigh and itch to flip back to page 1 and start all over again!
Do yourselves a favor and check out this classic romance - where the women are sassy and the men love them anyway! I will not require you to make an annual pilgrimage to your library to read it as I do but you may find Austen's clever and easy to read prose enjoyable enough to read again and again if you give it a chance. Happy Valentines Day!
RATING: FIVE Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries and much love to Austenites everywhere!
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