Hello, lovely ladies 🙂
I hope ya’ll had a good week. Over here in Oz autumn is in full swing. We’re seeing a steady change in minimum and maximum temperatures. I always feel sad to see the summer go.
As far as the movies are concerned, Susan shared the following:
50 Shades Girl Portland – Shooting on The Grace
Just Jared – Dakota’s mom, Melanie Griffith, visits the set
Laters, Baby – Danny Elfman returns for the score of Darker
Just Jared – Brant Daugherty Goes Shirtless to Flaunt Buff ‘Fifty Shades’ Bod
50 Shades Girl Portland – The cemetery. I think this is probably the most interesting one… Do you remember, at the end of Freed, when we got that glimpse into their future life in the meadow with Teddy and baby number two on the way? Ana asks Christian if he wants to name their coming baby girl after his mother. He tells her no, but he does mention that she (Ana) had dragged him to his mother’s grave, obviously in an effort to find closure. In the book we don’t read anything more about it (other than that mention), but it begs the question, why are they filming something that seems like that scene? Are we looking at bonus material? Perhaps a whole extra movie? Considering the length of the story it’s not like they’re lacking scenes. If anything, they will have to cut some in order to fit the book into the mandatory film slot time. Why this meander into a barely there avenue when there are so many parts of the book we want to see come to life on the silver screen?
Then, completely unrelated to the movie, but still worth highlighting because of the great cause: check out Bored Panda’s feature on firefighters posing with rescue puppies for charity…
Cute, huh? 😉 Thank you, Kereny for the great link!
This week I read:
Rock Chick Regret by Kristen Ashley, book seven in the Rock Chick series, was okay. No great shakes for me here, but I cannot exactly pinpoint why it wasn’t my thing. Technically, it ticks most boxes, but, for me, it lacked va-va-voom.
Currently I’m reading:
Ladies Man by Katy Evans, book three in the Manwhore series. This is playboy Tahoe and love-shy Gina’s story. So far, things are looking good…
This week I’m expecting:
Deception by Aleatha Romig, book three in the Infidelity series. Originally I wasn’t crazy about this story, but it’s sorta’ grown on me. Let’s hope book three does not disappoint.
And as it’s almost the new month, here are the new May releases – compliments of Goodreads:
I absolutely LOVE getting this monthly email telling me of what’s to come. It’s my favorite Goodreads feature 🙂
Lastly, Sharon shared this. Worth a try, don’t ya’ think? LOL!
Have a fantastic weekend, girls. And don’t forget to share your treasured reads with us!
fifty shades of grey and more 
I really can’t wait for the movie. So many news daily. OMG! I’ve reading The Dartmouth Cobras series, and I can tell you is really hard core bdsm and hot, and a good plot! And you are welcome, I never get tired of hot guys and puppies 🙂
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hi Kercb thanks for this recommendation I’m in a book slump again so have downloaded book 1 of this series I’ll let you know how it goes
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Hello Katherine I hope you are enjoying your reading. I’m on book 5 of the series, I really had liked and enjoyed a lot! Is hot and sexy and spicy! Let me know how it goes 🙂
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Puppies? what puppies? 😉
So this week I started Dirty, sorry to say it was boring me a bit so I’ve put it aside and read Ladies Man by Katy Evans, I enjoyed it and loved Tahoe. My only gripe would be that I thought some of the chapters were rushed but it was a good read nonetheless.
I’m going back to Dirty and hope to finish it soon.
Have a great week everyone
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Aww, I’m sorry Kath. I loved it. It was so cute.
But double YES for Tahoe, huh? Yummy. And more, I agree that the book was too damn short!
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A very quick comment b/c I finished One With You and have to go back over what everyone said so I don’t duplicate subjects.
About filming FSOG…..there is so much wrongness in comments made on the internet. It was announced WAY BACK WHEN that Darker and Freed are being filmed concurrently. From what I know, that means that they can be filming any scene from either movie at any time…and continuity is not to be expected. Darker is being released Feb 2017 and Freed Feb 2018. It frosts me that actual “reporters” and “journalists” who are paid for a living get this teeny factoid wrong.
End of rant. Thanks,
Lissa
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Yeah, I hear you on the shonky reporting, but in this instance, the pics suggest a scene that is not in ANY of the books, only a line Christian speaks at the very end of Freed. And I’ve heard a little birdy tweet that we’ll most likely be with CG in Charlie Tango when she goes down… Perhaps it will end up on the cutting floor, but it seems to me they’re covering way more bases than we expected. I like the idea of some pleasant surprises in the movie. Sticking to the story but perhaps showing a scene from a different character’s POV? 🙂
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Okay….this is going to read like War & Peace since I’ve been saving up observations and thoughts on FSOG and One With You for the past six weeks I’ve been traveling and then recovering from jet lag. In no particular order….
Saw article that in FSOG movie, they had a butt double for Dakota b/c she has a tattoo there which they couldn’t cover adequately for close-ups despite technology. I mention this b/c of all the hype about whether we get to see Jamie full out. I have to say that I would like there to be full nudity in the film b/c it seems fake with the cut-aways….but I would, indeed, like to be assured that I do NOT see the actors’ actual intimate body parts….for their own privacy…and so my brain doesn’t get muddled with reality when I just want fantasy.
When I got home, I had FSOG offered on my VOD. Downloaded and watched….and there were parts of scenes I didn’t see in the theater or in my Amazon download. I’m keeping it on my VOD box.
Hugh Dancy as Flynn. Okay, right accent, looks young…but no problem. Just wanted to mention that I saw him on Broadway in 2011 in Venus in Fur…a book within a play within a play about S & M. In the play, he goes from a dominant director to a submissive. Acting was awesome. Play amazing. If you’re interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_in_Fur
I almost cannot keep up with everything that is being read. Of course, I’m reading a lot of other kinds of books in addition to erotica, but I have trouble cataloging what everyone has read and what I’d like to take a look at. So far, from what everyone has said, I’m thinking of reading the Dartmouth Cobras, Cocky Bastard, and Love Chloe. I’m currently reading CD Reiss’ Hard Ball which I’m enjoying, but it’s not as hard edged as her other stuff like the Submission series which I flat out adored. Her writing is literary.
Which gets me to One With You which I finished last week. All of your comments are interesting. I think the author had to change some of her material, or the presentation of the material, b/c of her resounding success. (When I was in Manhattan two weeks ago, the bus stops were plastered with announcements of the book’s arrival. Oh, and as an aside, was walking down 5th Avenue just past Saks Fifth Avenue where there was a huge crowd and media: it was the cast of Outlander b/c the second season was to open that night. I was on a schedule so I couldn’t stop, but…swoon…the possibilities.)
Okay, back to Sylvia Day’s responsibility to her readers. B/c the series had been so huge, I saw much of the writing carefully crafted. Monique was right when she mentioned that Day did a good job of getting you back into the story w/o having to re-read previous books. I enjoyed her putting her readers in the Manhattan scene accurately…..the dog walkers, the park, etc. Spot on. I wasn’t totally thrilled with a lot of what seemed like padded adjective-izing especially in the first few chapters, including a lot of repetition.
The repeated FSOG references I thought were gratuitous. They were just little references which even I responded to like Dr. Pavlov’s dogs. Why? Why did she think her stuff couldn’t stand on its own? Was she told to try to get us to subliminally respond…trying to like the book even more b/c of the FSOG mental connections? Enough already for everyone. Let’s get creative w/o dependence on previous books!
She did two things that I thought were excellent for her enlarged audience. First, she redefined the happy ending. Yes, I know that some, yeh, me too, were disappointed that we didn’t get the whole wedding thing smooshed deliciously in our faces like a slice of wedding cake. But she did better. Better for the reality of her readers. She followed the mantra I gave to my kids: it’s not the wedding, it’s the marriage. She presented a good case for a marriage that is well-grounded and liable to succeed. Well, of course, they probably don’t have to worry about the two main stressors of a marriage: money and sex….lol.
But even better, she gave a family happy ending: the main characters recreated and realigned their definition of who is their family with the characters left standing. Chris is now Gideon’s father…like for real. His brother and he have a future. Angus, Victor…etc etc…you can reimagine for yourselves. Sylvia Day gave us a good read plus a good understanding of what family can be that we can build into our own lives. I know, we read the book for stimulation and sex…and all we got was this lousy t-shirt of family. But you get my meaning.
And Lucky. Okay, honesty here…I am not a pet person, be it dog or cat or turtle. Not that I don’t like animals. In fact, they LOVE me…and it’s happened time and again when someone says their pet never goes to anyone and it’s suddenly in my lap for the night. I don’t hate animals. But I do let my eyes roll (yeh, I know, FSOG reference) whenever a dog appears in a book, film, etc. B/c by absolute creative media law NOTHING EVER HAPPENS TO A DOG OR CAT…even while their owners are being maimed and mishandled and murdered.
And thus the eye roll with Lucky coming on stage….Ms Sylvia is piling on the saccharine. But then a chapter later she stopped me in my tracks. It was clear she was using Lucky as a therapy dog. No, I don’t think her character was forward thinking enough that the dog would be actually therapeutic in the large way it was, just a nice little addition to family. But Day knew she had a responsibility to many many readers who had been abused or were dealing with loved ones who were abused…and her adding in Lucky, his helping Gideon with his sleep but her not taking it to the end of proclaiming a miracle and having fireworks explode, was a gift to readers who needed new ideas to deal with very real issues and problems and the reader was thinking she was simply sinking into some delicious fantasy.
And one last smile for me…at the end when they’re at the tree top hotel. I immediately grinned b/c I know about the tree top hotels in Northern California and Oregon. I had told my son and daughter-in-law that during a future visit we’d try out these places. Now they’ll never know why when in the future, if we do go there, there will be a smile plastered across my face. Um…I think I’ll tell my husband though.
Okay, enough…you must think I’m a blog hog. Just so much to say and nowhere else to say it.
Lissa
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Wow, Lissa, that is a comment and a half! LOL! No matter, there is no “blog hogging” here. This is absolutely the right forum for your thoughts. I have to say, I loved the idea of Lucky being a therapy dog too, but I did NOT get the deliberation on Eva’s part, which is weird. To me, Sylvia made Lucky’s dream interference seem like a happy coincidence. But it is a lovely touch nevertheless. As for the non-traditional happy ending, like you, I also did not mind that it wasn’t the picture perfect wedding, it certainly sprinkled the story with a good dose of realism, but the loose ends? They really bothered me. Naturally, I understand some happy endings are implied, but usually, as the reader, you are not so heavily invested in those character’s lives. Over the course of five books though, you get in pretty deep. Perhaps that’s just me. Thank you for sharing your musings with us, Lissa 🙂
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Loved the pix of “The Grace” sailing about. Totally visualizing being alone with Christian lost in that fabulous scenery. Monique, the cemetery scenes could end up on the cutting floor when all is said and done for the two movies, but wouldn’t it be fun to watch the process?! Some people get to lead such interesting lives. Which is why I’m buried in my romance books, pretending it is me!! *heavy sigh inserted here.*
So….it did take me a bit to get into “Dirty”, but found it to be a fun read. I liked the paths that Lydia’s thinking travelled, and I’d enjoy being friends with her. Vaughn did not make it to my top BBF list, but I thought he was adorable, and definitely yummy. I’m curious if Vaughn was also in the Stage Dive series? Felt like a few threads were not followed, such as the reporter stalking Lydia. Perhaps that follows into subsequent book(s). So thank you for the great recommendation…looking forward to more in the series. And wish we had a bar like that here in my town! Complete with hot guys!
I’ve also read the first three of a five book “Kathleen Turner” series by Tiffany Snow, it’s a well done love triangle, a bit more on the mystery side of things than the hot lovin’ side. There is some of that, and the guys are very nicely hot stuff, but I think we all prefer a little more than Tiffany gives us. So I have the last two books (they were all on sale), and will read them sometime. And it likely says something that I’m not in a hurry to do so. Five books is just a long time to hold out a triangle. My happy ending is that the three together would be reading perfection, but I can tell this storyline is not going to take me there. Pity, that. It would be awesomeness. 🙂 Have a great week, everyone!
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Yeah, Sharon, I hear you on the possibility of cutting parts, but still, I find it strange (and expensive) that they’re filming extra (non-existent) scenes when one of the previous biggest complaints about the first movie must have been the heavy editing of scenes we were desperate to see. Nothing to do but wait and see, right? 🙂
And ohhh yessss… a bar full of male hotties would certainly be a pleasure. Great share, Sharon. Thank you very much! 😉
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Oh, and I agree on the Rock Chick books. I don’t know which one you read, but they were a fun light read. Nothing memorable or that I would read again. I like her other books better.
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Number seven was my first, but they are just too tame for me, Sharon. I hear that she’s bringing out a dedicated erotics series. I will definitely look into that…. 😉
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Hi Ladies… Well now that we have put Gideon to bed 💋 Time to look for another book boyfriend. I too have Hush… But had to go back quite a ways in Echo to recatch the storyline and characters. I then realized it was too heavy a read for me so I went into JA Huss new “Misters” series. Mister Perfect. Book one. Even I noted some grammar but gotta say I laughed and really enjoyed the read. Panty melting sex and a a story that help me all the way. Looking forward to meeting the other Misters!! It was a good segway for me before delving into the Black Lotus Hush!!
Haven’t heard too much negative about the last book in Crossfire. I really do love Gideon. So Sylvia could have really tanked and I still would have my memories of Gideon intact. He is a great character!
So the cemetary shot above, going back for a moment. They did both movies in one shoot right?? So there are 2 to come with lots of information to come. I am hoping as a lot of us are that the new director and screenplay do justice to Christian this time. He did get the proverbial short stick last time!!
Love ladies 🎈
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Yeah, they are shooting both movies together, but the cemetery scene doesn’t exist in either… Christian only mentions going there in the epi of Freed. And I so hope you’re right, girlfriend. I really hope they bring our guy to life…
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I’m thinking they are trying to tie up all the loose ends and answer questions that were raised from the missing parts from the first film. I think they needed to show why he was so messed up and if they do flashbacks of him as a child in the apartment, and maybe a couple of nightmare flashbacks with Elena …..it would make the whole fifty shades of f’d up easier to understand for those who haven’t read the books. The cemetery scene would surely show him coming to some sense of peace within himself so that he can be a better father and husband…..?
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Yeah, I get that, but considering the limited time slot I find it interesting even if I do want to see a fuller, deeper version in film. Perhaps it’s wishful thinking, but could they be plotting another movie??
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ahhhhh…….well, wouldn’t that be something.?… anything is possible I suppose….I suspect Erika is having a ball doing this….she wasn’t particularly thrilled with her old job….
look at the magic you wove with your story, which I keep going back to reread by the way its so awesome…….the possibilities of extending this are endless.
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Yeah, it would be, but I think I’m reaching. Aww well. It’s nice to dream, to wonder… 😉
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Ladies… You hav to zoom into JA Huss “Misters” new series. OMG loved it. You might not feel the love but the sex will be good for ya!!
💋
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Hi, girlfriend! Oohh, Second strong rec for this book! How exciting! 👍🏻 Thank you for sharing 😘
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I’ve seen a lot of strong buzz for that series! Gives me a few twinges as Mister was my nickname for the love of my life in the few years we had together.
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Yeah, me too. I’m gonna’ have to read it. Also, comedy is so unlike her usual work… 😋
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