Top Ten Tuesday: Weddings

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Unlikable Characters You Can’t Help but Love (These are villains, criminals, jerks, etc. that make you fall in love with them anyway, perhaps because they evolve by the end or they’re secretly wonderful and have been all along.)


I am, however, going off topic again this week because 1 November is my wedding anniversary. It is 3 years since my lovely husband and I got married in Vanuatu so today I bring you wedding related books!

The Dressmakers of Yarrandarah Prison by Meredith Jaffe - Just looking at this cover brings back such good memories of reading this book about a group of prisoners who decide to make a wedding dress during their sewing class

Lost Without You by Rachael Johns - Whilst this title doesn't scream wedding, it is all about 4 women and one wedding dress!

Vision in White by Nora Roberts  - I could have chosen any of the books from this quartet. I still think these covers are gorgeous!

Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe - Such a fun read!

The Wedding Shroud by Elisabeth Storrs - It's not always about the white dress!

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith - Book no. 12 in the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.

Maggie's Run by Kelly Hunter - This was the first book set in the small Australian town of Wirralong, and the wedding business that prospered.

The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella - I think I might want to read this again before we go away as it is set in Naples

An Island Wedding by Jenny Colgan - This was the fifth and seemingly final book in the Mure series set on an island in far northern Scotland.

Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes - In this case it was Marg was getting married!!

Maybe next week I will be back on topic. We'll see!

Guest Post: Fiona Lowe on Independent Heroines

Today I am pleased to welcome Aussie romance author Fiona Lowe with a guest post on independent heroines! I just read her new book, Saved by the Bride, and I am hoping to have a review up later this week (although that would mean sitting down and doing it which I don't seem to be all that good at currently).

Welcome Fiona!

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The Appeal Of The Independent Romance Heroine By Fiona Lowe

I was raised to be an independent woman. Education was considered very important as was financial security. There was never any talk of me finding a husband or marrying for money, which is why I nearly fell off my chair at dinner the other night when a guy my age said of his highly intelligent, 21 year-old daughter who has dropped out of college and isn’t certain what she wants to do with her life, just yet, “Let’s hope she finds a rich husband.” He was NOT jesting. Not in the least. Given the social circles they associate in, chances are, she will find a very rich husband, but I digress.

Paying my own way and earning money to contribute to our family has always been important to me, and it still is. I find it hard to accept someone offering to pay for my coffee or a meal although I feel quite comfortable, “shouting” (paying) for them.

I think that some of my beliefs about what it is to be a woman in the 2010’s has trickled into my writing. I like to think I write independent, free-thinking women who, although they love having a man in their life, they are still their own person. On reflection, this also impacts on favorite heroines I enjoy most in novels.

Here are my top five:

Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With The Wind. As much as she thinks she needs to be looked after, Scarlett is far too independent for this.

Rachel from Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Homeless, penniless and on a mission, Rachel fights for her child and for herself.

Maddie Timms from Flowers in the Storm by Laura Kinsale. Maddie’s Quaker beliefs, education, independence and humanity help bring the Duke of Jervaulx back into the world.

Beth Hansen from Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey. Pregnant by a man she barely knows, it takes a lot of convincing that life with Kevin is going to be a shared life of equals.

Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. In a time when a woman had no way of earning a living and her future was dependent on her husband’s income and predisposition, Elizabeth held out until she met a man who was not only her intellectual equal but also a man she loved. And the fact he had more than £10,000 income per year is a bonus!

My current heroine, Anni from Saved By the Bride is fiercely independent to the point of poverty but handouts are not her style. She wants to work and be paid a fair wage for a fair day’s pay. I think that represent’s most of us, don’t you?

Who are some of your favorite heroines?

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Fiona Lowe is a RITA® and R*BY award-winning, multi-published author with Harlequin and Carina Press. Whether her books are set in outback Australia or in the mid-west of the USA, they feature small towns with big hearts, and warm, likeable characters that make you fall in love. When she's not writing stories, she's a weekend wife, mother of two 'ginger' teenage boys, guardian of 80 rose bushes and often found collapsed on the couch with wine. You can find her at her website, Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe

Today I am pleased to be posting a joint discussion style review of Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe. My partner this time is Jayne from Australian Bookshelf.

Jayne's thoughts are in purple and mine are in black.

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Marg: We should start with a brief note of congratulations as Fiona Lowe has just won a Rita award (which is the romance writer’s equivalent to an Oscar) which is a pretty big deal!

Did you enjoy the book as much as others obviously have done?

Jayne: I did! I think Boomerang Bride was a fun read and I particularly enjoyed the author’s portrayal of the differences between the American and Australian culture. There were many times I laughed out loud when Matilda and Marc had confusing conversations- very entertaining!

Marg: I think that the differences in languages was one of the things that I enjoyed the most about this book. I have read countless romances written by Australian authors which have been Americanised so it was a lot of fun to play up those differences in language rather than have them replaced by something that we wouldn’t normally say in Australia.

Jayne: What is your favourite quote/ conversation that represents Matilda and Marc’s language differences?

Mine: 

“Let me try and get this straight. If a cuppa isn’t supper and tea isn’t a cuppa...I have no idea what we are talking about.” (page 99).

I was laughing out loud at this point!

Marg: I loved that quote too and actually used it as a Weekend Cooking post recently. Another one that had me smiling was from page 128. It also had the added bonus of being a new to me expression!:

“Kyle’s been educating me about words. We worked out that Australians pash, English snog and Americans mack.”
“He’s fourteen. What does he know about macking?”
She looked at him over the rim of her mug. “The point is he’s fourteen and even if he hasn’t pashed, macked or snogged I can guarantee you he’s thought about it.”

Jayne: So, what did you think of Matilda’s character?

Matilda is one of those fun, crazy characters that manages to get into sticky situations. At first I wasn’t sure if I could relate to her because the reason for her being in the U.S seemed a bit flimsy and how she got into that mess really had me questioning her intellect! But as her story was revealed she started to make more sense to me.

Marg: It was very easy to judge Matilda based on the way that she came to be in the small town of Hobin, USA. She seemed very gullible to have been scammed the way that she was, and to come all that way having left everything behind. However, you only have to watch the news to see seemingly intelligent women who look for the signs to make sure that they aren’t being scammed and still are.

She definitely bounced back pretty quickly showing a resilient character.

Apart from the fact that I couldn’t imagine doing anything wedding related as a job, did you find it strange that Matilda would start the business she did so soon after her own wedding?

Jayne: Yes! I got the feeling the author knew the reader would be questioning that decision and so she used Marc as the devil’s advocate. Many times throughout the book he questioned her reasoning for taking that position and also for not being too affected by her own wedding disaster. I suppose Matilda loved the ‘idea’ of weddings and marriage and the happily ever after so it’s not too abstract for her to enjoy helping others- just bad timing perhaps.

To find out more of our thoughts about Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe head over to Jayne's blog for the second part of our discussion.

Synopsis:

No money, no groom, no hope?

Matilda Geoffrey risked it all for love. She left Australia to be with Barry—the man who had swept her off her virtual feet. Now, wearing a wedding dress, she's alone on Main Street in small-town Wisconsin, and things aren't working out exactly as planned...

In town for his annual family visit, Marc Olsen had never seen a bride quite like Matilda—staring into a storefront window, holding a tottering wedding cake, and looking desperately in need of a groom. He may not have any warm feelings for his hometown, but meeting Matilda just as she discovers she's been scammed by her online "fiancé" stirs something in him.

Matilda is not the kind of woman Marc imagined himself with, and Marc is anything but the romantic hero that Matilda has always dreamed of. But as unlikely circumstances throw them together, can they let go of their misconceptions and risk their hearts for love?

Weekend Cooking: You say tomato....

It's not everyday that you can start a Weekend Cooking post with a Fred and Ginger moment, but I couldn't stop thinking of the song as I wrote this post, so I am sharing that earworm with you all. You can thank me in the comments.

One of the things that I love about participating in Weekend Cooking is seeing all the different foods from around the world. There are, however, lots of times when I read a post that lists ingredients and I find myself thinking either we don't have that here, or we call that something different here. 

I was reading Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe a couple of weeks ago which features an Australian woman who moves to America. One of the things that the author has done really well is play with the different words we use even though both countries speak English. I thought this was a really fun passage to share for Weekend Cooking. 

The quote comes from pages 98 to 100:

She immediately changed the subject to a much safer topic. "Seeing as your sister is out of town how about I cook tea for you and your nephew."

He glanced at his watch, his lips twitching. "Is your definition of cooking boiling water?"

The question came out of left field. "I'm not Jamie Oliver but I can do a bit more than boil water."

"You said you would cook tea. Isn't that just boiling water and adding a tea bag? Kyle and I are hungrier than that."

She swore she was in a parallel universe. On the surface things looked familiar, the words sounded similar and yet everything was very, very different. She put the pillows in position and explained. "I'm talking about tea, the evening meal, not a cup of tea. That's a cuppa."

He threw a quilt onto the bed. "Here it's supper."

That made sense. She often had a cup of tea and a snack before she went to bed. "So a cuppa is supper?"

"No, a cuppa isn't supper."

"You don't have a cuppa at supper?"

He grinned. "Not generally, no."

She plonked down on the now-made bed totally confused. "Then what do you have for tea?"

"Supper."

"But you said you were hungrier than that.'

He sat down next to her, his weight causing the bed to tilt her closer to him. She smelled citrus and wood mixing with all male strength and power, an intoxication combination. Then he smiled. Dimples carved into his cheeks, chasing away the serious expression he'd worn more than not since she'd met him. He looked and smelled divine and her concentration completely collapsed.

She started to laugh. Half out of confusion and half out hysteria for the crazy swirling snsations that battered her whenever she was close to him. "Let me try and get this straight. If a cuppa isn't supper and tea isn't a cuppa..." But the giggles took hold and she couldn't think at all. She fell back onto the bed, tears of laughter running down her cheeks. "I have no idea what we are talking about."

"This reminds me of Abbot and Costello's 'Who's on First?". His rich laughter joined hers as he lay back next to her, his arm brushing hers.

Delicious tingles raced up her arm but somehow she managed to splutter out, "So what's your evening meal called?"

He raised himself up on his elbow, dancing blue eyes gazing speculatively at her. "Supper is the evening meal.'

She met his look, fascinated by the multihued shards of blue. It was like looking into a kaleidoscope. "Which in Australia is a bedtime snack."

His fingers trailed across some stray strands of her hair, before tucking them gently behind her ear. "And tea in America is a drink not a meal."

Whose on first? It the evening meal dinner or tea or supper for you?

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.