Romance News and Reviews!

I'm pleased to say that I've joined my good friend and fellow Desire author's new E-Zine, an online magazine featuring great articles, reports and reviews geared to entertain and educate writers and readers alike. To check out Barbara McCauley's great new free online magazine go to: http://www.romancenewstoday.com/ . I'll be writing articles for the magazine and my books will be featured soon. I'll keep you posted.

And Reviews are in for two movies. Yes, I said movies! I'm starting to catch up on my holiday viewing and thought I'd share with you my thoughts today.

KING KONG was very well done. I'm pleased to say this movie (unlike those in the past) was short on corny jokes and long on the understated -- at least as far as the ape/girl relationship goes. The special effects were magnificent. Never once did it appear fake, even when the ape carries our heroine all over the island, in the palm of his hand. That was a glowing achievement with the movie. Jack Black was great as the overly ambitious film producer too. He was perfectly cast. But where the movie went a little wrong and long was the over the top fight scenes with stampeding dinosaurs. Dinosaurs? Yes, it's a mysterious island with all sorts of creatures, but the original movie had one or two wandering about. It almost felt like we were in a 30 minute version of Jurassic Park. Too much, too long. And the islanders themselves weren't your typical natives. No, these people looked like they came straight out of a Steven King novel. Spooky. I had to wonder about the wisdom of parents bringing their young children to this movie -- as I noted many leaving the theatre with frightened children in tow. All in all, it's worth the price of admission. But the movie, like the ape - has its flaws. It was beauty killed the beast!

And my first time seeing RENT will certainly Not be my last time. Oh, the music, the story, the depth of emotion. I loved it. Not having seen the original play, I can only imagine how great this story would play out on stage in front of a live audience. My daughter, a RENT addict has seen the play at least four times, raving about the music. She knows the lyrics to every song by heart. So, we had to see this movie together. And perhaps that was part of the allure, seeing RENT with someone I love, who in turn, loves the story. Even a die-hard action movie buff like my husband enjoyed it. Definitely a movie worth seeing.