Holiday Stories

Terri Reed here on my regularly schedule blog day.
I received the eHarlequin newsletter in my inbox this morning and to my delighted surprise saw that Love Inspired Suspense novella collection Holiday Havoc, for which I have a story in along with Stephanie Newton, is listed on the top ten holiday stories. I also see that a Love Inspired Romance Novella collection Mistletoe Prayers by Marta Perry and Betsy St. Amant is listed as well. What fun to be listed with some of my favorite Harlequin authors.
Yea! for Love Inspired!

So for you Christmas shopping pleasure here is the list:

Top 10 Holiday Stories

1. A Chesapeake Shores Christmas
by Sherryl Woods
2. High-Caliber Christmas
by B.J. Daniels
3. Mistletoe Prayers
by Marta Perry and Betsy St. Amant
4. Regency Christmas Proposals
by Various Authors
5. Home in Time for Christmas
by Heather Graham
6. 'Tis the Season
by Various Authors
7. A Creed Country Christmas
by Linda Lael Miller
8. Shameful Secret, Shotgun Wedding
by Sharon Kendrick
9. Holiday Havoc
by Terri Reed and Stephanie Newton
10. One Winter's Night
by Lori Borrill

Having Your Book Come to Life on the BIG Screen...

Every writer dreams in movies. Well, I don't know about you but I do. All my story ideas come to me as if they've been filmed on location wherever they're set. I scout out locations to make sure my story is being set in the right place. As the puzzle writer, I write my scenes out of order as I see them play out in my head. I back up and reshoot scenes in my head as I'm writing to get things right.

As a novelist, I dream of one day having one of my books turned into a movie. But not all books are meant to be movies and not all books turn out the same when they're made into a movie. That's what I'd like to explore a little here.

With so much attention on the Twilight and Harry Potter craze, I hear people saying things like, "The book was so much better" or "I can't believe they changed my favorite character in the movie. He was so cool in the book." When I saw Lord of the Rings (A trilogy that I loved!) there'd been enough years (read many) since I'd read the story that a lot of the detail had become a blur to me. I wasn't upset by absences in the movie or changes that were made. But I sure heard some noise from others who were disappointed.

Think of a book that you've read that has been made into a movie. I'm thinking of The Horse Whisperer. Fantastic book and fantastic movie in my opinion. I won't give out any spoilers here, except to say that I thought the ending in the movie, which was different from the ending in the book, was much more satisfying.

That was a small change. What about a story with a big change. Meg Cabot spoke at the RWA Conference a few years back and talked about how when she wrote The Princess Diaries the dad has a large role in the story and the grandmother was very minor. Since the studio wanted Julie Andrews to play role of the grandmother, they needed to make her part bigger so they wanted to make the dad go away by having him die before the movie starts. Great fix. Get rid of dad. Swap lines. Julie's got a bigger part. I'll admit I didn't read the book. I only saw the movie. But my daughter read the book and although she enjoyed the movie, she thought it makes for a much different story with the dad being the one to guide Mia to throne.

Think of the books you've read that have been turned into movies. Which movies stayed true to the book and which ones differed greatly from the original story? Tell me about them and why you liked or disliked them.

Until next time, many blessings, Lisa Mondello

http://www.craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/

http://www.loveinspiredauthors.com/

YULETIDE PERIL starts today!!

Hi everyone, Terri Reed here to tell you that my online read featured on the eharlequin site launches today!!

Stop by and check it out at this link.

http://www.eharlequin.com/article.html?articleId=1437

A new chapter will post every Tuesday and Thursday for the month of October. You'll get to briefly see Gabe Burke, hero in the upcoming November release CHASING SHADOWS, and his detective partner, Angie Carlucci, heroine in next May's release COVERT PURSUIT.

YULETIDE PERIL

Tabitha Grant can’t deny she has feelings for her boss--handsome, successful, charismatic sports agent Jonathan Spangler. But she’d never compromise her integrity or her job as his personal assistant by becoming involved with the playboy millionaire. Her sense of professionalism and her strong faith in God will let her settle for nothing less than a true, lasting love, and Jon is clearly enjoying his life as one of Boston’s most eligible bachelors.

But when a man crashes the company Christmas party claiming to have life-or-death information about her estranged sister, Tabby is forced to turn to Jon for help. And Jon is forced to face his true feelings for his assistant, and reexamine his own faith!

eHarlequins 100,000 book challenge

We all read books. And I'll venture a guess that we all read A LOT of books. Why not take our passion for books and turn it into a great cause. As mentioned before on the CRAFTIE Ladies of Suspense blog, eHarlequin is having their 100,000 book challenge. You can read ANY book and post it to their forum in the eHarlequin community. Here's the link. http://community.eharlequin.com/book-challenge . Read a book from January 2008-December 2008, post it on the eHarlequin forum, and the book counts toward the total 100,000 books. When eHarlequin reaches that amazing number, they will donate 100,000 books to National Foundation for Family Literacy. It's a great cause and easy to help doing something we're already doing. I must admit I have not been good about participating in this great program, but I'm heading over there and posting some great books I've read over the last couple of weeks. And I give you the same challenge! If you've read any books at all, check out the link http://community.eharlequin.com/book-challenge and participate in the 100,000 book challenge. Remember, you can also leave a comment on this blog for a chance to win all 4 Love Inspired Suspense books for August, including my book, Her Only Protector, which is now available in stores and on eHarlequin. Until next time, many blessings, Lisa Mondello

Julia Child was a SPY!!

With news this week that Julia Child was secretly working as a spy for the CIA during WWII, it got me thinking about our romance heroines. We write about ordinary women who find themselves in extraordinary situations. My favorite type of story! All that time we thought Julia was just baking pastry, she was living a double life! How cool is that?

I love stories about the WWII era for several reasons. Some of my favorite romantic suspense movies take place during that era. Shining Through, starring Melanie Griffith and Michael Douglas is one that I could watch over and over again. Every Time We Say Goodbye staring Tom Hanks is another wonderful romance.

But there are personal reasons why WWII is something of interest to me. My husband is first generation America. His parents lived through and survived WWII Germany. They were not soldiers. They were ordinary citizens who were caught in the crossfire. The stories I've heard from my mother in law, Johanna, about being bombed in the middle of the night, having to flee their home, having to scrounge for food, having to dig deep in her soul for courage when soldiers were marching just yards away as they slept, dealing with not knowing if her father was alive or dead after being taken from their home in the middle of the night and put in a concentration camp for refusing to put a picture of Adolf Hitler on his wall. Then being sent to the Russian Front. (I always remember how much Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes always shuddered at the thought of being sent to the Russian Front.)

They needed to rely on their faith in God to see them through. And when they survived, they came to America in search of freedom. I love watching my mother in law's face when she talks about coming into Ellis Island and seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time. I always tell her that she survived just so she could come to America and bring me my family. She's a strong woman and a fabulous example of a great romance heroine.

These are stories that I've always wanted to pass on to my four children to let them know what their grandparents and great-grandparents went through to give them freedom. One day I will write these stories down and perhaps put them in stories that I can share with my readers. I love the fact that Love Inspired Historicals is including the WWII era in their lineup of books. I'll be sure to pick up every copy!