My Naught Thoughts : Stalker Alert!!!!

When did our romance heroes become stalkers? When did it become okay to creep unknown into a girl's bedroom to watch her sleep, or to control her every movement? When did being controlling, possessive and down right creepy become synonymous with romance? Am I missing something here? Or is it that if you give your hero hot looks, a fat bank account and power it then becomes okay to stalk someone? Are writers of today saying that a female lead would accept being treated like she was in the middle ages for a pretty face and a shinny gold nugget?

At first I didn't really notice it as I read the Twilight series. Yes I found it disturbing when Edward snuck into Bella's bedroom. (Truth be told I was still hung up on glittering vampires - really!!! and Bella's obsessive need for Edward) Or maybe his controlling ways were just a little less overt. Yes I'd read books with the he-man, macho man male leads before, but then my genre had always been historical romance so I expected it, the times and all.

I think I was finally blown away when I read Fifty Shades. As I kept reading I remember thinking, if Christian was an average looking, check-out clerk at Walmart, would he still be so enticing to Anastasia. Strip away his good looks, money and power and what do you have left? A controlling, possessive, jealous, insecure, mental case. Not my cup of tea in a hero.

I will take the fowl mouth, leather wearing, rude, even sometimes a little jerky bad boy hero any day over the stalker who treats his woman more like a possession than a partner. I did say I had a thing for bad boys.....

And that's my naughty thoughts on stalking behavior.

Later Loveys

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Book Blast : Tears of Crimson

Book Info-

Title- Tears of Crimson

By- Michelle Hughes

Genre- Paranormal Romance

Blurb-

Tears of Crimson, the New Orleans Vampire Bar.

I was only fifteen the first time he found me.  I say he found me because I hadn't been looking for him... yet there he was when I closed my eyes. When my mother was declared insane, the only person I had left in the world was Granny Louise.  Even though she was good to me, I was a target for bullies, ones that were convinced that the apple never fell far from the tree.  I was tired of my life, tired of a world that fostered such heartache and pain.

Rafe changed things.

He salvaged what was left of my will to live.  Those six years became my lifeline.  He opened my eyes to passion, shared a world with me that was so vivid that I could still hear his words in my ears, and the ghost of his touch on my skin when I woke up.

Now that my world has seemingly fallen apart, the only place I can think of going is where my dreams took place- New Orleans.  Rafe and I have walked those streets in my fantasies.  Somehow, I feel like that's where I can find my salvation, my purpose.

What frightens me is, now that I've stepped in Tears of Crimson, a part of me is starting to believe that some dreams are meant to be lived.

Links-

Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23584698-tears-of-crimson?from_search=true

                                      About the Author-

Michelle Hughes is an international bestselling romance author with over 15 books published. She is an Alabama native, married with five children, and formerly a singer/songwriter. Michelle is also the owner of Tears of Crimson LLC which provides exposure to independent authors and entertainers on a global level.

When she's not writing or promoting, Michelle and her family enjoy spending time on their 40 acre homestead in Verbena. Fishing, riding four wheelers and exploring all the natural resources of her state are very important to Michelle. She is also a den leader to her local cub scouts troop. Giving back to the community is something Michelle truly believes in, and is always willing to help with organizations that support those less fortunate.

Links-

Twitter- www.twitter.com/michellehughes_

Facebook- www.facebook.comauthormichellehughes

Blog- www.tearsofcrimson.com

Pinterest- www.pinterest.com/tearsofcrimson

Amazon Author Page- http://bit.ly/MichelleonAmazon

Giveaway-

Link- http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/174e7aed25/

Code- a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Naughty Thoughts : Fifty Shades the Visual

Ah the movie....what can I say. In a few days Fifty Shades of Grey the movie will be coming out in my country. The full visual. No longer words on some pages, images in my head, but full frontal. Hmmmmm.....

I wrote my first post about reading this book a few months ago. Remember, I locked myself out of my house with a dead cell and had to wait for the landlords to let me in. So I pulled out my tablet, settled on the cold, hard concrete floor and figured, what the heck.

I've read all the shades of Grey and honestly was not impressed. I started out with a true interest in understanding why Christian's mind worked the way it did (like I said I love male leads with some kind of emotional problem to get past). As I plowed through the trilogy (once I start something I have to finish) I kept thinking... this guy is rich, handsome, powerful but also, controlling, possessive and insecure. I started liking him less and less. But at least he had depth I guess, because Anastasia was like cardboard; blank and flavorless (no I haven't tasted cardboard...just assuming).

I still like the book for opening me up to a part of myself I didn't know existed (the freaky deaky part that wouldn't mind trying the submissive role). The story was interesting at times, but too jam-packed with every possible scenario the author could think of ...a stalker...jealous outburst...kidnapping...a kid...death scare...molestation...sexual harassment...do I go on....all she was missing to throw in there was the kitchen sink.

So now I get to watch them play out on the big screen. My coworker has already asked when we're hitting the theater. She's never read the books but she wants to see the movie. Not surprised. She's probably one of those undercover chicks. All quiet and prissy, but probably a freak behind closed doors.  I hope it's gonna be worth the $15. Movie adaptations are rarely better than the book, but in this case....who knows.

And that's my newest naughty thoughts on fifty shades.

Later Loveys

P.S. Don't forget to share/google+ this post if you liked it

My Naught Thoughts : Happily Ever After

Hello Loveys...it's been a while hasn't it. Too long I'd say, but I've been so busy with other stuff there just wasn't enough of me to go around. It's a new year and hopefully a lot more time has opened up to devote to this blog because I do love writing and have missed it and reading your comments on my naughty thoughts.

This is probably going to seem an odd place to have this thought (shows you how much I live this) but while at a friend's basketball game the thought of happily ever after popped into my head.
(I know right...basketball...romance...potato...tomato).

So many of us who read romance novels know how they're gonna end. The trek to the result may be different, but the end is always the same.The hero and heroine always find their happily ever after **sigh**

Even though that spoiler is always apparent we can't help but take that fanciful journey with the main characters. As I thought about this happily ever after, I wondered; what if the hero and heroine of a romance novel didn't get their happily ever after? Wouldn't that make for an interesting twist? Or have I, after the countless novels I've read, oddly enough, just haven't read that book yet? Have you?

But I digress. Unhappily ever after was not the point of this blog piece, perhaps next time. 

For a long time I've primarily read stand-alone romance novels and every time I do, even knowing the characters are just the imagination of their author; that their story ends with that final word, I can't help but wonder about what happens next.

Did it last till death do them part? Were they always happy with each other? Or did that other dreaded "D" --divorce-- win out? I know, I know, they're pointless questions in a fictional world, but I can't help it. After reading The Fault In Our Stars and realizing that even fictional characters have the same questions about their favorite make-believe heroes and heroines, I felt a little less crazy for having mine (or does that make me more crazy? Hmmm). 

A few years ago I read my first romance series (which also happened to be my first paranormal romance). As I progressed through each book in the series, and the novellas, I caught glimpses of the lives of characters I'd met before. Finally, their lives after the happily ever after. I remember combing through the Black Dagger Brotherhood series wanting desperately to know more about Bella and Zsadist or Qhinn and Blay. I read books in the series that I wasn't very interested in hoping that J. R. Ward would sate my appetite for more about the characters I was really interested in. And at times she did just that. It was interested the learn of Bella and Zsadist's brush with the end of their marriage.

I now find myself preferring to read series as oppose to stand alone novels. For me there seem to be a sense of completeness to my reading because of the crossing over of the lives of previous characters into new additions to a series. Maybe that's why I like Disney animated movies so much, there's always a part 2.

Anyway, happily ever afters are fun, and predictable, and the end of the story, but sometimes they just leave me wanting more.......

And that's my naughty thoughts on happily ever after.

Later Loveys

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Happy Birthday To Me

OMG!!!!! I've been so preoccupied that I missed my own blog's birthday. SMH...

!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!

I can't believe it's been a year since I started this blog. Wow!!!!

Unfortunately I'm still so busy that I haven't had much time to post regularly. I'm hoping my schedule clears up soon and I get a chance to get back to writing.

I think I'll have a piece of cake tonight....yum...

My Naughty Thoughts : Is Bad Ever Good?

So a while ago I wrote a post Yummy Baddies in which I practically drooled over how hot bad guys were getting and how sad it made me to watch such fine specimen of male anatomy die. I complained about how it was getting harder to not root for the bad guy because truth be told, I am a bit (truth: really really) shallow. (What...I like eye candy). But in the end, I knew he was the villain of the story and he was never a character I could sympathize with or relate to. I mean who could sympathise with Luck Evans in No One Lives? He was a sadistic psycho, but come one, the guy is hot (I'm drooling again...sorry).

Suddenly a new breed of baddies are appearing. The ones that play on our sympathies and make us say to ourselves...I can see myself going down that dark path....or I completely understand.  

For example Regina a.k.a the Evil Queen from Once Upon A Time who, as the seasons progressed, I watched transition from a sweet young woman full of love to a vengeful and bitter evil queen. I found myself yelling at young Snow White (well the tv) to shut her trap when she blabbed to Cora about Regina's love indirectly causing his death and agreeing with Regina when she made the comment that she should have let Snow White die (is that bad). A broken heart can lead you down a dark path and I'm sure some of us can relate. (Regina's still my favourite character from Once Upon A time. I'm was so pissed at Emma at the season finale...lol).

While the writers of Once Upon A Time are having the characters make a distinction between Regina and the Evil Queen like they're two individual people (perhaps to make it easier to sympathise with Regina), Maleficient is one very bad, very vengeful fairy. Not only is this character a villain, but she's the title roll. How could I not cheer on her vengefulness after the brutal way she was betrayed by someone she considered a friend? Shouldn't I have been cheering on her friend a.k.a the king as he tried to save his daughter's life by destroying Maleficient. Of course by the end Maleficient had a restorative transformation to good like Regina did which made my struggle between good and bad a moot point.

Recently I watched the trailer for Dracula Untold (psst Luke Evans is in this one again...yum...so you know I'm going to watch it). Isn't Dracula a bad guy? The trailer is making him out as as father who'd do anything, including selling his soul to the devil, to protect his family. How can you fault a guy for that?

Or what about Walter from Breaking Bad? I've never watched that series so I don't have much I can say, but as I understand from the tidbits I've gleamed, Walter was a chemistry teacher, who after being diagnosed with cancer, turned drug dealer in the hopes of ensuring his family's financial security after his death. Another character doing something bad for the good of his family. Is that shade of grey to the Walter character what made him so popular? An upstanding citizen driven by circumstances to do things he otherwise never would have. It kind of reminds me of the Gerard Butler character in Law Abiding Citizen. I tried to have sympathy for some of his victims (not the killers) but having understood what drove Clyde to his depth of depravity it was a little hard (sorry Jamie, I was rooting for him to kill you too, you were such an insensitive jerk for a good guy).

There are also the characters who we know are good, but are just plain bad. They can be mean and surly, say vulgar and despicable things, and make you feel like smacking them. In essence there're not your stereo typical good guy. Because I watched this movie last night, I'm going to use the autobot Crosshair as an example. He advocated living the humans to fight the decepticons on their own, abandoning a seventeen year old girl and letting Bumblebee and Drift kill each other so he can take over without a fight. At times he was a jerk, but never once did he let his fellow autobots down. Through all his "jerkiness" he was a good guy.

In short, are the bad things some "villains" do ever good? And are those characters always "villains" just because they do bad things? And just how big of a douche bag can a good guy be?

These types of characters are so much more complex than the cookie cutter good guy or even bad guy. When they make you stop and think...wait...is he/she good or bad...

And that's my naughty thoughts on the bad...good...bad guy.

Later Loveys

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Once Upon A Time....The End

So the season finale of Once Upon A Time was two days ago, so my feels on this tragedy is obviously late. But I'm still stewing over the ending so I thought I'd post it anyway.

To those of you who missed it...never fear...you missed nothing....well...actually...I'm lying....It was awesome!! 

Since our current villain was vanquished in the previous episode and with one left to go, I wondered what juicy tid-bit the writers had in store for us. And as usual they never fail. 

Emma finally got to feel a connection to the life she should have lived, while almost screwing up her very existence. I held my breath the entire episode, constantly cursing the television screen for the near misses and bungles.

And the climax of all climaxes....a double cliff hanger....

Cliffhanger #1 - (no spoilers here) The newest addition to Storybrook. Her story is barely out on dvd and already she's making her appearance on Once. The real question is whether she's good or bad. Does being a prisoner of Rumpelstiltskin mean she's bad or will I see that sweet, reserved girl she played in her movie. After all, I always thought Peter Pan was the good guy. Can't wait to see.

Cliffhanger #2 - (and this is what has me stewing) Does Regina ever get her happily ever after? WTH!!! I've always been a fan of the evil queen. The writers and Lana Parrilla did a great job of making her relateable. I can understand where Snow White's big mouth costing her her first love and constantly feeling like a second class citizen to her could sour Regina's outlook on life. So I've always rooted for her form season one. And I was so happy when she finally found love again. But for the writers to do this to her. WTF!!!!

So now I'm already impatiently waiting for the new season to begin. AHHH!!!!!!