Happy Birthday Clive Owen!

Just a quick post to wish Happy Birthday to my favorite imaginary boyfriend! Clive Owen has it all.  What does he have to do with books and reading, you ask? He has starred in a number of fabulous and varied literary adaptations and his next film will find him playing Papa Hemingway. And besides all that, his is the image that I use when I need to conjure up a visual representation of most any heroic figure in just about any book!

I have loved Clive in everything from Lorna Doone to Sin City and I think he is the perfect blend of looks, brains and talent.  So Happy Birthday Clive, you remain, absolutely, my favorite romantic hero!!!

SWOON!

And who can forget Clive as Byron in one of the funniest clips ever...

Quick Contest Update...

OK sweeties, if you haven't made a comment so that you can be entered into the RT gift bag giveaway, you need to do so immediately. After putting the first bag together, I realized I still had a ton of stuff, so I did two more bags! Considering the number of comments so far, the odds are really good that you could win!!!

So what do you win? Books. And stuff. Each gift bag will have at least 3 books and a boatload of cute swag from the RT convention. If you are one of the three winners, I'll even let you tell me your fave genre and I'll try to make sure at least one of the books falls within that category.

Non book swag may include, but is not limited to:
Lip Gloss
Trading cards
Pens
Pencils
Stickers
Magnets
Buttons
Bookmarks
Rulers
Bottle cozies
Change purse
t-shirts

etc, etc., etc...

Richard Armitage and Clive Owen are not included in this giveaway (unfortunately), I just thought they were pretty.  Drawing is Friday, so comment now!

It's Raining Men...

OK, so far this week has been a killer and it is only Tuesday! Work has been crazy, everybody needs something, and it has been rainy and dreary outside. In fact, things have been so insane, I almost let Top 5 Tuesday slip by without a post.  Horrors!  Since I am mentally exhausted, I'm going to feature a pic heavy topic today.  I'm giving you a list of my top 5 romance novels heroes. Yes, out of all of the millions of romance novels I've read, these are the heroes I'd most like to have step out of the pages and whisk me away to their ancestral home. Narrowing the list down from my original 10 was crazy painful, but I made the rules, so I have to live with them. The pretty pic part of the post pertains (alliteration alert!) to my matching the romance heroes with the men best suited to play them if these fine books were ever filmed.  Enjoy the eye candy folks and, oh yeah, read the books if you haven't.  They are all excellent!

Restell Gardner - If His Kiss Is Wicked - Jo Goodman
Restell has it all.  He is smooth, funny, intelligent and street-smart.  He is a gentle charmer with substance and the kind of guy we all wish we could find.  I think Matthew Macfadyen would be wonderful as Restell.

Oliver Worthy- Marrying the Captain - Carla Kelly
Oliver Worthy has all of the best qualities of an Officer in Her Majesty's navy.  He is brave, strong and true.  He is the best of men and who can resist someone in that uniform.  He could only be played by the great Ciaran Hinds.

Griffin Wright-Jones, The Viscount of Breckinridge- The Price of Desire - Jo Goodman
A little bit tortured, a whole lot of sexy, combined with a sharp mind and an even sharper wit.  Breckinridge should definitely be played by the equally tortured and sexy, Richard Armitage.

Adam Kent, Duke of Ridgeway - The Secret Pearl - Mary Balogh
Dark, sexy, scarred and all that is honorable, even when soliciting a lady of the evening.  My boyfriend, Clive Owen would be perfect in this role.

Jasper, Viscount Vale - To Seduce A Sinner (The Legend of the Four Soldiers) - Elizabeth Hoyt
The wicked Viscount can make you laugh one moment and cry the next.  His world weary demeanor hides a sexy, loving, noble, heart.  He is all that a romance hero should be.  Toby Stephens has the perfect mix of sly humor and sensuality to carry off this character.

So there you have it kids.  Enjoy the pretty!

Happy Birthday Clive Owen!

Happy 46th Birthday to Clive Owen, otherwise known as my boyfriend!  He is my imaginary boyfriend, you know, the one that I am allowed to drool over and fantasize about even though I adore my husband of a zillion years.  Clive is a great actor besides being gorgeous and yes, he has appeared in the requisite literary adaptations that are necessary for a birthday mention in this blog.  One might wish though that Clive would do a few more historical films since he is usually the model for most of the male heroes in the romance novels I read.  Unless they are blond or have some physical characteristic that says they can't be played by Clive Owen, then his is the face I picture as I am reading.

It's a pretty damned good face for a romance hero!  Clive is currently busy filming a  biopic for HBO in which he plays Ernest Hemingway.  I was never a huge Papa fan, but you can bet I'll be waiting most impatiently for this portrayal to hit the screen.