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!

A Picture is Worth a Thousands Words...

Today's Top 5 Tuesday features a topic near and dear to most lovers of genre fiction, literary adaptations.  I love seeing my favorite books come to life with gorgeous characters and settings.  I am sometimes amazed, often times perplexed as to how the director/writers vision of the work matches up with the original.  What follows is a list of my top 5 favorite literary adaptations and if you notice that the BBC is well represented on the list, well, what can I say?  Obviously, those Brits know their way around this whole adaptation business.

Pride and Prejudice - BBC- 1995
The best of the best!  Firth and Ehle and an amazing screenplay create this excellent version of Jane Austen's classic!  Adaptations do not get better than this.

Jane Eyre - BBC - 1983
Of the over 25 film and television versions of Jane Eyre that I have experienced, this is the definitive version.  Yes, the production's look is a bit dated, but the length allowed for a full exploration of Charlotte Bronte's classic text.  And while many still think that Timothy Dalton was too attractive to be Rochester, he was masterful in the role, so I graciously overlooked his hotness.  

Little Dorrit - BBC- 2008/2009
Another amazing Andrew Davies success!  Davies script, along with outstanding performances from Matthew MacFayden, Claire Foy and Tom Courtenay, made Dicken's sprawling tale accessible, romantic and incredibly moving.

North and South - BBC- 2004
Richard Armitage as Thornton.  What?  Isn't that enough?

The Uninvited -Paramount - 1944
This 1944 Paramount production based on Dorothy Macardle's fantastic haunted house novel, breaks the BBC's stranglehold on my top 5.  The film features excellent performances by Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey along with a script that stays incredibly faithful to the original.  This film manages to be simultaneously charming and scary as hell.  If you haven't had the pleasure, I recommend renting it immediately.

Pride and Prejudice (Restored Edition)
Jane Eyre (BBC, 1983)
Little Dorrit
North & South
The Uninvited (1944)