A Haunting Romance

By Robin Weaver

I confess.

When I first tried to pick my favorite romance, nothing came to mind. Thus, I did what every modern woman does when she wants an answer, I Googled. The “50 Greatest Love Stories of All Time” produced multiple matches and I hit pay dirt with the first click. Number twelve on that list was my number one: the 1990 film Ghost.

The movie has everything—a hot Patrick Swayze; comedienne Whoopi Goldberg as a whacky psychic; a believable heroine (the Demi Moore before Ashton Kutcher and prior to her being cougar crazy); murder and intrigue; a ghost; a smoking love scene involving a potter’s wheel; and, did I mention, Patrick Swayze. What this movie doesn’t have is a happy ending, well, not in the traditional sense anyway. Strange it would be my favorite when my mantra is, “in entertainment, why would you ever settle for anything less than a HEA?”

However, I don’t think I “settled” by selecting Ghost as my fav. There is a happy ending of sorts. After all, our ghostly hero manages to save his beloved and she doesn’t fall victim to his killer.  What’s more, the notion that love never dies is perhaps the happiest ending of all.

 

Others must agree with me, because this low budget film grossed over $500 million (a lot in 1990) and was nominated for five Academy awards, winning for best supporting actress (Whoopi) and best original screenplay.

The movie must have made a greater impression on me than I realized. I made my husband promise that in the odd event he died before me, he’d give me a sign everything was okay. The night after he died, one of the lights in my kitchen started flicking on and off.  The flashing didn’t stop until I removed the bulb.

I have a degree in systems engineering so I know there’s a thousand and one logical explanations for the flashing light. I also know that in the end, we are all just energy. A constant in physics is energy never dies, just changes forms. What’s more, the light was just fine when I screwed the bulb back in.

What about you? Any ghostly experiences?

Robin Weaver

Author of Blue Ridge Fear and Artifact of Death

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Ridge-Fear-Robin-Weaver/dp/1612174736/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359996723&sr=1-1&keywords=blue+ridge+fear

Curiouser and Curiouser

I’m in a curious mood, so here are some romance-writing-related questions that have niggled at my brain for a long time. Maybe you’ve been curious about these things as well.

AMAZON LINK

 

Why do so many people call Gone with the Wind their favorite romance novel/movie? There’s no happily-ever-after and the so-called heroine is not anyone you’d want for a friend. In fact, she’s pretty despicable. Curious, isn't it?

AMAZON LINK

Now, the movie Ghost with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore is in a different class. The story is a romance even though the hero is dead and eventually has to ‘move on.’ The hero’s love is so strong, so profound that he protects the heroine from the Other Side. You fall for the hero, and the heroine is someone you like and root for. Curious? Click on the link and watch the trailer.

In this day and age, why do authors write romances where people cross professional ethical boundaries to have a relationship? 

 Let me elaborate. 

Real life: My daughter started a new job. The attractive store manager she worked under and my daughter both had five-year-old daughters. They took the girls on a play date and discovered that not only did the girls hit it off, so did they. My daughter resigned so they could date without violating the store’s sexual harassment policy and endangering his career. Now they’ve been together for fifteen years. (In case you're curious, he didn't get fired.)

An otherwise-beautifully-written romance I recently read: An emotionally-wounded psychologist falls in love with his patient  but continues to treat her anyway. They ‘save’ each other and earn a happily-ever-after. As a reader, I can’t get past the violation of professional ethics.

I'm curious. Is this just me? Or do others have a problem with authors taking liberties with professional ethics?

And last, but not least, I'm curious as to why Nicholas Sparks insists he’s not a romance writer, when he clearly is a romance writer. Inquiring minds want to know.

AMAZON LINK

What do you think? What romance-related questions are you curious about?

© 2012 Sarah Raplee