Favorite Romantic Movies Round 3 by Kristin Wallace

Okay, this month I get to review more romantic flicks in honor of Valentine’s Day, which we just celebrated on Friday. 

Be sure to check out my previous roundups if you want.

Volume 1

Volume 2

2020 Romantic Movie Review

While You Were Sleeping

Lucy (Sandra Bullock) is a lonely single cashier for the L-train who pines after the handsome man she sees taking the platform every day. When he’s attacked and falls onto the tracks, she saves him. At the hospital she gets mistaken for his fiancé and then she begins to fall in love…with her “fiancés” family, especially his brother Jack (Bill Pullman). 

Groundhog Day

Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is a cynical weatherman who gets stuck (or cursed) to relive Groundhog Day over and over as he covers the annual Groundhog Day festival in Punxutawney, PA. This is one of the most innovative romantic comedies

I’ve ever seen, with a brilliantly funny performance and a sweet love story as Phil tries to woo the news station’s producer, Rita (Andie McDowell).

13 Going On 30

When a girl (Jenna Rinc) makes a wish to be “Thirty, Flirty and Thriving” on her 13^th birthday, she wakes up the next day as a 30-year-old woman (Jennifer Garner). She doesn’t remember anything about the intervening years. To help her put the pieces back together, she looks up her childhood friend, Matt (Mark Ruffalo). Turns out Jenna has the life she dreamed of, as an editor for a NY fashion magazine. Or does she? This is totally Jennifer Garner’s movie as she pulls off the feat of acting like a typical teenager, and as she slowly realizes the kind of life she really wanted.

Something’s Gotta Give

Diane Keaton is Erica Barry, a successful playwright and divorcee who seems perfectly happy on her own. Until her 20-something daughter brings home her new boyfriend…who happens to be a much older man (Jack Nicholson), who only dates young women. This is a great story about a “mature” couple finding each other and realizing they were both missing out on a real love.

The Proposal

Sandra Bullock again, only this time she plays Margaret Tate, a tough-as-nails senior editor at a book publisher. Turns out she’s Canadian and is unknowingly in the US illegally. In order to stay and keep her job, she ropes her assistant, Andrew (Ryan Reynolds). This story is unique as it’s the woman who has the power in the relationship. At least until Andrew takes Margaret home to meet his family…in Alaska. Hilarious and such great chemistry between the two leads who at first hate each other. A classic “hate turns to love” story.

The Princess Bride

I can’t believe I’ve never included this movie on my list! It’s one of the funniest movies of all time, but at its heart we can never forget that it is also the epic romantic tale of Westley “As you wish” and his beloved Buttercup. I’m sure most of you can quote some of the best lines. The cast is incredible, and every role is perfection. If you haven’t seen it in awhile, do yourself a favor watch it again. 

Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and sweet contemporary romance filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. The Christmas in Shellwater Key boxes et will release this winter. If you're not tired of holiday romances, scoop up Christmas in Shellwater Key, a holiday boxed set with three Shellwater Key novellas (Finding You At Christmas, Falling For You At Christmas, and Loving You At Christmas). It's still available on Kindle Unlimited. 

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Romancing Groundhog Day by Sarah Raplee

BONUS: Popup Groundhog Cookie Recipe from She Knows Expert Sandra Denneler at
https://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/982437/pop-up-groundhog-cookie-recipe/

Today is Groundhog Day in the United States, Canada and Germany. I am inspired by Punxsutawney Phil, “Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary''—not to mention the latest in a long line of rodents to star in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania’s annual Groundhog Day Festival—to investigate all things groundhog, including Groundhog Day, and generously share the most entertaining bits with you.

Groundhogs are the largest members of the squirrel family. Phil weighs in at 15 pounds! They are multi-talented marmots that live in burrows underground, but are able to climb trees and swim. They eat voraciously during the warmer months and hibernate through the winter.

According to the Stormfax®Weather Almanac, Groundhog Day has its roots in the Celtic Pagan celebration of Imbolc, which marks the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. People believed if the weather was fair at Imbolc, the second half of winter would be cold and stormy. Early European Christians replaced Imbolc with Candlemas Day, when priests would bless candles and give them to the people in the dark of winter to bring blessings to their homes. A lighted candle would be placed in each window of the house. If the sun came out on Candlemas Day, there would be six more weeks of winter. Early German settlers brought the traditions of Candlemas Day to North America.

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,

There'll be two winters in the year.

(Scottish saying)

If the sun shone on Candlemas, animals would cast shadows, indicating six more weeks of winter. In Germany, people watched hedgehogs or badgers. German immigrants in Pennsylvania chose to watch groundhogs, who awoke at mid-winter from hibernation.

On February 2nd, 1886, the editor of The Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper in the eponymous Pennsylvania town, Clymer Freas, reported: "Today is groundhog day and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen its shadow.” The animal was named Punxsutawney Phil, “Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.''

A star was born.