I’m a sucker for both romance and movies, and Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to combine my two passions! Movies and romance go together as naturally as chocolate and peanut butter, or chocolate and caramel, or chocolate and strawberries, or chocolate and literally anything edible. I’m not sure I’ve ever had chocolate with guacamole but I’m game to try. Anyway! Picking just three romantic movies is difficult, but I managed to winnow down the list. Expect fairy tales, comedy, and lots and lots of poetry. (No chocolate, sadly. Willy Wonka isn’t a romance film, or that’d be number one.)
Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
It’s hard to pick a favorite Cinderella adaptation, but this one with Drew Barrymore might have to take the crown. I love so much about this movie. I love how Danielle, our Cinderella, isn’t a meek farm girl but a wise and independent woman whose loyalty to her friends is never in question. I love Anjelica Huston as the wicked stepmother, a villain who feels as realistic as she does despicable. I love how Leonardo Da Vinci is the fairy godfather. Most of all, I love the romance between Danielle and the prince, a love based more on mutual respect and shared ideals than instalove on the dance floor. (Though Danielle’s ball gown is exquisite, naturally. I just wish it had more screen time!)
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
My favorite Shakespeare comedy is Much Ado About Nothing, and Beatrice and Benedick are my favorite Shakespearean couple, period. Set the filmed adaptation in Tuscany with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson playing the leads and you’ve got a surefire way to make me smile. Branagh and Thompson are both hilarious as the bickering former-future lovers, and they know just how to temper the spice with sweetness when it comes time to admit their love. If that’s not enough, you have a strapping Denzel Washington and shirtless Keanu Reeves; what’s not to adore?
The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
This is for the classic movie fans in the audience. Elizabeth Barrett’s life would have made a great romance novel. A brilliant poet and spinster in the Victorian era, Elizabeth fell in love with the dashing Robert Browning and eventually eloped with him to Italy, overcoming a tyrannical father and finding a later-in-life happiness she never could have imagined. What’s extra wonderful is that the story is completely true. Norma Shearer and Frederic March are great as the two poets who fall into larger-than-life love, and Charles Laughton is in the running for the “Worst Father Ever” award as Mr. Barrett. If you’re in the mood for some old-fashioned melodrama, this one’s for you.
Miss Julia Beaumont has exactly one night to find herself a husband…
The Weatherford Ball is the last chance Julia Beaumont has to escape the clutches of her horrid stepmother. Any potential husband will do—rich, poor, even a reasonably well-groomed walrus. But all of Julia’s matrimonial chances are completely obliterated…thanks to the actions of an infuriating and utterly rakish duke.
Gregory Carter, Duke of Ashworth, would never risk his cherished bachelorhood by flirting with marriage-starved debutantes. But one look at the luscious and refreshingly clever Julia, and he simply can’t resist a stolen kiss—scandal be damned. Then just as things start getting deliciously interesting, the lady flees…leaving only a slipper behind.
And it must have been one dandy of a kiss. Because now Julia has proposed to him. After all, the lady needs a husband, and this roguish duke will certainly do. It’s simply a matter of making him the perfect scandalous offer…
About The Author
Lydia Drake is a reader of all things romance and a drinker of all things tea. A New Jersey resident, her favorite activities include taking the train to New York City, scouring used bookstores, spending time with her family and wrangling her hyperactive cockapoo puppy. Cinderella and the Duke is her debut novel.
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