My Favorite Romance Movies

Ok, so I’m a little late here with this, but I only just realized that it’s Valentine’s Day and that I want to talk about some of my favorite romantic media before the day is over.

Romance movies are a balm for my soul. Even though if some of the things that happen in them would irk me in real life in my own life, they just work in movies and have me swooning. Anytime I want to feel something or need a little comfort, they are there waiting for me. There are SO MANY movies that do this, but here are just a few that always make me feel a little better when I need a pick-me-up. (I also realized that I don’t have any favorite LGBTQ+ romances and that needs to change…that’s my new mission.)

Waiting to Exhale (1995)

If you haven’t watched this movie yet, you need to as soon as possible. It’s iconic, beautiful, amazing, flawless, and brings me some warmth and comfort when I most need it. I can’t even string together a proper sentence to describe how much I love this movie. It is also a book, which I have waiting on my shelf.

Trailer here.

The Wedding Date (2005)

This is most definitely my most rewatched rom-com. It is everything to me. If you’ve never watched it before, here is my quick pitch: a male escort is hired as a wedding date for the first time by a woman whose fiancé has recently broken off an engagement. The English countryside, the Michael Bublé sprinkled throughout…this film is a VIBE. *Sigh* I’m forever dreaming about Dermot Mulroney.

Trailer here.

Bend it Like Beckham (2002)

This is a classic! I don’t even know where to start with this movie, so I won’t. It’s the OG kickass girl power movie with a sprinkle of romance and it never gets old.

Trailer here.

What are your favorite rom-coms and romance films? Let me know in the comments, I’m forever looking for new ones. Happy Valentine’s Day (or Belated Valentine’s Day)! ♡♡♡

Movies Based on Books I Don’t Want to Read

There are an endless amount of book-to-movie/TV adaptations out there. So many that it would be impossible (at least for me) to read every single book that inspired a movie or TV show. Sometimes, I just want to watch something without the added brain space of comparing and contrasting it to a book!

I’ve been thinking a lot about how some of my favorite movies to rewatch are based on books that I am not very interested in actually reading any time soon because of this. YES. I’m telling you, person reading this book blog, movies I prefer over even attempting to read their book counterparts. Without further ado, here are four of these very movies.

1. The Time Traveler’s Wife

Rachel McAdams time travel movies are a genre at this point and I like them all (with the exception of Midnight in Paris). *Check out About Time which is a flawless masterpiece* 

Basically there’s this guy who is a time traveler who can’t control where or when he travels to and ends up traveling across the entire timeline (including the childhood, which is kind of weird, yes) of this woman who he obviously falls in love with and who falls in love with him. It’s a real tearjerker and I watch it when I need to feel something. If it weren’t for Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, both of whom I am in love with, would I like this movie as much as I do? Probably not, but it will always be a beloved movie of mine because of them.

The main reason I’m never reading the book is because of the Goodreads reviews. The second I saw that the writer included some awful stereotypes for the non-white characters such as a black family cook, I decided it wasn’t for me. I’ll keep it to the movie that doesn’t include this, thank you.

2. Whip It

This movie, starring Elliot Page as a teenager from a small town in Texas who trades a pageant dress for roller skates to join a roller derby team is everything I could want from a coming-of-age movie. I love that it doesn’t follow the typical coming-of-age conventions by shaking up the romantic storyline that must always be included in movies about teenagers.

I had no idea this movie was originally a book until a few months ago. There isn’t any big reason why I don’t plan on reading the book it was based on, Derby Girl. I am just not interested since the movie is so wonderful. The screenplay was also written by the author of the book, so it’s as the author intended her story to play out on screen.

3. The Stepford Wives

The Stepford Wives book and movie are satirical thrillers about a woman who moves to an idyllic neighborhood where all the wives are suspiciously perfect and enthusiastically dote on their husbands every need or whim at all times. Perhaps they are something other than human…

The 2004 movie is a lot of fun and features a bunch of great actors. Christopher Walken is in it. Need I say more? There’s also a 1975 version I have yet to watch that some would probably fight me on about having not watched yet since it’s supposed to be the superior adaptation. I’ll get to it!

I don’t have any desire to read the book because I simply don’t have enough interest to add it to my never-ending TBR. I’ll probably watch the first version of the movie before I even think about reading the book.

4. Dexter

Here we take a bit of a gruesome turn. Dexter is such a great television show based on a book series that I will probably never read. Both focus on a serial killer who only kills other killers and various other bad people (but, what is bad? *eyebrow raise*).

There’s lots of drama, quite a bit of gore, and an existential mood permeating the whole thing! So if that’s not your cup of tea, steer way clear of this show. I watched it as it was airing every week with my mom as a teenager (which explains a lot) and it still holds a great deal of nostalgia for me despite it’s disturbing premise.

I considered reading this series for about a day, but the show is just too good and reviews from people who love the show are varied. For now, I’ll keep to re-watching the show, especially since there is a reboot coming next year and I’m too lazy to start a whole new book series.

Those are just some of the book-to-movie/TV adaptations I have ~thoughts~ about. Do you have any adaptations you have watched that you like and don’t plan on reading? Or movies that you prefer over the book?