Sharing a tub of popcorn with Belinda Missen

Belinda Missen is an award-winning and best-selling author, screenwriter, and freelance writer from Geelong, Australia.

A reader from an early age, Belinda began writing her own stories shortly after her love affair with Steven Spielberg’s film Jurassic Park began. What began as fan-fiction soon took deeper root, and she was scribbling out strange little stories in empty notebooks she found laying around the house.

With qualifications in transport and office administration, and a combined career of fifteen years in these industries, Belinda decided to uproot everything in 2013 and return to her first love of writing. She now writes full-time, between cups of coffee, binge watching television, and feeding her cats and husband.

In April 2016, she was awarded the JOLT Courthouse Youth Arts Award in the Inspire 26+ Category for her piece Obsession.

In February 2017, her book Love And Other Midnight Theories clawed its way to the top of the Amazon charts in its category of Performing Arts, beating JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. True story – she has the screenshots to prove it.

When not dabbling in the written word, Belinda can be found mentoring other writers, beta-reading, reviewing, helping others to ready books for publication, and sleeping. In the digital world, she can be found online at Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Belinda is here today to tell us about some of her favorite movies. Check out her lists and see if you agree.

Synopsis:

Meet Lucy, master wedding cake baker, idealistic school canteen crusader, and someone whose broken heart just won’t seem to mend…

Lucy is quietly confident that she has made the right choices in life. Surrounded by friends and family in a small country town, Lucy can easily suppress the feeling that something is missing from her life.

But when a blast from the past arrives in the form of her estranged husband, international celebrity chef Oliver Murray, Lucy’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble beneath her like overbaked meringue.

Is Oliver’s return all business or is it motivated by something more?

A Recipe for Disaster starts long after most love stories would have ended, proving it is never too late to offer someone a second slice of cake or a second chance.

Perfect for fans of Carole Mathews, Mhairi McFarlane and Carrie Hope Fletcher.

Purchase Links

Amazon * iBooks * Paperback

Top 5 Movies Based on Books

This question here has bought up some questionable activity on my behalf – mostly the fact that I obvs don’t watch enough romance films. Or, at least, not enough based on books. With that in mind, let me play with this question a little.

Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
Possibly the most well-known of Michael Crichton’s books, this one will always remain my top choice, for a few reasons. Jurassic Park was the first film that made me sit up and take notice. Eleven-year-old me soon became obsessed with writing. It was possibly the worst, most cringe-inducing fanfiction on the face of the earth, but it’s where I began. For that reason alone, I’ll always love it.

As for its adaptation into film, there are a few key characterisation changes, but I can see where that’s been done to make the film more marketable. Hello OTP Grant & Sattler (am I the only one still pining for these two? Yeah, probs). I haven’t read this book as an adult, so I hope I’m not way off, but a lot of the technical jargon was trimmed back, just enough to make it more palatable, but sometimes that kind of fat needs to be trimmed anyway.

The Martian – Andy Weir
See what I mean by not enough romance? I picked up Andy Weir’s debut The Martian at Heathrow Airport in 2015, and immediately loved the character Mark Watney. He was funny, a little punchy, and the story had the perfect balance between several different characters and locales.
I managed to grab one of the last 3D screenings in Melbourne, and immediately loved how close the film was to the book. Yeah, there were a couple of scenes chopped down, but that was more to keep the run-time to an acceptable level. Those minor changes certainly didn’t hurt the aesthetic of the film.

Me Before You – JoJo Moyes
Here we go, Belinda finally coming in with some romance. This tear-filled nugget kept me from seeing the film for about eighteen months. It was one my aunty had been at me to watch – she loves Sam Claflin (Can we blame her? No), so each time I saw her, she’d ask if I’d watched it. My response was that I was waiting to read the book first, because sometimes I just liked to do that.

Somewhere between edits, I got the chance to sit down for a few days and devour Me Before You. A slow-burner, it took me a little while to get into but, once I did, I took out shares in Kleenex. Like all books, there are changes to the film – things are perhaps not as drawn out as between the pages, but it still reduced me to a sobbing mess on more than one occasion, so I’m all for it.

Patrick Melrose Novels – Edward St Aubyn
Honestly, these books wouldn’t have even been on my radar if it hadn’t been for the fact I met Benedict Cumberbatch in 2014. When quizzed on his dream role, Patrick Melrose was his quick, succinct answer. It took me a little while to get to the books (that TBR pile is massive), but I was immediately won over by the dark humour, the acerbic wit, and observations of classism in early nineties Britain – not that I know anything about that at all, but I enjoyed it all the same. I’m now an avid Edward St Aubyn fan, and will hunt out different editions of the Melrose novels just to add to the collection.

When it was announced that Showtime and Sunny March were collaborating for a television series based on the books, I was a little concerned about how some of the scenes would play out. There’s heavy drug use, hallucinations, and sheer brutality that needed to be handled carefully. I was thrilled to find out David Nicholls was heading up the screenplay. Those scenes I worried about? They were handled amazingly. This is possibly one of the most faithful book to screen adaptations I’ve seen in terms of writing.

Doctor Strange – Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
This might seem like one out of left field but bear with me. Comic book movies are always fraught with danger. There are so many different storylines and incarnations to deal with that, sometimes, it’s a little hard to wade through them all and collect something good.
When Doctor Strange was announced a few years ago, I began combing through some of the old comics. One that stood out from 2001 was The Oath. The story arc was a retelling of Strange’s origin story and, to me, appears to have been one of the big influences on the 2016 film. That alone made me happy enough to call it a favourite book to film adaptation. I’m easily pleased.

Top 5 Time Travel Movies

This one was a bit harder than I thought. I’ve been sitting here for twenty minutes Googling time travel films. It’s either too early, I haven’t had enough coffee, or I just don’t watch enough of them. Again, I obviously don’t watch enough romantic time travel films – but I’ve just found a tidy list here to begin watching. So, here we go – here are my top five.

About Time
Domhnall Gleeson – is that enough reason to love a film? It can be, right? I can’t quite pinpoint what it is about this film that I love, other than it’s a gorgeous romantic comedy. It’s kept me entertained through multiple screenings, so I’m okay to leave it at that.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Not at all a romance, but a sci-fi classic that has stood the test of time. I still watch this when it screens on television, and, I’d see it in a cinema if it were to play. From memory, the special effects were a little ahead of their time when this was released, and I spent many a Saturday watching this one with my dad.

Back to the Future
Here’s one left of centre. I hadn’t seen this film until about two years ago. How I made it to thirty-six without seeing it is beyond me. How can you not love Marty McFly?

Kate & Leopold
I’m actually watching this as I compile this list to make sure it’s as good as I remember. Yeah, it’s quite good, actually.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Again, this one gets a guernsey for no other reason than it was one that I watched a lot as a child. We were primarily a Star Trek house and, of all the films, this one was my favourite. Also known as ‘The One with The Whales’.

Thanks to Belinda for sharing her favorite movies with us and to Rachel's Random Resources for including us on Belinda's blog tour. Check out all the stops:

Book Review: Well, That Escalated Quickly

By Jami Deise

I usually plan my reading carefully – a book is a several-hour commitment, so I evaluate summaries and reviews, even when deciding whether to buy a free book for my Kindle. But in choosing Franchesca Ramsey’s Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes from an Accidental Activist, I was a bit more cavalier. I’d seen that the title was getting some buzz, so I requested it, even though I knew nothing about the book or the author. Had I known more, would I have still requested it? I’m not sure. As its long title implies, there’s a lot going on in this book. Some chapters I loved, some chapters I skimmed, and some left me weeping for humanity.

Ramsey is one of the first people to become famous through a YouTube video going viral (“Sh*t White Girls Say… to Black Girls,”) and even though the content pigeonholed her as a social justice warrior before being an SJW was cool/an alt-right insult, Ramsey was an actress and a comedian who carefully developed her YouTube channel as a springboard to an entertainment career. As someone whose early videos were hair-style tutorials for black women, it’s not surprising that Ramsey landed at the intersection of entertainment and advocacy. But the resulting book, while mostly linear, lacks focus; a criticism that makes me wonder if Ramsey feels that way in her own life.

The first several chapters of the book describe Ramsey’s early attempts at pursuing an entertainment career. She’s humble and self-deprecating in these accounts of her early YouTube videos (bad lighting, shower-curtain cameos) and her attempt to balance this work with her day job. Then “Sh*t White Girls…” goes viral, and suddenly she had an agent and an invitation to audition for SNL. At the same time, her new fame coupled with her already-established internet presence meant she became a fat target for every racist with a modem. When she tried to appease them, the black community called her an apologist and questioned her marriage to a white man.

Fame really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Ramsey is a thoughtful, earnest writer who sometimes bends over backwards to see the good in other people, even people who say things like, “She’s pretty for a black girl.” Sometimes, though, she’s a little too earnest. The book has a long section of social justice vocabulary words, a section on music she can’t listen to anymore, and a list of words and phrases that people committed to equality shouldn’t say. Reading those sections left me feeling exhausted… and guilty. Exhausted because who wants to be excoriated for using the word “gypped?” And guilty because, as a white woman, I can decide how committed I want to be to this movement. I didn’t have to have “the talk” with my white son, who will never be arrested for waiting for someone at Starbucks; no one will call the police on me because I did not wave at a neighbor when leaving an AirBnB. Ramsey, her friends, and family do not have that choice. They can’t just decide one day not to be black because it’s exhausting.

I do wonder, however, if Ramsey will someday feel the need to make a choice between comedy and social justice activism. While occasionally in the book she was able to mix them (such as her flowchart titled “Should I Unfriend This Person?”), most sections were either funny or earnest, but not both. Then again, there’s an old saying about comedy being tragedy plus time. Our country’s current social and political environment is definitely a tragedy. It’s going to take a long time before any of this can seem funny

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Amy Blumenfeld picks the flicks...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to welcome Amy Blumenfeld to CLC today and celebrate the publication of her debut novel, The Cast. Amy is here to tell us about some of her favorite movies from two genres we enjoy and thanks to Get Red PR, we have one copy of The Cast to give away!

Amy Blumenfeld’s articles and essays have appeared in various publications including The New York Times, The Huffington Post, O, The Oprah Magazine, Prevention, and on the cover of People.

Born and raised in Queens, New York, Amy was a shy child who sat in a coat cubby for the first six weeks of kindergarten. Lured out by carrot sticks and crayons, she eventually made her way into the world and graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University and received a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism where she was the recipient of the James A. Wechsler Award for National Reporting.

Amy has been interviewed on MSNBC, CBS Evening News, FOX News, and contributed to two non-fiction books. She has been a featured speaker for several national organizations and during one keynote address made Robin Williams laugh. It is one of her most treasured memories.

Amy lives in New York with her husband and daughter.

Visit Amy online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Synopsis:
Twenty-five years ago, a group of ninth graders produced a Saturday Night Live–style videotape to cheer up their ailing friend. The show’s running time was only ninety minutes, but it had a lasting impact: Becca laughed her way through recovery, and the group―Jordana, Seth, Holly, and Lex―became her supporting cast for life.

On the silver anniversary of Becca Night Live, the friends reunite over the Fourth of July to celebrate Becca’s good health―but nothing goes as planned. The happy holiday card facades everyone’s been hiding behind quickly crumble and give way to an unforgettable three days filled with complex moral dilemmas and life-altering choices. Through humor, drama, and the alternating perspectives of five characters, The Cast explores the power of forgiveness, the importance of authenticity, and the immeasurable value of deep, enduring friendships to buoy us when life plays out differently than expected.

*Bio and synopsis courtesy of Amy's website.

Top Five Favorite Chick Flicks:

• Love Actually
• The Big Sick
• When Harry Met Sally
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Pretty Woman

Top Five Favorite Animated Films:

• Monsters, Inc.
• Boss Baby
• Stuart Little (partially animated)
• Charlotte's Web (sort of animated with the animals)
• The Princess and the Frog

Thanks to Amy for visiting with us and to Get Red PR for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

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Giveaway ends August 19th at midnight EST.

Book Review: Summer Secrets at the Apple Blossom Deli

By Sara Steven

Lily Holmes is ready for a fresh start. And there’s no better place to begin again than the idyllic seaside town of Marram Bay.

All Lily wants to do is focus on making her new deli a success and ensuring her son’s happiness. Not the postcard creeping out of her handbag, and definitely not finding a new man in her life!

But this isn’t going to be as easy as she first thought. The town is in uproar about the city girl who’s dared to join them and she’s fighting a battle at every turn.

Perhaps with a little help from the gorgeous cider farmer next door, she may be able to win them over, but her past secrets threaten to ruin everything… (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads)

Portia MacIntosh has a way of developing characters who have the ability to bring out a range of emotions from within. The way she describes the connections between Lily and her son, or the way Lily is not welcomed into the town of Marram Bay, even the first visit with the next door neighbor- I was on a roller coaster.

Lily wants to create a better life for her son, but she’s fighting against what feels like impossible odds. In her way are the various townspeople, who don’t take kindly to outsiders, doing all they can to muddle up her plans. This trickles down into the experiences Lily’s son has at school, which really got me going. I found myself cursing under my breath from time to time, or rolling my eyes. It felt true to life and close to home, since so many of us have been in Lily’s shoes.

Even Lily’s experiences with that gorgeous cider farmer next door are tinged with contention, when she discovers she’s not the only one who’s interested in him. Yet, through all the muck is this undeniable spirit, a fighting spirit. I really appreciated that about Lily. Her ability to keep going, even with all the negativity. It would be so easy for her to run for the hills, and not that she doesn’t feel like she wants to several times along the way, but witnessing her ability to take a few steps forward, a ton back every time feeds into that need to see the underdog achieve the impossible. The question, though, is whether it’s all worth it, and what’s the end result? The changes Lily goes through during all of this, it’s fun to witness, and is inspiring.

This truly was a sweet read, mixed in with strong undertones of strength and courage while facing less than stellar odds.

Thanks to Portia MacIntosh for the book in exchange for an honest review. Summer Secrets at the Apple Blossom Deli can be purchased here.

More by Portia MacIntosh:

What's in the mail

Melissa A:
The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson from Gallery
Dear Santa by Nancy Naigle from St. Martin's Press
The Last House on Sycamore Street by Paige Roberts from Kensington (ebook via NetGalley)
The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay from St. Martin's Press

Jami and Melissa A:
The Guests on South Battery by Karen White from Berkley (Jami got an e-book via NetGalley)

Jami:
I Give You My Heart by SarahJane Ford from Rachel's Random Resources (e-book)
The Exes' Revenge by Jo Jakeman from Berkley (e-book via NetGalley)

Sara:
Go On, Girl by/from Hilary Grossman (e-book)
Pictures in the Sky by Amanda Paull from Rachel's Random Resources (e-book)

Book Review: The Bucket List

By Jami Deise

While breast cancer isn’t the leading cause of death for women—heart disease is—we fear it like no other disease. Perhaps because it’s seen as a uniquely female disease (it’s not—my father and my uncle both had it), perhaps because it happens to a body part that physically marks us as female. I had my first mammogram at 37; when I told my gynecologist it felt like everyone I knew was getting that diagnosis, she said it was time, and I’ve had one every year since. And while every film save one was clean, finding out that my former state, Maryland, was a breast cancer hot spot helped reinforce the decision to leave.

Thirty-seven felt young; I can’t imagine dealing with these issues at 25. In her follow-up to her 2016 book about New York millennials who magically become pretty (The Regulars), Georgia Clark brings us another New York millennial, Lacey, a 25-year-old who just tested positive for the BCRA1 mutation, meaning the question of breast cancer is not an if but a when. Her question actually is, does she get a preventative mastectomy and breast reconstruction, or wait and see what happens? Her mother died at 31; her older sister Mara, with a daughter of her own, doesn’t want to get the test at all. It’s heady stuff, and in a less sure hand, it would have been a Lifetime movie or weepy women’s fiction. But The Bucket List is, as Clark describes it, “a sexy mastectomy book.” Lacey is much more than her mutation; she has a full, rich, complicated millennial life, and Clark explores all its aspects.

I admit, I was overwhelmed and not as drawn in as I wanted to be in the beginning of the book. Lacey is, fittingly enough, a “trend forecaster” for a fashion publication in New York; she’s also working on a shopping app with a friend. Clark fully immerses readers in the fashion world and with her fast-paced, present-tense, millennial voice, there were times I found it hard to keep up. When Lacey decides to have the surgery, she creates a bucket list for her breasts, with items like threesomes, sex with a woman, and topless sunbathing. At times, the diagnosis and upcoming surgery practically disappear while Lacey deals with work, friends, competing love interests, etc. At other times, it felt like the diagnosis and surgery dilemma were metaphors as well as plot points—with the country and the world being in the shape that it’s in, don’t all millennials feel they’re living in a ticking time bomb, even if it’s not in their own bodies?

When Clark gets the story out of Fashion Week and Lacey puts the bucket list on the back burner to pursue her life and her health, things fall into place more tightly and the story finds its rhythm. Lacey’s biggest physical problem is BCRA1, but her biggest emotional problem is that she would rather lie to the people she’s closest to instead of telling the truth and dealing with the fall-out. This doesn’t make her an unlikeable character; it adds to her complexity.

The Regulars was one of my favorite books from 2016; the only flaw I found was an ending that was too neat. The Bucket List also delivers an ending that’s wrapped in a tidy little bow; so much so I’d call it a fairy tale ending. It’ll please folks who enjoy books with happily-ever-afters; I felt it was a simple ending that didn’t work for a character who had so much going on in her life. Still, I enjoy Clark’s depiction of New York millennials, and I look forward to her next book.

Thanks to Atria for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Catching a matinee with Rea Frey...plus a book giveaway

Photo by Alex Holguin

Today we welcome Rea Frey to CLC to talk about movies for our latest theme month. Her novel is publishing on August 21st and we have a copy for one lucky reader, thanks to St. Martin's Press!

​Rea Frey is an award-winning author of four nonfiction books. She lives in Nashville with her husband and daughter. Not Her Daughter is her debut novel. Visit Rea at her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Synopsis:
Emma Townsend. Five years old. Gray eyes, brown hair. Missing since June.

Emma is lonely. Living with her cruel mother and clueless father, Emma retreats into her own world of quiet and solitude.

Sarah Walker. Successful entrepreneur. Broken-hearted. Kidnapper.

Sarah has never seen a girl so precious as the gray-eyed child in a crowded airport terminal. When a second-chance encounter with Emma presents itself, Sarah takes her―far away from home. But if it’s to rescue a little girl from her damaging mother, is kidnapping wrong?

Amy Townsend. Unhappy wife. Unfit mother. Unsure whether she wants her daughter back.

Amy’s life is a string of disappointments, but her biggest issue is her inability to connect with her daughter. And now Emma is gone without a trace.

As Sarah and Emma avoid the nationwide hunt, they form an unshakeable bond. But what about Emma’s real mother, back at home? (Courtesy of Amazon.)


“In Not Her Daughter, Frey pulls off a difficult task: balancing a nail-biting plot with a thought-provoking question — is a crime committed with the best intentions still a crime? A chilling, powerful tale of love and sacrifice, of truth and perception, Not Her Daughter will make you miss your bedtime, guaranteed. A stunning debut.” 
—Kimberly Belle, Internationally Bestselling Author of The Marriage Lie


"Women who do not embrace motherhood or "bad mothers" are a taboo subject -- in both real life and fiction -- but Frey tackles it with aplomb in her taut debut, NOT HER DAUGHTER. The story begs the question: who is more mother -- the one who gives birth or the one who rescues? The plot twists here are brave, the themes are both poignant and unsettling, and the resolution is deeply resonant. A page-turner with heart!" 
—New York Times bestselling author Kate Moretti

Top Five Movies of the 90’s.

1. Edward Scissorhands: I remember being transported to another world entirely with Johnny Depp’s sad face and those tragic hands. What imagination.
2. Clueless: When Clueless came out, I immediately went out and bought all of the same clothes and wore them to the first day of eighth grade. (Sadly, I did not have a Cher Horowitz experience.)
3. Pretty Woman: Who doesn’t love Richard Gere and prostitutes? This was such a “play” on the traditional love story that stuck with me for years.
4. Ghost: Pottery, murder, Swayze, Whoopi, and ghosts. Pretty much all of the good things. I watched this movie when I was way too young, but it was one of the most visceral love stories I’d seen (and still remember).
5. Good Will Hunting: This movie still makes it in my top five of all time (oh how I mourn the loss of Robin Williams). I love everything about this movie: how smart, how touching, how the phrase: “how do you like them apples?” is still used today. How you don’t have to go to some fancy school to be smart. How addictive Boston accents can be. How you can change your life and take a risk, no matter who you are or where you’re from.

Top Five Indie Films:

1. Dirty Dancing: This movie was my life.
2. House Party: Can someone please resurrect Kid ‘N Play? Pretty please?
3. Sideways: I love depressed writers and red wine. This one struck a chord.
4. La Fille Sur Le Pont (The Girl on the Bridge): One of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. Who doesn’t love a hot dude throwing knives at a beautiful French girl? C’est magnifique!
5. Teen Wolf: Michael J. Fox and the 1980's. Was there really anything better? I think not.

Thanks to Rea for visiting with us and to St. Martin's Press for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 


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Giveaway ends August 14th at midnight EST.