Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

I've been rereading the one true love of my life The Princess Bride this January, so I thought that now would be the perfect time to share an article I wrote about the novel for the online magazine Femnista back in autumn 2020.  As with the  Broken Trail piece I posted for last year's Legends of Western Cinema Week, what you'll read below is my initial submission to Femnista , not the version that appeared on the website after a few moderator edits.  I've also added a couple of my own tweaks to the original (i.e., adding an additional quotation, etc.).  But the gist is very much the same; never fear. So, if you want to learn more about just one of the manifold reasons this book is so dear to me — and if you don't mind spoilers  — then I echo to you Mr. Bennet's immortal advice:  Read on, Lizzy! ⸻ What if I told you that the real story of The Princess Bride was not that of Buttercup and Westley? Or of Inigo and his revenge? What if I told you that, instead,

Hello, all, and happy January!  I hope your 2023 is off to a good start. Today, I thought it would be fun to share a little bit about my favorite TV series, since I don't write about television all that often even though I've taken to re-watching a decent amount of it in recent years.  The goal of this post is to be very low-key and fun, just giving you a feel for each of the shows and sharing some personal stats about them.  Due to time and space constraints, I decided to limit this post to the smaller, nuclear group of my very, very favorites.  These are the shows that are — at least at this point in time — personal to me in a way that the other shows I like aren't.  As such, you can probably predict which ones I've included, but you never know. 😉 I'm not giving detailed content caveats for each of these shows, but, as always, please reach out to me if you're curious and I'll do my best to thoroughly answer any questions.  I'm also including fan video

Happy turn-of-the-year to you all!  I don't really make New Year's resolutions, but one of my hopes for 2023 is that I will get back into the habit of blogging regularly.  Or, at least, of blogging more regularly than once every three to five months. *ahem*  I certainly can't guarantee that, either to myself or to any of you sweet souls still following this blog, but I can hope it and try to make it happen.  We'll see. At the very least, I can keep up this semi-tradition.  After due deliberation, I've selected the ten best films I watched for the first time in 2022.  ("Best," in this context, meaning "my personal favorite," of course.)  I've also ranked them, but the top five rankings are all pretty arbitrary because I really can't decide where each film should be placed.   Let's dive in! ⸻ #10.   Game Night (2018) A couple's weekly game night with their friends takes a wild turn when a fake murder mystery becomes indistinguishabl

I had the privilege of being an advance reader for Rachel Kovaciny's latest novel , My Rock and My Refuge , which retells the classic fairytale "Beauty and the Beast" in an Old West mining town.  I genuinely enjoyed it, and for today's stop on the virtual book tour, I'll be sharing my Goodreads review. 😊  Read on, Lizzy! ⸻ Another satisfying installment of the Once Upon a Western fairy tale retellings, My Rock and My Refuge features my favorite love story in the series so far.  It is what we could call swoon-worthy. 😉  Retelling the “Beauty and the Beast” romance can be tricky, but I genuinely loved what the author did with it here.  Definitely the healthiest, most relaxed, most adorable take on the couple I’ve ever encountered.  I won’t say too much here, because I don’t want to spoil the fun of experiencing it firsthand, but I loved how well-adjusted and forthright it was.  There’s no pretense, there’s no melodrama; everyone is pretty upfront about how they’

Hello, all!  If you haven't heard, author Rachel Kovaciny has just released the fourth full-length installment in her Once Upon a Western series, which retells fairy tales in the setting of the American Old West.  This new novel is entitled My Rock and My Refuge , and Ms. Kovaciny has been conducting a virtual book tour this week in honor of its release! ⸻ Marta knows she shouldn't feel this way toward Mr. Wendell.  She needs to keep her job as his servant, especially because her family back in Germany depends on the money she and her brother Jakob send home. Although Mr. Wendell's face bears terrible scars, Marta sees past them to his kind and generous heart.  Still, she wonders why he never leaves his big house high in the Colorado mountains. While Marta tries to push away her questions, others are determined to find answers.  Their efforts lead to a fresh tragedy that threatens Marta's hope of finding happiness with Mr. Wendell.  Will Marta fail her family and her ne