Author Archives: Dazzling Erin

So, I Watched After The Storm (2019, Dir. by Emma Jean Sutherland)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Hey, ladies!  Take it from someone who has been there, if your family home is destroyed in a storm and someone offers to help you rebuild it so that you have a place to live with your adorable Siberian Husky, accept the help.  I don’t care if you used to date him.  I don’t care if you’re engaged to marry someone else.  That person that you think you’re going to marry?  Where is he?  He’s not the one at your house offering to help your rebuild.  The man who does show up, does he have a criminal record?  Does he have a history of being an abuser?  Is he a Nazi?  If the answers to those three questions are all no then accept the help and be sure to say thank you every chance you get.

After the Storm is about Lauren (Madeleine Leon), who reconnects with her ex-boyfriend Colin (Bo Yokely) after a storm destroys her home.  Lauren is a teacher, which is extremely cool.  I like and respect teachers.  And she owns an adorable dog!  I liked that Lauren was as concerned about rebuilding the community as she was rebuilding her house.  I could relate.  Last year, our neighborhood got hit by one of the worst storms that I’ve ever seen and it took over a month for the city to clean up all the debris and ge everything back and running.  I checked on my neighbors every day to see if they needed anything and a lot of very kind people helped us clean up the branches in the front and back yards.  (One of them had fallen on our wooden swing, crushing it underneath.)  Cleaning up wasn’t easy but we worked together and got it done and we were stronger as a community as a result.

But I got so frustrated watching this movie because Lauren kept getting upset whenever Colin tried to help her and I couldn’t understand why.  She was still angry about how they broke up five years in the past but Colin had obviously grown up since then and he wanted to help both her and the community.  The movie lost me whenever Lauren get angry with Colin.  Her main excuse was that she was engaged but when her fiancé did show up, he turned out to be useless.  Lauren’s stubbornness was hard to take.

I did like Bo Yokely as Colin.  Colin was a good friend to have in a disaster and, when it came to Lauren, he had the patience of a saint.  I got frustrated with Lauren but I did enjoy the scenes of her house being rebuilt once Laruen finally accepted the help and admitted that she was still in love with Colin.  You’d have to have a heart of stone not to smile at Colin carrying Lauren over the threshold while that adorable dog.  Love can overcome anything, even stubbornness.

I Watched Romance On The Ranch (2024, dir. by John Lyde)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

In Romance on the Ranch, Suzanna Pereira plays Sara, who gets to live out one of my favorite fantasies.

Sara quits her job, sells her place, gets in a camper with her dog, and drives out west.  She has another job waiting for her, as a doctor at a big-city hospital.  But before she starts her new job, she just wants to see America and capture it with her camera.  I knew exactly how Sara felt.  There have been so many times that I’ve been tempted to just grab my camera, jump in my car, and just take off for parts unknown.  It’s not very practical in the real world but that’s why we have movies like this one!

Sara’s camper breaks down outside of a ranch.  Luckily, the ranchers invite her to stay with them while the camper gets fixed.  Sara volunteers at the local assisted living facility and she rides a horse for the first time in years.  She also meets two handsome brothers and she falls in love with both of them.  Aidan (Chris Reid) is quiet and likes to spend his time working on the ranch and with the land.  Porter (Brando White) is a rebel who gets his work done but at his own pace and who feels like Aidan looks down on him.  Sara wants to stay at the ranch but she doesn’t want to cause trouble between the two brothers.  The brothers, though, have issues to work on that go far beyond of them liking Sara.  Who will Sara choose?  The handsome rebel or the handsome cowboy who has a daughter who needs a stepmother?

I liked this movie, even though I knew everything that was going happen.  It’s basically a Hallmark movie, even if it didn’t air on the network. Everyone in the movie is very pleasant and nice and the ranch was a really pretty location.  I liked that the two brothers were both nice guys and loved each other deep down, no matter how much they fought.  They had different ways of looking at the world but neither was necessarily wrong.  There’s just something incredibly romantic about big strong men working in the Great Outdoors and learning to express their emotions.  Mostly I liked the movie because I could relate to Sara.  I looked at those beautiful mountains surrounding the ranch and I wanted to get out my camera and start snapping pictures too.

It’s Love, Part 11

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today is the day that we celebrate love and romance and everything that goes with it!

Love isn’t always easy and some people have a hard time around Valentine’s Day. If you’re single, do not despair. The path to true love is never an easy one to travel but the destination makes the trip worth it. Even in the 1950s and the 1960s and the 1970s, Valentine’s Day wasn’t an easy day for everyone. Love can hurt.  Love can bring tears to your eyes.

As difficult and as frustrating as it can be to find true love, we will never stop searching because finding it makes it all worth it.

So. if you’re alone or if you’re a part of a couple, if you’re single or married, in love or simply enjoying life, happy February 14th!  May it be a good day, no matter what it means to you.

By Gene Colan

Baseball On Valentine’s Day

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Are you still having trouble getting in the mood for Valentine’s Day?  Allow me to help with a series of covers that combine my two favorite things, love and baseball!  These baseball romances are guaranteed to touch even the outfield of your heart.  Plus, if you’ve been confused about the difference between first base, third base, and all the way, these books are here to help, just in time for Valentine’s Day!

 

The Two Sides of Valentine’s Day

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

St. Valentine heals an epileptic.

No one knows when the first Valentine’s Day was celebrated.  Saint Valentine lived in 3rd Century Rome and provided care to persecuted Christians before being martyred by Emperor Claudius II.  Valentine is the patron saint of Terni, epilepsy, and beekeepers.  How his feast day became associated with the celebration of courtly love, no one is sure.  References to Valentine’s Day as a romantic holiday can be found in the works of both Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare.

No one knows when the first Valentine’s Day card was sent but, by the time of the Victorian era, they were a part of the tradition.  Here is a beautiful Valentine’s Card from the 1890s, with a romantic scene of courtship and a paper lace design.  Sold in London, this would have been an expensive card that would have been sent by a member of the upper classes.

However, during the Victoria era, there were also what was known as the Vinegar Valentine Cards.  These were cards that were sent to let someone know that they were either not loved or that the person they thought they love was not worthy of them.  These cards were often sent and left anonymously.  Can you imagine the feeling on Valentine’s Day of not knowing whether you’re going to get a card like the one above or a card like the one below?

That’s one Valentine’s tradition that I’m glad we no longer have to deal with!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day From The Shattered Lens

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Whether you’re single or if you’re in a committed relationship or even if you don’t care about any of that stuff, the Shattered Lens wishes you a happy Valentine’s Day!  Or, if you’d prefer, a happy February 14th!

(As for myself, I think any day is a good day to celebrate love!)

Have a wonderful day, no matter what you celebrate!