Valentine’s Day Guest Post + Signed Giveaway!

Posted February 14, 2015 by Melissa in Uncategorized / 13 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day!
I hope you all have a wonderful day full of love and books. Oh, and chocolate & cakes too! <3 

 Today, I have something super sweet to share with you all. Maureen O’Leary Wanket, author of The Arrow (Children of Brigid Trilogy) decided to stop by The Reader and the Chef to share about her favorite romantic lines from a few of her favorite book boyfriends!

So, without further ado, read on and prepare to be swooned!
That’s
What He Said
I don’t remember the joke my high school
boyfriend told me that one day years ago. But I will never forget what he said
to me as I laughed.
“Your smile could bring on spring,” he
said, revealing in one sentence the meaning of everything that was happening
between us.
Reader, I married him.
In books as in life, one good romantic line
can cut right to the heart. I’m not talking pick-up lines, or the seductions of
a smooth operator. I’m talking open heart surgery, confession, truth. For the
best lines, look to male characters written by female authors in the nineteenth
century:
“It
alters the whole of life for me.”
–Newland Archer
in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence
says this to Ellen Olenska, talking about the revelation of their doomed love.
He’s never happy again. Romantic love is not for sissies.
Dare not say that man forgets
sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you.”
–In Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Captain Wentworth says this to
Anne Elliot.  In a letter.  Time to melt now.

Since we’re
talking Jane Austen, this is what Mr. Knightley says to Emma as he proposes
marriage to her:
I cannot make speeches,
Emma. If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know
what I am.” 
This
line is amazing because it’s so raw, so naked. He stands before a woman for
whom he knows he holds no mystery, so in love that he can barely speak of it.
From Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte,
Heathcliff says to Catherine’s spirit: Catherine
Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living. You said I killed you—haunt
me then. The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe—I know that ghosts
have wandered the earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad. Only do
not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!”
Then her face shows up in the windows and freaks him
out.  Nothing says love like a haunting
on the windy moors.
Since all of my
examples up until now have been from men written by women over a hundred years
ago, I present to you a young man written by a male author:
“It
would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.”
So says Augustus Waters to Hazel Graze, in John Green’s A Fault in Our Stars. Sometimes a book
gets so popular that you forget that it is a genius exploration of romantic
love, both timeless and occurring within a specific time and place.
Gus balances
masculine initiative with intelligent courtesy. This is a romantic hero worthy
of the ages. This is a high school boyfriend who would have definitely grown up
to be an excellent husband, if he could.
Sigh. Augustus.
What are your favorite
romantic lines in books?
*****
*Sigh* Isn’t it lovely? My heart just swelled double in size. Thanks so much, Maureen! I love all these characters, especially Augustus Waters and Mr. Knightely. <3
One of my favorite lines would have to be from Mr. Darcy, of course:
“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
I love him.
*****
About Maureen O’Leary

Writer and educator Maureen O’Leary, author of the novels The Arrow and How to Be Manly, lives in Sacramento, California.

Maureen loves African dance and drumming, working out in old-school gyms, and reading other people’s books. She’s proud to call herself a believer in faeries, storytellers, goddesses, rock star gods, magic, destiny, and the healing power of love.


Enter the rafflecopter below to win:

* A signed copy of  The Arrow kindly donated by the author (US only) 
*And, a $5 Amazon GC (open internationally)

 

Giveaway ends on February 21st at 11:59 pm (EST) and two winners will be chosen. Good luck and thanks for stopping by!


13 responses to “Valentine’s Day Guest Post + Signed Giveaway!

  1. What about Mr. Darcy?!?! Ohhhh I so love him and his masculine, sultry, kind, strong, gentlemanly type of personality! He's just my kind of man! I love him so, so, SO much!! Makes me want to read the book and watch the movie all over again!