Museums or galleries I've visited or want to visit

 This topic from Long and Short Reviews was interesting. It's been a while since I've been to any museums or galleries, I have to admit. However, there are a few I think are worthy of mention.

I've visited the Bronte Parsonage twice and would definitely recommend it if you're in the area and have an interest in the Brontes. They have a remarkable collection of Bronteana and the parsonage itself is a beautiful building. Similarly, I visited the Anne Frank House when I was in Amsterdam and found it to be a humbling experience - just seeing how enclosed their hiding place was is really quite eye-opening (although please don't go there with my ex, who stood around saying "Can we go now? This is boring.")

As for where I want to visit, I plan to go to the Richard II Museum soon (I'm a Ricardian all the way) and would love to see all of Vermeer's paintings, if not for the fact that they're all over the place.

I'm interested to see what everyone else will mention!

How I feel about staycations

 This topic from Long and Short Reviews was an interesting one. I had originally thought staycations simply meant spending a holiday taking a break at home, but I've since been advised that - in UK terms at least - this also means holidaying within the UK. In that case, I'm on safe ground, because there are so many beautiful places to visit in the UK, and I love to take short breaks around the country.

Living in Yorkshire, I'm within easy reach of places such as Scarborough and Whitby, where I've stayed many times. I also spent the weekend in Chapel St Leonards last year (in search of bee-eaters which were allegedly breeding locally, not that we saw any) and have a break scheduled later in the year to Great Yarmouth, which I'm very much looking forward to as I've never been there. 

Beautiful scenery, beautiful coastline and new wildlife, as well as history galore - what's not to love?

While I'm here, I just have to mention that to go along with my new release "Get Out Of Here" the previous four books in the Rock My World series are now on sale for £0.99:

They're available at https://www.firstforromance.com/series/rock-my-world - please feel free to check them out :)

So how do you feel about staycations?

 

RELEASE DAY - Get Out Of Here

 New release out today!

The fifth book in the Rock My World series - "Get Out Of Here".

She ran away from her life – straight into his arms.

Photography graduate Starla Brower has always regretted not running away from her abusive home when she had the chance, as her older sisters did—especially her sister Electra, who fled with band Torque Converter six months ago. So when she decides to hitchhike away, she’s shocked to find Electra has arranged for the band to pick her up. And when lead singer Valen Lesellane rescues her from a gang of thugs by announcing she’s his fiancée, Starla goes along with it. Why not?

The band’s manager, Mike, is furious at this turn of events and the press attention it receives, but Starla finds Valen’s impulsiveness to be infectious and his touch to be irresistible. Before long she has regained contact with her other sisters and finds herself finally able to be happy, both with Valen and with her family.

But with her parents pursuing her and Mike fiercely against her relationship with Valen, can their unexpected engagement last beyond the bus tour?

Amazon UK: https://tinyurl.com/4nb2yyx6
Amazon US: https://tinyurl.com/4x5h5pdb
Books2Read: https://books2read.com/u/ml6gvA

Villains I'd root for instead of the protagonist

 This topic from Long and Short Reviews was a tough one. I can think of plenty of villains I liked purely because of who played them in the film, but I still wouldn't say I would root for them over the protagonist. Even if they were played by Alan Rickman, who was always amazing at playing villains.

Then I thought of "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen.

The heroine Fanny Price, a painfully good and moralistic girl, is pursued by rakish Henry Crawford while being secretly in love with her equally prim and proper cousin Edmund. We'll bypass the whole cousin-marriage thing for a moment since apparently that was fine at the time. Henry Crawford is charming, entertaining and - most importantly - is very much in love with Fanny Price, despite having misbehaved with women in the past. Edmund, on the other hand, is hopelessly in love with Henry's sister and completely unaware of Fanny's feelings, while also disapproving of basically everything interesting in life. I find it impossible to prefer Edmund over Henry.

Of course, Fanny is an insufferable character, so she probably deserves to end up with her equally annoying cousin. But if I had been her, I would have run off with Henry Crawford any day of the week. 

So which villains would you root for?

Songs that confused me when I was a kid

 When this topic from Long and Short Reviews came up, one particular song immediately came to mind. It wasn't so much a matter of mishearing the lyrics or being confused by the meaning, although I'm sure there were plenty of songs back then that I completely misunderstood. 

No - in this instance, it was the video.

The song was "Twisting By The Pool" by Dire Straits. I didn't know what "twisting" was, so that part went completely over my head. However, when I saw the video on Top of the Pops, I was absolutely terrified. Why? Because the video consisted mainly of synchronised swimmers, upside down, gleefully kicking their legs in the air.

I had never seen synchronised swimming before, so I assumed that if they were upside down in the water and kicking their legs, they had obviously fallen in backwards and were drowning.

I had nightmares about that for a week until I told my dad about it. To be fair to him, he didn't laugh - not in front of me anyway, although he may well have enjoyed telling this to my mum afterwards.

I'm interested to see which songs everyone else will come up with!

A moment I wish I could relive

 When this topic from Long and Short Reviews came up, I immediately thought of three possibilities.

My wedding day was the top one. Everything about it was perfect - not just the groom, although he was definitely the best thing about it.

Then when I graduated from university the first time, which was a blast, although I did regret not having a mortarboard as part of the outfit. 

However, the one I'd like to particularly mention here, given I'm a writer, is the day my debut novel was accepted for publication.

After doing a lot of edits based on the Romantic Novelists' Association's New Writer's Scheme feedback, I had submitted it to seven publishers and received a few rejections, some nicer than others. As my husband and I were about to go out to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant, I happened to check my phone and saw I had an email from Totally Bound, so I opened it.

I can't remember what I said when I saw it had a contract attached, but I think it was something like "Shit!" Possibly not the most relevant thing to say when getting good news of that quality, but I was completely floored. It's a very strange feeling when you've wanted something your whole life and suddenly there it is in front of you.

And then we went out, and we may have had champagne with the meal. Or possibly cava. Let's not overdo it.

So which moment would you relive?

A book trope I wish wouldn't happen in real life

 This topic from Long and Short Reviews immediately jumped out at me, because there's one trope I absolutely hate and which came up again recently when I was reading "Valley of the Dolls".

I don't know if it has an official name, but I've always referred to it as "How dare you be a virgin!"

This one I've seen far too many times in books. Woman has her first time with the hero without mentioning she's a virgin, hero immediately realises this (women always have intact hymens in these things) and throws a fit. She's a virgin? How could she not tell him? Now she's going to have Expectations! Meanwhile the poor woman is lying there having her first time, which is presumably painful enough what with being intact, utterly ruined by this idiot ranting and raving.

Unfortunately I went through a similar experience as a teenager, as I had a boyfriend who was the game-playing sort and who also lived in a horrible part of town where there were lots of teen pregnancies. He informed me that he had had to tell all his friends about my innocence because the concept of a seventeen-year-old virgin was so bizarre that he needed to get their advice. (Seventeen, eh? How shocking.) I honestly don't know if he really hadn't ever met one before or if he was just trying to mess with my head - it was hard to say with him - but given I had friends who were the same age as me and also virgins, I was well aware he was being an idiot.

So which trope do you wish wouldn't happen in real life?