After the signing at Turn the Page Bookstore, where the people are awesome and the diet Pepsi is DAMN cold, I asked each author to sign a book of their choice for a giveaway on this here hot pink page of Bitchery madness. I carried that giant pile to the cash register and managed not to drop any, then I carefully packed them in the trunk of the car and drove them home, where they are now hidden in the china cabinet of my house, where toddlers and cats fear to tread. Seriously, signed books? OMG. SO precious.
I mentioned on Twitter that I’d be giving away the Hella Pile Sequestered in My China Cabinet, and it’s time to rock and roll. Thanks to @YoungLibrarian on Twitter, I have a quest for you folks who would like this Hella Pile of Sequestered Books. You know the Inn Boonsboro has rooms named for famous romantic couples, right? Your task, should you like to win the pile of books, is to come up with an additional room for the Inn. It has to be a romantic couple, even one from a romance novel you adore, and it has to be a couple that has a happy ending. No tragic deaths or wasting away from a massive head cold or some shit like that. Happy endings, yo. Extra awesome points for those who mention the decor or decorating theme of the room based on the couple they choose. Could be a color scheme or a piece of furniture, but get funky, folks.
You have 24 hours starting now, so leave your room/couple suggestions and any decorating ideas in the comments. Winner will be selected from the comments and will receive the following pile of signed books – every one of which is new and signed by the author. So get busy with your romantic inclinations.
ETA: Nora Roberts has also added to the pile of signed books! She’s going to send me a signed Advanced Reader Copy of her upcoming July hardcover, Black Hills, which features a childhood-friends-to-lovers relationship (paging Jane, party of one, your favorite trope is ready) between a wildlife biologist in South Dakota and a New York City investigator who moves to the Black Hills. This brings the total book count to fifteen – yay!
If we’re talking old-school movie couples, I have to go with Peter (Clark Gable) and Ellie (Claudette Colbert) from It Happened One Night, quite possibly the best romantic comedy ever made. The decor is simple—two twin beds with the Wall of Jericho down the middle, plus one of those things that makes two twin beds into a king when the Wall comes tumblin’ down. Trumpet optional.
The Rachel and Houston Room from Dinah McCall’s Touchstone. The room would have a very simple, rustic look. Brass bad with a wedding ring quilt done in shades of blue and light green, and two tables and a dresser hand carved out of oak (for strength). Hard wood floors with light colored floral patterns to protect them, and a quilt stand in the corner. The bathroom would be very old school…low lighting, claw foot tub with no shower, pedestal sink with a small oval mirror.
If the room has a view, though, I think it’s pretty obvious that it will have to be the
George & Lucy Room (E.M Forster’s A Room With A View).
It should be light and airy and anything adding a touch of Italy would be a good idea. And Oh Mio Bambino Caro would most likely be playing in the background at some point. I suppose a barley field wouldn’t fit?
ARGH! Too many comments! Cannot read them all just now to see if somebody else already suggested it, so forgive me if I’m repeating someone.
Samuel & Leda from Kinsale’s Shadow & the Star. With a sleek and delectable combination of Victorian and Japanese decorating. Green & pink, with cherry blossoms? Decorating’s not my strong point, sorry.
But I do want ALL those books, which is unusual for me lately. Hormones or something, but books just are mostly disappointment me over the past month or so. Or maybe I just need to get my taxes done…
Yay! I skimmed through all the couples and didn’t see Valancy and Barney from The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery. Their room would be a peaceful room that has huge windows overlooking the water. The bathroom medicine cabinet would have a secret stash of Redfern’s Bitters. There would be a door that opens onto a mysterious room-a library full of John Foster’s nature books.
If that couple is not very widely known, you could always have an Anne and Gilbert Blythe room. 😉
It may be corny, but I have to suggest the following: The Mary and George Bailey room, from “It’s a Wonderful Life”. After all, Mary told George she’d love him till the day she died.
The room would have a big, comfortable iron bed with simple bedding—after all, they were rich in love, weren’t they? A copy of “Huckleberry Finn” would be on the nightstand. “George Lassos the Moon” would be on the wall. Every day would be Christmas with a decorated tree, complete with the bell to ring so another angel gets his wings.
It’s my favorite movie. Plus, I looked for a guy just like George Bailey. Then I married him.
-S
Addition to my previous suggestion (Robin and Maid Marian)—you could paint stars on the ceiling…
Also, if no one’s said it yet: Gilbert and Anne room, from Anne of Green Gables
Min and Cal from Bet Me! Lots of pictures of shoes and food and a gorgeous comforter.
Or maybe Davy and Tilda from Faking It with walls painted like a jungle with sunflowers, like Tilda’s room at the end of the book.
How about Janet and Tam Lin? You would get to decorate it in old English/Scottish style, with fairies peeking out in places, and mix in some motifs of transformations and lions, snakes, thorns, and other manner of beasts. Then suit it up just a bit extra for expectant mothers, with proper pillows and some baby name and advice books. You could really pick which version of the story you liked best, although my favorite is The Perilous Gard.
Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler Room
Technically theirs isn’t a happy ending but it does end on a hopeful note. This would be an awesome room to decorate! Over the top decor and a huge fourposter bed would be the highlights and of course you can’t forget the lush green velvet curtains. Maybe even some swords on the wall to add to the civil war feel.
Miles and Ekaterin from A Civil Campaign!! A lover of romance who hasn’t yet the proposal and acceptance scene is sadly deprived – but also har a real treat in store 😀
As for decoration – brown and silver are the Vorkosigan colors, so they must be featured. And in addition: Glorious Butterbugs!!!! Or *sigh* if you must have an alternative – fireflies.
My dream would be to stay in an Emerson Bedroom, Professor and Mrs. Radcliffe Emerson to be precise, hero and heroine of the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters.
Room should come complete with marble bust of famous philosopher to throw ink pens at, several shirts on the floor, another shirt (ruined!), a tiny bottle of black hair dye NOT labeled black hair dye, desk on which to make lists of murderous suspects, many Egyptian artifacts (real, natch), a sword parasol, whiskey (for medicinal purposes), laudanum (to knock out inconvenient people), and Amelia’s famous belt of helpful instruments. Costumed mummy to break in during the night, optional.
Kimberely, it was my first thought, because The Blue Castle is my very favorite book in the world. But I am glad I left it for you!
I’d stay in a Shrek & Fiona room. The bed would be huge with poofy covers. It would have dark wooded furniture, a huge fireplace, dark woodsy (swampy) drapes and carpets and stuff. It would have lots of plants, and the bathroom woud be over the top fit for a princess.
I’d love to feel like a princess for just a little while, and my guy would feel right at home in a cleaned up version of a swamp/forest.
Eowyn and Faramir from The Lord of the Rings – After pining away for a man she can never have, Eowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, kills one of the most terrifying monsters in the land and realizes she that she is a kickass heroin in her own right, not to be identified by the men around her. Only then does the White Lady of Rohan find the man for her in Faramir, son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor. Brave and loyal Faramir, tested by the Ring, finds his reward not in his father or brother’s approval, but in a woman strong enough to be his partner.
The ample four postered bed is made of white wood, with stylized horses carved into both head and foot boards, and each post is carved with leaves and flowers to symbolize the White Tree. A dark blue starry mantle (which Faramir gave Eowyn when he declared his love) serves as comforter, and the room is painted in warm colours evocative of wild plains on which horses can be seen running.
*heroine. Damn.
ok one more (I think)
The Madeleine and Orry Room: this is from the tv miniseries north and south with Patrick Swayze (not the richard armitage one). it would be very antebellum south with lace and a large bed and stained glass windows reminiscent on the abandoned church. sumptuous with dark panelling and oriental rugs.
*said79* I’ve already said 79 things so I should stop commenting now.
Daemon Sadi and Janelle Angeline from Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels trilogy!
Colors: Black, black and black. (What else? Well, if you must, maybe a few touches of blood red and gold, just to bring out the blackness of the room)
A very large four-poster bed in the middle of the room, with a bedcovering delicately patterned with spiderwebs, and delicate, black bedcurtains made of a lacy material in spiderweb patterns.
And always a bottle of blood-red wine and two glasses available.
Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, from a whole series of Agatha Christies. Decorated a la 1930s Noire, with sheik modern flapper details!
I love them.
What about Cinderella and Prince Charming? You’d have to pick an era, as she’s been portrayed in so many, but a decent medieval (French) style would be lovely, with velvet hangings on the beds and tapestries on the walls. Depending on the version you go for, glass slippers are optional. Or, same era, but with fewer trademark infringements, Rapunzel and her prince.
Or a fifties themed room with Lucy and Ricky, complete with a massive cabinet tv like my grandparents still have (with a built-in record player) and similar decor. Of course, the twin beds might be a bit of a stumbling block, but it’s worth considering. Maybe go the fifties route, but use Danny and Sandy from Grease. Or Rizzo and Kenickie – but the bed would have to be a stylized back seat of a car.
Ive got two, since someone already picked Sadi and Janelle
Im going to go with Chaz and Sully from gaberial’s ghost, Lillian sinclair.
Im thinking modern and old school mixed, chrome silver, Cruise ship style large oak dresser and desk. with a telescope to see Chaz’s poor little P40.
and my other one is Dante and Jafe from Lilli Saintcrow’s series.
I just see large and luxirus for everything. Oversized pillows and beds. with Fresh Fruit, bread and cheese tray.. Just a luxury that Dante never got.
~M~
I know it isn’t really a romance, but I’m going with Cimorene and Mendanbar from Searching for Dragons. I know they eventually spend several years apart as Daystar grows up, but they get together again once the spell’s undone!
And the room should have stone walls, like the castle, and green tones to echo the Enchanted Forest. And a rug with pink teddy bears. And a gargoyle in the corner.
Or, not in a book (well, technically in a comic book now), Zoey and Wash from Firefly. They were so mismatched and so wonderful together. And Joss has said that they were the only couple he would never break up. I assume their room would look something like the glimpses of their room on Serenity.
Loved the books and the suggestions. I am thrilled to see other fans of An Old Fashioned Girl, an old favorite. Devil’s Cub is a favorite book so I am thrilled to see it represented. So is the Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. Also, Katherine by anya Seton was so romantic.
My own suggestion is Winter and Alex from Shadows of the Moon by M.M. Kaye
I want a Samwise Gamgee and Rosie Cotton suite. It would look like Peter Jackson’s Bag End set in LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring where Bilbo and then Frodo lived. (In the books Samwise inherits it and lives Happily Ever After with Rosie.)
To the Classical suggestions (Cupid & Psyche, Persephone & Hades), I would add Daphnis & Chloe, one of the oldest romance novels around. The story has an idyllic, pastoral setting, but there are also abductions by pirates, and the god Eros plays a major role. I see lots of Greek statuary, particularly of shepherds and shepherdesses, like the main characters.
What about a Wesley and Buttercup room? But I suggest leaving out the Rodents of Unusual Size!
I might be breaking the rules here, since this is from a series that isn’t actually finished yet – but I’ll still go with Cassie and Pritkin (Karen Chance), because I just finished the latest installment, and I’m seriously rooting for Pritkin.
Melanie Monroe & Jack Sheridan from Robyn Carr’s Virgin River.
It would be a very rustic room (think Jack’s Bar) with a riverstone fireplace, but would have all the personal comforts you would expect in an inn.
I vote for Lady & The Tramp. I think it’s a perfect foil to to the rest of the rooms.
A Sunshine and Constantine kitchen, from Robin McKinley’s Sunshine, with loads and loads of counters and storage space and a huge baking oven—windows on three sides and enough room for them to be together the whole time.
A Melanthe and Ruk bedroom, with a giant dragon mural and green dragonflies on pale linen. Should have a nice desk for business, and drapes on the bed. Also, a falcon post.
The Tracy and Hepburn room.
The decor possibilities are endless. You could to old Hollywood glam or anything from their movies. An African Queen room with a 4 poster bed draped with gauzy mosquito netting.
I see someone already said Howl and Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle, but honestly, I wouldn’t want to live in their house. It would be a little chaotic. I was thinking of another pair of Diana Wynne Jones characters: Christopher and Millie Chant. The walls would be made of stone, since they live in Chrestomanci Castle, and there would probably be a huge fireplace and a four-poster canopy bed. To be honest that’s about as far as my imagination goes – I had a better idea percolating for Miles and Ekaterin, but someone beat me to it. I also want to second whoever said Dag and Fawn.
I love reading these!
My suggestion is a Buttercup and Wesley room, with the main feature being a huge and wonderful bed (the bed in my mind is Min’s from Bet Me—intricate brass with lavender/blue silky fabric bedspread, although in my mind I see it as a duvet cover so you have the fluffiness to fall back on) and a sign on the wall, saying “As You Wish…” with many toys in the nighstands so it can be any way the occupants wish.
I pick Esmond and Leila from Captives of the Night by Loretta Chase. The room will be decorated with much silk and pillows to get the effect of a harem.
I didn’t have time to read all these great suggestions, so if mine mirrors somone else’s I’m sorry!
There are SO many to choose from! The one that popped at first was-
The Merlin & Ransom Suite: Picture the room decorated in a shabby-chic/romantic style. Soft woods and iron scroll-work. Some simple ruffles on the bed and windows-earth tones for her (wild country estate) and iron for his more traditional estate…Wallpaper in sepia or earth tones, with images of fantastic inventions, flying machine blue prints and old world globes. The bathroom should be done in wood and copper, with a big huge copper tub for two. And of course a stuffed hedghog! It should be on the ground floor, since Ransom’s affraid of heights…
If no one’s said this before – an Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins room from the movie My Fair Lady (please disregard Pygmalion since we’re doing the happy endings thing) …
The room could have tons of flowers in flower baskets, lots of wood panelling and that recording equipment from the movie that Eliza talks into.
Okay…my choice is going to be a Phedre and Jocelin from Kushiel’s series by Jaqueline Carey. The rooms would be done in sangoire (deepest red alls) with a dark wood bed that has spindles (all the better to tie you with). The bed would also (every night) be covered with white sheets and long stemed heavily scented red roses that still have the thorns on them.
If you have not read this set I suggest running to your nearest book store and picking them up. High fantasy/alternate history at its best…and an impossible star crossed love that you never think will ork out but does…
I thought of another one….how about the Burns and Allen room honoring George Burns and Gracie Allen? Theirs was a true-life love story that endured the test of time and pressures of Hollywood. When he died at age 100, George was buried with Gracie and had her headstone changed to “Gracie Allen & George Burns—Together Again.” He wanted her to have top billing. The decor could be anything vaudvillian or include some of their show memorabilia.
Holy cow there are a lot of ideas here. As I was scanning through I saw Min & Cal, my first pick, Shane & Agnes, my second pick, Ranger & Stephanie, didn’t think of them until I saw them and a couple of picks from SEP. SO, I went a different direction.
Annie Graves & Tom Booker from The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans The room would be decorated with oak furniture and a large handmade quilt would cover the bed. Pictures of horses and Montana views would adorn the walls, while magazine racks filled with New York publications and a state of the art computer sat in a corner on a small dining room type table with a dining room chair.
Jamie and Elizabeth from Lynn Kurland’s A Dance through Time. The room style would be (comfortably updated) 13th century Scottish castle.
Wow this is a great contest. Best of luck to all.
Now me I am a nut for a good paranormal romance. At the moment I am reading Katie MacAlister’s Aisling Grey Series. A great romance with a realistic tension between Aisling and Drake. Since Drake is a wyvern of the green dragon sept the colors of the room must be green. (You know dragons, they take everything so literal.) I was thinking lush emerald green covers over darker green sheets on a mahogany sleigh bed. Soft golden walls with a crisp white molding.