Dear Darling: the Romance of Letters & Messages
There's nothing more intimate than a letter, card, text or message written for your eyes only. The epistolary novel has been popular for centuries, and romantic stories using this device can feel like the best kind of eavesdropping.
https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com
Movies/TV Shows
The script for Love & Friendship takes Jane Austen's epistolary novel Lady Susan to new heights. I always call this director "Will Stillman" but it's Whit.
84 Charing Cross Road will always have a special place in my heart. The book and movie are delightful.
Daddy Long Legs has it all: So playful and Parisian! The costumes! The music! Slightly inappropriate with the age-difference trope!
Kevin Bacon plays the titular character in I Love Dick and the whole thing is a visually fascinating, messy, complicated look at desire.
I find most Hallmark movies insipid, but the lead actors' chemistry, locations and script for Her Pen Pal made it super enjoyable.
Books
You can read Lady Susan by Jane Austen on Project Gutenberg.
I cried multiple times while reading the romance-novel-in-text Way Down Deep. The ending felt a bit rushed to me, but it's an HFN and the characters are beautifully fleshed out despite learning about them in short messages. Their emotional journeys are unbelievably compelling.
From the smart banter and hilarious plot, to the funny heroine and gorgeous grumpy hero, The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call Girl is one of the best romances I've read this year. Can't wait to read the whole series.
In Flashed, a former male model and party boy gets in a near-fatal accident and hides away at his secluded ranch. He reluctantly hires a local art student as his live-in cook and housekeeper with one rule--she’s not allowed to see him. So she resorts to texting him.
Stay is about an exclusive virtual assistant service that promises its VIP clients anonymity--until the owner figures out that the customer sending her mildly flirty texts requiring her attention at all hours is a hot hockey superstar.
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