February News: Love, Romance & More!

It’s almost a given that I love February. It’s the month of love and romance – and I write kissing books! Naturally, I love everything that celebrates these two things. I love Valentine’s Day, all the pink and red, the flowers, the heart-shaped balloons, the candy. It’s a time to celebrate love from all relationships in life – even pets. It’s a time that reminds me how lucky I am to have love in my life.

February is also Black History Month, a time to commemorate and celebrate the contributions to our nation made by people of African descent. It’s a time to learn about our nation’s varied and rich history. It’s a time to inspire everyone to believe in and realize the dream of equality for all as we head into the future. In honor of this special time, I’m going to watch Harriet, the movie about heroic abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

This month is also an excellent time to create art. To that end, I’ll be participating in two virtual writing retreats with my CP Bestie this month. Our first retreat is this Saturday. I can't wait! I’ve set my goals. I’ve set my schedule. I’m ready to write lots of words!

BOOKS TO BINGE
If you love the royals as much as I do, then you must read Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the making of a modern royal family. The book is a dishy narrative that pushes back against media attacks while tracing the couple’s connection from their first blind date through their engagement, wedding, and the birth of their son, Archie.

SHOWS TO BINGE
After what felt like the longest wait, the final episodes of Vikings arrived on Amazon Prime Video on December 30th.  I binged all ten episodes in January. I was very satisfied with the ending of this fantastic series. I liked how the character’s concluding storylines highlighted the fact that the world was changing as more Norsemen abandoned the old ways in favor of Christianity. There were so many beautiful moments in the series finale. I was moved to tears several times. It was hard to say goodbye to these beloved characters. While I’m sad the show is over, I’m excited about the new Netflix spin-off series, Vikings: Valhalla, due to air at some point in 2021. Show creator, Michael Hirst, has said that Valhalla, set over 100 years after the events of Vikings, will be connected to the original show, confirming that we will be seeing a lot of the same locations. One can only hope we’ll find out what became of Kattegat.  

Of course I’m super excited about Men in Kilts, airing February 14th on Starz. It’s the perfect, fun-filled buddy travelogue through Scotland, led by my favorite Outlander stars Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish. What hot Scots!