Belated Sunday Six (actually five)

I had listed several ideas for favorite love scenes. Alas, they are on my home computer, which is still boxed up from our move. I could wait until it is unboxed to post this, but who knows when that will be – certainly not the people who haven’t even finished our house yet!

Favorite Love Scenes (in no particular order):

1. One of my favorite love scenes is from Karen Marie Moning’s To Tame a Highland Warrior. In her book, Jillian St. Clair’s parents have gone off and left her under the care of 3 men that they hope will convince her to marry – one of them. The only one in which she is remotely interested is Grimm, who has a wealth of secrets to hide. The book has several romantic moments including Grimm abducting her from the altar when she is to marry another whom she doesn’t really want to marry. However the scene that sticks out in my mind is in the dining hall. She has finally tempted him beyond the point of return during a dinner alone. He’s a bit angry about it. He smashes the great table to get to her. The sex that follows is that kind of sex that rides on desire once carefully and meticulously restrained. Once it’s unleashed, it’s like an all consuming fire. Moning writes hot love scenes, but this one was very primal and need-filled. It was also the first of her loves scenes I read, so maybe that has something to do with it, too.

2. Another favorite love scene is from The Notebook – the movie, not the book. I never read the Nicholas Sparks book. I saw the movie first and loved it so much that I didn’t want to find out if the book was different. The love-making scene is great, but that isn’t the one that sticks with me. Let me set the stage: Allie is engaged. She sees an article in a newspaper about the restoration of an old house, a house that holds special meaning to her, by her soul mate and former love (Noah). She goes back to visit one last time. Before she leaves, he takes her for a canoe ride to a river full of swans. It rains on the way back – on the way back to a life that Allie doesn’t really want. She wants Noah. In the pouring rain of their return, she spins around and asks him why he never wrote. He tells her he wrote everyday for an entire year – all 365 days. (Her mother never gave her the letters.) The look of pain in her eyes when he tells her that and tells her that it’s never been over for him …. It will take your breath away. Their kiss is both tender and hungry, filled remembered passion. It is my favorite part of the movie.

3. Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series has undergone some serious metamorphosis, but that’s a topic for another post. In The Killing Dance, Anita is at war with herself over which man to choose – the self-tortured werewolf, Richard, or the vampire to which she’s bound, Jean Claude. In an interesting turn of events, Anita witnesses Richard do the werewolf thing and can’t handle it. She flees to Jean Claude. Her need and desire for him overpowers her. This is the fifth book in the series and the first time any of the characters make love. The tension that has built between Anita and Jean Claude has swelled to the point that you can feel their desire crashing around them. I love that book. I love that scene.

4. I'd never read Nora Roberts until I read her recent Circle Trilogy. (Yes, it's true.) I liked all three, but the second one (Dance of the Gods) had a scene between two characters that just tingled. The characters sharing the scene weren't the focus couple of the book. Actually, their book was the third book -- Valley of Silence. The characters were Cian and Moira. Cian is a vampire fighting against the other vampires and Moira will be queen of her kingdom. Her people are doubtful of the existance of vampires and she has two captured and then fights one in front of her people. Exhausted, she orders the second released to fight her, but Cian knows she's spent and steps in and kills the vampire. Angered, she chases him as he leaves the arena. When she catches and confronts him, their argument is heated. He was afraid for her but won't say it. Here's an excerpt. He's picked up the sword she threw down and tossed it back to her in order to prove a point -- a point that he didn't even realize yet.

"There, you have a sword. I don't. Stop me."

"I have no intention of --"

"Stop me," he repeated, and moved quickly to give her a little shove back against the wall.

"You won't put your hands on me."

"Stop me." He shoved her again, then simply batted the sword aside.

She slapped him, hard across the face begore he gripped her shoulders, pressed her back against the wall. She felt something that might have been fear, that might have been, as his eyes held her transfixed.

"For God's sake, stop me."

And then, well, you'll have to read it for yourself. Naw, I'll tell you. He kisses her. A hard, hungry, angry kiss that surprises both of them. It may just be a kiss, but what a kiss!

5. I'll make this last one shorter. I'll have to in order to post it today! Top Gun. Great movie. One of my all time favorites. I love the scene where Maverick chases her across town. She's driving like a maniac in her sports car and he is just as crazy on his motorcycle. The scene when she gets out of the car is a heated argument and a crazy, intense kiss.

I don't have the time or the energy to discover 6, so 5 will have to do. However, I did have a little epiphany about what I like in a love scene. But, I'm not telling tonight. Check Random Ravings later in the week for more on this subject.

Later,
Macy