by Snoopy

You know, I'm amazed I never read this whole book before. I've seen a lot of the individual cartoons in newspaper comic sections over the years, but it never occurred to me to get the collection. It was going used for a penny so how could I resist when I saw the category for a Dark and Stormy Night on Halloween Bingo!

I think this should be required reading for all wannabe writers. Not only is it a great collection of classic Snoopy cartoons, but it highlights some of the inner thoughts of the writer within many of us.

Highly recommended!

This one might be slow going. When I saw the bingo square for "It was a dark and stormy night," I decided to do some research regarding that particular little intro. I found that it was first used in the book Paul Clifford, a novel published in 1830 by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton. According to wiki, it tells the life of Paul Clifford, a man who leads a dual life as both a criminal and an upscale gentleman. The book was successful upon its release. It is the source of the famous opening phrase "It was a dark and stormy night;..."

I am only a little ways in but it isn't catching my attention at all. I am determined to stick with it.

Amazon has the download for free here: Paul Clifford Ebook

Today's topic is "it was a dark and stormy night," which strangely ended up being one of the more difficult squares to fill!

OBSIDIAN BLACK DEATH

Oh this was tough. Who knew that we would have to bang our heads repeatedly to get "it was a dark and stormy night." I actually like this square because it took me a lot of digging to find some books that fit this square.

1. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. I chose this book to complete this square. The main plot of this book reminds me a bit of "Death on the Nile" by Agatha Christie. The book synopsis says: "In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard." I hope that we get a dark and stormy night. It sounds like it. If not, I am swapping it out for another book though.

2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle. I personally love this book. It definitely hits on some other squares too such as "Set in New England" and I would even push this one towards the "Magical Realism" square too though it is mostly counted as science fiction.

3. Acceptable Risk by Robin Cook. This meets a lot of squares. It takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, there is reference to the Salem Witch trials, the final climax of the book takes place during a dark and stormy night. In fact I think there were a couple. I read this book when I was a teen and really enjoyed it.

MOONLIGHT MURDER

1. Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson. So, I've talked a lot about We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House, but I want to mention Hangsaman here. This is a very different sort of a book - it is shelved on GR as horror and gothic. There is a section in the book where the main character ends up wandering around a forest at night, which I remember as also being in the middle of a storm, although maybe it was just a storm inside of her own head! Anyway, I think it would qualify!

2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. There are whole sections of this book that take place during dark and stormy nights, most particularly the ghostly appearance of Catherine at the window of the narrator. In my head, I pretty much set all Victorian era gothics in the middle of dark and stormy nights any way!

3. A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth Bunce. I actually just re-read this book. It is a very well done retelling of Rumplestiltskin, and the climax of the book - the reckoning, so to speak - happens during one wild, storm-ridden night.

I'm planning on reading The Hounds of the Baskervilles for this box, because I vaguely remember that there's an event that happens during a stormy night on the moors. If it turns out I'm wrong about that, I'll find something else to read!

Other posts in the series:

Magical Realism

Supernatural

Locked Room Mystery

Mystery

Diverse Authors

Fall Into A Good Book

I work for a company that produces academic content, so we have a pretty substantial reference library. They just announced that they are clearing out their unused and out-of-date materials, so I picked up a nice hefty stack of FREE BOOKS! I focused on grabbing as much poetry as I could, since it is something I've been meaning to tackle a lot more.

Nothing like a little (or big) natural disaster to bring out the romance. Well, in the case of hurricanes you are likely to dine by candlelight. 

Here are some wonderful Romance Novels featuring Hurricanes, Typhoons and Tropical Storms. 

My lists are never in any particular order. 

1.  The Theory of Attraction by Delphine Dryden $2.99 

Camilla can set her watch by her hunky rocket-scientist neighbor who jogs past her window each day. She relishes each glimpse of his shirtless abs, and is dying to see more. But it's hard to connect with a man who doesn't seem to know she exists...

Ivan feels at home in the lab, not in social situations. When he finally approaches his attractive neighbor, it's not for a date—he wants tutoring in how to behave at an important fundraiser. Ivan doesn't expect the chemistry between them to be quite so explosive, and is surprised when Cami actually accepts his proposal to embark on a series of "lessons."

Cami soon discovers Ivan's schedule isn't the only thing he likes to be strict about—he needs to be charge in the bedroom as well. She's shocked at how much she comes to enjoy her submissive side, but wonders if a real relationship is in the equation...

2. Roman Holiday: The Complete Adventure by Ruthie Knox

Ashley Bowman has always been impetuous, but even she is a little shocked when she chains herself to a palm tree in the Florida Keys hours before a hurricane is due to blow in. It’s all with the hope of saving her childhood home from a heartless Miami developer. But the moment she meets Roman Díaz she realizes he does have a heart—it’s just encased in ice. Ashley’s determined to get Roman to crack . . . even if she has to drag him all over the eastern seaboard to do it.
 
Roman can hardly believe he’s been talked into driving across the country with this brazen wild child in a skimpy bikini. He tells himself he had no choice—Ashley insists he meets the elderly snowbirds whose community will be displaced by his career-making development deal. But in truth he knows that there’s something about Ashley that makes him want to get a little wild himself . . . and the closer they get, the more tempted he becomes.
 

3. Forecast by Jane Tara

The Shakespeare women were what the locals of Greenwich Village called "gifted."

They did tarot readings and cast spells from their infamous shop Second Site. And each morning, Rowie would perform her popular weather prediction on the pavement outside.

Sure, Rowie's predictions were helpful for forecasting the weather, but when it came to love, her abilities were more like a curse. Why bother dating a guy if you knew at the first kiss he was destined for someone else? And how would she ever meet anyone while she was stuck working at the family shop?

Rowie was resigned to never finding love. Until Drew Henderson, New York's hottest weatherman is injured and the network decides to replace him with a gimmick—the Psychic Weatherwoman.

The very scientific Drew is furious. The witch might light up the TV screen. But how dare the network make a mockery of meteorology.

Now Rowie's overbearing grandmother Gwendolyn won't talk to her. Sixteen generations of Shakespeare women have worked in the family business. How dare she make a mockery of her gift.

But Rowie loves her new job, and won't let anyone ruin it. Until the day Drew Henderson kisses her, and she can't predict his future. In fact she can't predict anything.

4. Hurricane Hannah by Sue Civil-Brown

Her plan?
Ferry a client's plane to Aruba, play a little poker, get some sun…

Not in her plan? An emergency landing on a volcanic island full of lunatics, an approaching hurricane, a dashingly annoying airstrip owner named Buck Shanahan (who seems as fond of poker as she is) and a lonely, lovesick alligator called Buster…

Sassy redheaded pilot Hannah Lamont has no time for back-island bumpkins like Buck and his buddies—until the hurricane bears down, grounding her on tiny Treasure Island. Treasure, ha! Aside from a couple of ratty tiki huts, all this flyspeck can boast is a casino—and it's right in the path of the storm. But as Hannah throws her chips in with Buck and the islanders to save the place, the stakes may be higher than she dreamed…and winning brings rewards she never expected.

5. Hot Intent by Cindy Dees

Katie McCloud just wants to be a mom to Dawn and girlfriend to Dr. Alex Peters. But the violent unrest that brought them all together is once again erupting into their lives. Sent to Cuba to help care for hurricane victims, Katie and Alex are thrust back into the thick of international espionage—this time, on opposite sides. 

Katie thought she'd made peace with the secrets locked tight behind Alex's handsome, brooding facade. Back in hostile territory, though, those secrets threaten the very bond that holds them together. And Alex? He's finding out that what he holds most precious—Katie and tiny Dawn—is making him way too vulnerable. He's going to have to make a choice…soon

6. After the Storm by Amy Knupp

With a hurricane heading for the Texas coast, Nadia Hamlin needs to evacuate. Now. Before she can leave, however, there's one more thing she has to do—despite the risk. But that delay lands her trapped in her car in the middle of the storm. Fortunately, firefighter Penn Griffin arrives. Unfortunately, her good-looking rescuer suffers a career-ending injury in the process.

The only way Nadia can think to make amends is to help Penn get back on his feet. Even if he doesn't want anything to do with her, she won't give up. Her determination has an unexpected impact. Because soon he can't seem to get enough of her.

7. Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson

As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ's boss and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond.

Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just dangerous flood waters.

While winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged, the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld crumbled. Now, the undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties to voodoo is murdering the soldiers sent to help the city recover.

To make it worse, Gerry has gone missing, the wizards’ Elders have assigned a grenade-toting assassin as DJ’s new partner, and undead pirate Jean Lafitte wants to make her walk his plank. The search for Gerry and for the serial killer turns personal when DJ learns the hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice, allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love creates one bitter gumbo.

8. A Stranger's Gift by Anna Schmidt

On the heels of a horrific hurricane, Hester Detlef, field director for the Mennonite Disaster Service, blows into the life of self-made, shunned Amish man John Hafner. Will she find a way through his shield and into his heart? Although the hurricane has left John homeless and badly injured, the last thing he wants is some do-gooder Mennonite woman intruding in his life. Will his impatience with her intention of restoring his faith and property keep him from accepting this beguiling stranger’s kindness?

9. One Night in Santiago by Audra North 99 cents! 

Lily Stanton's vacation goes from bad to worse when a storm strands her in a foreign country, arguing with an arrogant—and very sexy—stranger over the last available hotel room.

Successful CEO Bruno Komarov wasn't expecting the gorgeous woman checking in at the reception desk to challenge him over a room. Even more surprising, he actually enjoys their exchange.

But when Lily proposes a compromise—she'll take the bed and he can sleep on the couch—Bruno pushes his attraction aside and assures himself that this can remain strictly business. After all, they're both adults capable of keeping their hands to themselves. They'll share the room, get a good night's sleep, and be off to their respective destinations in the morning.

What could possibly happen in just one night?

10. A Dark and Stormy Night by Anne Stuart

The man had secrets…

Blindsided by a hurricane, Katie Flynn was seeking shelter from the storm—but all she found was a moody, broody recluse named O'Neal. Trapped with him in his house on a windswept cliff overlooking the wildly tossed sea, Katie tried to fight the feelings O'Neal awakened in her—both of sensuality and fear. She began to suspect that something haunted the tall, gray-eyed man's domain, something more than the wicked servants or family ghosts… something strange that only O'Neal himself could reveal.

Did I miss your favorite? Let me know!

To vote for the best of the best, go to my Goodreads list: Blow Me Down: Hurricanes in Romance Novels.