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Screen Kiss

by Ann Roberts

Addy Tornado wishes her love life was as dramatic as her name. A true romantic, Addy lives for the movies and yearns for a mate who is as beautiful, sexy, witty, and as smart as the heroines on the screen. Of course that someone would also have to put up with her OCD about color coordination…

Mazie Midnight has one dream—to finish her Master’s program in music performance. She reinvents herself and moves to the west coast to attend Cammon University, hoping a new name and a new start will be what she needs to face the one barrier keeping her from a degree: terrible stage fright.

Mazie takes a job at the Bijou Theater, Addy’s favorite place in the whole world, and the two clash immediately over Mazie’s re-arrangement of the colorful candies. Mazie meets none of Addy’s expectations in a mate, and Addy sees Mazie as nothing more than an adversary…until Mazie opens her mouth to sing.

Believing the world should hear Mazie, Addy vows to help her overcome her stage fright. But can she see Mazie as someone to love? Will they ever share anything as perfect as a screen kiss?

eBook

$9.99

Paperback

$17.95

In stock

Genre Romance
Length 224 pages
Publication Date February 14, 2019
Publisher Bella Books
ISBN 9781642470338e
Editor Katherine V. Forrest
Cover Designer Judith Fellows

Extras

FROM THE AUTHOR

"Sometimes I walk into a place and it immediately affects me—good or bad. I’ve been known to enter a restaurant, take a whiff, and literally turn on my heel and leave without glancing at the menu. Same is true for clothing stores. Once in a while, though, I’ll walk into a place and the sights, sounds, and smells envelop me. Such was the case the first time my wife and I went to the Bijou Art Cinemas in Eugene, Oregon.

Built in the 1920s, the Bijou was initially a church. Then it became a funeral home. In 1980 it morphed into a theater that was eventually bought by some of the employees. It’s now owned by a kick-ass woman named Julie whose acquisition of the Bijou is a story itself. She was a terrific resource during the writing of Screen Kiss.

The outside still looks like a church built in Spanish-Revival style, and newcomers might easily dismiss it as such, except for the small marquee on the west side that announces shows and show times instead of clever Bible verses.

The moment we stepped inside I knew we’d found a special place. The lobby, once the vestibule of the church, was spacious with vaulted ceilings and large windows. Stuffed sofas and side tables projected the feel of a living room. We purchased our tickets at a small counter and the concessions stand was just big enough for two people to work—and the prices were reasonable! A large popcorn didn’t obliterate our entire entertainment budget for the month. By the time we headed into the ninety-seat theater, I was already thinking of plot ideas and my fictional version of the Bijou.

I was also reminded of the great theaters of my childhood in central Phoenix—the Palms, the Cine Capri, and the Kachina. As a kid growing up in the early ’70s, the multi-screen theaters were still a few years away. We only knew the single-screen cinemas with the large (and sometimes gaudy) lobbies and the enormous screens. Once a week during the summer, my mom would drive my friends and me to the Palms. Armed with an enormous grocery bag full of popcorn for our weekly movie, we’d each buy a large drink at the concessions stand. Then we’d rush down to the front row, slouch down in the chairs and stretch our legs out for two hours of escape. Those days were some of my best memories of childhood. Eventually, all three of those theaters were demolished, the land too valuable to just “show a movie.” The multi-screen theaters arrived and we were all introduced to a new concept: theater-hopping.

You can probably guess that I love the movies. But it’s never been the same in the cookie-cutter movie theaters, especially after the prices increased with the arrival of movie blockbusters. The theaters had lost their charm. Now, my wife and I watch most of our movies from the comfort of our family room in our jammies. We rarely go to a theater except to see a film that will best be enjoyed on a wide screen with the latest audio technology, think Wonder Woman. Or, we’ll go to an indie film that might never make streaming because it’s too low budget.

Yes, we love the reclining seats (and a twelve-foot high Gal Gadot is always a plus), but we hate the screaming babies, whose parents must often bring them along, because the cost of a babysitter can’t be budgeted into the already-exorbitant evening at the cinema. And we can still hear the chatter of teenagers, whose squeaky voices defy the incredibly advanced sound systems.

For me, the movie experience was—is—as much about the place as it is about the film. Fortunately, I’ve found the Bijou. What about you? What are your memories of the movies?"

—Ann Roberts

Customer Reviews

1 review for Screen Kiss – eBook

  1. xwpvoyager

    This will make an exceptional book club choice. Zany antics by a town of eccentric characters. The nuttiest, most off-beat novel I have ever read. Read the first 3 chapters and you will know if this is the book for you. It does settle down in the last few chapters and deals with some real life hard hitting family drama. There is a huge happily ever after for every one except one guy who got every thing he deserved. so it was a HEA for the reader. Addy Tornado and Mazie Midnight, right there gives you an idea of the story path. Addy is a 29 year old who is a loveable and VERY quirky woman with a resume of jobs 9 pages long, currently driving a bus and occasionally in a fugue state where she doesn’t remember how she got from one stop to the other. Mazie is a 41 year old new to the sleepy college town of Wilshire Hills, she is pursuing an advanced degree in the performing arts, the only thing holding her back is her fear of performing, hmmm. The novel has extensive cast of unconventional and very endearing characters that would give Tales of the City a challenge.

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