Characters Just Like Me #LongandShortReviews #BlogChallenge

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

This week's topic: Characters Who Remind Me of Myself and Why

Excluding my own books because I put a lot of myself into my characters, I've read books written by other authors that have resonated with me regarding their main characters. 

The first one that pops into my head is Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn. Oh, if Penelope Featherington isn't me, then I don't know who is! She's a shy wallflower who is considered plain, a bit overweight and has clothes that make her look...blech! She's intelligent, but quiet. No one ever really sees her. She's always in the background, never the center of attention. And trying to withhold certain spoilers, I'll just say that Penelope has a hobby of rather scandalous and witty writings that she keeps secret. I may not keep my writing as secret as Penelope, but Penelope Featherington is just like me! 

If only I found my Mr. Bridgerton like Penelope did! I love this story! It brought me to tears!

Another heroine that I fell in love with was Daphne Pembroke from Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase. She's another bookish heroine (I guess I have a type), who has a secret passion for studying languages and heiroglyphics. When her brother is kidnapped, she has to come out of seclusion to rescue him. So, she finds a man who will provide the brawn while she provides the brains. She's rather strait-laced, no-nonsense, insecure and self-conscious. But she's so much more inside, more than even she knows, and I enjoyed watching her discover this part about herself as well as the journey she makes with Rupert Carsington (who also remains one of my favorite heroes!). Since my pending divorce, I've discovered I'm more than I thought I was, too. Even if no one else can see it.

Stephanie Plum. Ha! I laugh just saying her name. From the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. I don't look like her, I'm sure I'm not as brave as her, but so many parts of her life just mesh with mine that it's impossible to think of characters who remind me of myself without thinking of her. Her family is a lot like my family. Okay, neither of my Nana's were gun-toting grandmas, but if I could combine both of my grandmothers into one, I'd have Grandma Mazur for sure! And Stephanie's luck seems to be about the same as mine. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. She sort of stumbles through life, doing the best she can and helping others along the way. She's always trying to get her bills paid with little income and no food ever seems to be in her kitchen. She's got some crazy and outlandish friends (you know who you are!) and her love life is always a mess. Yep, sounds a bit like me. Okay, so I don't have a Ranger and Joe Morelli do deal with (oh, if only!), but the rest feels spot on. I often feel if anyone did a movie of my life it would be a drama/comedy. What is that called these days? A dramedy?

Elinor Dashwood from Sense & Sensibility and Anne Elliot from Persuasion by Jane Austen. These two women pulled me into their stories like none other! They both were devoted to their families and had to be the responsible ones, taking care of everyone including their parents. They both were also taken for granted, expected to give up their dreams for the sake of caring for their families and the responsibilities forced upon them. Both had financial strains that left them destitute. 

They're both quiet, keenly intelligent, and often overlooked, being outshone by their prettier and more outgoing siblings. Both of their stories made me cry, especially when they both found their happily-ever-afters! They both deserved that incredible happiness!

When it comes to movies, the character who reminds me of myself is Evelyn Carnahan from The Mummy, starring Brenden Fraser and Rachel Weisz. She's another intelligent, bookish heroine who is quite comfortable with her life in a library studying ancient texts and languages. Being without parents, its come to her to take care of her brother, even with him old enough to take care of himself, she has a sense of honor, duty and family loyalty. She's also passionate and yearns for adventure. Although, she stumbles along and makes plenty of mistakes, often getting her into more trouble, but she has the bravery to keep going forward and at the end saves the day. I'm hoping to save the day one day, too. And find my own Rick O'Connell!

One more movie, then I'm done. Bad Moms. Oh, there's so much about this movie that resonated with me! I fall into a blend between the characters of Amy and Kiki. To the outside world, I had the illusion of a perfect life. A wonderful husband, nice house, great kids. But inside, my world was complete chaos. I was overworked, underappreciated and considered myself a married single mom since I had no support from my husband with raising our kids. With all the activities and responsibilities and being a caretaker for everyone, but having no one to take care of me, I'd often find myself sitting in my minivan after dropping my kids off at school, in my driveway where no one could see me and just sob until I had no more tears left. If you haven't watched this movie and you're a parent, I highly recommend it. It's hilarious and touching. Now, I haven't gone to the extreme as these moms have, I can't say that I haven't thought about it. But my life has gotten amazingly better since my husband left and I don't cry in the driveway anymore! I wrote a blog post that you can read here because this movie hit me so profoundly. Right in the feels! 

Phew! I know this was a lot and if you hung around to the end, you're my hero! This was fun and surprisingly therapeutic to write and gave me an insight into myself that I didn't think about before, so I want to thank Long and Short Reviews for suggesting this topic!

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Beth-Ann Miller returns to her Tennessee mountain home to find chaos erupting between her family and their shape-shifting neighbors. Her father is convinced the were-cougar clan is responsible for the murders occurring in their area and interrogates one of the shifters, Boone Evans, her childhood sweetheart. When Boone declares several members of his shifter family have gone missing including his little brother, Beth-Ann suspects someone else is behind both the murders and abductions.

Boone never expected to see Beth-Ann again. When she frees him from her father's cabin and promises to help find his brother, Boone doesn't plan on rekindling their passionate love affair or facing the pain of past mistakes. Nor does he plan on coming face to face with the man responsible for altering his family's life forever.

With men hunting the were-cougars, can Beth-Ann and Boone risk all to have a future together? Or is loving Boone too high a price to pay? 

AMAZON