Latest news with #author
CTV News
19 hours ago
- CTV News
New book on 1977 gay bar raid in Montreal
The 1977 police raid at Montreal gay bar Truxx was a turning point for LGBTQ2S+ rights in Quebec and Canada. Local author Ben Ladouceur has penned a new book inspired by the raid.
New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Jasmine Guillory's Favorite Fake Dating Romance Novels
Fake dating was one of the first romance novel tropes I fell in love with — so much so that I've included it in two of my own books (my first, 'The Wedding Date,' and again in 'While We Were Dating'). The premise is admittedly a bit ridiculous. Is there a good, genuine reason two people would pretend they're in a relationship? In most cases, no (but a great writer can make me buy it). Does it have much basis in reality? Probably not — unless there are people pretending to date all around us and we're none the wiser! But this trope has always resonated with me in part because human beings are so bad at communication — especially when a repeated, difficult conversation is involved ('When is it going to be your turn?' is a question every unmarried bridesmaid has fielded multiple times) — and because I've always loved playing pretend. As a romantic plot device, fake dating enables you to quickly delve into the psyches of the main characters. From the jump, we find out what matters to them, how they want to be perceived, what they're afraid of and what their friends and family think of them. Everyone in my immediate family besides me is a psychologist, so of course this is what I care about the most when it comes to romance novels — both as a reader and as a writer. The best fake dating novels are funny, joyful and deeply romantic, and delve into all of the ways it's difficult and wonderful to be a human being. Here are some of my favorites. (I'm on the record already as loving several of them, which I have blurbed or recommended on NBC's 'Today' show, but my love remains undimmed.) Act Like It Set on London's West End, 'Act Like It' pairs Lainie, a charming rising star, with Richard, the theater world's jaded bad boy. They reluctantly agree to fake a relationship at the suggestion of management, who are hoping to boost ticket sales for their new show, rehabilitate Richard's public image and help Lainie regain her mojo after being publicly cheated on by her co-star ex-boyfriend. Despite (or maybe because of) their initial dislike for each other, the two have immediate chemistry, but the actual romance develops slowly and believably, with a deeply satisfying climax. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Irish Times
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Times
I'm smack bang in middle age without any property, ageing knees and a scant pension portfolio
About once a month I set the parameters on my favourite property apps to 'maximum €100,000' and 'all of Ireland' and set off on a mildly hopeful but largely depressing scroll. Through various means – significant savings built up during the peak of my recent success as an author, some family help, and maybe a credit union loan – I figure I could buy a home outright for a hundred grand. Isn't that the dream, to be mortgage- and rent-free? It is for me, a minimally attractive mortgage candidate smack bang in middle age without any property to my name, ageing knees and organs, and a pension portfolio so scant that my accountant once asked me with his eyes closed what age I was planning to retire at. The sub-100k properties for sale around Ireland right now have several things in common. A huge number of them feature what I like to call 'the aul lad chair'. It's a high-backed fireside armchair upholstered in dusty pink or pale green velvet, or maybe a busy floral brocade. It has seen much, much better days. The arms are dirty or well-worn, the seat is sagging, and there's a definite indentation where the aul lad used to rest his weary head. The aul lad chair is almost always situated beside a vintage Aga, the type that would sell for seven grand in its reconditioned state but has already been lost to rust and disuse. Atop the Aga there might be an ancient enamel saucepan and above it a sacred heart lamp. Above the aul lad chair and indeed evident and encroaching every room in the house is the real reason the property is so 'cheap', the sinister presence of damp and black mould . Even the listings where only the corners of the rooms seem affected and my heart jumps at the prospect of a house that might be immediately habitable, the blurb always features the damning phrase, 'requires extensive renovation'. A closer inspection usually reveals a juvenile oak tree growing out of the roof and a life-threatening electrical situation. These houses depress me for several reasons. I mourn their previous inhabitants, especially the properties where more glimpses of their lives are evident – blankets on beds, newspapers scattered on floors, personal hygiene items in frigid, burgundy bathrooms. That they've fallen into such disrepair is shameful, yet understandable. They're usually rural and remote, and probably needed renovation and modernisation while their final occupants were still alive. Grieving or absent families aren't in a position to maintain these houses, and vacancy sounds a speedy death knell. READ MORE I wish I had it in me to buy a crumbling cottage for eighty grand and renovate it beautifully, but I don't. It's hard enough to pin down a tradesperson in Dublin, imagine trying to do so in rural Roscommon or Longford, which is where many of these properties are. On the rare occasion when there is a somewhat turnkey house advertised it's usually prohibitively remote. The listing will try to sell it as an 'attractive potential holiday home or investment property', compounding one of the reasons we're in this crisis in the first place. [ Mark O'Connell: The housing crisis could erode Ireland's middle class to a point of collapse Opens in new window ] Grappling with the sums of money bandied about on the housing market is difficult to grasp. Day after day I see properties for sale for two, three, four million and I wonder who the people with that kind of budget are. One-hundred thousand euro is at once an unimaginable amount of money and a meaningless sum. Imagine all I could do with it, and yet it is a drop in the ocean of house prices. A friend who bought her house a few years ago maintains that after a certain point, the numbers become empty. You become so desperate that an extra 10, 20, 50 thousand seems acceptable debt to take on. You're going to be paying it off for the next 30 years anyway. I have a couple of friends at the bidding stage of their home-buying journeys and the tactics and greed of both estate agents and sellers are truly sickening. Bid deadlines mean nothing as long as someone is still coughing up. Modest, former council houses are pushing seven and eight hundred grand. I'm now faced with paying a sickening amount for a one-bed apartment in a Dublin suburb to stay relatively close to my friends and community or move several counties away for a little more space but a lonely existence. And with more than 15,000 people homeless in our country, I'm lucky with that, I know.
New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Quote of the Day: Her Best Sellers Are Only Icing On the Cupcake
'They're both pleasant ways to escape and fun to share.' ABBY JIMENEZ, a best-selling author and bakery owner, on the commonality of two of her passions, romantic-comedies and cupcakes.
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Is it really a recession indicator?
What does the viral trend say about how we talk about money and tough economic times? Personal Finance Expert and Author Jessica Moorhouse joined us.
