Mr. Darcy’s Valentine

Mr. Darcy’s Valentine by Heather Moll

Today is February 1st, not only the start of the month of love (as February has Valentine’s Day and is Library Lovers’ Month); but also the publication date of Mr. Darcy’s Valentine.

Do you love Pride and Prejudice? Are you looking for a romantic short story to get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day? Then you should definitely include this book in your Valentine’s Day plans.

The story takes place after Bingley has left Netherfield in the original plot. In this adaptation, Jane and Elizabeth have traveled to London to visit the Gardiners. They have been having a nice time, although Jane is still very upset over Mr. Bingley.

Aw!

Caroline has been trying to keep Jane from her family and Mr. Bingley in the dark about Jane being in town; but unfortunately for her when Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley go to a concert they spot Jane, Elizabeth, and the Gardiners. Mr. Bingley is back on track to try and win his lady love.

Darcy admits to Bingley that he withheld information from him about Jane being in town; along with apologizing for doing so and for being wrong about Jane’s level of interest in Bingley. Darcy concedes that Jane does truly care for Bingley and is determined to do all he can to help Bingley win his lady love, even throwing a dinner party when he hates to entertain.

When the night of the dinner party arrives, the guests include Elizabeth, Jane, the Gardiners, Mr. Bingley, Caroline Bingley, the Hursts, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Georgiana. The dinner is a comedic event as every character has their own goal of who they wish to speak to and avoid. Darcy tries to entertain Elizabeth and Georgiana; while avoiding being trapped in conversation by Caroline or the Gardiners (assuming they are like Mr. and Mrs. Bennet). Caroline expends all her attention on the Darcys, Bingley and Jane only have eyes for each other, and Elizabeth tries her hardest to not speak to Darcy and his sister, yet finds most of her conversations happening between them; (and much to her original dismay, actually liking Georgiana.)

Bit of a mess…

When Valentine’s Day is mentioned and a few old superstitious ways to celebrate talked about, Bingley gets the idea to “draw lots” for a Valentine and have the men write one for the women. Bingley cares deeply for Jane and even though Darcy had come around to agreeing that Jane cares for Bingley, Bingley still feels uncertain. With this “Valentine’s Day” game, rigged of course so he could get Jane, Bingley feels he’ll be able to see if she would accept his proposal. Darcy isn’t interested in playing, but after they agree that Georgina will not take part (she’s much too shy) and that Darcy will not have to write Caroline’s Valentine, he submits and the Valentines are written.

Bingley writes a lovely note and Jane reciprocates.

How sweet!

Colonel Fitzwilliam writes a silly one that Caroline doesn’t enjoy.

The real trouble arises with Darcy’s Valentine. He writes an incredibly sweet one:

I am a gentleman by birth—

With a fortune to boast.

Yet of all women upon earth,

Thee I admire and love the most.

Thou art accomplish’d, quite refined—

Far more than others of your line.

Then, since thou’rt suited to my mind,

Pray be my valentine.

From Mr. Darcy’s Valentine by Heather Moll

Soooo cute!!!!

But while I find it romantic, Elizabeth finds offense in every line. She pens a reply that thoroughly rejects him and gives him a real what for about his behavior when he asks her for an explanation.

While Darcy is taken aback with how she sees him and amazed that she views him so poorly, he is determined to show her that the judgement she made of him is wrong, and he does it in the best way possible: he tries to be a better person.

While Darcy has stepped out to compose himself after being rejected, Caroline taunts Elizabeth about Wickham, in front of Georgiana. On hearing Wickham’s name Georgiana becomes very upset and to save her, Elizabeth contrives an excuse for the two to leave the room. While separated from the others, Georgina reveals all that occurred between her and Wickham. Elizabeth is in shock over the tale, and even more so over how she misjudged the two men…and embarrassed over how she insulted Darcy.

What makes things even worse and awkward, as Bingley and Jane are courting, Darcy and Elizabeth are thrown together constantly. But the more time Elizabeth spends with Darcy the more she realizes how fine a man he is. Will it be too late for her?

Or will she be able to find a way to show him how much she cares by Valentine’s Day?

As always, Heather Moll wrote a real page turner that is a charming tale from beginning to end. If you are looking for a romantic read featuring Austen’s characters this story is a must! It was an absolute delight and something I know I will be rereading every February.

If you are a Jane Austen fan it’s perfect to add to your collection, and if you are looking for something Jane Austen-y to purchase for your Valentine, this book would make a perfect gift.

For more by Heather Moll, go to An Appearance of Goodness

For more Pride and Prejudice, go to The Making of Pride and Prejudice (1995)

For more Pride and Prejudice adaptions, go to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: A Book-to-Table Classic by Martha Stewart

For more Jane Austen adaptations, go to Jane Austen Children’s Stories: Pride and Prejudice

For more Valentine’s Day posts, go to How to Throw a Valentea Party

How to Throw a Valentea Party

I’m not one of those people who likes to take their holiday decorations right when the holiday ends and set up for the next one. I also celebrate Valentine’s Day until February, but last year I threw a Valentea party in two weeks and wanted to share it with you all. However, I know people need more time than that and wanted to share it with you all.

Christmas 2021 my friend was given a book that had ideas to hold a tea party every month. She held the first party on January 29th and no one wanted to do the next one, the Valentine’s Day party. I agreed and of course had to change the direction to Valentea and Jane Austen.

Invitations:

So the first thing you need for a party is invitations. I like to make my own cards and sent everyone a Valentine. I used romantic and love quotes from my favorite books.

Decorations:

After planning that came decorations. I’m lucky that I still have the ones from my bridal shower. I have reused those so many times! Yep, I used my pink floral table runners, framed Jane Austen quotes (which can be purchased from this shop); along with pink and white flowers.

Menu:

I was able to figure out my menu pretty quickly as I have a Tea Time magazine subscription, a Betty Crocker holiday cookbook, a Nancy Drew Cookbook, etc. I had a lot of recipes to choose from.

Tea Choices:

I wanted everything to be pink and red as it was a Valentea party so I had MadsenCreations make a Red Chai and Pink Moon Tea. I also picked Tiesta Tea Nutty Almond Cream Tea (which turns the water pink).

Food Menu:

We made Teatime Magazine Orange Cream Scones, Tea Time Magazine Lavender White Chocolate & Cranberry-Raspberry Scones, Tea Time Magazine’s Triple Stack Red Bell Pepper and Cream Cheese Sandwiches, Tea Time Magazine’s Ham and Cheese Sandwiches, Eating Well’s Radish Tea Sandwiches, French Onion Soup, Tomato Soup, a tart, and Heart Shaped Rice Krispy Treats.

Tea Time Magazine Orange Cream Scones

Ingredients

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange zest
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
• ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon cold heavy whipping cream, divided
• 2 large eggs, divided
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest until combined. Using a pastry blender or 2 forks, cut in cold butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together ½ cup cold cream, 1 egg, and vanilla extract. Add to flour mixture, stirring until a dough begins to form. Working gently, bring mixture together with hands until a dough forms.
4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead gently 4 to 5 times. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to a 1-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch fluted round cutter dipped in flour, cut 13 scones from dough, rerolling scraps as needed. Place scones 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining 1 tablespoon cold cream and remaining egg until combined. Brush egg mixture over tops of scones.
6. Bake until edges of scones are golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean, 18 to 21 minutes. Serve warm.
7. Optional: Add a glaze.

Tea Time Magazine Lavender White Chocolate & Cranberry-Raspberry Scones

Ingredients

1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
2. ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided
3. 2 teaspoons baking powder
4. ½ teaspoon dried culinary lavender
5. ½ teaspoon salt
6. 4 tablespoons cold salted butter, cut into pieces
7. 1 cup chopped dried Cranberries and Raspberries
8. 1 (4-ounce) bar white baking chocolate, such as Ghirardelli, chopped
9. 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
10. ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, ⅓ cup sugar, baking powder, lavender, and salt, whisking well.
4. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add cranberries, strawberries, and chocolate; stirring until combined.
5. In a liquid-measuring cup, combine cream and vanilla extract, stirring to blend. Add to flour mixture, stirring until mixture is evenly moist. (If dough seems dry, add more cream, 1 tablespoon at a time.) Working gently, bring mixture together with hands until a dough forms.
6. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently 4 to 5 times. Using a rolling pin, roll dough to a ½-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch heart-shaped cutter, cut 12 scones from dough. Place scones 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet, and sprinkle tops with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
7. Bake scones until edges are golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the centers comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

Games:

Game 1: Who Said It?

For this game I took all the romance quotes I had used on the Valentines and people had to match up the quote with who said it.

Game 2: Who Can Name the Most Romance Movies?

For this game I had everyone turn their sheet of paper over and write down as many romance films they could think of in a minute. This was a ton of fun as afterwards we all talked about which ones we liked and what films were our favorites to watch.

I had a lot of fun with our tea parties, and I hope this helps if you want to plan a Valentea party.

Valentea food also doesn’t count.

For more party posts, go to Jane Austen Birthday Party Music & Party Review

For more Valentine’s Day posts go to, Jane in Love

For more tea posts, go to Spill the Tea: Alley Cat Cafe

For more recipes, go to Dragon Cheddar and Tomato Scones

Jane in Love

Happy Valentine’s Day

So today is Valentine’s Day and usually this would be the 14th romantic moment, but as I didn’t do that this year and decided to post something else instead:

This book was given to me by a friend, she knows me so well.

I read it in January, but I decided to wait on the review as I have mixed feelings about this book. Half of it I liked and the other half I didn’t.

Hmm…

So Jane in Love tells of two stories: Jane Austen and Sofia Wentworth. Jane Austen has not written any of her novels yet, but is living in Bath with her parents as they are trying to match her up. She meets a charming man, her last chance, and falls for him, but he gets engaged to someone else. She is upset and embarrassed when a neighborhood women tells her to travel to an address in London, where her dreams will come true.

Broken dreams, illusions, hopes, etc.

Hurt, upset, vulnerable she does it and is given a spell. Once completed, she travels forward to 2020 where she ends up on the set of a new adaption of Northanger Abbey. She runs into the star of the show, Sofia Wentworth.

Sofia Wentworth is a British Hollywood star-famous for being Batwoman and other sexy powerful women. But now she is 37 and the young starring roles are no longer being offered to her. Instead, she is getting older roles. This Northanger Abbey production is extra painful as she was not given the starring role of Catherine but instead Mrs. Allen, the girl Courtney Smith playing Catherine is also replacing her as Batgirl, her husband is the director and has left her for another woman, and she can’t leave the production or she will have to pay a big fee.

Truth is, Sofia doesn’t really want to leave the production. She wants to be in it to try and win her husband back! When she runs into Jane Austen she thinks that it is a practical joke. She had suggested a behind-the-scenes Jane Austen tie-in and it was denied. She thinks that they decided to do it and not tell her, some joke of her husband to try and upset her into signing the divorce papers. She takes Jane Austen with her, thinking she is an actress and there are cameras following her-having her stay with her and her brother Fred Wentworth.

Eventually, Sofia believes that Jane is Jane Austen and tries to help her find a way back, getting help from an adorable librarian, Dave Croft, as she has very little science fiction knowledge. But as she is doing that Fred puts the moves on Jane and Jane starts wondering if she should go back.

From Walking on Sunshine

But the longer she stays the more her novels disappear. If she stays she will have love but never be able to write again (the exchange of the spell). But if she goes she will kiss her only chance at true love, marriage, and family good bye. Should she go and write her timeless tales, or should she stay and marry Fred?

At a crossroads (from Pocahontas)

So let’s start with what I love:

Sofia Wentworth

Sofia Wentworth’s character and journey was the best part of the book. In fact, I was so intrigued I skipped the Jane Austen romance and skipped ahead so that I could read what happened to her.

Tell ME!!!!!

She was an amazing savvy character who one just felt for. She is in love with her husband, Jack Travers, who has zero appreciation for her except what she brings to him. He loved that she knew movies and could help his productions, he loved that she was attractive and made him look good, he loved how she would take care of everything while he edited his films, and he loved how she would make decisions for the production when he was uncertain.

But he didn’t really love her, and Sofia doesn’t realize it. Although as she continues on this journey with Jane Austen she starts to view herself and her husband differently. She also painfully finds out that the woman her husband has left her for is the same woman she is acting with-her Catherine, Courtney Smith, the very same woman who replaced her as Batgirl.

After meeting Jane and beginning her quest to help her-Sofia starts surrounding herself with positive people, such as Derek who is her makeup person and very encouraging. He helps her stand up to Courtney and reminds her that she isn’t some aging sad person-she is beautiful makeup or no, strong, powerful, and intelligent.

She also meets the librarian, Dave Croft, who helps her on her quest. I loved Dave Croft and the way he treats her as he doesn’t pity her, he doesn’t treat her as an object, or tries to use her to make himself look good. He doesn’t believe her tale of Jane Austen at first, but knows she is seriously upset about something. He doesn’t want anything from her other than to help her as her acting brought relief to his mother when she was ill with cancer. He finds her very attractive, but the first things he compliments on is the person she is.

How sweet!

I loved the part when Sofia classily schools Courtney in acting, that was like best scene ever as I was really hating on Courtney being such a jerk. Or when Courtney tries to embarrass her by setting her up wih the production assistant who was a major yuck! But Dave shows up and rescues her from embarrassment. And Dave completely fires a painful shot right at Jack, the perfect diss! So much fun!

I really liked this as it is so important to surround you by people who will be good friends and help you see the truth, something that can be found in all of Jane Austen’s works. We need good friends-you see the clearest example of that in Emma. Everyone needs a Mr. Knightley.

I also really liked the conversation that Jane and Sofia have about Mrs. Allen. That coupled with the Northanger Abbey audiobook made me think of Mrs. Allen in a different way, Her focus on clothes and fashion, possibly filling a hole of secret sadness. And I’m thinking that sadness is her lack of children, as that is the only thing that consoles her when Mrs. Thorpe talks about her children. And Jane helps Sofia to see that as she is no longer chained to being the hot, sexy vixen-she can now be whatever she wants to be-whoever she wants to be.

Jane’s words even help Sofia be nice to Courtney, a miracle in itself. And hearing Courtney’s complain about her soon to be ex-husband Jack helps Sofia see that Jack is a major jerk. She’s better off without him.

I love Sofia’s care of Jane as well. When Jane is struggling with what to decide, Sofia encourages her in either decision and gives her the possible outcomes of staying or going.

I also loved how Jane is amazed at everything we have in the future from chocolate, to pens, to sugar at such low prices. This inspired me on my week with Jane.

Let’s move on to part II, the part I didn’t care for:

Jane and Fred

I hated this part of the story or how the writer could think their storyline as as “romantic” .

I mean this author has all the fantastic men Austen wrote about and could have used any of them as her foundation, but didn’t. This Fred is horrible, but yet is supposed to have inspired Jane Austen’s novels?

Really?

So first is drunk and sits on Jane in the guest room. Then Fred walks in on Jane showering, even though he could hear the water and she told him it was occupied. And then when she is upset about it he wants to even the score by getting naked for her; wow a real prince. It’s like he super values her opinion. Yeah, right.

I don’t even know why they fall in love. He helped her get to London, gave her money, and taught her to swim. That’s it? She’s in love? Like why?!!!!

And why does Fred like her? Like Jane is awesome but she also has zero knowledge of how anything works-and he doesn’t find that strange or weird?! He doesn’t even wonder about her background, I would. Is she Amish? Was she in a cult? I mean in Kate and Leopold, Kate thought it was strange he didn’t know anything and later she fell in love with his old-fashioned habits. Like he doesn’t find it weird or strange that she doesn’t know about computers, cellphones, is crazy about sugar, etc?

And he he doesn’t even ask about her, her family, or what she wants to do. He knows zero about her and she knows little about him. He has an accident and gets electrocuted, with Jane and him being “in love”, but why. What do they have in common? What do they even enjoy together? They hardly have spent any time together and he asks her to marry him. Flirting is great but that’s what Jane really thinks she should base a marriage on?  The author who cautioned her niece, the one who showed us in countless examples of marrying for beauty or money can lead to unhappiness. The author who showed us that spending time with a person and getting to know who they really are is the best thing? None of her heroines ever rushed into love but either knew the person they married for a while or grew to know them by spending time with them. There is no real timeline but its like a week or two they spend together.

Fred is trying to write a book and Jane encourages him to write more, even sending off the few pages he has to a publisher. But when he gets writer’s block he blows up at her and blames her for everything-all is her fault. He takes off, out all night punishing Jane and leaving her worried and scared that something happened to him, but when he gets home he doesn’t apologize or care that he worried her but just expects her to sleep with him. Like that is textbook emotional abuse, purposely freaking your partner out and making them get worried so when you return the fight you are having is forgotten. Fred is just a horrible boyfriend.

Me to Fred

Like Jane gets so heartbroken and blames herself after his tirade. She starts believing it is her fault and she should have done nothing, then they would have been fine and happy. She then decides to forget all about what she is upset and then calls herself a slave to him. She decides to resign herself over to the only thing she is going to do with her time, is love him. Where did Jane Austen ever write that? All her women were strong women who wouldn’t roll over to be a lapdog. Like where is this coming from?

I also didn’t like that she slept with Fred. First of all the manner it went down with him throwing a tantrum and blaming his problems on her and staying away all day to punish her. Not cool, dude, not cool. But then that Jane had no problems or qualms or regrets over what happened. As a women from Regency time AND the daughter of a minister I feel like she would have had much more complicated feelings about what happened and the decision she made. Not just shrug it off as no big deal.

Fred is also really controlling and doesn’t want Jane gone for a second as he is “afraid” she will leave him. Also not true love and again abusive. She goes for a walk with Sofia and Fred has a meltdown.

And then when Jane wants to return to her time, the only way she can is by the blood from her true love and what does Fred do? He refuses as he wants to force her to stay with him. What a serious jerk! Like this Fred is nothing like Fredrick Wentworth.

And to make things even worse, Fredrick had never even read any Jane Austen books. He was willing to deprive the world of her works and he’s never even read them. What a selfish jerk!

Seriously!

Yeah Jane and Fred’s romance was not good. Give me Sofia and Dave any day.

Sorry to have such a downer of a Valentine’s post. I know to cheer me up I am going to spend the rest of my day with the wonderful Austen men.

Soooo cute!!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day, no matter how you spend it. And don’t forget-candy is on sale!

For more Northanger Abbey, go to Northanger Abbey Audiobook Narrated by Anna Massey

For more Persuasion, go to You Ever Notice That The Gossip Girl TV Show is a Lot Like Persuasion?

For more Northanger Abbey adaptions, go to Northanger Abbey (2007)

For more Persuasion adaptions, go to Holiday Mix Tape

For more Jane Austen adaptions, go to Emma Manga

For more Valentine’s Day, go to You Are My Fantasy: Austenland (2013)

You Are My Fantasy: Austenland (2013)

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

So today is Valentine’s Day and the end of our postings. I always find this fun to do as we just focus on a romantic moment, which could be found in almost any film. Tradition is to end on an Austen themed film (I broke it once and I’m going to try to never do it again), so here we go with our last one on Austenland (which I have started watching every Valentine’s Day.

Most Romantic Moment #14

Austenland (2013)

I LOVE this movie. It is based on the books Austenland and Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale:

I LOVED these books, so when I saw they were making a movie I was so excited!

One day I will review the whole movie, but not today-today we are just focusing on a moment.

Jane Hayes (Keri Russell) is a giant Jane Austen fan.

She decides to get out of the grayness of her life (and love life) and go to Austenland- a Regency inspired getaway where you can pretend to be in an Austen novel, go to a ball, and find you own Mr. Darcy ending.

Things however, do not go as planned. She ends up having the cheaper package and getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

She starts to fall for Martin, one of the handymen at the resort, but he ends up dumping her because she is enjoying “their world” too much. (Seriously dude? I’m paying for this vacation-of course I’m going to enjoy it.) Anyways…she decides she is going to take charge of her story and be the best Austen heroine she can be! Will she get her Mr. Darcy? Will she have the vacation of her dreams?

Or will she decide she needs to stop her Jane Austen fascination?

****Spoiler Alert****

So this moment comes at the end of the film. Jane took back her vacation, and had fun, gained confidence, and fell for Mr. Nobley (J.J. Feild). However, Martin returned (urgh!) and convinced her to join “reality” and she turns down Mr. Nobley’s declaration of love.

She ends her vacation and when she is speaking to Mrs. Wattlesbrook, the resort owner, she discovers that Martin was the actor, not Mr. Nobley. Mr. Nobley was brought in to fill some time while they waited for another actor to finish his series-Nobley was never scripted for Jane, he wasn’t scripted for anyone.

What?

It turns out that what Mr. Nobley said was real, but Jane is so upset with Mrs. Wattlesbrook manipulations (and the fact that she wasn’t even seen as worthy to be paired with a gentleman) she can’t focus on that-made even more so when Martin and Nobley follow her to the airport.

Jane thanks Mr. Nobley and says good-bye, ready to head home and give up on her Jane Austen interest.

When she gets home she expects her friend to be over soon to talk about the trip, a knock does come-but when she opens the door it isn’t her friend-but Mr. Nobley!

He traveled all the way from England to give her-her sketchbook and tell her how much he loves her! OMGoodness!!!

He tells her that he is in love with her! “Could someone like me make you happy?”, and then says the line that makes my heart melt and brain turn to goo-“You are my fantasy”! Aw, it is just so romantic!!! Jane and Mr. Nobley both get their happy fairy tale ending!

Squee! I loved it!

Even more so, I love that this mimics Northanger Abbey, when Mr. Tilney comes after Catherine and tells her that he loves her:

Ad with both characters being played by the same actor, J.J. Feild? It makes my heart go into overtime.

For more on Austenland, go to Five Jane Austen Adaptations That Should be Turned Into a Film or TV Show

For more J.J. Feild, go to The Jewel Carries a Curse: Ruby in the Smoke (2006)

For more on Jane Hayes and Mr. Nobley, go to Austenland

If you missed a post here are all the films and TV episodes I chose moments from:

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

I’m With Lucy (2002)

Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

“Valley Girls” from Gossip Girl (2009)

“Beauty Pageant” from Parks and Recreation (2009)

The 12 Men of Christmas (2009)

“The Decision” from The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl (2012)

Austenland (2013)

Catching Fire (2013)

Before I Fall (2017)

“Episode 14” from Strong Women Bong Soon (2017)

Once Upon a Christmas Miracle (2018)

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)

Kiss the Girl: The Little Mermaid (1989)

The Little Mermaid (1989)

I have reviewed this movie before for Valentine’s Day, but decided to pick another moment from it. You can never have too many!

So The Little Mermaid is based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Anderson (Love him).

So Ariel is a mermaid, but she really loves human things. She is always collecting things from shipwrecks and going to the surface to talk to birds and see land. One night she is watching a ship that is bringing Prince Eric home. A huge storm occurs and causes the ship to be destroyed.

Ariel saves Eric and brings him to land singing “Part of Your World“. 

When she gets home her father discovers her treasure trove of human items and destroys them. In typical, teenage fashion, she throws a temper tantrum and goes to see the evil witch Ursula, who takes her voice in exchange for giving her legs. Ariel has three days to get Eric to kiss her, if he does she will be a human forever- but if he doesn’t then she will turn back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula.

That’s not good.

Ariel goes topside but has difficulties getting Eric to kiss her, as he doesn’t want to take advantage of a mute girl and is in love with the girl who saved him (couldn’t see her only heard her); along with Ursula’s lackeys getting in the way. Ursula transforms herself into a beautiful woman, takes Ariel’s voice, puts a spell on Eric, and gets him to agree to marry her. Ariel and friends are trying to stop the wedding, but will they be able to in time? Or is it too late?

Most Romantic Moment: Kiss the Girl

This is a great song and a great scene. You have the perfect atmosphere with the blue lagoon, a rowboat for two, a group singing in perfect harmony a romantic song; and to top it all off you have them in the weeping willow!

I love it!

I LOVE weeping willows and find them beautiful, magical, and incredibly romantic. I love this part of the song.

For more on The Little Mermaid, go to Waiter, There’s Some Disney in My Jane Austen

For more Disney films, go to In the Spa House of the Spirits: Spirited Away (2001)