Best romantic movies ever

 If you are romantic people like me, you are always looking for a beautiful story to watch.

This is my top six list:

1) When you were sleeping

2) Pride & Prejudice

3) Dirty Dancing

4) Lyrics and Music

5) You have got mail

6) First Daughter

What about you?

An Arrow to the Hearth - preview

 CHAPTER 1

‘Could the situation be worse than that?’ I thought on a warm March afternoon.

I sat on the sofa, waiting for something to happen. Or rather, waiting for the day to end. I knew for a fact that nothing would happen that day either. At least, nothing positive. After all, the most exciting news that had come to my ears in the last period was about the transfer of my neighbors to Patagonia. As for really interesting news, not even one. My phone kept staying as silent as a fish, while my inbox mail only housed spam of dubious taste.

A few months earlier I had graduated with honor in International Cooperation on Human Rights and Intercultural Heritage. However, despite my willingness, I just couldn't find a job. I wanted to travel around the world and embark on a glittering international career, but by now I was beginning to fear that my aspirations would never turn into reality. Apparently, I didn't have the right qualifications for any open position: either I was too old or too young or had no experience. 

At first, influenced by the optimism of life coach Mary Star, I had tried to maintain a positive attitude.

‘Life is a mirror: you only have to smile and life will smile back at you’, she wrote on her blog.  So, full of enthusiasm, I had started to scour the internship offers at various NGOs and had spent hours writing catching motivational letters.

Confident that I had done my very best, I had sent about forty CVs abroad, deluding myself to receive answers in a short time.

Every morning, for weeks, I had woken up early, rushing to check my inbox mail. Unfortunately, however, I had not received any feedback. Then, the Christmas holidays had come and my enthusiasm had definitely evaporated. And so here I was, with spring just around the corner, wondering what would become of me.

My cell phone rang, distracting me from my gloomy reflections. Could it finally be a decisive communication for my future?

I grabbed my smartphone and frowned.

‘Whatever,’ I muttered, after reading the word ‘Snake’ on the display.

Snake was a former University colleague of mine. Her real name was Marisa, but everybody called her Snake. For a really good reason, believe me. She had a boundless ego, acted like she was superior to the rest of the world, and her only purpose in life was to compete with anyone who had the misfortune to get in her way. 

She had targeted me since the first year of the master's degree. She hadn't digested the fact that I had earned a higher grade than her in an exam, so she had retaliated in her own way. She had spread absurd rumors about an unlikely fling between me and Professor Tappin, a boring man in his sixties. No one had believed her, except for the person who most of all should have sided with me. Well, yes, that unfounded rumor had ended up ruining my relationship with Firpo, the guy I'd been dating for fifteen months. I couldn't forgive him for questioning my loyalty, so we had broken up. 

Two years had passed since then, but between me and Snake still did not flow good blood.

On another occasion I wouldn’t have bothered to answer her, but that day I was so bored that I decided to accept the call. 

‘Who knows, maybe listening to her silly chatter will help me get out of the torpor I have been slipping in lately’ I thought.

‘Hey, Marisa. Why do I have the great honor of listening to your voice?’ I asked her sarcastically.

‘Oh, I just wanted to let you know they chose me. I'm sorry, but you're going to have other opportunities,’ she said triumphantly.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Come on, Vu. You don't have to pretend. I know you applied for that internship in Vietnam, too. Unfortunately for you, they preferred me. I'm leaving in two weeks.’

I laughed. Probably, she had decided to run for that position just because she thought I was interested, too. ‘Good trip, then. Anyway, for the record, my name is not Vu. You can call me Vi.’ 

‘Vu. Vi. What difference do you want it to make? It is still a weird name.’

'It's not a name and you know that very well.’

‘Well, I forgot your name, since everyone calls you Vi.’ 

Well, if only you knew how everyone calls you …  

‘It's a nickname that my parents gave me when I was little. One of my cousins is also named like me, and they needed to tell us apart,’ I explained. ‘Vi is the hypocoristic of ...’

‘I see. Then, the lack of originality is a family trait. Anyway, I couldn’t care less about your name. Let's go back to the topic. You're trying to change subject,’ she interrupted me.

‘Absolutely not. If you really want to know it, I didn't apply for that position at all. I thought about it, it's true, but the prospect of staying in Hanoi for a year wasn't so tempting for me. It is still an unpaid internship.’

‘Yes, yes, I'll pretend to believe you. This time I won. Try to cope with that, darling.’

‘Marisa, I'm telling you the truth.’

‘Of course, of course. You know, you also have to learn how to lose in life.’

‘For once, we agree on something. Now I really have to say goodbye. I have an important appointment, and you're wasting my precious time.’

That said, I interrupted the communication and smiled at myself. Snake had given me wonderful news. I could only wish her to marry a Vietnamese and move to Hanoi on a stable condition. In Ravenna no one would miss her, little but sure.

I absolutely had to celebrate the event, so I turned on the TV, and started watching a romantic movie.

 

An Arrow to the Heart - a clean contemporary romantic comedy

Vi is twenty-five, has a master's degree in International Cooperation on Human Rights and Intercultural Heritage and the tendency to fantasize. She would like to travel the world, embark on a sparkling international career and breach the heart of beautiful Gregorio. At present, however, all her dreams seem impossible to achieve. She still lives in the same provincial town where she was born and raised, cannot find work and the boy she likes detests her. Will she manage to turn all her wishes into reality?

https://leggi.amazon.it/kp/embed?asin=B09NTV71DJ&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_KVYPFAV1SE8HKQP8F31H 

Never Make Surprises - Preview

 PROLOGUE
I got out of the taxi and wearily dragged my blue suitcase to the hotel. I couldn't wait to get in my room and have some rest. I was really tired and not because of the trip.
To my disappointment, though, I found myself in a lobby full of tourists waiting to check in.
˚How is that possible?’ I wondered disconsolately.
I never thought I'd find a similar confusion in the modest hotel I had booked.
Resigned, I sat on a sofa and cheated time trying to decipher the contents of a French magazine.
I gave up the titanic enterprise after a few pages. I definitely didn't feel like testing my language skills.
I closed the magazine and sighed of frustration.
I had never experienced periods of extraordinary luck, but I felt that lately things were getting worse and worse for me. I hadn't really built anything in my life.
Until a few hours earlier I had deluded myself that I had found some stability at least in the sentimental sphere, but I had had a rude awakening.
Had it been a good idea to come to Geneva? The truth was, I didn't know. I'd never been good at making decisions. It was demonstrated by what had happened in the early afternoon.
Never make surprises. They always say it everywhere:  in movies, in books, even in mangas. Then, why did I have the unhealthy idea of visiting my boyfriend in his office? 
Perhaps, however, it had been good that I had discovered the truth about him. 
I shook my head, horrified. I shouldn't let him creep into my thoughts. He'd done enough damage already.
I leaned back on the sofa, closed my eyes, and sank almost immediately into a light sleep.
‘Madame?’ 
‘Madame?’ someone repeated.
I opened my eyes, looked around and noticed that the guy at the front desk was addressing me.
I threw a grim look at him. How dare he call me Madame? Didn't he realize there was a girl in front of him?
Okay, I admit, I was no longer a teen, since I was over thirty, but I was also aware that I looked much younger than my peers. Or at least, that's what everyone told me. Could it be the shock I had suffered had made me age all of a sudden?
Alarmed, I pulled a mirror out of my bag and gave a fleeting look at my reflection. 
I was in pitiful conditions, I had to admit it. But the skin on my face continued to be smooth and wrinkle-free like that of a teenager. With a good night's sleep, I would recover my usual look.
Refreshed, I got up, reached the counter and turned to the receptionist.
The guy, an elderly gentleman with thick gray sideburns, spoke my language, but was so deaf that he made me repeat my name three times before recording my presence.
Finally, I completed the check-in formalities, and headed to the small elevator that peeped from the left side of the lobby.
‘Let's just hope it doesn't freeze,’ I thought, worried about the eerie squeak that reached my ears as soon as it went into operation. I didn't really need such a mishap. Luckily, I reached my room without any problems and, once inside, I let myself fall back on the bed.
My thoughts flew again to the man who had broken my heart and I started crying. Those tears that I had tried to hold back for as long as possible descended profusely down my cheeks, giving rise to a subdued weeping.
How long would it take him to realize it was over? Twenty-four hours, or maybe less, if he deigned to call me. Anyway, would he care to find out that he'd lost me forever? I doubted it. Probably, for him it would be a release. As I had heard him say on the phone, my rival had what he had always wanted in a woman, brains apart: long legs, model physique and exuberant behavior.
I was just the opposite: average height, medium build, average appearance and above all, reserved and quiet.
Well, what did it matter? I didn't know what to do with a man like that. Evidently, I had overestimated him. I had been particularly impressed by his intelligence and elegance, but in the end, he had proved to be worse than all the other blokes that had crossed my path up to that point. What an invertebrate!
How much I wanted to forget about his existence! Too bad his poisonous words kept echoing in my mind even miles away.
No, I hadn't come to Geneva to pity myself. I had a goal and I would try to achieve it.
I suddenly got up, grabbed my cell phone, and dialed the number of my former University colleague.
‘Hello, Clara. I'm Eliana,’ I exclaimed, as soon as she answered me. ‘Is your offer always valid?’
 

Never Make Surprises

Anyone who thinks that a woman in her thirties should be mature and aware of her potential, does not know Eliana, indecision made in person. Clumsy, insecure and a little childish, she struggles to get a job and is embarrassed by having to compete with girls far younger than her. Fortunately, she can count on the support of her boyfriend, a brilliant civil lawyer.

But are we really sure her prince is not hiding some secrets?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MW4HT73?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tkin_2&storeType=ebooks