Favorite Movie and Book welcomes author Laurel Peterson: Has Everyone Seen this Movie? and her book The Fallen

About the Movie:

wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c6/Sound_of_music 

 

So everyone has seen The Sound of Music, right? I had to drag my husband through it, kicking and screaming, because it was a romance and people suddenly broke into song for no good reason. (He prefers movies where everyone dies at the end. Go figure!) 

While I have mixed feelings about musicals (and much less patience for them now than I did when I was younger), I love this movie for its scenery, its romance, and its stars. (Of course, the real story is only tangentially like the movie, but I still got my parents to go to the Trapp Family Lodge for lunch in the 80s.) 

So, in case you haven’t seen it (spoiler alerts!), the story is about a young Austrian nun, Maria, who isn’t fitting in at the convent in Salzberg. The Mother Superior sends her off to be a nanny to a local Navy officer with seven unruly children. She tames them and he falls in love with her (although there is a socialite she has to run off first), and then Hitler invades Austria. The husband is called up to serve the Third Reich, but his conscience won’t let him, so the family has to flee in the middle of the night after performing at a local folk festival. What’s not to love?

Cinderella was my gateway drug to the Sound of Music, since it also is a kind of Cinderella story. I was introduced to the movie by my mother, my grandmother and all her sisters. It’s important not to break family tradition.

While musicals aren’t my favorite genre, I do love a good romance. I also like thrillers and detective stories, which makes sense, since I write those kinds of books. So if you love a good love story, great scenery, some catchy tunes, cute kids, great costumes, or mountains, this is the movie for you.

About my Book:

Clara Montague is having dreams again, the kind that should steer her away from trouble but always leads her to it. She survives a drive-by shooting that takes the life of a cop but complicates her new romantic relationship with police chief Kyle Dupont. Her conservative tony town isn’t thrilled to have an African American chief or have him dating on of their own. The deeply hidden motives behind the shooting eventually lead Kyle and Clara to New Orleans. Will Clara’s visions be enough to keep them safe from Kyle’s past?

About the Author:

Laurel S. Peterson is an English professor whose poetry has been published in many literary journals. She has two poetry chapbooks, That’s the Way the Music Sounds (Finishing Line) and Talking to the Mirror (Last Automat), and two full-length collections, Do You Expect Your Art to Answer? and Daughter of Sky (Futurecycle). She has also written two mystery novels, Shadow Notes and the Fallen (Woodhall). She serves on the editorial board of Inkwell magazine, and served as Norwalk, Connecticut’s, Poet Laureate from April 2016 – April 2019. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and on her website. (See below.)

Answer these questions:

Red, White or Blue?  Cobalt blue, please. But deep pink is a close tie.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter? Fall, except I have to work in the fall (college is back in session) and I don’t in the summer, so summer. But the weather is better in the fall in New England.

Cake or Pie? Cake! (Preferably chocolate with white icing.)

Coffee, Tea, or Champagne? Champagne!

Country music or Michael Buble? Country music: Lyle Lovett. Gotta love his album The Road to Ensenada where he takes apart his relationship with Julia Roberts. “She’s the One-Eyed Fiona” ranks up there as one of the great, hilarious songs. (Fiona is Roberts’ middle name.) Just to be clear: I’m not taking sides, but it’s like dating a writer. Break up with her and be ready to appear in her next book as the dead body.

Pencil or Pen? Pencil for crosswords; pen for everything else.

 

Find the Book at:

The Fallen at: The Fallen

Laurel Peterson at: Laurel Peterson