Before My Daughter Sees Disney’s The Little Mermaid…

In the original story, Ariel’s fate can hardly be described as triumphant. She rescues the prince from the shipwreck, falls hard for him, trades her voice for legs, and makes her way to land in search of love- just like in the movie. The prince befriends her, but this is where similarities with the Disney adaptation start to fade.

A romance never develops. Instead, the mute mermaid-turned-human is forced to watch the prince for whom she gave up everything – the sea, her family, her identity, her voice – marry someone else. She dies of a broken heart, dissolving into sea foam upon the waves. Read more…

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5 Myths Only Mills and Boon Lovers Will Understand

I read my first Mills & Boon novel when I was 9. It was a “Doctor-Nurse Romance” titled The Cry of the Swan. It took seven years and nearly 100 M&B novels for me to decide I’d had enough. Prior to that turning point, you couldn’t find me without an M&B novel. I remember once in Literature class when Mr. Robert caught me reading Ripe for the Picking while he was teaching and asked me to stand in front of the class and tell the story.  Was I ashamed? Not one bit, but I pretended to be so he could release me and give back the book he had seized. I would meet complete strangers and we would bond immediately over M&B and start an “exchanging” relationship. Remember those days?

When I emerged best student in WAEC English Language in my State, some of my classmates tried to attribute it to Mills & Boon. My people, the glory for that A1 goes to my dad who bought me proper books and my aunt who read them to me. What did I gain from M&B? Read more…