Author Tens List + Contest: Holly Schindler

Here today as part of her Playing Hurt tour is Holly Schindler, to share her top ten love stories!


Releasing my first romance, PLAYING HURT, has me thinking about all things romance. Some of my favorite love stories haven’t actually been novels, but silver screen romances. (In all honesty, I don’t think of the movies as a place I go to turn my brain off for a couple of hours. I really think of the movies as another type of literature…)

If I were to list ten of the best cinematic love stories? Ten love stories that stuck with me, long after those final credits rolled?


IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. An oldie—this one goes all the way back to ’34. But it continues to be so, so influential. All those tricks we’ve seen a hundred times in the movies (say, a girl sticking out her leg to flag down a ride)? It happened here first!

DIRTY DANCING. I watched this one over and over when I was younger. I rarely read books more than once, though…Which just goes to show the ability of the movies to transport, to lift the spirits…

PICNIC. Mom rented this after I saw DIRTY DANCING, and I actually guffawed at the scene of Kim Novak coming down the stairs. Now, though? I’ve got new appreciation for this one.

PRETTY WOMAN. A friend and I had to sneak in to see this (the movie was released when I was in junior high). Talk about love, we fell in love with this movie…

THE PRINCESS BRIDE. The humor is incredible. (So much of humor depends on timing…How to you write perfectly-timed pauses on the printed page? Can it even be done?)

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN. Great character development. Harsh stuff. But a beautiful love story, too—that’s really hard to accomplish, combining grittiness and romance…

DESK SET. Again, an oldie. (On a list of big-screen romances, Hepburn and Tracy had to be here somewhere!) And I love the fact that humans triumph over technology in this one. Makes you want to completely unplug.

SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL. Probably my favorite teen romance of all time. Again, great humor. I think I could actually recite the dialogue from the entire movie word-for-word.

MURPHY’S ROMANCE / SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE. Proof that super-steamy love scenes really don’t have to be part of a story for the romance to work…

HAROLD AND MAUDE. I saw this for the first time when I was about fifteen, and it remains my favorite movie. Quite simply, this is the oddest couple ever in the history of movies. In part, that’s what makes them so endearing…Also, Harold’s life changes because of his time with Maude. I wanted that to be part of PLAYING HURT…but I wanted BOTH of my protagonists to change from their time together…


Thank you, Holly, for sharing those! I think Pretty Woman might still be my favorite. What are some of your favorites?

And to celebrate Holly's release, I have one signed copy of Playing Hurt up for grabs for one lucky reader!

To enter, just fill out THIS form.

Contest is open to US/Canada addresses only, and ends April 3.

No entries will be accepted through comments, but they are very much appreciated.