Kristin Giese's Blog

In 1970, Dr. John Lee plucked from his research the notion that there are six different types of love. So, today, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m going to do what absolutely no one asked for, and determine which love matches our most iconic, rom-com leading men.

First up, Eros. The word itself is the actual name of the god of love and fertility. So, I’m going with the one man that made our collective ovaries stand up and salute first: Mr. Jake Ryan. His boyish grin and roguish charm were enough to clinch the spot for Sixteen Candles, but then this heartbreaker went one step further and got a cake and some candles. Needless to say, if any man ever thought he could buy a toaster oven as a gift for his girlfriend after that and not expect her to burn his house down in retaliation, well, he was wrong.  

Ludus is second on deck. This love is described as a playful and flirtatious love. If you’ve ever seen me look at donuts, then you get the idea. Coy. Wanton. Ludus goes to the man that I want to flirt with most, Mr. Josh Duhamel’s Eric Messer from Life as We Knew It. I have watched this movie almost as much as The Holiday. Give me one more weekend of free HBO and I might top it. I love the bad boy grows up trope. As GOOP Lab on Netflix recently taught me is possible, it gives me an internal lady boner each and every time.   

Third on the list is Storgé, defined as a familiar and companionable love. For that reason, it goes to Ryan Reynolds in Just Friends. His character falls for Amy Smart’s Jamie in high school, but she friend-zones him. So instead, they become best friends and he carries a torch for her for years. I think we all know a young love like that. One that smolders quietly for a decade or two and then suddenly reignites. Recently, culottes had this effect on me. I know I should have held out for Ryan Reynolds, but they were denim.

A rational and sensible love, Pragma, falls at number four on our list, and I am giving it to the most sensible and rational leading man I know: Tom Hanks. Sleepless in Seattle, Splash, Big…he steals my heart each and every time. He is consistent and I can’t think of a single situation in life that wouldn’t be made better by having Tom by my side. He is funny, smart, collects typewriters, and by all accounts, is a great husband. If life is like a box of chocolates, Tom is the raspberry crème filled ones…which we all know are the best ones in the box, Forest.

Mania slides into number five on the love definition chart with its pent up energy and frenetic chemistry. I’m giving this one to our favorite fictional (and factual) stripper, Channing Tatum. I think we were all momentarily mesmerized by Magic Mike…the first one, obviously. Chan, as his friends call him, spun audiences into a lather. Women went in droves to the theater and hooted and hollered at the screen, and I can assure you it wasn’t because they liked his exhaust pipe coffee table, if you know what I mean…

Lastly, we have Agape. This love is unconditional, and as such, I give it to the rom com that resides, solidly, in my number one slot, Can’t Buy Me Love. Yes, Mystic Pizza, Overboard with Goldie Hawn, Say Anything, and The Money Pit are nipping close at its heels, but I am a Cindy Mancini and Ronald Miller loyalist. Fact is, Patrick Dempsey had my heart long before McDreamy and I would still, to this very day, let him mow my lawn.

So, that’s the love list. I recently heard that another leading authority has been advocating for the expansion of the list to make more room for independent or self-love. I guess that means Dr. Lizzo is in the house. Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all.

If you’re looking to discover a new leading man, I hope you’ll check out Unverified, by me.

"Immensely funny and heartwarming... delivers everything a romantic comedy requires." — Self Publishers Review

“A romantic page turner that will have you laughing out loud. Don’t hesitate with this one!” — Jenni Pulos, star of Bravo’s Flipping Out

"Such a relatable book with something for everyone. Love, friendship, work woes, family drama, pop culture. All the good stuff wrapped up in this page turner. Don’t head to the beach without this book in your bag. A MUST-READ!!!! — Erin S., Illinois

“In a category that rarely surprises you, this book does. I was all in from the first page to the last.” — Katrina B., Ohio

“I couldn’t put it down. I hid out so often in the bathroom reading that my toes went numb sitting on the edge of the tub. My children started to push notes under the door asking me what was for dinner.” — Heather A., Colorado

Get Your Copy! Amazon • Barnes & Noble

I've been doing a ton of podcast research lately, listening to everything from the hilarious Absolutely Not with Heather McMahan to the grisly To Live & Die in LA with Neil Strauss only to boomerang back to the heartbreaking and unsettling Missing Richard Simmons with Dan Taberski. Turns out, I'm a podcast gal. Who knew? As a talent manager, we've always booked clients on all manner of podcasts to promote books and product launches or kick off show debuts. I just hadn't caught the bug that made me want to listen each week. Then, we started researching a slew of podcasts for me to guest on to talk about all things breaking into entertainment (my day job as a manager / producer) and breaking out on your own (my side hustle as the author of Unverified). I've sat in so many sound booths stifling laughter or quietly supporting a client at the mic. This one, Awaken the Rebel with the wildly clever Shereen Thor, was my first time claiming that seat for myself. I loved our chat. I've already heard from a few listeners that they liked it too. So, I thought I'd share it here in case it inspires anything in your daily grind. I hope you'll take a listen. Of course, I also hope you'll listen to at least one of the podcasts listed above because I've got some newfound feelings that I really need to obsess over with someone right about now. Hashtag, where is Richard Simmons? XoKristin https://awakentherebel.com/ep-34-rebe...

I like to think that I have a strong resolve. I once went to a State Fair and didn’t eat a single funnel cake the entire day. I know it’s not exactly the stuff that Purple Hearts are doled out for, but I kind of thought a mediocre, high school marching band rendition of “Salute to Heroes” as I entered the 4H barns could have been appropriate, considering the feat. 

Despite my iron will, I do have my weaknesses. One in particular comes to mind. On the list, just below vintage, silk kimonos and estate Chanel jewelry, falls “The Holiday.” I have watched this Nancy Meyers song and dance at least 25 times in my life, and, by my best calculations, assuming whatever geriatric care facility I enter at 92 has cable, I will watch it 162 more times…at least. No matter what room of the house I am in, the second Jack Black’s fingers tinkle the keys of his keyboard, my head snaps up like a zombie in The Walking Dead and I am pulled to my sofa. 

Truth is, I think the sequencing of my DNA probably spells out Rom Com. I have long since held a reverence for them, rolling deep to the days of Mystic Pizza, Can’t Buy Me Love and Working Girl. Not only that, I’ve periodically mused to my friends over girls’ trips and, often to myself, in Starbucks lines and on long drives, that I might just have a rom com inside me.

This past year, at one of the craziest moments in my business – I’m a talent manager and producer by trade – I got the itch to give my own women’s fiction dreams a go. So, with my 13year VP on maternity leave and me alone at the office helming the ship, I started writing Unverified because I’m a woman who has never prescribed to doing things methodically. By the time, Erin returned to work and gushed about the brilliant little boy she’d birthed, I informed her I had much bigger news, “I’m writing a novel!” I exclaimed. We both glowed in our respective accomplishments. Okay, I’ll give you that growing an actual human might outrank putting 80,000plus words on a page, but only by a hair. 

From that moment forward, our days fell into two parts: plowing through our real work and then she (and my mother) listening to me read each chapter as I finished them. We called it “story time,” and I made Erin promise that her son Leo would write an Amazon review since he was technically hearing the advance copy. 

As I write this first newsletter, I can’t believe the moment of publishing is here. I feel like a girl in junior high, who’s hoping I’ll get as many people to sign my yearbook as Cori Lewis, the clear matriarch of my class. If I have her tell you it’s as close to Bridget Jones’s Diary or Crazy Rich Asians as you’ll get this summer and so frothy and light you’ll feel the sand on your skin and the salt in your hair of this beach read, will that pull rank with you, because it really seemed to hold weight at my high school?

Anyway, this blog will be my way of sharing what’s going on with the book and, maybe even giving out some solid business pointers, since the other part of my life is chewing through tables to make people’s dreams come true on TV, as products, and in partnerships. 

To entice you, I’ll leave you with this first bit of advice: When you go to the State Fair, skip the deep-fried Oreos and Twinkies. At first bite, they’re everything. Twenty minutes later they’re not. Stick with the funnel cake you showed up for that day. What did you think I was hero who skipped on my own accord? Good thing we have this blog post so you can get to know me better. I’ll try to keep the powdered sugar dust off your keyboard….

"Immensely funny and heartwarming... delivers everything a romantic comedy requires." — Self Publishers Review

“A romantic page turner that will have you laughing out loud. Don’t hesitate with this one!” — Jenni Pulos, star of Bravo’s Flipping Out

"Such a relatable book with something for everyone. Love, friendship, work woes, family drama, pop culture. All the good stuff wrapped up in this page turner. Don’t head to the beach without this book in your bag. A MUST-READ!!!! — Erin S., Illinois

“In a category that rarely surprises you, this book does. I was all in from the first page to the last.” — Katrina B., Ohio

“I couldn’t put it down. I hid out so often in the bathroom reading that my toes went numb sitting on the edge of the tub. My children started to push notes under the door asking me what was for dinner.” — Heather A., Colorado

Get Your Copy! Amazon • Barnes & Noble

I love a list. Right now, I have at least five cooking. The universal, “Things to Order Online list.” My “Get it Done NOW” list, for which I applaud clean out the garage for claiming top honors 59 weeks in a row. Clearly, the Taylor Swift of tasks. 

But today, I wanted to dust off one of my favorite lists. Best Rom Coms of the 80s and marry it with something deeply personal, my novel.

I was born in 1975, early enough for bell bottoms and right on time for the arrival of history’s best rom coms. The 80s brought us such faves as Baby Boom, Splash and The Money Pit, just to name a few. 

As I wrote Unverified, it was the level of this decade’s rom coms that inspired me most. I tried to distill them into my writing style and pay homage to them in my story arcs.

Here’s a sneak peek of what you might find, if you go looking for it.

We’ll start with Mystic Pizza. Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, and Lili Taylor are delicious in this story. The fact that the movie had three working storylines made me love the importance of the sub plot, something not always seen in rom coms, and, when done, potentially distracting. I wanted to create arcs that might intrigue and surprise you just as they had in every slice of story in this film.

Next up, Working Girl. Let me start by saying, this film is one of my greatest sources of fashion inspiration, outside of Troop Beverly Hills. Both still inform my wardrobe choices today. Not even kidding. Hello shoulder pads. Tess McGill, Melanie Griffith’s character in Working Girl, introduced me to the role reversal and the web of lies that a well-intentioned and well-heeled lead character just might get ensnared in to keep the fable alive. Like every pair of clip-on earrings Tess wore in this movie, I love a good mistaken identity.

Can’t Buy Me Love sold me on the magic that happens when two leads come together in a long con and all the ways that scheming just might spin sugar into gold for our plot.

Because I can’t think of a bigger adventure than falling in love, I give you Romancing the Stone. Joan Wilder, played by Kathleen Turner, shows us what happens when we are pushed out of our comfort zone and down the side of a mountain in heels and a pencil skirt. In Unverified I tweak the description of adventure, but it’s there. One of my readers wrote me this: “When the book begins, we’re on a Sunday Drive enjoying the scenery. But suddenly, we’re careening down the side of a hill at 120 miles per hour white knuckling the dash, laughing as the landscape flies by.” I think Joan would approve.

Sixteen Candles, the Holy Grail of the category, gave us Jake Ryan, so handsome he still hangs in my top ten crushes of all time, and Samantha Baker, played to perfection by Molly Ringwald, the champion for awkward girls everywhere. But, it makes the list today for the man behind the camera, John Hughes. If I close my eyes right now, I can still see his iconic scenes. I wrote Unverified so you’d feel like you were watching it just as much as reading it. You’ll tell me if that’s the case when you flip the first page.

Lastly, Mr. Mom. It was the first rom com I’d ever seen where the man was just as important as the woman. Michael Keaton made me root for him. I wanted my Matt to be like Jack, where we not only know him but come to love him.

Point is, the 80s were rife with so much rom com goodness that it left a generation of women hoping their dining room table was sturdy enough to hold them and Jake Ryan. It’s why I’ll never have a glass dining room table in my life… just in case. 

"Immensely funny and heartwarming... delivers everything a romantic comedy requires." — Self Publishers Review

“A romantic page turner that will have you laughing out loud. Don’t hesitate with this one!” — Jenni Pulos, star of Bravo’s Flipping Out

"Such a relatable book with something for everyone. Love, friendship, work woes, family drama, pop culture. All the good stuff wrapped up in this page turner. Don’t head to the beach without this book in your bag. A MUST-READ!!!! — Erin S., Illinois

“In a category that rarely surprises you, this book does. I was all in from the first page to the last.” — Katrina B., Ohio

“I couldn’t put it down. I hid out so often in the bathroom reading that my toes went numb sitting on the edge of the tub. My children started to push notes under the door asking me what was for dinner.” — Heather A., Colorado

Get Your Copy! Amazon • Barnes & Noble

Save for one college, spring break in Panama City where I drank until my tonsil got an abscess, and I had to sip my meals through a straw for two weeks, I told myself I wasn’t a beach vacation type of gal.

I lived under that delusion for 15 years, choosing Italy and France over Turks and Caicos whenever I’d saved up enough pennies for a trip. 

On my 38th birthday I broke the streak. I woke up and decided, I should go to Tulum.

Hypnotically single, I texted one of my best friends, and asked her to go with me. She’s a mom. I caught her at just that right moment in motherhood where her response back was, “I’ll go, but only if you promise we don’t have to come back. My children are monsters.” 

Two weeks later we arrived to our sandy, eco resort on Tulum’s coast, where a sleepily handsome porter escorted us to the ocean’s edge. There sat our bungalow. Thatched roof. Sheer bed netting. Outdoor shower. “I’m pretty sure only people who are having sex stay here,” I whispered. “Whatever it takes,” she hissed flatly, “because we’re not leaving….ever.” 

It was on that trip that I learned the art of the beach vacation. How had I ever confused a college spring break and the underbelly of those Fuzzy Navels with this? Eggs, pancakes and a piping hot latte brought to my beach lounger. In college I got a beer bong and a stained chair missing one leg. These things are not the same.

We started each morning staking our claim to a pair of beach chairs, where we remained until sundown, relying only on bowls of chips and gauc and mojitos to sustain us.

When we did leave our resort, it was only in the quest of more chips and guacamole and mojitos at other beachside resorts. Our truth north was tequila.

There was even a snorkeling adventure with a sandy haired, younger, and more handsome (if you can believe it) Adrian Grenier and a spa day that resulted in stories that I still tell to this very day at nearly every dinner party I attend. You’ll have to sit next to me one time to hear them. As a little teaser, one line goes a bit like this: “Then they cupped an orb of obsidian up against my goddess chakra, which I learned very quickly is also your vagina.” I’m not saying it’s a night at The Moth, but you might want to rearrange the place cards to hear how that one panned out.

On that trip, I finished two books, Animal Husbandry by Laura Zigman and The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum, because I like my espionage served with a side of “You had me at hello.”

And, while I don’t have a beach vacation on the horizon, I do have a lawn chair and a backyard. So, in honor of setting sail, literally or figuratively, here are my picks for fave beach reads of the summer:

Bridget Jones’s Diary by  Helen Fielding because it’s the classic that sparked my first desire to write my own rom com. Whip smart and irreverently funny, it is not to be missed, even if you saw the film.

Becoming by Michelle Obama because she is who I want to be when I grow up; the kind of woman who can raise two amazing girls, (help) run our country, and still manage to have the arms of a gazelle.

Anything by Kevin Kwan. Start with Crazy Rich Asians and don’t stop. His humor is biting and believable, and his storytelling will hold you to that chaise lounger long enough to bronze your skin and beach wave your hair.

Party Girl by Rachel Hollis. I know you all love her megawatt titles like Girl, Wash Your Face. I do too. But, in addition to your never give up, chase your dream, you got this, protein shake, allow yourself a frothy, first sip of champagne. In Party Girl, she uncorks the bottle for you and pours the glass.

Unverified by ME. I couldn’t write this list and not add my own hat in the ring. I’m so proud of this book and my readers have told me how much they enjoyed it too. So, since it’s my list, I’ve decided it makes the cut. It’s funny, fast and full of surprises, none of which involve an orb of obsidian or your goddess chakra. But, don’t be discouraged. It’s just as good, I promise.

"Immensely funny and heartwarming... delivers everything a romantic comedy requires." — Self Publishers Review

“A romantic page turner that will have you laughing out loud. Don’t hesitate with this one!” — Jenni Pulos, star of Bravo’s Flipping Out

"Such a relatable book with something for everyone. Love, friendship, work woes, family drama, pop culture. All the good stuff wrapped up in this page turner. Don’t head to the beach without this book in your bag. A MUST-READ!!!! — Erin S., Illinois

“In a category that rarely surprises you, this book does. I was all in from the first page to the last.” — Katrina B., Ohio

“I couldn’t put it down. I hid out so often in the bathroom reading that my toes went numb sitting on the edge of the tub. My children started to push notes under the door asking me what was for dinner.” — Heather A., Colorado

Get Your Copy! Amazon • Barnes & Noble