This post contains spoilers about the endings of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, 500 Days of Summer, The Notebook, and Love Story. Read with caution, and a box of tissues!

Reading romance, we all kind of expect there to be a Happily Ever After. But in movies, just because something is romantic doesn’t always mean it will end happily. Recently I saw 2012's Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. With a title like that, it would end only in one way: not happily. 

For those of you who haven’t seen the film [SPOILERS AHEAD], it features Steve Carell and Kiera Knightley who face a world at the edge of destruction. An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth and all attempts to blow it up or change its path are futile and it is going to impact within a few days. Carell tries to reunite with his lost love and Knightley, after learning she won’t be able to go home to her family in England, decides to join him on his final road trip to love. Of course, the pair falls in love (a couple I would have never put together, but hey, it’s the end of the world and somehow it works…) and faces the end of the world together and happily in one another’s arms.

[Get the tissues ready, folks...]

They may be covered in blood, but the men are still hot (and in the case of Bill, a little bit crazy) in the Season 6 True Blood trailer.

When we last left Bon Temps, Bill had just gone crazy and been killed/possessed/reincarnated by Lillith and everyone was screaming and running for their lives as they tried to escape the compound. While the world seems to be caving in on everyone as Louisiana declares war on vampires, and the vamps face off against each other, there still seems to be time for some lovin'. What couples are you looking forward to seeing in Season 6—we have Tara/Pam, Alcide/Rikki, Eric/Sookie, and will we see more of Jessica/Jason?

What are you looking forward to in Season 6? Don't miss the premiere on June 16!

See all of our True Blood coverage on our feature page—including trailers, recaps, and news!

A new cast member has been added to the Downton Abbey household and he'll be fulfilling a first for the show—the first recurring black character. Gary Carr has been tapped as a recurring jazz singer during Season 4.

Carr has been seen in other BBC shows like Death in Paradise and Bluestone 42. Carr joins fellow newbie cast members Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Tom Cullen (who is cast to be Lady Mary's possible love interest) Julian Ovenden, Nigel Harman, Joanna David and Dame Harriet Walter, who are all set to carry significant roles in season four.

In other news: DA executive producer Gareth Neame confirmed that Downton Abbey will be coming into your homes and not just through your TV. Soon there will be Downton Abbey clothing, furniture, beauty products and stationary.

Would you buy Downton Abbey inspired things for your closet or home?

While we were having some renewed hope for Season 6 of True Blood we've been dealt a potentially fatal blow—as has one of the major characters of the show!

A rumor has been going around today that a major True Blood character will be killed off in Season 6. Last we saw, Billith was about to go on a killing spree so the death blow may be dealt in that very first episode—or not... In an Entertainment Weekly article Joe Mangienello who plays Alcide, teased that there will be new faces added to the show, but don't count on anyone being safe:

“We're getting to the point in the season now where people are starting to die. The table reads are starting to get smaller, and I'm sure they will continue to do that.”

Other rumors have circulated that Eric, played by Alexander Skarsgard, will meet the true death. Would this be a deal breaker for you? If nothing else, we're ready to get the tissues out for Season 6!

What do you think of this gossip? Is there anyone you'd be “okay with” dying? Would you stop watching the show if they killed off a character?

Check out all our other True Blood coverage before the premiere of Season 6 June 16.

The first set photo from the Divergent movie was revealed today by Entertainment Weekly. The movie is based on a dystopian Young Adult series by Veronica Roth in which society is split into five factions based on ideal human characteristics—selflessness, bravery, peacefulness, intelligence, and honesty. In this scene, Shailene Woodley, who plays the lead character Beatrice “Tris” Prior, has knives thrown at her head by Four after she takes the place of a fellow initiate into the Dauntless (bravery) faction.

Visit Entertainment Weekly for the full image and an interview with Shailene Woodley.

Last month, Theo James of Downton Abbey was cast as Four, a leader of the Dauntless faction and the mentor-turned-love of Tris.

Divergent is scheduled for release on March 21, 2014.

Check out our other coverage of Veronica Roth and get caught up on the series before the movie's out!

Samantha Young
Down London Road
NAL / May 7, 2013 / $15.00 print, $7.99 digital

It has always been up to Johanna to care for her family, particularly her younger brother, Cole. With an absent father and a useless mother, she’s been making decisions based on what’s best for Cole for as long as she can remember. She even determines what men to date by how much they can provide for her brother and her, not on whatever sparks may—or may not—fly.

But with Cameron MacCabe, the attraction is undeniable. The sexy new bartender at work gives her butterflies every time she looks at him. And for once, Jo is tempted to put her needs first. Cam is just as obsessed with getting to know Jo, but her walls are too solid to let him get close enough to even try.

Then Cam moves into the flat below Jo’s, and their blistering connection becomes impossible to ignore. Especially since Cam is determined to uncover all of Jo’s secrets …even if it means taking apart her defenses piece by piece.

We once again enter the world of Club 39, but instead of going back to Joss and Braden’s story, we get to see Jo and new bartender Cam. Samantha Young knows tension, knows the depths of the human condition—both the light and dark parts—and she knows good sex. Best of all she knows how to write it all with a sensitivity and heat that both makes the experience believable for her readers and beautiful to read. Like in her debut On Dublin Street, Young builds the tension layer by layer and you are just about bursting at the seems when Cam and Joss finally (and explosively) get together.

[We won't keep you waiting for the rest of this post...]

Pitch Perfect is one of those movies that you turn on and think “whatever, it has (insert actress or thing you are watching it for), I'll just turn it on for a second...”, two hours later you are totally sucked in and want to be Fat Amy's friend, played by Rebel Wilson, and learn the cup song. If you were desperate for more songs, more Anna Kendrick, and most importantly, more Rebel Wilson then prepare yourself for the sequel!

We left off with the Barden Bellas right after they had won Nationals with a thrilling performance of a mash-up. What are we likely to see in the sequel due out in 2015? Rebel Wilson and Anna Kendrick will undoubtedly be returning and the sequel can go one of two ways: following the antics of the remaning Bellas after their big Nationals win, or post-college-life. We know that Brittany Snow's character is likely heading off to New York or Los Angeles to pursue a career in music or broadway and we know that Anna Kendrick's gothic Beca wanted to become a producer in L.A. My hope is to find Beca in Los Angeles dealing with the trials and tribulations of the music industry, but who knows which way it'll go. What do you think? What do you hope to see in the Pitch Perfect sequel?

Although you’ve likely heard of Benedict Cumberbatch, you likely hadn’t until a few years ago when he blew up on the scene in Sherlock, BBC’s modernization of Sherlock Holmes. As many someones have recently told me: he’s not really all that attractive, and even a little weird looking.

I heartily...agree. He is a little weird looking, but in the best way possible. I don’t think he would be as approachable as he is if he wasn’t slightly weird looking. He also wouldn’t have gotten the roles he’s gotten if he were classically handsome. He’s a damn good actor, and in this case the whole is greater than the sum of his parts. I could also make the point that many female models make their careers being “ugly-pretty,” and plenty of actors make their careers on being just plain ugly, forget the pretty. But what makes Cumberbunnies so rabid about his sex appeal?

[The voice, the talent...take your pick!]

Natalie Dormer has played some very infamous women on television, including Anne Boleyn in The Tudors and Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones. Now she'll be cast as another infamous woman as she takes on the role of Irene Adler in CBS's Elementary. Adler has been played by some pretty phenomenal actresses, including most recently Rachel McAdams and Lara Pulver.

Earlier today, TV Guide announced that Dormer would take on a three-episode Elementary arc starting May 9 leading up to the two-hour season finale on May 16. Earlier this season we learned that Irene Adler, aka The Woman, had been murdered by the mysterious “M.” Those versed in the canon of Sherlock Holmes would know this is alludes to Sherlock's biggest nemesis, Moriarity. Her death acted as the catalyst to the tail spin Sherlock's life took in London as drug addiciton overshadowed his case work.

The hypothesis is that these will be flashbacks leading to the possible reveal of the real Moriarity, but do you think they'll bring her back from the dead? And how might Adler's arc affect the Sherlock/Watson relationship?

Dormer looks a lot like we thought Irene might—what do you think?

In an interview about Lothaire in 2011, Kresley Cole said she has at least 10 more books plotted out in her head for her Immortals After Dark series, not even including (one would hope) her spin-off series, The Dacians. One of the recurring characters in the series is Nucking Futs Nïx the Ever-Knowing, Proto-Valkyrie and Seer without Equal. In layman’s terms, that means she really old and really crazy. It’s her craziness that makes her a much-loved character in the series. She’s like your really old, really meddling great-aunt—except she has the body of a super model and the strength of sumo wrestler.

Cole has hinted on her site that while Nïx will get a book, it will be a long time coming as it will be one of the last if not the last book. While Nïx’s day may be long awaited, that leaves plenty of time for us to think about who she will end up with. As with all of her characters, every super-Alpha male needs a strong female to be his foil. This heroine may not seem like an Alpha female at first glance, but sooner or later she’s chopping off people’s heads and fulfilling prophecies.

In the case of Nïx, she is already an Alpha female—she may even be as crazy as Lothaire was prior to meeting his Bride. That means she’s going to need someone strong but gentle who can temper her particular brand of crazy. We know little to nothing about Nïx’s life before her relatively recent insanity took hold outside of the brief glimpses of memory we saw in Lothaire.

[What's ahead for Nix?...]

It's always a fun but anxious time when your favorite books get turned into movies. It seems to be happening a lot recently with just this past year adaptations coming out of Twilight, The Hobbit, The Host, and later this summer, The Mortal Instruments. Now I don't know about you, but I got absorbed in the series when I picked it up—but I love any redheaded heroine!—and I am still hopeful for the series following Clary Fray and the part-human, part-Angel Shadowhunters she becomes involved with.

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing — not even a smear of blood — to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

This second trailer reveals a little more about the mystery surrounding Clary and her mother played by Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey.

What do you think of this second trailer? Has it finally sold you, intrigued you just a little, or convinced you to give it a pass?

In the latest publishing news, author E.L. James is all set to publish her newest book. Reportedly, the book is to have originally been a fan-fiction story based on the characters of her wildly popular novel Fifty Shades of Grey. No word as to plot yet, but rumor is that this will be less contemporary and have a more paranormal lean to it. James has been spotted around her native England LARP-ing in the hope of really gaining a perspective on paranormal culture and interviewing fellow Tie-hards (not to be confused with the Twi-hards of Stephenie Meyer's series).

The news coincides with the announcement of casting Michael Buble in the titular role of the infamous Christian Grey and Kathy Griffin as ingenue Anastasia Steele. The movie is set to come out June 9, 2015.

...And a very merry April Fool's Day to all!

Writer’s note: This is a speculation/anticipation post for the second half of Season 7 of BBC’s Doctor Who. It will contain ***spoilers for earlier episodes of Season 7*** and all previous seasons of the Doctor Who reboot…and other wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey goodness!

I didn’t find Doctor Who until a few years ago, and like any person new to a show, I sat down and watched every season available in one fell swoop. I started out with the end of David Tennant and transitioned into Matt Smith as my Doctor and my Doctor he shall remain—although I love David Tennant (I know it’s practically sacrilege to say otherwise). As I mentioned in my post on love with a Time Lord, Matt Smith’s tenure as the Doctor was a return to older Who episodes. He wasn’t in love with anyone; it was just good ol’ adventures and fun companions—most notably the aggressively-Scottish Amy Pond.

For those of you who haven’t caught up on the most recent season, there are two pivotal episodes, here’s a quick synopsis.

[Last chance to avoid spoilers...]

Star Trek: Into Darkness is the much-anticipated sequel to the 2009 reboot of the franchise. The movie will of course still feature the yummy Chris Pine, but also features Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain—a rogue Star Fleet agent (Maybe? It's one of the biggest mysteries still!) who seeks revenge on Star Fleet.

We love the action this trailer shows, but we love Benedict Cumberbatch in the trailer (those cheekbones you could practically cut yourself on!) even more. We practically melted at that deep voice at the beginning! Lots of squeeing going on for those Cumber-bunnies out there. What do you think of the trailer? Are you more likely to see it because of the eye candy like Cumberbatch, Pine, and Zachary Quinto, or because you're a Star Trek fan?

Elizabeth Boyle
And the Miss Ran Away with the Rake
Avon / March 26, 2013 / $7.99 print, $6.99 digital

Sensible gentleman of means seeks a sensible lady of good breeding for correspondence, and in due consideration, matrimony.

Which is exactly the sort of advertisement that makes practical-to-a-fault Daphne Dale's heart flutter. A sensible gentleman, in her estimation, is the perfect match, and she's even more convinced once she's exchanging sensibly romantic letters with her very appropriate suitor. That is, until Lord Henry Seldon strays into her path. He's everything she's vowed to avoid—a rakish charmer whose very touch seduces her practical sensibilities and her resolve.

Lord Henry Seldon was not amused when his nephew placed an advertisement to find him a wife. Yet he couldn't resist replying to the note from “Miss Spooner.” And once he discovers he's corresponding with none other than the disarming Daphne Dale, he finds it's too late to disavow his heart. Now it is up to Henry to prove to Daphne just how insensible—and powerfully passionate—true love can be…

Very much like Lord Henry and Daphne do in Elizabeth Boyle’s second book in the Rhymes with Love series, And the Miss Ran Away with the Rake, I started this book with certain assumptions. And very much like Daphne and Lord Henry, those assumptions were quickly blown out of the water.

At the beginning of the book, Lord Henry’s rapscallion of a…nephew (yes, nephew, if you read the first book in the series you will know the rather convoluted family history of the Preston family) places an ad in the newspaper on behalf of Lord Henry. “Sensible gentleman of means seeks a sensible lady of good breeding for correspondence, and in due consideration, matrimony.” Lord Henry and his sister are horrified, but agree he must write to the ladies who replied to the ad. And this, ladies and gents, is where it gets interesting (and we’re not even out of the first chapter!).

[This is getting good...]

Last night on How I Met Your Mother, two of our favorite worlds collided when Ted and Marshall got hooked on Woodworthy Manor, a fictional television program about upperclass early-twentieth-century Brits and the entanglements, garden parties, and afternoon teas that make up their lives. Sound familiar? We thought so, too, as it obviously alluded to Downton Abbey.

They made multiple references to the show throughout the episode, including an arc where Marshall and Lily get in a fight because Marshall watches the latest Woodworthy Manor without her (and even includes Ted talking in a really bad British accent). Our favorite part might have been when the gang watched an episode of Woodworthy Manor—with no less than a full high tea, of course! While The Fortress of Barnitude took center stage during this episode, we loved hearing allusions to one of our favorite homes.

Did anyone else catch the references? What did you think?

While the redheaded male is a rare creature in romance (even in Scottish romance), the redheaded female is a favorite in the genre. What’s so great is she encapsulates two extremes of the genre. She’s either sassy from the very beginning—‘cause come on, redheads aren’t known as fiery for nothing—or is usually accompanied with another trope. You know the ones I’m talking about—she’s overweight and redheaded, a ginger wallflower, or some combination of the two. I like to think all redheads are sassy, they just haven’t found it yet.

Statistically speaking, there shouldn’t be as many redheads in romance as there are. Granted, romance tends to disregard statistical improbability (case in point, how many dukes could there have possibly been in Regency and Victorian England that are young, hung, and looking for love—here’s a hint: not that many).

[I'm okay with statistical improbability when it comes to redheads!...]

If you were a tween in the ’90s, chances are good that you remember K. A. Applegate’s middle-grade sci-fi/fantasy Animorphs series, whether you read the novels or watched the television show or both. After a few of us here at H&H HQ realized this*, we had a grand time talking about the golden days of Animorphs, only to stop and consider: Could Animorphs have been our first shifter romance story?!

The Animorphs, a long-running series of 54 books published between 1996 and 2001, is about a group of five human teenagers (later joined by one alien)—Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, and Marco—who stumble across an alien spaceship on their walk home one evening and are given the ability to morph, or shapeshift, into any creature they touch by the peace-loving alien who crash landed. They’re meant to use their powers to help battle an attempt to take over the Earth by a race of parasitic aliens known as Yeerks.**

Cool abilities that nevertheless can bring the angst, epic battle brewing that will literally determine the fate of the world...it’s actually kind of a familiar premise, right?

[When you put it that way...]

The holiday season is over and TV shows are coming back. We've been nursing a pretty serious crush (and no small amount of lust) for these leading men who will be starting shows this month. Jamie Bamber is a Team H&H favorite and we've loved seeing him in some American TV lately. He'll be starting in Monday Mornings on TNT in February. Meanwhile, a Downton Abbey alum, Theo James, will be starring in the CBS detective drama Golden Boy. Mega-hotties Victor Webster and John Reardon find themselves in a sci-fi thriller when a futuristic detective finds herself in modern-day Vancouver in Continuum. Last but certainly not least, Laz Alonso (you may recognize him from Stomp the Yard, Breakout Kings, and SouthLAnd) will be taking a turn as a cop in NBC's Deception.

So will you be tuning in to oggle the abs acting chops? Or simply staring at their pictures online to pick out your new TV boyfriend?

[+4 more paragons of midseason manliness!...]