Tag Archives: love

Weekly AI Prompt Challenge Week of 7/26/26

August 4, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

This week’s prompt challenge was to write a prompt that will create a person who represents opposing concepts or elements, such as chaos and order, fire and water, etc. I chose sharp, rigid and bright contrasting with soft, curvy, and pastel.

“Curves & Corners”

*Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on ChatGPT.*

Prompt – A front view surreal portrait of a beautiful African American woman with long, naturally curly flowing hair. The image is divided conceptually at her waist, everything above is soft, organic, flowing, and rounded, including the background image of flowing sky. Her clothing above her waist is loose and ethereal with flowing chiffon, billowing sleeves, gentle folds, swirling ribbons, soft curves, elegance, circles, orbs, swirling clouds, rounded forms, graceful waves, smooth gradients, delicate mist, pastel and muted colors, blended, dreamy, feminine, soft. Below her waist the skirt crystallizes into sharp angular geometry. Faceted polygons, jagged shards, triangles, diamonds, hard edges, sharp corners, fractured crystalline planes, sharp folds, Cubist architecture, geometric abstraction, rigid structures, loud clashing colors, black accents, bold graphic contrast. The landscape behind her lower half is angular buildings, polygonal streets, fractured perspective, sharp architecture.

Platform – ChatGPT

And here are some of the honorable mentions that I did not submit, but still published on my art website:

These images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

Art, Concepts

Weekly AI Prompt Challenge Week of 7/19/26

August 4, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

This week’s prompt challenge was to write a prompt that will create an image of a building that defies gravity and physics, such as a skyscraper built of water or a castle resting on the back of a whale. I decided to make mine out of paper in the spine of a book.

“Origami Book Village”

*Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on Gencraft.com website.*

Prompt – A whimsical origami town built entirely from giant folded sheets of paper and scraps of newspaper rises up from the pages of an open book. Geometric folds with sharp creases and patchwork paper engineering form every palace, cathedral, tower, bridge, staircase, archway, rooftop, fortress wall and home. The surfaces show faint ink sketches, faded diagrams, typeprint, and calligraphy. Realistic paper texture and hodgepodge of mismatched pieces. Pretty blue sky with a few fluffy clouds, tiny people wandering the streets of the city. The entire town should look delicate and fragile, a paper village.

Gencraft – Model: 40% Olafs-Whimgear 3.0.

Style – Cartoon.

And here are some of the honorable mentions that I did not submit, but still published on my art website:

Art, Concepts

Daily AI Art Challenges Week of 7/26/26

August 4, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

This first challenge of my week was to use the framing technique of dead space where a portion of the frame is left unoccupied or uninteresting to force the viewer’s eye to the main subject.

7/26/26 “Pool Time”

The next challenge was to create a magical pharmacy. Since Time is the Rarest Medicine, some of the prescriptions are An Unhurried Morning, Childhood (limited Supply), One Long Goodbye, Borrowed Youth, Second Chances, Time to Heal, One Summer Afternoon, and Five More Minutes. Dosage – as needed. Side Effects – No Regrets. Please return borrowed time promptly.

7/27/26 “Apothecary of Borrowed Time”

The next challenge was to create an image that included an anthropomorphic animal with their vehicle.

7/28/26 “Ol’ Bubba”

The next day’s challenge was to include a classic horror character from a list of old classics including the one I chose, The Invisible Man. Yes, he’s naked in my image. The horror!

7/29/26 “Dancing with the Invisible Man”

The next challenge was to create a home interior where the furniture, windows, patterns, and objects subtly form one enormous hidden face. Mine won the challenge!

7/30/26 “Hearth & Soul”

Since my “Hearth & Soul” won, I got to make up the next challenge. However, the other AI artists were quite impatient waiting for me. They had already made some art expressing their displeasure that I thought was funny.

I kept it simple and said that today’s challenge must include water and something or someone partially submerged.

7/31/26 “Quiet Waters”

The last challenge of the week had to include a lesser known Marvel or DC character. I chose “Rose Tattoo” who was part of the Wildstorm Universe and is the living incarnation of Murder. Wildstorm was bought by DC, so it counts.

8/1/26 “Rose Tattoo”

And here are some of the honorable mentions that I did not submit, but still published on my art website:

Essays, Writing

Where the God of Love Hangs Out (Book Review)

July 20, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

Amy Bloom has crafted a collection of short fictional stories that are exquisite. The language is breathtakingly gorgeous, though the subject matter is not always pretty. The only common theme is unflinching witness to people’s passion. And that is sometimes dark and ugly and confusing. Most of the stories ponder desire between people who are not meant to be together: an older woman and her adult step-son, couple friends whose partners are secretly having an affair, a married man who longs for the owner of the local coffee shop, or the killer who always aims for the heart.

One scene I thought expressed grief in a lovely, strange, poignant way was after Clare lost her husband William. “When Clare gets off the phone, there’s a raccoon in her kitchen, on the counter…He is eating a slice of bacon bread. He’s holding it in his small, nimble, and very human black hands. He looks at her over the edge of the bread, like a man peering over his glasses. A fat, bold, imperturbable man with a twinkle in his dark eyes. Even though she knows better…Clare says, softly, “William.”

This book is not for the easily offended, nor those seeking gentleness or happy endings. But for anyone who desires a genius turn of phrase and language that will bounce around inside you for a few hours or days, it is a gift. I dream of writing like Ms. Bloom. (Not necessarily the subject matter, but the art.)

Bloom, Amy. Where the God of Love Hangs Out, Random House, 2010.

Essays, Writing

It Happened One Autumn (Book Review)

July 20, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

*These images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.*

It Happened One Autumn is the 2^nd book in the Wallflowers Series and is my favorite so far. I love the enemies to lovers trope and this one has it in spades. It also has false friends, kidnapping, near-death danger, terrible mothers, unexpected love, scoundrels, pride and prejudice sort of dynamics, love potion magical perfumes, and defying of stodgy conventions. It is also nearly entirely set at Stony Cross Park, Hampshire, England, which has become my favorite English Manor of all the English Manors I have read about due to the beautiful details about the gardens, ponds, fields, and paths. I want to live there in my fantasies.

This story follows the hopes of the second Wallflower, the American heiress Lillian Bowman. She is beautiful, fearless (unless she is expected to eat British delicacies like calf’s head), and certain she will never experience love. She and her sister Daisy will be spending a month at Stony Cross Park under the annoying eye of the 8^th Earl of Westcliff, Marcus. He is a serious man whose “constant striving for excellence led him to get the highest marks in school, to break all records in his chosen sports, and to judge himself far more harshly than anyone else ever could.” The American woman and the British man are both irritated by the mere presence of each other, so of course we know they are destined to have chemistry. And the ensuing developments are very satisfying.

Kleypas, Lisa. It Happened One Autumn, Avon Books, 2005.

These are images created from the description of Stony Cross Park, Hampshire in the novel:

Essays, Writing

Secrets of a Summer Night (Book Review)

June 28, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

In London, 1843, it is most egregious to be a young lady out in society if you don’t check all the boxes considered desirable for marriage. Four young ladies find themselves on the wrong side of the marriage market, sitting alone together and decide to form an alliance, calling themselves The Wallflowers. They make pacts to help each other snag husbands and form fierce friendships along the way. And what, pray tell, are their crimes? One has fallen on hard times and does not have as much money as she used to because her father passed away and left more debt than wealth. Oh, and she’s old, a whopping 25 years old. Another has a stutter. And two are from America, for shame.

They decide to start with Annabelle because her situation is the direst, this being her last season due to her aged decrepitness of 25 years and near spinsterhood. And to her chagrin, the only male sniffing around her is Simon Hunt, a brash, outspoken, not-very-gentlemanly, non-noble, annoying man who grates on her nerves. He is fascinated with Annabelle and has even suggested that he will take her on as a mistress if she gets desperate enough. Needless to say, she is not impressed by his offer. The ensuing tale is delightful, playful, and full of twists and turns. There are even several extremely climactic and traumatic events near the end that kept me flipping pages late into the night.

I will give away that Annabelle’s situation is satisfactorily resolved, but that means we have three more Wallflowers to marry off. I can’t wait for their books. And hints have already been given throughout Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas as to who the next pairing might be.

Kleypas, Lisa. Secrets of a Summer Night, Avon Books, 2004.

Essays, Writing

Again The Magic (Book Review)

June 28, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

It has finally happened. All my life I’ve heard of the trope where a royal young lady falls in love with the stable boy, but I’ve never actually read a romance where that was present. Again The Magic by Lisa Kleypas opens in Hampshire, England, in 1832. Lady Aline Marsden is the oldest daughter of the Earl of Westcliff. Her best friend and closest confidant is the stable boy McKenna who she has grown up with. But their relationship has budded into much more than friendship as they have blossomed into young adults. And that spells disaster for the fate of McKenna if the Earl finds out. Separation, a terrible accident, crossing of continents, new friendships, and deaths occur in rapid succession.

Jump to 1844, a changing world, a new Earl (Aline’s brother, who is more open-minded), and visiting Americans. Is love possible for either Aline or her sister Livia? A desperate alcoholic is on the brink of no return as he drinks himself to death. A woman stays in hiding due to grief and unwillingness to be hurt ever again. A man seeks revenge. And the new Earl, Marcus Marsden tries to keep everything afloat with modernizing investments in American technologies, a radical idea that other gentry are not open to. There are so many different fascinating threads of character stories in this novel that kept me hooked, eager to know their outcomes. I adore the loving, but no-nonsense, Mrs. Faircloth who is a surrogate mother to both Aline and McKenna. In my opinion, this is the best book yet in the series. The development of Ms. Kleypas’s writing is richer, the descriptions more alive, and the character development better flushed out. I can’t wait for the next book.

Kleypas, Lisa. Again The Magic, Avon Books, 2004.

These 2 images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

Essays, Writing

Three Weddings And A Kiss (Book Review)

June 22, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson

Set in a rural town in Oregon in the 1890s, Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson is a charming tale of hijinks gone wrong, misunderstandings galore, and a literal shotgun wedding that throws a nearly blind young lady into a household of eight males. In her attempts to keep her blindness hidden for fear of rejection, Rachel scorches the clothes, puts salt in the pies, and trips over everything, leading to many wacky scenarios. And just as true love seems to be blossoming, another woman arrives on the scene to throw a kink in the works. I quite enjoyed this novella and could totally see it as a successful film. I would watch it in a heartbeat.

The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase

The novella The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase was my favorite of the four stories in this collection. It is set in the late 1820s in Dartmoor, Devon, England, with the dangerous bogs of the open moors playing a part in the storyline. The story centers around a mother and son who seem to experience similar symptoms of a brain disorder that has no cure. The young heroine of the story is a medical student who will not give up on researching the problem and refuses to kowtow to the opinions of most of the medical experts of the day. Her open-minded, science-obsessed, driven nature makes her a perfect match for the man who has lost all hope of survival, let alone comfort or peace. The romance is fabulous, and the peak inside the medical world of the early 1820s is fascinating.

Promises by Lisa Kleypas

I dedicated an entire review to this novella set in London because it went with the cannon of stories I was reading in The Gamblers of Craven’s Series. See “Promises (Novella Review)” for full details.

The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

This is the shortest of the four novellas in the book and by far the most unsettling. This one takes place near Charleston, South Carolina, around the turn of the 19^th century, and addresses themes of human trafficking. A 19-year-old woman from London is being sold by her good-for-nothing uncle to some sleazy older man and escapes long enough to run into a tall, handsome, rich stranger, who just happens to be a very eligible bachelor. You can imagine where the story goes from here. Black servants in the home are mentioned, and the author makes a terrible attempt at dialect. There might be a reason this book is out of print. I will say that there is some good chemistry between the characters. I would not have chosen to end with this novella, but no one asked for my input.

Anderson, Catherine; Chase, Loretta; Kleypas, Lisa; Woodiwiss, Kathleen E., Three Weddings And A Kiss, Avon Books, 1995.

Essays, Writing

Voicemails for Isabelle (Movie Review)

June 22, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

I just watched Voicemails for Isabelle on Netflix and have never cried so hard in the first 15 minutes of a movie in my life. I fell in love with all the characters immediately, loved that it was set in Austin, TX and San Francisco, CA, and was shocked by the quality of the entire project. The close relationship between the two sisters and the big question of how to keep living when you lose your heart drives the entire movie. But, yes, it is still a romantic comedy. Dramady, I suppose. You can’t use up an entire box of tissues and it only be a comedy. And it hits all the right notes: music, food, pop culture references, filming, scenery, dialogue, dance parties, romance, family, friends, wedding speeches, grief, loss, women standing together, etc.

The main character, Jill, is quirky, funny, raw, and honest in a way that is both endearing and admirable. And every single side character in the movie steals their scene in the best of ways. The “bad guys” are hilariously bad. The “best friends” are the best best friends a person could ask for. Even the incidental tour guide on screen for a few seconds leaves a lasting so-funny impression. Ok, maybe I just needed this movie at this moment in time and I’ll go back and watch it later much less impressed. But on this day, in my current state of mind, I was pleasantly surprised to find a fresh, real, heartbreakingly sweet movie filled with actors I mostly did not recognize (except for a few side characters) with a happy ending that also made me cry.

100% recommend.

p.s. There is a secret reason it made me think of my sister Robyn that you’ll have to watch to figure out.

McKendrick, Leah. Voicemails for Isabelle, Sony Pictures, Escape Artists, Netflix, 2026.

All but the movie poster made on Gencraft by Rebekah Marshall.

Essays, Writing

Promises (Novella Review)

June 19, 2026 rebekahjmarshall Leave a comment

Lidian – *Image created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompt using AI on Gencraft.com website.*

This novella by Lisa Kleypas called Promises, feels like an early piece possibly written as Ms. Kleypas was still figuring out her style. Though published after the 2 novels centered around 1820s London where Derek Craven’s casino entertains the uber-wealthy, it is set in the early days of that fictional world. The young woman at the center of the novella is earnest in love and all matters of propriety. She has lost her father, her fortune, and is barely keeping everything running for herself and her mother as she waits for her true love to return from his travels. She cannot imagine a world where he is not her future.

I love that this young woman, so lacking in relationship experience, is certain that her steadfast loyalty is the right course for her life. How long is too long to wait? Is her waiting a pipe dream? Does the object of her affection feel as strongly toward her as she does toward him? Has he pined for her for over a year as she has for him? Only his return can answer any of these questions. And though this piece is short, it contains much of the elegance, charm, romance, adventure, and passion, just in a small package. And in order of books, I would read it first before Then Came You as a little introductory taste of Derek Craven’s gambling house before launching into the two meatier books of The Gamblers of Craven’s Series.

Kleypas, Lisa. Promises, Anderson, Catherine; Chase, Loretta; Woodiwiss, Kathleen E., Three Weddings And A Kiss, Avon Books, 1995.