Sundays make for great "rainy days"

It's been raining all morning here in Alaska. That good, solid rain that never lets up or drive you mad with the "will it/won't it" thing waiting on sunshine. Nope. No sun. (Or storms, in Alaska. We have wind, but I've yet to hear thunder or see lightening in my five years here.)

I've spent the morning playing Warcraft with my bff (for a minute or 120) and then I popped open my WIP to the "saggy/flabby middle" phase I'm currently in. I've banged out a page or two. But still. Meh.

So instead of writing, I thought I'd take a moment and give a shout-out to my elementary school days with a good, old-fashioned book report.

I picked up "The Mercenary's Bride" at the grocery store on Friday. (I love Harlequin for that very reason, among others. Accessibility.)

I have this dream to see my own medieval make it to their Historicals line, so it never hurts to read what they're buying, right?

Author Terri Brisbane did a fantastic job. I've always liked the Norman/Saxon era and it's ripe with potential for conflict. Invader heros and proud, angry Saxon heroines. Delish!

Brice, our Norman conqueror, doesn't dissapoint. Dissapoint us, at least.

His first, um, "moment" with his new bride, however, is less than impressive. No, I'm serious!!! Can you imagine a romance where the hero doesn't completely satisfy his virgin bride, and instead, jumps off the cliff without her???

I was floored. And totally in book love with Ms. Brisbane. In all my years of reading romance, I've come to accept the fact that these lucky heroines get the annoying "magical and multi-orgasmic" first experiences. But not Gillian. Oh, poor girl.

The story takes off from there and it never lets up. This was my first by the author and I can't wait to track down her backlist. She had me at "Oops. Sorry...this never happens."

It also got me thinking about some of my favorite time periods to read about. Highlands during the medieval for sure. (Less than England, for some reason. I prefer Regency for any English tales.) I love Norman/Saxon. And Roman, for some reason. I read a time-travel set in Rome once and it knocked my socks off.

The trouble with having an attention-deficit brain like I do, is that as a writer, I doubt there is enough time in the world to learn enough about all the time periods I love so much to craft stories about them. I'm pretty sure I'm stuck in the British medievals for a while, as I was never the best student and I need to make use of all the research I've done so far.

So what am I missing? Westerns? Vikings? What other time periods hold romance gems?