A Viking, a Highlander or a Pirate? What's your Fantasy?

Grand Prize swag pack for Romancing The Hop.

Enter to win Our Romancing the Blog Grand Prizes by leaving a comment on this blog. 

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $130 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: The above Swag Pack!
** Don't forget to leave your email dress with the comment so we can notify you if you are a winner. Also, if you leave a comment here about what type of historical romances you prefer to read or what kind of hero does it for you, you will be entered to win a $15 Amazon Gift Card from me. So, share your fantasies! I'm waiting to hear from you.    
Our $15 Gift Card winner is Marie Haney! Thanks Marie for the great comment. 

 I've been asked to share why I love romance novels. 

Here it is in a nutshell: Prince Charming has morning breath. And worse, he farts......a lot!

Now, I'm not knocking anyone's real life happily ever after with Sir Farts-A-Lot. He's a good man who brings us roses at the appropriate times (hopefully), steals kisses at unexpected moments and re-formats the hard drive on our computer when it goes wonky. And his version of doing battle for his lady fair might be more akin to charging an iron shopping cart through the dangerous labryrinth of Walmart on community grocery day, blazing a path through the crowds for you to follow rather then facing a dragon or an opposing knight in a jousting match, but hey, this is today's modern reality.

So, why do I write romance? The short answer: I grew up with Star Trek  and I dream of Jeannie, so entertaining fantasy was pretty much what drew me in from the start, be it movies or reading material. My first true romance was A Rose in Winter by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.  I loved the historical setting of 18th century England, the dark, brooding, mysterious Lord Saxon and the plucky heroine Erienne, struggling to rise above her circumstances. She was doing pretty well on her own but she still needed a hero to give her a lift. A hero entered the scene and carried her (unwillingly) away to his castle and after lots of conflict, both internal and external, they found their happily ever after. That's the basic storyline of every romance. Doesn't matter if it's a Viking or a modern day hero who is a navy seal or a shape-shifter, he comes into the heroine's life and when he does, he make her life a little better--after they kill the zombies and save the world. Or perhaps more accurately--during the conflict love grows between them. It's not so much about being rescued by someone else as it is finding that one soul-mate who completes you and makes you happy.

Forget Calgon: Will Turner Jr, can 'Take me Away!'

For me--it's all about the fantasy element of the romance. Escapist Fantasy. Being swept away to another time, another place, with a handsome rogue closing in. My husband escapes the mundane pressures of this life by shooting Nazis or Zombies in his computer games.
I love escaping the mundane pressures of this life by reading about heroines attending fancy balls, wearing exquisite gowns and being courted by some handsome rake with Hessian boots and a set of dueling pistols in his closet. A Viking, a Highlander or a Pirate he may be, but if he's noble and charming, he's the right hero for me.