What Your Historical Reading Choice Says About Your Personality

After ten years of study, biliotherapists at prestigious Dever University in Knob Knoster, MO have discovered a startling correlation in readers' choice of historical era romance preference and their personalities. "The stronger the preference, the more consistent the predictions we can make," says Alice Fleming, PHD, BMA, the initiator of the study. "We have been contacted by the FBI on the possibility of adding our findings to their ongoing study of profiling. Of course, that would violate the privacy of our study participants and is completely against University policy."

What does this study reveal about your personality? Check the descriptions below.

Medieval, Scottish: Devotees of this sub-genre are marked by their desire for family connections and their preference for plaid. They tend to be fearless, bold, and youthful in their attitudes toward life. Intensely loyal and magnanimous with their friends and family, they are equally as distrusting of strangers. They usually live in large houses with straw colored carpets.

Regency: Refined and orderly can describe the personality of the Regency lover. They prefer a structured life and can be somewhat rigid in their attitudes and choices. Well-mannered, they are an asset to any rout. On the downside, they can be subject to excessive pride and prejudices and, if single, have an overwhelming obsession with getting married.

Colonial, North American: Independent and ambitious, Colonial readers will fight for their rights and place in the world. They crave democracy and may cherish ideals that seem impossible to achieve by others. They can be somewhat stalwart in their approach to religion and are ambivalent in their attitudes toward indigenous peoples. However, they are always ready to invite you over to share turkey, pemmican, and pumpkin pie.

Civil War, American: Despite where they actually reside, readers in this sub-genre, speak with Southern accents and tend to choose lovers and spouses with the opposite political leanings to their own. Lovers of gentility and a slow-paced life, but also quick to judge others and take sides, they can sometimes be seen as stubborn and backwards. You can usually find this reader relaxing on her porch with mint tea or, alternately, volunteering to roll bandages and read at her local veterans hospital.

Victorian: Prim, proper, and virginal (actually or pretended) are the words you might choose to describe the Victorian era reader. Self-control, rules, and modesty in appearance are the hallmarks of their day. Their nights, however, can be an entirely different matter. It is then, they will find a delight in the risque or even hotter aspects of the romance genre. Statistics show they are the most frequent consumers of naughty lingeree and satin sheets. By contrast, they also consume extraordinary amounts of Activia.

Western: Rugged, courageous, strong willed, but also quiet, non-communicative, and quick to anger, the Western lover has a personality filled with contrast. Happy on their own, they can be surprisingly willing to be tamed and domesticated. In fact, when settled, they often prove to be uncomplicated individuals with a lovable zest for life. They prefer country music, pick-up trucks, and wide open spaces and can chafe at the restrictions of an urban lifestyle.

Historical Time Travel: Not surprisingly, time travel readers yearn for a simpler life. While outwardly adventurous and, some might say, gullible, inwardly, they want life's decisions to be already made and recorded. They can be clear thinkers with intellectual tendencies, but they also take on personality traits of the particular historical era they chose as their time travel destination. Thus, they can be a jumble of the personalities cited above in other eras. If they have no particular preference of time travel destination, then, watch out, they are a mess and possibly dangerous.

Whatever your personality or historical reading preference, Barbara Scott hopes you will chose to read one of her Spring releases: Listen With Your Heart, a Victorian, Haunts of the Heart, a Civil War ghost story, or Cast a Pale Shadow, a contemporary romantic suspense. You can learn more about them at her website, www.barbarascottink.com

She does not guarantee that the profiles given above are in any way true or accurate and they do not necessarily express the opinion of this blog or its bloggers. She cannot verify the existence of this university or Dr. Fleming. In fact, their names sound suspiciously like the street she grew up on and her Grandma's maiden name.

Virginia is the winner of a teddy bear for commenting on my blog last month. You will have a chance to win this month just by leaving a comment.