My family grew up without air conditioning. (What? Call children's services!!) We also lived in a brick house, which kind of doubled as a gigantic oven for humans during the dog days of summer. My sister and I found relief in the basement. No, not like we climbed down into a dirty hole and hid from the sun - although I have days where that sounds kinda attractive. We had a finished basement, and it was our sanctuary for July and August afternoons, to which we usually retreated with books in our hands.
There was a stretch of time in the 80's when a line of romance books from Scholastic - called the Sunfire series - was wildly popular in our household. Each book was written by a different author, focused on a historic event in US history, was titled with the female MC's first name, and inevitably the cover featured our MC and the two dashing young men she would have to choose between. Yes, there was always a triangle. Every. Single. Book. It's not exactly fresh material.
In any case, Sister and I blew through the series, checking off the little boxes in those handy order forms they printed in the back showing you which titles you didn't have. Together, we completed the series. When we each got married and moved out neither one of us wanted to bust up the series, but we didn't want to part with our own books either. So industrious me got on Ebay and bought up Sunfire books like mad, managing to put together two complete series.
Yes, they're that addictive. To this day I can look at the covers and tell you which guy she picked.
Recently my college roommate came over to hang out (and boy, have we got some stories). She tripped over My Little Ponies in the upstairs hallway, brainstormed the names of the JEM dolls with me, then went to the bathroom to find a Rub A Dub Doggy hanging out in the tub. She said, "Mindy, the '80s aren't over; they're at your house."
Did you love the Sunfire series? Do you remember it? Am I delusional to think someone else out there might care? If you DO care tell me which was your favorite - I'm partial to SABRINA, the Revolutionary War title.