You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
Megan and Anna write:
My sister and I read a Trad Regency, in the mid 80’s, that we
stupidly sent back to the UBS and have been unable to find since.
What we can remember:
Two American sisters go to England to get husbands (father makes them
do this, they don’t really want to). Their family made their fortune
on an tonic, which the girls themselves “discovered” in their
grandfathers papers. In reality, its mostly liquor, and was slapped
together in a panic – a fact the girls are afraid will be discovered.Our heroes, in an effort to woo the sisters, start gadding about to
discover what the girls like (I believe, they were advised to do so,
by the girls aunt or something). They stumble over the lending
library, and start to check out the same books as the girls do, which
are “novels”. The hero’s start acting like the men in the novels. Hilarity ensues.We have asked on AAR, ABE and a few other places, but have yet to
find someone else who has read this book. We plea to all that is good
and holy in romancelandia, that a Bitch has read it, and will hook
us up.
I will say, that totally sounds like an 80’s romance, but damn. Those are some dim-sounding heroes, no?
Megan and Anna
Read this one!
It’s a Marion Chesney. There were a bunch (I believe they were all Edwardian era) named after the heroines. I think this series was all originally written under the “Jennie Tremaine” name then republished as Marion Chesneys.
Unfortunately I can’t find any synopses on Amazon, but if I had to guess I think your book may be “Polly” or “Maggie”.
I have a shitton of Chesneys at home on my bookshelf. If no one else figures out which particular one it is, I will check out the blurbs when i get home!
I want to read it!
You guys never cease to amaze me on the things. Brava!
Oh! I’ve read this. June is right. It was a Candlelight Edwardian romance, under the Marion Chesney pseudonym Jennie Tremaine. There was this scene were the hero was giving the heroine a “half-lidded glance” that he’d read about in a romantic novel, and she asked him if he was ill.
I think that it was called “Molly” because the other (non-epinonymous) sister’s name was Mary, and someone English commented on those weird colonials giving both daughters the same name. (i.e., Molly was a nickname “Mary,” which I had never heard before. Or since, for that matter.) Or possibly that was a different Polly or Maggie or whatever.
(And yes, I am a habitual lurker. But… geez, it’s so rare that I actually remember one of these books so clearly. I think they were in a carriage on the cover.)
Yes, I read that one, but I think it was a Coventry, not a Candlelight. The eponymous heroine was “Molly” or possibly “Mollie.”
Rosemary,
Yep, Molly nickname for Mary.
The dh’s grandmother Mary was called Molly and his mother Mary was called Maisie.
Wendy—Now I’ve heard that twice! 🙂 It makes sense, when it’s the most common name, to have many nicknames so that you can keep the family members straight!
I devoured all of Chesney’s Regency novels when I was a pre-teen. Mom considered Regencys very tame, so I felt I was getting something past her because Chesney could be quite racy. I think the hero occasionally got a hand down the heroine’s bodice, and that was just… whoa. Scintillating when you’re twelve.
My other favorite was Joan Smith, who’s heroines were pretty much the polar opposite of Chesneys.
Okay, I am at home and it definitely is Molly by Maon Chesney writing as Jennie Tremaine. It is Candelight Edwardian Special #587.
The back blurb reads:
She was a cheeky American upstart who thought that beauty, brains, and bravery were enough to conquer London Society. Well, he’d show her! Nobody—but nobody—spurned Lord David Manley, the most eligible bachelor in society. Soon she’d be trembling in his arms, desperately in love with the man she dared to mock. David Manley always got his way, and Miss Molly Maguire was a challenge he couldn’t resist!
But Lord David had never met the likes of this head-strong heiress who fought like the devil, looked like an angel, and had all of London dangling on a string….
And although this blurb is a bit vague, I paged through the book a bit and caught the hero and his buddy paging through a book called “His Highland Heart” in order to glean wooing tips. I think that is proof enough, don’t you?
Yes, Molly! (Polly was close!)
Also, they weren’t just from America, they were from BROOKLYN. Just like every other Regency/Edwardian heroine. I remember that made me laugh.
There was also another book in this series (Sally? Lucy? Some other name with a Y at the end?) that had my all time favorite scene:
Our young heroine marries a lecherous older lord. In his eagerness to consummate the marriage he jumps onto the bed and the newly installed spring mattress proceeds to launch him out the window. (I believe I spit out a drink at this moment.)
Our newly bereaved widow then has to explain to the relatives how he died. They are skeptical.
Awesome.
*squeeeee!!!!!!*
You Bitches Rock So Hard! “Molly”, it seems, is indeed what we have been looking for.
That book was such fun to read, and it sounds like her other books are as quirky!
Do tell, is it as good as we recall? Well written, great scene’s, characters that are actually interesting ? Should we be collecting the whole set?
Thanks so much! I am stunned we got a correct answer so fast! Like I said in the email, we have been asking about this book, for ages now, and not once, have we had a hit…much less, a homerun on the first try.
Oh, dear. I think I now have to go look for the one that has the old man bouncing out the window. I wish you could have seen what I saw in my head the moment I read that. I just about pissed my pants. LOL!
Okay, these books sound hilarious. But, David Manley? Why didn’t she just call him Mr Sexy Barechest and have done with it?
I haven’t seen Marion Chesney’s books in years, but I remember really enjoying them when I was a teenager. She wrote a series about an impoverished country vicar with a “delicate” wife and a bunch of daughters. He also has an eccentric sister who helps him marry off the daughters. They were fun…silly but witty.
Thanks! You all are amazing.
…I can’t wait to reread and babble with my sister about how the book has stood up against our memory of its utter hilariousness.
Anna, from the Megan and Anna of the request.
Wondering if anyone can help me identify a book I read a couple of years ago – the main character was a lawyer (I think a judge), late 20s, had had a baby when she was young. She comes from a dysfunctional family. She meets a guy – his marriage is on the rocks, wife is a witch, they have an adopted daughter. You guessed it – they fall in love, he divorces, his daughter turns out to be her birth daughter. I think everyone in the story was blonde : ).