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!
FairyKat writes in looking for the first romance she ever read:
This was my first ever romance novel—it came up for sale in the high school
second hand book sale, my friend Karen bought it and we passed it around
from hand to sweaty hand. Occasionally I try Googling various plot details,
but I haven’t been able to find the title.It’s set in Scotland, probably the Highlands, somewhere in the 18th or 19th
century. The heroine has emerald eyes and raven tresses (and may even be
called Raven). The hero is called Robbie. They meet on an island, I think,
she’s been swimming, he’s a voyeur, they have a clandestine romance. Then,
at a ball, the heroine’s long lost half-brother is announced, but it’s
Robbie! She faints. Eventually it turns out her mother had an affair, so
they aren’t related after all.I’m afraid to reread it and find it’s dreadful—on the other hand, I
remember being 15 and being delightfully shocked by all this glory (naked
people! extramarital sex! ohhhh nooooo incest icky, but affairs! happy ever
after!).
Surprise Brother is not a plot device we see much of. I think this is a good thing. The HornyPants Signal of True Lurrrrrve™ is often encountered, such as when the heroine is dressed as a boy and the hero wonders what the hell is wrong with him that he’s so interested in a young man, but I don’t recall seeing “I can’t be horny because he’s my brother” all that often. Like I said, that’s a good thing.
Anyway. Anyone remember this book?
I read a 3-for-1 book eons ago that had a similar plot. Except this book was a contemporary. Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy asks girl to marry him. Cue his dad and her mom, ruh-roh, turns out they were long ago sweethearts (maybe high school?) and guess who the girl’s daddy really is? Yep, her fiance’s dad. However, to make it not so icky, turns out that the boy, unbeknownst to him, was adopted. Therefore, no blood ties at all.
Another book with this plotline is The Wild Sight, by Loucinda McGary. The incest trope is merely touched on, but for a little while the hero and heroine think they might be brother and sister, and resist their attraction to each other.
I remember a favorite Harlequin romance from teen times (years ago!) called The Eden Tree that had this plotline. I was devastated that the H/h might be related. Devastated, I tell you! Turns out they weren’t because Mom was pregnant when she married Dad and “brother” was Dad’s son from dead first wife in Ireland.
Thanks guys, this was amazing! @Janelle I’m sure you are right. Now to order it and see if it was as good as I remember, or as dreadful as I fear!
@anna – good to know about the Cassie Clare books. I was just loving the first book until that little plot twist came up, and I’ve been so mad at it that I haven’t read the rest yet for fear that it would play out as true.
This whole ‘oh noes, incest!’ theme also reminds me of Daniel DeFoe’s Moll Flanders. Perhaps my favorite thing about this book is the full title:
“The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, etc. Who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu’d Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv’d Honest, and died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums.”
In this case, sadly yes, one of her husbands did turn out to be the son of her (long-separated) mother. Sadly they don’t figure this out until after having a son together, but that pretty much busts that marriage up. It is a hilarious novel if you can get into the spirit of it.