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!
Cyndi asked for some help finding a book wherein the heroine is a survivor of breast cancer.
A while ago you had a post about novels with heroines who were breast cancer survivors. I read a book with such a heroine sometime in the early 2000's. Since your post I've been trolling the Internet fruitlessly trying to find the book. Hopefully one of your awesome readers can help 🙂 This was one of the first romances I read that really struck s chord with me.
Here's what I remember…
1. It may have been a Harlequin book if some sort. The only reason I think that is because I remember yellow on the cover, and I read it early in my romance career when i was still testing the waters and reading a lot of Harlequin books.
2. The heroine was a breast cancer survivor who had a mastectomy. She lost one or both breasts. I can't remember. This, understandably, became a point of insecurity later in the book
3. The heroine (maybe named Beth) returned to her hometown (or at least it was somewhere she lived) to make amends. She was apparently a real bitch in the past so no one in town is happy to see her.
4. She gets involved with the (younger??) brother of someone who particularly hates her. She tries to resist the relationship because that's not why she's in town but the hero is persistent. He doesn't see the awful person his family warned him about, just a somewhat prickly woman.
5. I think she lived in a crappy trailer. I remember something about small spaces the first time she allows the hero to see her naked.
6. She keeps her breast cancer a secret because she doesn't want people to forgive her because they feel sorry for her.
I'd love to reread it to see if it's still as good as I remember. It was the first romance I read that actually made me want to cry. And it was that painful, lump-in-the-throat-maybe-there-won't-be-tears kind of cry. The heroine was so proud and strong and flawed. You felt bad for her but at the same time recognized that, yes, she really used to be a horrible person.
Please, someone hear my plea 🙂
This book sounds kind of amazing. Anyone got a suggestion which book this might be?
ETA: Found!
I remember a 90s Harlequin called Barefoot in the Grass by Judith Arnold. The heroine’s name was Beth and she was a breast cancer survivor, and she had had a mastectomy, but I don’t think she moved back to her hometown. Seems like she did move from NYC to a small town, but I don’t remember it being her hometown. It’s been ages since i’ve read it though, so maybe…
That sounds like an old Katherine Eagle. I loved it, but I can’t find it in my stash, and I can’t remember the name of the book.
Lynne is right, it does sound a lot like The Last Good Man by Katherine Eagle. In that one the heroine is a famous model who goes home and falls in love with the brother of the guy who is rumored to be the father of her child. heroine’s name was not Beth, although I don’t remember what it was.
That is the Trouble with Josh by Marilyn Pappano
It’s not Karina Bliss’s Here Comes The Groom, though that does feature a post-mastectomy woman and is AWESOME.
I googled The Trouble with Josh and that’s totally it!! Yay!! Thank you thank you thank you, Karen!! Months of searching are over. I knew someone here could help even with the wrong name for the heroine 🙂
I’m off to buy a copy.
p.s. There’s a really lovely review of the book on Amazon that quite nicely summed the reasons I remember enjoying it.
There’s even a Kindle edition! Yay for instant gratification 🙂
It’s completely off topic but there’s a new magnet for everyone…
Yay! Instant Gratification!
The book you describe sounds like Kathleen Eagle’s wonderful THE LAST GOOD MAN. I know because I’m the author of BAREFOOT IN THE GRASS, in which the heroine was indeed named Beth, but she wasn’t a bitch and didn’t return to her hometown. She’s a high-power lawyer who moves to a small town after her mastectomy to join the law firm of her best friend from law school. Harlequin published it in 1996. It’s now available in an ebook edition in Amazon’s Kindle store, B&N’s Nook store and Smashwords.
I read this book back in high school and could not remember what it was called to save my life! So glad I saw this. The Trouble with Josh was my first foray into cowboy romances.