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!
This HaBO comes from Marie L, who is looking for a historical romance:
I WORK in a library and I can’t find the title or author of this book anywhere. Thought in might be in Sabrina Jeffries series The Duke’s Men but I can’t find a matching description in NoveList. Help!
Published at least five years ago, the cover had a slipper against a red velvet background. The heroine and her friend go to a London prison where our hero is being held, about to hang. Hero stages a jailbreak and takes heroine hostage. Much galloping about the countryside, arguing/falling in love. Hero is shot and heroine must nurse him through a fever in deserted secret manse.
They are tracked down, she is rescued and returns home. Hero turns out to have been a spy and somehow returns with her, pretending (with her family’s knowledge) to be one of the servants for A Very Good Reason. Oh yeh, she’s engaged to a prince and there’s a big party where she realizes she truly loves the spy. He hangs on to her slipper from the kidnapping as a Symbol of Love. There are references to other spies and their romances as if this is part of a series. Father is a duke(?), four or five brothers introduced in second half of book,and I think one of the brothers was hero of the teaser chapter included at the end of this one.
I know someone’s going to recognize this straight away. Anyone recall this historical?
The first half sounds like the Julie Anne Long book, the perils of pleasure, from her Pennyroyal Green series, but the second part doesn’t work. We get different covers here, so I’m no help really… sorry! But the P of P is a good one too!
Is it Elizabeth Thornton’s The Perfect Princess?
I think Kelsey is right – The Perfect Princess definitely has a cover like the one described and (if I recall correctly) the plot description fits.
Kelsey has it. One hour 59 minutes, y’all are awesome!
That is very definitely Elizabeth Thornton’s The Perfect Princess ….. & very good it is too.
I totally want to read this!
It’s third (of five) in a series called Men of Special Branch; thanks again for the assist.
sounds like delicious reading