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!
Welcome to Tuesday, better known here as HaBO Day! HaBO, or “Help a Bitch Out,” is our attempt to reunite readers with romances that they can remember parts of, but not the important parts like the author’s name or the title. This HaBO comes from Kate, who is looking for a Georgette Heyer-esque romance:
I have been trying to remember the name of this book for years. I think I read it back in 2005 or so, and it is possible it was written in the 80s (but I am not at all sure). I’ve been looking for it for so long it feels as if I may have asked a HaBO before, but I don’t think so. I want to say up front that this not a Georgette Heyer novel – parts sound like various Georgette Heyer novels (particularly Venetia and Sylvester), but it isn’t. It is similar in style – nothing beyond cuddling/kissing.
What I can remember about the plot: the heroine comes to stay with her grandmother/godmother, who she hasn’t seen in many years. The heroine has lived a sheltered life and is sweet, etc. After a bit, her grandmother/godmother’s worldly and jaded stepson(?) comes to visit. The two start to fall for each other, and then a big misunderstanding comes along.
The Big Mis: The local gentry find out that the hero is in town and invite H & h on a seaside picnic type outing. H & h walk along the harbor wall, which is shaped like an arch, and tell each other how much they care for each other and all their hopes, etc. A jealous girl, also on the picnic, overhears them due to a peculiar echo feature of the harbor’s stone arch shape. She then cozies up to the hero on the drive home and convinces him that the heroine has been laughing about him behind his back by referring to the overheard conversation. The hero immediately freezes out the heroine without saying why, and goes off to London. Stuff happens, she and the grandmother/godmother go off to London too, and the hero finally realizes his mistake, but only after really insulting her.
Can anyone help me out? This has been bugging me for ages!
Kate’s right. This does sound very Heyer-esque. Can anyone help her out?
Ooh, something that reads like Heyer but isn’t? I hope someone recognizes this because I’ll be all over it in a heartbeat!
Seems to me Jane Austen could have written this. This is also sounds like the sort of plot Barbara Cartland wrote umpteen times.
Clare Darcy and Barbara Metzger are two possible authors.
Marion Chesney?
Carla Kelly?
(Doesn’t sound like Cartland to me. It might sound more if there was a big age difference between characters.)
good Luck!
Not Carla Kelly, I’m fairly sure. It could be Clare Darcy (It has been eons since I read all her books), but I really don’t remember a scene like this. Nor do I think it’s Elizabeth Mansfield. Sorry for all of the ‘not this author’ suggestions.
Marion Chesney is a good possibility. Metzger’s books are funny, which doesn’t sound like the HaBO.
Signet had a whole slew of authors writing traditional regencies back in the day.
Good luck!
It is not any Metzger I’ve read, and I think I’ve read them all.
This sounds so familiar and now it’s going to drive me crazy. I hope someone comes up with the answer. In the meantime, for my fellow Georgette Heyer lovers, I do recommend Sherri Cobb South. IMHO she comes closer to the Heyer voice and style than any other author.
Fiona Hill?
What about Amanda Scott before she started writing Scottish set books?
This sounds so familiar. My first thought was “Sanditon” started by Jane Austen and finished by someone else but it has been too long since I read it to remember if it fits. It does take place at the seaside though. Another author that might be worth checking is Elsie Lee who also wrote in the style of Heyer.
Could this be it’s A Suitable Match by Joy Freeman?
The big mis is a very close match. Heroine walks along the “Cobb” confiding in a friend about hero’s proposal. Jealous neighbor hears & pretends to have had a wager with heroine about whether or not hero would propose, to the point she delivers the supposed purse (a prize horse) to the heroine’s stables. Hero runs off to London. Heroine subsequently goes to visit her grandmother, who is also the hero’s stepmother, and they eventually resolve things.
@Alea
Oh my goodness, “A Suitable Match” might be it! I am not sure.
What is a cobb? Do you remember the jealous neighbor being able to overhear the conversation because of an echo? Or do you remember if there is a place where they go for a long walk by a lake, sit down by the lake, and doze off together? Or a scene towards the end where they go out to dinner and the restaurant waiter mistakes her for one of his mistresses and delivers a flashy jewel to her? These are other random details I recall. I will keep looking for more summaries/details on this title.
Meanwhile, I’ve looked up random titles by a lot of the authors suggested above. Thanks for all the possible names! I welcome further suggestions. 🙂
Kate Y — yes to the Cobb having acoustical properties which enable things said on one side to be heard on another. Yes to a long walk by a lake (earlier, before the big mis). Yes to the scene towards the end with the waiter, after which heroine chases hero around the table.
Other details which may spark memories:
* they have a heavy embrace in what the heroine later describes as a lobstering shack
* early in their acquaintance, hero is under the impression she’s determined to marry her cousin so as to protect her father’s entailed property (due to grandmother/step-mother giving hero only part of heroine’s letter) and they wind up having a discussion about Emma Hamilton
* heroine’s aunt winds up getting engaged to her father and sure she can keep him at home as long as she keeps beating him at billiards
@Alea – wow, “A Suitable Match” really could be the one! It looks like I will have to order it used and read it to make sure. ^_^ Too bad that there isn’t an ebook, but I suppose we are all too used to instant gratification these days…
I think the Cobb is the harbour in Lyme Regis, as featured in Persuasion.
Sounds like @Alea found it! I was so excited for this one, but my library is uncooperative.
@kkw
Aha! That’s why it sounded familiar. The World-Famous Cobb: Lyme Regis Harbour. I had tried doing a search for “cobb” thinking it was some strange structure like a ha-ha or a dike, and got nowhere.
I have ordered a used copy of “A Suitable Match” and will report back. So exciting!