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!
Carrie is looking for a short story she read in an anthology:
So I'm looking for a short story in a Romance Anthology that I swore I owned and now can't find…argh. What makes it even worse is that it is an age gap story that I am on record of disapproving but now really want to reread.
So I read it around April 2011 because I remember it was a plane and I was heading to San Diego. This young girl moves into a house and is bored and reads a lot. Then she somehow walks through a secret passage way in the wall and discoveres a rake (did I mention it is historical) next door who is somehow mourning his wife who died while cheating on him?
There is only some mild kissing during this nighttime rendezvous. At the end he goes to her house in the country and proposes. Any help or thoughts would be appreciated.
I…kinda want to read this, too. Do you recognize this story?
Sounds like Jo Beverley’s short story “Forbidden Affections” from the anthology A Spring Bouquet (1996?).
If it is “Forbidden Affections,” you can also find it in the more recent anthology an Invitation to Sin (2011).
The whole secret passage thing sounds really familiar…ugh
…wasn’t there also one that was more regency mystery, like someone got murdered or something stolen, and the culprit used the secret passageway…
It is definitely the Beverley novella in “an invitation to sin.” i recall being higy uncomfortable with heroine’s age (16) to hero’s 30+, except the hero was so uncomfortable with it too that it sort of made his “damn she IS the one” work. There was lots of mocking gothic novels. I believe he had a tragic/scandalous dead mistress or first wife that made him “dangerous” in society’s, and that might have been why she went through the passage.
It is definitely Forbidden Affections by Jo Beverley and the first “Romance” I ever read! I was 12 when the anthology was released and it seemed so extraordinarily romantic to me. A friend’s mom had given it to her to read and I offered to take it off her hands when she showed no interest. It lead to a horrible obsession with gothic romances that I can still attribute some of my worst personal choices regarding men. A 16 year old has no business being in a relationship with a 30 year old man. That said, I still enjoy a reread of this short story with great nostalgia.
Amazing. And how cool it was the first romance you read, Tess!
Thanks guys! I’m glad I’m not the only one that went from uncomfortable to sqee with the couple.
That is the age and age gap between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler when they first meet, or so a friend who is GWTW-obsessed told me. Which explains a lot about her behavior and his patience, well, as long as it lasts.
Thanks for this. I love Jo Beverly but don’t often go for novellas.
that was a quick result!
have to remember, in those time periods, age differences weren’t odd as it would be now. Christians forget about the age difference of Mary and Joseph! (and I am one)
An Invitation to Sin is part of a bundle that’s currently available through Kindle Unlimited:
http://smile.amazon.com/Historicals-Bundle-Invitation-Mastering-Marquess-ebook/dp/B004KSQYC6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411043149&sr=8-1&keywords=jo+beverley+kindle+books+an+invitation+to+sin
I hate the age dif, but for free, what the heck? I’ll still read it
oops – I posted the link thru AmazonSmile. Sorry 🙁 Here it is thru “regular” amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Historicals-Bundle-Invitation-Mastering-Marquess-ebook/dp/B004KSQYC6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1411043428&sr=1-1&keywords=an+invitation+to+sin+hot+historicals+bundle