Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

HaBO: The Heroine was Post-Mastectomy

by SB Sarah | December 12, 2011 | Monday at 11:12 am | 10 Comments

 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? 

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ETA: Found!