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!
Annie Dean writes:
Maybe the Bitchery can help me out.
When I was like 18, I was totally into those campy old 80’s Harlequin Present books.
I would love to re-read this one, but I can’t remember title or author. It was set in Australia (or maybe New Zealand?). They’re a wealthy family, and they own like a bazillion miles of land on this ranch. The heroine has come back after being away at university. The hero is her uber-alpha stepbrother, and he had a super weird name like Kano, or something stranger than that even. She brings a boy home with her, which really causes some trouble. The hero has had the hots for the heroine since longer than was appropriate, and he’s all YOU ARE MY WOMAN NOW, EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE A SPOILED BRAT. And she, of course, fights it, and does stupid shit.
Damn, if I could remember the name, I would so buy it.
You think anyone out there would know the name of this?
Step-cest on the Outback, maybe? Help a Bitch Out – anyone know this title?
Ogod. I loved those Aussie Harlequins too. I know I’ve read that one… unh… straining… unh… I’ll come up with it. It was only 20 years ago; surely it’s still in memory 😉
Weirdly enough, I can remember that the heroine was a slim little sylph with a short white-blond curls and dark, Italian looking eyes. She also had an unusual name (I think), and a huge chip on her shoulder because her mother was so beautiful.
Oh, this may have been a HQN regular title. I don’t swear it was a Presents.
Ringing any bells for anyone yet?
I think this was something I read back when I was in my teens – probably snuck it away from my Nana 🙂 – isn’t there something about a dead stepdad in there too?
I’ve probably got a big box of these still back at home in storage in NZ, doesn’t help me much now though does it.
Any chance it was The Australian by Diana Palmer? Kinda sounds like that one, Annie.
No, definitely not.
His name wasn’t Jonathan, and she wasn’t Priscilla.
Her name was Gianna, I think. Or Giovanna. Something like that.
wow, i know what you’re talking about, but can’t remember the name for the life of me. wasn’t there something in a creek bed (that she was always mooning around in) that our hero had to save her from? gahh! what is it?
It sounds like a Robyn Donald New Zealand set book to me. At first I thought it was An Old Passion or Captives of the Past. Captives of the Past does involve a stepbrother but the heroine doesn’t bring home a boyfriend.
I loved the HP’s set in NZ and Australia. I hope someone comes up with the title because I’d like to re-read it too.
No, it’s not Captives of the Past. In this one, the heroine has never been married, and the boy she brings home from college is just a friend, though it drives her step-brother into fits of high-handed jealous alpha rage.
Ingo! I’m pretty sure the hero was named Ingo, and the heroine was named Giovanna.
Soooo close… halp! Someone with mad google skillz find this book for me. Please?
Was it by Margaret Way?
I’m seeing something on the internet by Margaret Way called “Black Ingo” published in 1978…is that it?
I think I found a copy of it on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-Ingo-by-Margaret-Way-1978-Harl-Romance-2132_W0QQitemZ140122601732QQcmdZViewItem
http://www.fgmme.com/?mainURL=/store/item/1cv7e/Books_for_Adults/Black_Ingo.html?item_id=1cv7e
Here’s a blurb for Black Ingo, some of the names sound similar, but the plot doesn’t fit.
Another description of “Black Ingo” talks about a rivalry between Genny and her mother for the hero’s love, so there could be your problem with a beautiful mother?
Another book by her which involves a step-brother is “The Rainbow Bird”, but the only description which I can find is in pidgin English. Here it is anyways :
Paige Norton’s friendship with Joel Benedict was progressing very satisfactorily. In fact, and had reached the stage of his ” taking her home to meet the family “. All was Koombala, the last Benedict cattle empire in the middle of the Australian outback. The family was year-old stepbrother tie Bennett, the boss of Koombala. Paige had a much like the sound of time when Dole had first told her about him-and when she Ashley met Thai she like the reality even less. He was hard and autocratic and seem to have little time for. The last thing she wanted was to find herself falling in love with him. .
Remember reading this one…but not the title or author. What did I see in these things? Nowdays it would probably become a wallbanger due to the immature & bratty heroine, and overbearing & arrogant hero.
Good luck finding this one!
My security word id “ill41”
Yes, this sounds like any number of Margaret Way plots, but the use of an Italian Christian name suggests Helen Bianchin. If the hero bit the heroine’s nipples quite hard then it was definitely by HB.
Pidgin English from Wikipedia:
Margaret Way born August 7 in Australia. She tapeworm a current life, when his son was born, a friend took a pile to him of books of Mills & Boon, she read all and decided that she also could write this type of novels. She began to write and to promote her country with her histories acclimated in Australia.
I’ve often thought of myself as a tapeworm….
Well, my google-fu has failed with specifics, but I did turn up a rather interesting site—
http://www.slake.com/rnd/pub.asp?pid=1
It appears to catalogue Harlequins by date, author, title, and other such helpful categories as main characters names (He/She), location, related books, etc. However, looks like a wiki of some type to me, so it relies on Harlequin readers to update that info. Most of the recent-ish books are updated with at least character names, but further back it gets a bit spotty.
If it were more complete, it’d be a frankly fabulous resource for finding Harlequins. (yay alliteration!) Maybe if you scan the proper timeframe a title will pop out at you? Sorry that’s all the help I have but I hope you find the book. ^_^
YES!! Black Ingo, by Margaret Way. I even recognize the cover.
You guys are so awesome. Thanks!
Wow, I’ve never read the book, but that was a really fun thread to follow… it was a story in itself. I kept thinking, will she find her book?
Nicely done! I guess 10 heads ARE better than one.
I think I still have that book in storage somewhere!!
Margaret Way…….sigh.
Just as an aside, I have a ton of my mom’s old Harlequins. She started buying them in the 60s but picked up some older ones, too. Is there enough interest in these things to be bothered selling them, or should I just give them to Goodwill? I’d have to go through and catalogue them if I wanted to sell them, and there are probably thousands.
Whispers of Heaven by Candice Proctor?
http://www.candiceproctor.com/historical%20romances.html
It was Black Ingo by Margaret Way.
And I have no idea what old Harlequins would be worth, if anything. I suspect not much, though. It would probably be more trouble than it’s worth to catalog them.
zaza, wow…thousands? Maybe check Ebay, if you could be bothered sorting them by author, you might get collectors interested. At least pick out the really, really old ones. And the Betty Neels.
Yeah, I figured a lot of work. I doubt they’d make much money, but I hate to donate them some place where they might get tossed when I’m sure, obviously, there are folks who would want them. Nothing happening on that front for a while, anyway, but it’s good to know there’s some interest. Maybe I’ll have a contest on my blog. /;+) Yeah, sorting. I’m too compulsive not to want to sort them.