This Help a Bitch Out request is from Frances, who is looking for a historical she read years ago:
I read a delightful (at least my 16 yr old self thought so) book around 2000 or 2002 (but the book could have been older), and I have been searching online, in vain, for the past ten-ish years.
Unfortunately, my details on character names are lacking, but I remember much of the plot.
Heroine is destitute and her uncle/cousin/older-relation is trying to force her hand. She meets a sweet dandy who offers to help her find a husband. The dandy wears ridiculous clothes (flowery, colorful coats/britches, at one point the author describes an orange coat with green stripped britches) and he speaks in a high voice.
The heroine is sometimes attracted to the dandy in spite of herself. It turns out the dandy role is a ruse and the hero is working on uncovering a foul plot against the crown. I remember this part of the book being revealed at the very end and happening rather quickly.
This could have been Regency but I lean towards Georgian. If I recall correctly, the cover was purplish-blue with a mask or fan of lace on the cover.
I could really use some help finding this, and I feel like I've wasted so many hours searching online.
Does anyone recognize this book?
Cotillion, by the inimitable Georgette Heyer? I hope so, because if you enjoyed that book, you have dozens more of her historicals ahead to delight you.
No, not Cotillion. I didn’t read the second half of your description in my rush to proffer one of my own favorites. In Cotillion, we’re led to think that the dandy in the heroine’s life is just a side-kick, while the rakish stud will prove to be her true love…and it doesn’t work out that way. But the dandy is not trying to flush out any traitors. Still sounds like a Heyer plot, but I have to give some more thought to it.
Sorry for the misfire.
I feel like I’ve read this one. In the one I’m thinking of, the hero dressed in ridiculous clothing to upset someone—his mother maybe?
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation? That’s a Regency, not a Georgian. But the Scarlet Pimpernel likeness is there.
Closest I can come up with is My Fair Temptress by Christina Dodd—the dandy in disguise matches but not the heroine backstory.
The hero is extremely effeminate & it’s entirely a ruse—but series about women who run a school teaching men how to be more seductive/attractive & the heroine is hired by this guy’s uncle to teach the fake-dandy to be a little bit more manly.
Thanks to The Scarlet Pimpernel, I imagine there are a whole raft of books with heroes of this type, though. Sherry Thomas wrote one, too.
This sounds like a Jo Beverly title. Is it possibly An Arranged Marriage? I’m taking a quick peak through them and that sounds like a possibility.
The Indigo Blade by Linda Winstead Jones?
The Dangerous Dandy by Barbara Cartland ? That sounds like one of her plots.
Try Hidden Honor by Anne Stuart.
Sounds really familiar – something about red heeled shoes too? Eloisa James?
I don’t know what the HABO book is, but the reference to “red heels” in the last post made me think The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt. I checked and it isn’t the right one. Date is wrong (it wasn’t published until 2007) and I don’t think the plot against the Crown is in that one either.
This is totally driving me crazy. I know I’ve read this book. I might have to wait till I get home to check my list. Argh!
Is it maybe No Ordinary Groom by Gayle Callen? I don’t remember exactly everything, but the fake dandy is there, along with some spying, a plot against the crown, etc. And it is set in the 1840s.
Although none of these are quite hitting the mark, this Bitch really appreciates all of the help! Keep the guesses coming…please! It’s definitely in the Pimpernel-club which has created some false hope during this decades long search.
I have to say that I have no ideas, but am taking down all the suggestions. 😉
Could it be one by Elizabeth Boyle? Stealing the Bride sounds close.
Not sure if you’ve already looked here, but this list might help: http://forums.rtbookreviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=15269
Good luck!
Sounds very much like the book you’re looking for shares elements with These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer. Justin, the hero, plays the fop — even to the point of mincing around wearing high heeled shoes and carrying a beribboned cane — yet he’s as dangerous and ruthless as they come. He comes upon a destitute young boy, Leon, whose brother is abusing him and using him as a servant. Justine takes the boy on as his page, knowing full well that the boy is actually a girl, Leonie. And he uses Leon/Leonie to enact revenge upon an old foe—it all comes to a head right at the end so quickly it’s a bit gob-smacking.
Here’s a full plot summary (easier than me typing it all out): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/These_Old_Shades
Hope you figure it out!
Maybe The Raider by Jude Deveraux?
This sounds familiar to me too! Was part of the dandy’s cover that he was presumed gay?
Like, not just presumed gay but had actually seduced men to get information out of them? And the person giving him orders was her betrothed? Not that this helps as I still can’t find the book on my kindle…
I immediately thought of The Imposter by Celeste Bradley, but that cover is red. Whether or not this is the book you are looking for, I really enjoyed it when I read it years ago and recommend reading it.
Kasey Michaels’s The Secrets of the Heart is another one of those Scarlet Pimpernel-like books…although I don’t think the plot here is against the crown: http://www.amazon.com/The-Secrets-Of-Heart/dp/0373772726
Is The Raider the one where the heroine shoots through the gallows rope as the hero is being hanged?
I’m seconding “The Secrets of the Heart” by Kasey Michaels…the plot fits and so does the cover, I think.
The only thing was that the heroine was trying to marry someone else and kinda despised the dandy hero but then scarlet pimpernel shenanigans occurred
This sounds very familiar…..the red shoes makes me think Eloisa James, but Elizabeth Boyle and Elizabeth Thorton wrote some spy novels in the late nineties. I remember a hero named Temple who was foppish, but the heroine’s background doesn’t fit. The cover sounds like a Jo Beverly or Celeste Bradley…..it’s going to drive me nuts trying to figure out this one!
This one is really nagging me, but my searches keep coming up short. Has anyone tried librarything.com or thenonesuch.org? Thenonesuch has a few listed under the “hidden talents” trope.
I know none of these are the exact novel you’re looking for, so this shout-out is for the people who’s catnip is for spy romance novels (like me!)
http://www.amazon.com/Friends-Foes-Sarah-M-Eden-ebook/dp/B006UKH7KU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409766390&sr=8-1&keywords=friends+and+foes
http://www.amazon.com/Smuggler-Wore-Silk-Spy-Novel-ebook/dp/B00EL3Q7E0/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409766657&sr=1-1&keywords=the+smuggler+wore+silk
To be fair, this novel sounds exceedingly familiar, and maybe it will come to me the more I ponder it at work.
This sounds like Catherine Coulter to me, but it would have had to be old-ish in 2000….
I think I’ve read it, but I can’t, for the life of me, remember the title/author.
Ladies, ya’ll are awesome! My heart skips a beat in anticipation each time I get an email notification that someone has commented.
I came across Kasey Michael’s “The Secrets of the Heart” a couple months ago, and its similarity got my hopes up that it was my lost book. Alas, it is not THE ONE. The hero and heroine became friends very early on, and I’m wondering if I’ve put too much emphasis on the spy aspect…that part is somewhat shady in my memory as it was revealed very late in the game. The main plot was the sweet hero helping the heroine navigate society to secure a husband.
Even if the book’s title is never again to be known (sigh), at least I have a ton of kick-ass reading recommendations!
What about The Dandy’s Deception by Philippa Castle?
How about – “His At Night” by Sherry Thomas?
He is a spy who behaves like a dimwit as cover for the spying stuff. She is under the control of horrible uncle. Marriage of convenience ensues. Think it is set in 1890’s so doesn’t fit with Georgian/Regency. I can’t remember if the clothing description fits.
Great book even if it’s not the one you’re looking for!
Or Christina Skye’s The Black Rose, or East of Forever…both have had title changes for some ungodly reason, and are now called Seven Nights With A Pirate & Seducing the Rake …
Maybe “How to Marry a Marquis” by Julia Quinn? He isn’t a dandy though. Then I think maybe “A Rose in Winter” by Woodiwiss. But it only has some of the elements and neither are Georgian. The book is right on the tip of my memory. The good and bad is that I am expanding my book hoard with all the suggestions and my own digging. 🙂
I don’t think anyone mentioned this one yet, but it sounds a lot like The Promise in a Kiss by Stephanie Laurens. I don’t recall all the details of the plot at the end, but the rest fits quite well. Published in 2002.
Cover is also purplish…:)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Promise-Kiss-Cynster-Novels/dp/0061031755/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409786520&sr=8-1&keywords=stephanie+laurens+promise+in+a+kiss
That coat and britches are really ringing some major bells in my head. In the one I’m thinking about he wears them to bother his aunt/mother/grandmother? Could that be part of the reason he does, Frances? Unfortunately I cannot assist with the title.
For anyone who is now struggling with this mystery, although this is not my book, my friend had mentioned Kathleen Baldwin’s “Cut From the Same Cloth” as a contender a while back. Perhaps this is the book some of you are thinking of as it was rereleased in Jun. 2014.
It might be Kiss of the Highwayman by Jenna Mendell . The cover is blue/purple. The hero goes by “Cherry” most of the book, though the heroine isn’t really being forced into marriage. Good luck!
Katie Lynn, that’s the exact same thing I remembered (the hero wearing garish colors to bother a female relative—I thought mom, but not sure). But I also can’t remember the book. I want to say it’s part of a series by one of my favorite regency authors—I remember good book vibes while reading it. Not very helpful, I know.
I haven’t read the “Cut from the Same Cloth” one, but it sounds interesting.
For some reason the name Westbrook is sticking in my head, but that could be anything. I am fully invested in this now, Frances. Please someone remember this book!