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!
This HaBO request comes from Chris, who is looking for a category romance with a faux engagement plotline.
One of the catnips I adore is the fake engagement because the hero needs to make his mama happy. (It’s like a good guy slurpy.)
I’m pretty sure it was either a Loveswept or a Silhouette, so that means it was a long, long time ago. I’m thinking 80’s? 90’s?
Our hero is walking through a department store to meet his grandmother for lunch, in fact they might (or might not) own the department store chain, BUT, alas, he needs a fiance to introduce to grandma for reasons. Of course there is no fiance, also for reasons.
What? Look! A vision of loveliness is right next to some mannequins. He stops the perfect (and I do mean perfect) stranger and begs her to pretend to be his fiance. Suddenly, grandma appears! Eek! He introduces the woman to grandma and the stranger supplies her name. It’s Whitney. Grandma laughs, “So when you guys get married your name will be Whitney Whitney?”
Other than that one scene, I can remember a joke about her nickname being “half Whit” or something, which I thought was funny since she would have two Whitneys in her name so a half Whit would actually be a Whitney…. ah, oh. Forget that part. Also grandma was on the other side of the mannequins and knew the whole thing was a set up but decided to play along till the end.
I do not have the magic google fu that is so prevalent among the bitchery. I don’t even have the first clue how to search for this book. Please help me, HABO masters, you’re my only hope.
The faux engagement is always fun, and is second only to the “This dead guy’s will requires you to get married,” which is the only kind of will I will write after I go to Romance Novel Law School. Anyway. Do you recognize this book?
I don’t recognize this book. Your remark about “This dead guy’s will requires you to get married” reminded me that Connie Willis actually wrote a novel (Promised Land) about a culture in which people could be married without their knowledge or consent via their parents’ wills.
I remember reading this book. It is Charade by Joan Elliott Pickart. This is the description from FictionDB:
One moment writer Whitney Jordan was strolling the aisles of McNeil’s Department Store, plotting the untimely demise of a soap opera heartthrob; the next, she was nearly knocked over by a real-life stunner who implored her to be his fiancee! The ailing little gray-haired aunt who’d raised him had one final wish, he said — to see her dear nephew Tennes married to the wonderful girl he’d described in his letters… Only that girl hadn’t existed–until now! Tennes promised the masquerade would last only through lunch, but Whitney gave such an inspired performance that Aunt Olive refused to let her go. And what began as a playful romantic deception grew more breathlessly real by the minute…
Also, I think the half-Whit reference is from Riley in the Morning by Sandra Brown. That was the name of the heroine’s assistant. I read a lot of Loveswepts back in the day…
How the heck would you pronounce “Tennes”? My brain has dubbed him Tennis, and is creating all kinds of sports-related punny nicknames for him and names for the offspring.
“His name may be Tennes, but it turned out he was only a five.” :=(
33 of JEPickart’s novels are available on Scribd. Not Charade.
Maybe he’s from Transylvania and it’s “Tenesh” like the way Vlad Tepes’ last name is prounounced.
This plot reminds me of the Deanna Durbin movie, It Started With Eve. Love that movie, and now I really want to read this book!
Oh wow! Thank you Andrea D. for the Deanna Durbin reference. It’s one of my faves, too, as much for her voice as for Robert Cummings (I had a huge crush on him from grainy “Love That Bob” reruns). But I’m bummed because I recently moved and was forced to give away a metric-ton of Loveswepts, Silhouettes, and Harlequins that I got 8 for $1 at the local used paperback bookstore back in the day. I’m certain Charade was one of them… I knew I recognized the plot!
Yay! Thanks SusanK! Now to track down a copy….
Wow, I haven’t thought about that book in years! I seem to recall there was also a joke about the name Tennes, but shoot, can’t remember the joke.
“Anyone for Tennes?”
That may only work for English people; it was supposed to be the classic line from those contrived plays set in English country houses, with people coming on and going off stage through numerous different doors. There was always a slightly stupid but quite sweet character who wanted to play, and would come on carrying a racket seeking a partner with the call: “anyone for tennis?”
Paperback swap has two copies.
@Doug
I’m from Transylvania and ‘Vlad Tepes’ is actually pronounced ‘Tzepesh’
…just a fun fact