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 is from Kristine and a friend who are seeking a romance they want to re-read, as they both have fond memories of it.
My best friend and I are trying to remember the name of a book. Unfortunately, the only thing we remember is that the heroine lived only with her father who was a huge prick because he didn’t believe she was his.
In spite he marries her off (sells her?) to the man he thinks is actually her father.
We don’t remember anything else about the relationship between hero and heroine except it of course works itself out and they have a child.
On the fathers deathbed, the heroine brings the grandchild to see him and they both have the same distinctive cough…thus proving that she was his all along but it’s way too late to make amends because he is about to die.
Help! We both remember it was a great read. And it is very likely sitting on one of our bookshelves just waiting to be rediscovered.
Sometimes it’s a birthmark that identifies a child as part of a family. I guess bronchial similarities are possible, too, right? Do you recognize this book?
I have no idea what book this is, but wasn’t the cough the thing in that movie about Grand Duchess Anastasia? Like they think this woman is a fake and NOT Anastasia, but then her grandmother hears her cough and OH IT IS HER
Because coughs are so distinctive?
Sweet God I hope you ladies figure this out…it has been tormenting me for years.
I am the “best friend” by the way…
This sounds fantastic. No idea what it is, but commenting so I can get notified when the Bitchery figures it out.
I’m having issues.
The man who raised her sells her/marries her off to the man he (the father) thinks is her father…then there’re regrets because oops, he was wrong?
He ends up regretting it because he was wrong and he ends up without an heir. Or something.
As long as the heroine doesn’t forgive him for being such a humongous douchecanoe…
Because, whatever the final revelations, he thought he was selling a daughter to her biological father and that they would have babies. He was happy to promote incest as, what? Revenge against the dude, I suppose, and who cares about her, right?
/rant
(not against readers who enjoyed the book, against the trope)
It’s “Seek Only Passion” by Deanna James and it’s awesome.
I hope we have a winner! Sounds about right. Will have to find it and check it out.
Thank you so much.
@Wench: Sometimes they are. I’ve located my mother more than once because I’ve heard her cough.
Not quite the same as using it in place of a DNA test though.
There is so much wrong with this plot, it’s like Minerva Press and the 70’s gothic romance revivals met up in Vegas and nine months later. I’m going to have to find this one.
Was going to call shenanigans on the cough thing until I remembered, my diminutive Grandmother and my giant of an older brother both have the same sneeze/blow your nose and sound like a trumpeting elephant thing.
No, no, it IS awesome!
@Yota: Same here! As a toddler, I became distraught when I was separated from my father in a store and couldn’t find him even after extensive searching. I was so relieved when I heard him blow his nose several aisles away. My mother loved that story. Hoooonkkk! Way funnier than a cough.
If “Seek Only Passion” isn’t it, a few more details would help. Like genre? For some reason I think Western, but it’s probably UK historical, and around what year you read it. That way have a reference for when it was published. Even published “before” whatever helps narrow it down.
Oh, it’s Seek Only Passion alright – I read it once a year, LOL. It’s the second of two – the First is “Speak Only Love” and the characters from the first also show up in the second (also very good and you don’t need to read the first to totally love the second).
And if you like it, then Katherine Sutcliffe’s “My Only Love” is another great read.
Tons of angsty goodness and well-deserved HEAs for all!
My kids, to my embarrassment, tell me they can find me by listening for my cough.
I was up in my attic looking though boxes of books to see what was there. No luck finding Seek Only Passion, but I found some other books worth revisiting so that’s exciting. (I think there were some Katherine Sutcliffes in there too, so will have to go look again.)
Good news is that the used book store came through and they are holding a copy of “Seek Only Passion” for me as we speak.
Thanks again for the help!
Nobody said “thank you” to Maeve for identifying the book, and the first in the series! Well done, and thanks.
FYI — if anybody goes looking for her books, it’s Deana James, one ‘n’ and pronounced Deena.
Kristine, you know we are going to wait with baited breath until you post. Is it? Or isn’t it?
Sorry ladies!
I just finished reading it. Thank you Maeve for helping solve the mystery that’s been eating at me for such a long time!
I remembered nothing of the book except the cough so it was a joy to rediscover. I’m looking forward to finding more books by Deana James to revisit!
Kristine, I’m so glad I could help – damn, but I looooove that book.
I will say, though, “My Only Love” (Katherine Sutcliffe)puts a lump in my throat almost the whole time – I highly recommend.
Totally OT – “Seek Only Passion” is an annual read for me, among others (there are @15), and I wondered if anyone else has a list of “must read at least once every year” titles, and if anyone does, what they are. Of course, maybe that’s a whole other column. 🙂