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 Amanda (not me!), who wants to find the romance that got her grounded from the library:
I was using the public library as a bratty lying child to hide from my mom and read romance novels (so the book would have been published before 2000).
All I remember is that the heroine was continually described as having silver, silvery, gorgeously silver hair (granny chic, I guess) and the hero was a wounded British soldier that she was hiding and healing in some cave, using her colonial-miss-herbal-healing-knowledge.
I never got to finish it because my mom figured out what I was reading there and grounded me from the library.
Granny chic is in, by the way, with all the grey dye jobs I keep seeing! Can we help her out?
I don’t know the book, but I’ll lay odds it was a Pino (Daeni) cover. He painted the *best* silver-haired heroines, especially in the early to mid-90s. Maybe if someone doesn’t come up with it, you can find a gallery of Pino covers and pick it out.
Could it be Silver Fire by Sally Stone? This description sounds dead on…(love the exclamation point at the end of the cover copy, btw!)
Raised by a cruel, uncaring brother, lovely Caroline Swanson had found sanctuary among the wild creatures of the woods. But the wary Michigan beauty didn’t know what to make of the badly wounded soldier she’d just found in the forest. She only renew she could not deny him her healing arts, and as her hands and her herbs made him whole, Caroline knew that soon she would be unable to resist this darkly powerful stranger. For with a gentle word and a tender touch, she’d awaken his heart to a rapturous passion…
Philip Masterson awoke to find himself gazing into the glowing sapphire eyes of a moonlit-haired angel. Though the War of 1812 made her his enemy, he swore to protect her; though he trusted no woman, he could not resist the sweet temptation of Caroline’s innocent passion. Front the untamed wilderness to the fiery heat of battle and danger and desire on the high seas, Philip would risk his heritage and his very life for the woman who’d healed his body and opened his heart to the soaring ecstasy of an unforgettable love!
Does lovely Caroline Swanson convince the wild creatures of the woods to do her housecleaning for her? Sew her clothes? Put on pantomimes for evening entertainment?
Inquiring minds want to know.
“she could not deny him her healing arts” Gah. Who writes these blurbs?
Highly possible. At the very least their wild hearts can be tamed by her gentle touch…
I have no clue what book this is, but Amanda’s story about being grounded from the library reminded me of a time I got grounded from my books. I wasn’t doing my homework (cause I had books to read that were far more interesting) and my grades were suffering, so as a punishment, my mom took all my books away. It was a rough month;I had to smuggle in reading from the outside,and read ahead in my lit textbook.
One time my parents grounded me – to my room full of books…sassy brat that I was, I made SURE they knew I couldn’t wait to catch up on my reading. They chose alternate punishments after that, to my dismay.
That’s it! Than you! I should have known they’d figure out a way to even work silver into the dang title. I’ve been looking for that since I finally got to go back to the library and it was GONE, I was devastated of course.
Yeah I was always getting grounded because I wasn’t supposed to read romance novels, my Mom was worried they’d give me unrealistic expectations. I’m 28 and still read them so you can tell how well I take advice.
My mom would call the school library and the public library and tell each that I was not allowed to check out any books that week because I had misbehaved. Sooo embarrassing…
When I was a kid, I was reading well above my grade level but was restricted to the children’s section (which, the town library being what it was, included “Animal Farm” … go figure). I used to go in, pull an interesting looking book from the grown-up section and then hide in a corner and read as fast as I could.
I left a lot of half-finished books behind once I was allowed to actually check out books from the main section.
@ LML – One of my cousins used to write cover blurbs years ago! She said she never had enough time to read the whole book when I told her I thought the blurbs were often vague or misleading.
My deepest sympathies to all who had parents who censored their reading. The only time anyone ever questioned my reading was when I read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen during free reading period in sixth grade. After I demonstrated to Mrs Pissaro my ability to define a word based on its context, she never said another word.
Although my sophomore English teacher was so revolted that I read Forever Amber as the book for which I had to submit a book review, that he prepared me a list of authors he suggested I might prefer. Which lead to the highest possible grade on the A/P English test during my senior year. Thank you, Mr. Wroble. Still can’t believe you didn’t get tenure.
My mother never said a word about any book I ever asked her to check out for me. I was reading books in the adult section by the time I was in fifth grade. I guess mom was just so happy I could entertain myself.
This sounds like an Isolde Martin from the 1990’s. I don’t really remember the title, I also remember the hair and the healing. Is it possible she was a unicorn? #loveoldskoolromance
Silver-haired, herbal healer who shapeshifts into a unicorn????? Which books is that, PLEASE!!!!!!
I got in trouble in junior high for having a copy of Coffee, Tea, or Me? inside my math textbook. I would have gotten away with it, except I laughed out loud at a rude scene involving the heroine’s boobs.
I had to take a note home from my teacher and show it to my stepmother. She sneered that if I was going to read salacious material, I should at least read literary salacious material, and gave me a 1931 edition of Boccaccio’s Decameron. I still have that book.
Searching for this author, Martin, Isolde, at the public library and on Amazon and only results I find are Tristan and Isolde.
Whereas a Goodreads search results in Vom Dorfmädchen zur Weltbürgerin: Ein internationales Leben
Darlene Marshall , way cool of your stepmother!! Sorry that she sneered, though.
I thought I was the only one who’d ever been punished by taking away a book. My mother was infamous for hiding my books until I did whatever chores she’d set before me. I remember the first time she did it – I had hurried home from school, excited to get to that next chapter, and my damn book was gone! My mother sauntered in, fanned with it and said I’d get it back when she could see the floor in my room. I’d never been so absolutely incensed in my life. I begrudgingly cleaned up and she finally gave me the book. I learned how to hide my books after that. Probably under all the clothes. LOL.
I remember a Johanna Lindsey book that had a silver-haired heroine. I think. I’m off to go explore to see if there was one.
Liz Talley , your story reminded me that I thought my mother expected an undue amount of labor from me. After all, my brother was never made to do housework, laundry, etc. Hise sole contribution to home maintenance was that he took over mowing the lawn when he was big enough. Whereas I was expected to invest hours in needlessly cleaning a spotless home.
So when I had had enough, I’d wait until mom went into the bathroom, I’d grab my book and my bike and hightail it off to a park mom never knew about and sit and read to my heart’s content.
She’d be furious at me, but never took my books away. I’ve always thought she secretly agreed with me that Tony also needed to do housework but of course Dad would never have allowed this.
I embraced the women’s lib movement at an early age.
Full circle, now as a mom I take my daughter’s books away until after homework / chores / shower / whatever thing.
I love how we all have library stories. Oh, the furtive blushes as I checked out Zebra historicals, only to hide them in my closet! Oh the YA rack consisting solely of Judy Blume, Tamora Pierce and Ursula LeGuin! Oh my goal to read through the fiction section alphabetically! (Stopped at Alcott, she was great, but I was exhausted after).
Library memories should totally be a separate post…
>Anony Miss says:
October 27, 2015 at 5:47 pm
Full circle, now as a mom I take my daughter’s books away until after homework / chores / shower / whatever thing.<
NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Say it isn't so!!! Take it back!!
One of the things I liked about my homework is that it was mostly reading. So I was always motivated to do it. Except math. I was terrible at that.
I didn’t get in trouble for reading books per se, but for reading my mom’s books! Suddenly, I was allowed to order teen romances from Scholastic–as long as I no longer took Mom’s books. I have her original copy of Peyton Place. I found it in a bag in the basement. I read it in middle school (circa 1980).
Now I have to check my back log, I know the first name is Isolde. Not sure about the spelling. I am tracking this down.
Try The Knight and the Rose by Isolde Martyn. I am pretty sure it’s your book.
I was too innocent to look for inappropriate books in the library, but I just had a Peyton Place flashback. My parents didn’t keep “trashy” books in the house, but I found a copy at someone’s house where I was babysitting, and speed read a good part of it in one evening. Not that I understand everything that was going on, exactly.
By the time I was eight, I had read my way through the children’s section at the Vancouver Public Library and started on the adult section. It wasn’t my mother who tried to keep me out, though. Mom just dropped us off and went shopping. It was the librarians. I would wait until they weren’t looking and sneak in. Read the early Mary Stewart that way.
Oh how I wish my mom had just been happy I was reading. Some of the biggest blow ups of my childhood were over her adamant hatred of my supposedly pornographic books. Never mind the fact that she regularly read equally trashy and formulaic murder mystery novels with mindless sex and gratuitous violence, those were written by MEN and the *violence* was the main point not the *romance* and thus they were not trash in the same sense. I still mourn the books I lost when she’d find them *tear* She had no appreciation.
I’ve never read The Knight and the Rose but the description makes it sound like an old school gem, I might have to.
My deepest sympathies, Amanda. Perhaps your mother felt as my father did. He would constantly say “Do as I say, not as I do” which never made any sense to me at all.
Yay! I’m glad that was it! Always happy to help another Amanda out! (Though honestly, finding these things are like my weekly Nancy Drew power trip, so I’m happy to help anyone. I’m not choosy.)
So bummed at everyone who got grounded from books as punishment. 🙁
@Liz Talley the Joanna Lindsey with the silver haired heroine is the aptly titled Silver Angel a captured-and-sold-into-a-half-English-dude’s-harem book. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24266261-silver-angel
All of these stories are so entertaining. 🙂 One time my father took ALL of my books and locked them up in his workroom! I can’t even remember now what I did to deserve such an awful punishment, isn’t that funny? I was so mad I went in the back yard and threw rocks for a while, screaming and crying. (Yes, I was a little drama queen at 12!)
Darlene Marshall – Coffee, Tea or Me!! I can’t believe someone else read that book! I read it so much when I was young.
Yes, I hid out in the library ALL THE TIME. I read lots of things I wasn’t “supposed” to (i.e. “adult” books) And yes, I would take them to children’s section to read. hee hee
SandyCo, when you started talking about throwing rocks I was terrified for a second thinking you had thrown them at your father which he deserved but would be so very wrong.
We really do need a “library memories” post. My elementary school was new (built 10 years before I attended) and had a former OR nurse turned librarian in charge of it. It was one of the most well-rounded libraries I’ve ever seen. And she tolerated no b.s. from anyone ever under any circumstances. Gods, but I loved that woman and consider her a role model even to this day. She introduced me to The Island of the Blue Dolphin and The Witch of Blackbird Pond among others. Yet more reasons to love her.
I read several years above my grade and was bored with the children’s books available as I’d read them all. Told to pick whatever I wanted, I grabbed a book on Greek mythology. Mrs Eaton, the librarian, told me the book was too advanced for me, but that I could read it if my mother didn’t object. I ran home happily with my coveted book and showed my mom who told me to tell her about it after reading it.
I remember sitting in the dining room trying to read the book and being stymied by the vocabulary. After my 5th or 6th request for her help understanding the text, she gave me a choice: either I returned the book and got something else or she’d show me what I could use as an aid to reading what I already had.
Obviously, option #2 was the only choice. Ladies, she introduced me to a dictionary! And though it took me awhile, and multiple checkouts, I did in fact read that damn book and talk to her about it. I was in the 3rd grade and have been happily surfing through dictionaries ever since “just because”.
My parents, Mom especially, spent far too much time emphasizing the importance of reading to punish us by taking away our books. A fact for which I’ve never been so grateful having always taken it for granted. Hell, she even encouraged me to read the banned ones. My sympathies to those of you who lost your books.
I guess I was lucky. Growing up I had learning issues from hearing issues, so I was actually behind in my reading skills. Then we moved across the country and I started devouring books. I think my mom was so happy I was reading, she never thought to use it as a punishment.
The only time I got in really big trouble was also because of the library, lol. I had hit the check-out limit on my card, and borrowed my mom’s (all romance novels). I was 13/14 at the time and was late returning most and didn’t pay the fine. We got a call months later that if I didn’t pay it was going to a collection agency. Got a very nice lecture about debt.
@KitKat9000–I loved your story because I tutor young readers in grades 1-3, identified as coming from “literacy deserts” (little or no reading material at home). At the end of each year I surprise them with their own illustrated, hardcover children’s dictionary to take home and keep. It’s the same dictionary I lug to sessions each week, and the kids enjoy leafing through it as much, if not more, than the books we have to read.
Good for your mom for encouraging you!
@Darlene Marshall: My mom is awesome and became my best friend after I grew up. While I was growing she was my parent, first, last, and foremost. Only later did she become my friend when I no longer required the same level of guidance.
Oh, and kudos for the illustrated dictionary. I would’ve loved that when I was younger. I had to make do with the behemoth oversized desk reference one my family had (approx 9″ x 12″ x 4″, in [very] fine print and weighed a ton). You know the kind, they’re the ones sitting atop lecterns in schools and libraries the world over. I accidentally dropped it once and nearly broke my toes.
I totally read the dictionary as a kid, too. I still like it to this day. “Wait, that’s a word? Really?!”
I’d be more than pleased to do a library memories post. Stay tuned!
Re: the dictionary. One year for Christmas, my boss got me “The Big Book of Words You Should Know”. I love it. I think it’s also a little weird how well she knows me…
Your wish is my commend: Library Memories anyone?