This HaBO is from Nicole, who is hoping the Bitchery can work its magic again:
The Bitchery helped me once before determine the title of a book, so I’m hoping that they can do it again.
I feel like I should know what this book is called, and I definitely read it within the last 4 years, but every time I’ve searched for it on my own I’ve been overwhelmed by what happens when you type things like “Jane Austen fan” “pregnant” and “novel” into Google.
Anyway, the plot goes something like this: the book begins with our heroine, a woman from Chicago, telling her rich, live-in boyfriend that she’s pregnant. He’s like, “No thanks.” So now she’s alone and possibly jobless, or did she quit her job? Anyway, she just hops on a plane and goes to England, because she’s a huge Jane Austen fan (I think it’s Jane Austen, but maybe it’s another female English writer and that’s why I can’t find this book?).
Anyway, she stays at a little inn near wherever Famous Dead English Writer lived and falls in love with the area and the sheer Englishness of it. So when it’s time for her to leave, she decides to extend her stay by working at the adorable inn. She starts to write a novel and falls in love with an English dude who I believe works at the inn. So convenient!
But then she moves to Greece, as one does, to finish her novel. And the asshat rich ex briefly returns to throw a wrench in the works, as asshat exes do, but eventually he is vanquished or something and slinks back to his super expensive hidey hole. Oh, at one point, she says “Pardon me,” and a crusty old guy who owns/works at the inn (not to be confused with the younger love interest) asks if she passed gas, since apparently that’s what that phrase signifies in England?
Does this book sound familiar? I want to call the asshat ex Todd or Chad, but that could just be my brain scrambling to find the most likely rich asshat names.
Apologies to all the Todds and Chads out there! Anyone know this one?
Oh dear, not a single suggestion? The only book I’ve read about a fan of Austen were the two Austenland books and I know it is neither of those.
Only thing that came up quickly is actually two stories in one by the same author. It’s called “Finn’s Pregnant Bride/The Paternity Claim” by Sharon Kendrick.
FINN’S PREGNANT BRIDE — On vacation in Greece, passion blazed between Catherine and property tycoon Finn Delaney. When they reunited in Ireland, neither was expecting the heat to be just as intense. But Finn was devastated to read a kiss-and-tell article about their encounters in Catherine’s magazine soon after she left. Now nothing she says can convince him to listen to her and give their relationship a chance. Until she tells him “I’m pregnant….”
THE PATERNITY CLAIM
Isabella’s first love affair ended in disaster. Pregnant and alone, she flees to England — to the only man she trusts enough to help her, Paulo Dantas. Paulo is unprepared for the compelling changes in Isabella since he last saw her. He feels honor-bound to help his family friend, and claiming paternity of her child is the only way. But being a father is a lifetime responsibility. And Isabella’s father expects Paulo and Isabella to marry….
Could it possibly be Something Blue by Emily Giffin?
No, it’s not any of those. I think it was maybe more women’s fiction than romance, if that helps.
I looked through a lot of JAFF on goodreads and didn’t find anything which matched the plot
I’ve read a good amount of JA spin offs/fan fic/inspired books (it’s what first got me reading romance in general!) and I have no idea what this one is. Maybe try asking this question on a JA fan fic board?
Hi Nicole, Do you have any memories or ideas on the type of place the heroine stayed – was it a village, or a town? Was there any mystery component? Or was it a more typical woman finding herself abroad “Eat Pray Love” sort of lit fic deal? Do you remember any character names even intiials?
Apologies for all the questions but I’m quite curious about this one myself as other Bitchery members attested it doesn’t seem to fit any of the JA linked books out there!
I don’t think that there was a mystery element to this book. If so, it must have been pretty minor. The heroine was mostly trying to adjust to her pregnancy and impending motherhood, and her life without the rich asshat boyfriend. I didn’t read EPL, but there was probably some soul-searching and self-finding, and obviously also foreign-dude banging (or close enough; I can’t remember if they actually hit the sheets). But there almost certainly wasn’t a spiritual or even quasi-religious element, because that’s not my cup of tea at all. Ask away! I’m beginning to think that I hallucinated this book, but I’m happy to provide any details that might help somebody else identify it.
Thanks for the suggestion, SQ! SB is my go-to site for romance inquiries, but I should definitely check with the subject specialists on this one.