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 comes to us from Line, who is hoping a romance she read a long time ago will still hold up to her memory:
I am looking for one of the first romances I ever read back in the eighties sometime. It was a rough period; my dad was very ill with cancer and my mum and I used romances as a kind of escape mechanism. Actually I sort of just helped myself to her stash and she was not entirely happy about it .Anyway, this book was the right kind of escape vehicle at the time and I remember liking it very much and I started wondering if it would hold up at all for me now.
I can’t remember title or author of this book, but I remember the hero and heroine met for the first time when she sneezed while driving and hit him with her car. She caused some sort of injury that was “conveniently” inconvenient but not life threatening or resulting in any lasting problems for our hero, who was some kind of race car driver. Apparently a famous race car driver, of which our heroine was completely oblivious. I seem to remember there being a younger brother/cousin or someone living with the heroine. He was a teenager and was getting “difficult” for her to handle.
Oh and it was a Harlequin of some kind, I think it was from the imprint with the silver frame on the cover.
I really hope somebody remembers/knows which one this is. My google fu is not up to finding it.
Honestly, that’s one of my biggest fears (sneezing while driving and crashing) and I’m glad I live in an area where I don’t have to drive.
This one is “Suddenly Love” by Rebecca Flanders. I LOVED this one, and it’s still on my keeper shelf. It was Harlequin American Romance #41, for those who track them.
Now that’s an unusual meet cute!
And it’s out of print, although a seller on Amazon claims to have a copy that has never been read.
Thanks! I actually recognised the cover. That is definitely the one. Now to get hold of a copy that can be shipped to Norway.
@LineJ – It really is a fun book, though it is very 80s, especially the cover! I re-read it every couple of years and still enjoy it.
I wish more of Rebecca Flanders’ books were available in ebook, but unfortunately not yet. It’s available on Open Library, though when I checked it out last year, the file had some problems (missing pages) that I assumed were related to conversion. Hopefully you can get your hands on a print copy from somewhere.
@Cleo – yep, and at their second meeting, she’s high as a kite on cold meds. Good times 😀
It says it’s 1984 according to ALIBRIS books ( a type of clearing house for used book sellers) and they have some for $.99 plus shipping.
When I read “heroine’s sneeze causes an accident” my mind went to a much less romantic place. That’s middle age for you.