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 Fran. She wants to find a paranormal romance:
I was at a romance novel book club last week and one of the organizers mentioned a romance she read in the early era of ebooks, pre-kindle (she mentioned a Sony reader, so maybe 2006ish plus or minus a few years) and made it sound like a non-traditional publisher, e-book first even when e-books were new.
In terms of plot, she said that the hero becomes the heroine’s guardian when she’s SIX after her parents die. He realizes she’s his fated mate and sends her off to lots of boarding school or something. However, he encourages her to live her life including dating and sex (although he chases off any “serious” boyfriends) but plans to “claim” her when she’s 25. However, she’s got the hots for him but bemoans the fact that he’ll always see her as a child. She doesn’t wait for him though!!! (good for you girl)
Apparently, he also has a stable of women? Has had them for a long time? And one day they all leave the house telling the heroine he’s sending everyone away, he’s gone crazy! But he’s sending them away so he can finally be with her.
I’m intrigued because I haven’t heard of vampire ward stories, just plain historicals, but also semi-repelled? Either way, I’ve been looking around for about a week but I have a feeling I’m going to need help.
Can I just say that Fran’s romance book club sounds awesome?
Not sure it hits all the marks but another story where a ward becomes a lover is in Juliana Stone’s THE MISS EDUCATION OF DR. EXETER (A Phaeton Black story). Mia is an orphan and Dr. E’s ward and she has to jump through lots of hoops to convince him that they’re meant to be 🙂
Good luck finding your book!
oOOHH. Ward becoming the love interest is a trope I’d love to get some recommendations on. How does one pull of writing that without it becoming creepy?
oOOHH. Ward becoming the love interest is a trope I’d love to get some recommendations on. How does one pull of writing that without it becoming creepy? #dontcallmedaddy
Ok. I have no idea why my computer double posted when I tried to edit my post. Maybe because I should have changed the hashtag to #callmedaddyonemoretime ?
I tend to avoid vampire romances, so I’m not much help. Goodreads does have several vampire romance lists that may or may not help.
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1193.The_Best_Adult_Vampire_Romance_Books
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2795.Best_adult_vampire_romance_novels
I don’t think this is the book, because some of the details don’t match, but the “Cassie Palmer” series by Karen Chance has a vampire love interest, and the heroine was *sort of* his ward prior to the beginning of the series.
The pacing on the Cassie Palmer series is like… crack piled on crack, with some coffee poured on top. Nonstop action. Once I get into it, it’s my jam, but I can see it being offputting if you’re not into the crackalicious aspects of paranormal romance.
I actually prefer the “Dorina Basarab” series because there’s less in the way of love triangles (not my fave), and more in the way of plot resolution in those. If you’re unsure, she’s got quite a lot of free short fiction out there, which might be a good place to start.
@Kifah
Julia Quinn’x Minx has a ward love story, but it’s not a paranormal. I would say it mostly succeeds in not being creepy?
I think it might be one of the series Shiloh Walker wrote for Ellora’s Cave, The Hunters: Byron and Kit.
Was the heroine a werewolf?
No help on the original HABO but for guardian/ward romances, I’d recommend Mary Balogh’s Red Rose. It’s a dark and angsty Regency reissued as an ebook.
Also, Anne’s Perfect Husband by Gayle Wilson. Not as high a rec as the Balogh but still a good book.
Both have wards who are older to begin with.
It’s been ages, but I’m pretty sure I’ve read this … and I don’t think it was the earlier suggested Dr. Exeter book. IIRC, the hero hides under the protection of — **I THINK??** — prostitutes, and they are the ones who leave the house. Gah! Now to go look.
Rats. Never mind. I was thinking of “Taken by the Night” by Kathryn Smith. It’s good, but not nearly enough match to the HaBo’s description.
Thanks so much all!!
@Cleo I have clicked through vampire lists on GR but they tend to get overwhelming for me! I wish I could search goodreads using more criteria, you know? Like publishing years plus subgenres etc? But I’ll definitely take a second look at the lists.
@Jocelyn I have actually read the Cassie Palmer series before so I totally get what you’re saying about the crack, lol. I completely forgot their existence!! I’ll float it by my friend.
@Darbi @Kifah I’ve actually read Minx! I remember enjoying it, that whole Quinn series was cute.
@Pamala I appreciate the suggestion but the Dr.Exeter book is too new I think, but I’ll float it by her anyway.
@Hopefulpuffin I def think of the “ward-as-heroine” trope as a historical subgenre too!! I was surprised this was a paranormal when she described it.
@Jill-Marie I think the Smith book might be a bit too new & I don’t think the book was published by a “big” romance publisher but I’ll send it on!
& finally
@Rachel Ellora’s Cave has definitely been around long enough to qualify, isn’t/wasn’t mainstream and reading the about on the cover OMG it sounds totally like it *might* be a winner!!!!! It’s 99c so I’m going to pick it up and pass it on and see what she says. If I had to bet though I’d say this matches her description pretty darn well.
Georgette Heyer did this trope reasonably well in Regency Buck. IIRC, heroine was mightily upset hero did not propose on her birthday (when she came of age) – he waited until the next day!
When you mentioned guardian/ward romances< I thought of Heyer too. I think These Old Shades is an excellent variant on this theme. The age difference is HUGE, so it may be impossible to escape creepiness. Regency Buck definitely has that trope sans creepiness but with a whole lotta alph-hole goin' on. It's my least favorite Heyer.
However, the classic guardian/ward romance? Why, Daddy-Long-Legs, of course!
@PamG – Daddy-Long-Legs!!! <3 Love that book!
It might be “Kissing Midnight” by Emma Holly. Vampire hero (very old school and straight-laced) is lonely and adopts a bunch of orphans in 1930’s London. The heroine was one of the children’s friends, so the details don’t quite match up with the request, but its close:
https://www.amazon.com/Kissing-Midnight-Upyr-Emma-Holly-ebook/dp/B0026Q7ZZO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1482943337&sr=1-1&keywords=emma+holly+Kissing+Midnight
I have no idea. It sounds sorta familiar but I can’t think of one where it is a vampire who is the guardian.
But I’d love to know.
@Diane @PamG Regency Buck was the 1st Heyer I read and it nearly put me off for good, because of the hero’s “high-handedness” aka being a total know-all. I love Frederica though, where the hero is only pretending to be the guardian.
My favorite Heyer is Venetia. And The Talisman Ring always makes me laugh.
It’s Dark Magic by Christine Feehan.
@Usha, I looked up Dark Magic and the description reads:
Young Savannah Dubrinsky was a mistress of illusion, a world-famous magician capable of mesmerizing millions. But there was one-Gregori, the Dark One-who held her in terrifying thrall. Whose cold silver eyes and heated sensuality sent shivers of danger, of desire, down her slender spine.
With a dark magic all his own, Gregori-the implacable hunter, the legendary healer, the most powerful of Carpathian males-whispered in Savannah’s mind that he was her destiny. That she had been born to save his immortal soul. And now, here in New Orleans, the hour had finally come to claim her. To make her completely his. In a ritual as old as time . . . and as inescapable as eternity.
Doesn’t sound like the same book to me
@Sonia I’ll check out Kissing Midnight!
@Usha @Gloriamarie Me talking about Dark Magic actually started the discussion that led to my friend mentioning the book. I’ve tried to read it twice but IMHO it’s a truly reprehensible book, she told me this one was better at handling similar themes. I can’t accept the hero raping the heroine and her “understanding” now that their mating is complete…i have a lot of feelings about that book, sigh.
I could not finish the book. Like you I could not a accept the premise of the book.
Can we find this book please? I noe have to read it!!!
Can’t help with the HABO, but the discussion of Guardian/ward romances made me think of a nonfiction title that’s been sitting on my Amazon wishlist for ages: How to Create the Perfect Wife, by Wendy Moore. The story of a late-18th-century gentleman who adopted two girls whith the attempt to raise at least one of them to be his perfect (read: docile) wife. As I said, I haven’t read it myself, but it is highly praised and might be of some interest here. Might have to push it up on my wishlist to a higher place… Has anyone read this?
@Kifah
If you don’t mind fantasy, Patricia C. Wrede has a very fun duology which manages a ward trope well: Mairelon the Magician and The Magician’s Ward, which were more recently bundled together under the title A Matter of Magic. The general blurb for them is “Magic and intrigue go hand in hand in two fast-paced novels filled with mystery and romance, set against the intricate backdrop of Regency England”.
Seconding Mairelon the Magician as a great not-creepy ward trope story. It’s one of my favorite books! For me, it works because a) the age difference is not significant b) the lovers do not initially meet because one is in a caretaking/guardian position of the other and c) the heroine is only *posing* as high society, and is totally capable of leaving, in contrast with most regency era ward dynamics. Her agency to change her own circumstances remove the whiff of coercion/inappropriateness that I can’t handle.
(For comparison, on the ward-trope-skeeve-tolerance scale, I even feel weird about Emma. Mr. Knightly is a more of a father figure to her than her real father! I just can’t….although as I type this I realize that maybe I’m just so intolerant that I shouldn’t actually give ward-trope recommendations because anyone seeking one is probably already more on board than me…hmmmm
I see I’m not the first person who immediately thought: Daddy-Long-Legs!
But am I the only one who has trouble with the mixture of (on the one hand) absolutely delightful and adorable and everything one would expect from a grandniece of Mark Twain, and (on the other hand) … well, how creepy can you get?
RACHEL GOT IT RIGHT 😀
Just got it confirmed that Shiloh Walker’s “The Hunters: Byron and Kit,” was the book in question. Thank you all so much!!
PS its 99c on kindle
Ward trope made me think of the SEP novel, “Just Imagine”. Set mostly in the post-Civil War South, hero stands between heroine and her inheritance.
Can’t help with the HaBO.