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 Ash, who has two requests. Both are historical romances:
Been trying to track down two historicals that I read over the last few years, but can’t seem to remember them or find them through various keywords (even looked through my kindle purchasing backlog).
1. An American tycoon marries an English widow whose home he was initially planning on buying to add to his reputation in England. One detail I remember is that the lady now lives in a nearby cottage with her children and happens to drop by the mansion when the agent is showing it to the tycoon.
I think she gets upset because it’s done behind her back. Eventually, the tycoon drops by her cottage and proposes a marriage of convenience for her children’s protection and so he can get the house. I remember that one of her kids is a boy. They have a hot MOC, but he stays away a lot initially, then there is a Christmas celebration part that brings them together.
The Xmas part has a tree, mistletoe and various Xmas greenery hunting in the snow episode. There is a part where the tycoon gets lost in the forest looking for a particular greenery and doesn’t realize it’s been hours. The tycoon is also portrayed as rather stiff and awkward with intimacy in general. A part of me feels like I might be confusing the details with another Xmas book, but what really stood out to me is that this was one of the few historicals set in England with a prominent American tycoon (railroad, I believe) followed by a pretty extensive Xmas celebration. The lady had a very happy marriage with her late spouse, and I think his death was rather sudden.
2. I can only remember the intro. The hero takes a break from a party and goes into a dark room where the heroine is taking refuge as well. They have an interesting conversation, but she never allows him to see her. I think they kiss, then she leaves (they are not compromised), and I think he tries to find her. If I’m not mistaken, she knows who he is from the start. Sadly, my memory fails on what happens after. Unfortunately, I’m drawing a blank with the subsequent parts of the 2nd book, as the intro was pretty distinct to me. I think she asks him not to light the candle and to let her be anonymous. She might be an on-the-shelf spinster.
Does either book ring any bells?
I don’t know about the first one, but the second one sounds similar in plot to Caroline Linden’s A View to a Kiss. Except in that book they meet on a dark patio or balcony and it is the guy who stays hidden in the dark, not the heroine. He’s dressed an old man, and doesn’t want to blow his cover. They have a series of meetings in dark rooms/in disguise.
Is the first one an old Lisa Kleypas?
I think the first one is Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly. I went on a Kelly binge recently. The heroine takes a dilapidated house and lives there with her 2 kids (although they are girls, I think). The hero is surprised to see anyone living there and keeps helping outfit the place for them. There is definitely a lot of Christmas decorating with greenery, and the widow has a creepy ex-brother-in-law who wants to force her to marry him (claiming she is an unfit mother).
I’m pretty sure the second one is “Where Dreams Begin” by Lisa Kleypas.
Could #2 possibly be Grace Burrowes’s “Nicholas?” The H & h both retreat to a quiet room, and chat, and maybe kiss.
Arrgghhh, I know I have read the 2nd one but I just cannot retrieve the title from my brain! They are hiding in either a linen closet or butler’s pantry, and it is because both of them are being hounded on the marriage market. They have amusing conversation and agree to pretend to be interested in one another to take the heat off during what I believe is a country house party.
I feel like the second one could be sooo many different books. The one that came to me, is where in the beginning the heroine wants to be with the hero but doesn’t want him to know who she is, so it might have been a masquerade ball. I think there are actually two like that, one where the hero is a family/brother’s friend, and another where the hero might be the guardian.
I think the first one is Adrienne Basso’s Tis The Season To Be Sinful.
https://www.amazon.com/Tis-Season-Sinful-Adrienne-Basso/dp/1420111914/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304710184&sr=1-1
The second sounds like “Where Dreams Begin” by Lisa Kleypas. One of my favorites.
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand doesn’t have an American tycoon, and the heroine never owned the house, she was very poor, so it doesn’t sound like book #1 to me. Joan Wolf’s “The American Earl” has the requisite tycoon, but the heroine is not a widow. “Where Dreams Begin” doesn’t quite fit either, because there is no cottage involved, I think the heroine was living with her controlling family at the start.
@Karin The OP mentioned that maybe she was mixing two books together….maybe that explains why none of them seem exactly right?
I think the second one is a Courtney Milan book, the Duchess War, to be more exact. Both the hero and the heroine hides in the library.
I also thought the first description was straight-up “Mrs. Drew” except for the whole American tycoon thing.
Bits of #1 sound like What Happens at Christmas by Victoria Alexander, if you’re mixing books.
No idea but would love to know the answers. Gotta say, though, both sound familiar,
I 2nd @acb: the 1st one sounds like Adrienne Basso’s Tis The Season To Be Sinful.
The 2nd one reminds me a bit of Lorraine Heath’s Falling Into Bed with a Duke
Acb & aly, yes! The first one is Basso’s. Thanksssss!
Karen & etc: I think you might be right with Where dreams begin.. I’ll get it and read through the first few chapters and confirm.
Yay! Way to go guys!
Dayum. Still haven’t achieved my goal of solving a HABO…..
Could the second one be that they are both hiding behind a curtain? They are each hiding from unwanted lovers – she from an old, fat lord and he from an oversexed widow… yes this does sound like the plot of a bazillion of these. Anyway he is a bastard and scandalous, she is close to on the shelf and prim and proper. I believe it’s part of a series. The Hero’s step brother is a duke or something and may be the hero in the next book. The h is chaperoning a sister maybe. Anyway that’s all I got.
And I after a quick scan of the preview on Amazon, I am 95% certain that the 2nd one is Where Dreams Begin! Double yays for double HABOs! 🙂
@Jen: That wasn’t the one, but I’m curious to know which one you’re talking about?
Re No. 1: I was actually trying to track that one down for one of the Rec Leagues a while back about widows with happy marriages to their former spouse 🙂
I really don’t think that #1 is Where Dreams Begin. The general premise is similar, the details don’t mesh. The hero is an English tycoon, not not American. The heroine is a widow with two kids who lives with her husband’s family–no dower house/cottage or house sale. And I don’t remember any of the Christmasy stuff (but I could be wrong about that). It all sounds close, but not quite. . .
*Funnily, I sent Sarah a HABO about this book several years ago, but she was able to answer it right off the bat by herself so it was never published. It’s burned in my memory now. (Thanks, Sarah!) The book’s worth a read even if it isn’t the right one for this HABO. 🙂
Well, as I was typing, Ash posted to say it’s the right book after all! 😀
Aaand, now I’m confused because I didn’t think of WDB for #2 at all. There is a secret kissy scene at the beginning, but no closet, no spinster, he was expecting a different lady, etc. I think I need to hang up my HABO hat for the evening.
@Susan: Not sure if you got the numbers wrong in the comments above but, #1 is the one with the American Tycoon, there’s no secret meetings/kisses at a party… that’s a MOC + Xmas story + American Tycoon…
#2 is WDB, the bare details on that is my bad cause I could only remember minimal details, but when I read the preview, it all clicked..
Hope that clears the confusion a bit? :/
The 2nd book could definitely be Grace Burrowes’ Nicholas – one of her Lonely Lord series. They meet in a dark room, both hiding; have an amazing kiss after he offered to light a candle (I believe).
He is a very distinctive man because of his size, but he doesn’t know who she is because they agree not to exchange names. She isn’t a spinster so much as she has a ‘scandalous’ past thanks mostly to her asshat of a father.
@Ash: I think it’s just one of those days for me! Yes, I totally misread the earlier comments and thought people were saying #1 was WDB. But then got more confused because I didn’t think #2 sounded like it, either. Honestly, this is why I really suck at HABOs even when I’ve read the books. I’m glad there are other SBs out there keeping things on track.
Glad you found your books!
#2 is definitely Nicholas Lord of Secrets, second in Grace Burrowes Lonely Lords series.
@Hyacinths
While not the HABO, I read this one recently. It the story by Valerie Bowman from the Christmas anthology Christmas Brides (https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/christmas-brides)
BTW, comment 27 is from a different Susan than me (the very confused Susan from the zillion other posts). This turned rather farcical.
May I confess, I am confused. Both books have been identified. Is that correct?
Which is which, please?
To clear the confusion:
1. Adrienne Basso’s Tis The Season To Be Sinful.
2. Lisa Kleypas’ Where Dreams Begin
So, yes, both books have been identified, but since the second one in particular is somewhat vague, so other recs are coming in?
@Ash thank you. I really think I’ve read #2. For some reason I have Grace Burroughs’ name floating through my head.