This HaBO comes from Brenda, who wants to find a book a colleague recommended:
So I am at work and there is a sub in the classroom. We start talking books. 😀 She says her favorite is historical romance and starts to describe her favorite. I can only remember the plot, but the way she described it made me want to read it.
1. It was super funny. She claimed she was laughing throughout.
2. Historical romance. Set in Scotland. It was very cold.
3. Our hero gets himself a mail order bride.
4. Our hero knows NOTHING about woman. I suspect he may be a virgin.
5. Our heroine claims to know how to cook and clean. She don’t know those things.
6. She might have brought along her younger brother.
7. Not a new book. Several years old. Possible Harlequin.
Mail order brides. Scots. Virgin heroes. Catnip, anyone?
This sounds like Lavyrle Spencer’s The Endearment, except that one is set in Minnesota, not Scotland.
It’s not set in Scotland, but LaVyrle Spencer’s The Endearment hits most of the other notes. Mail order bride who brings her younger brother along. No housekeeping experience. Virgin hero. Give it a try!
Wow, I don’t know what this is but I want it. All my catnip. Off to try The Endearment.
This sounds so good! And these comments are really making me wish LaVyrle Spencer still published new books. Her novels always hit that sentimental sweet spot for me.
I LOVE LaVyrle Spencer-Morning Glory is so good! Bitter Sweet is another favorite of mine. I haven’t read her for years, now I feel like I need to dig all her books out of the boxes in my shed!
There is a writter that has several funny romances in medieval Scoland, and a different series abiut vampyres. Unfortunatelly I can’t rem mber her name. Will post again if I remember.
Lyndsay Sands is the name. My be one of her books
I second, third, fourth the idea that this is Lavyrle Spencer’s THE ENDEARMENT. Scotland? Minnesota? They’re both cold! Anyway, all the other pieces of the plot fit–including the kid brother. It was also the first romance I’d read where the hero is a virgin and the heroine (mild spoiler) isn’t. Whether this is the book you’re looking for, it’s worth reading.
Spencer was always hit-or-miss for me. I loved her historicals like THE FULFILLMENT and the aforementioned MORNING GLORY, but most of her contemporaries left me cold–especially as there always seemed to be a real bitch of a competing female (to better contrast with the wonderful heroine, I guess) and there was often some rather obvious middle-class slumming in the working-class dynamics at play.
The Naked Duke by Sally Mackenzie is a comedy and has a virgin hero and is a historical…I don’t remember if any of it is set in Scotland.
I read a couple of online descriptions of the Spencer book and it doesn’t seem like it’s a laugh riot, at all. So I’m off to check out the other authors mentioned.
That sounds a lot like Temptation by Jude Deveraux. Except if I remember correctly, the hero isn’t a virgin….
Is there a reading list on this site with virgin heroes? Cause that’s my catnip, for sure!!!
@Jessica: Surprisingly, we don’t! But keep your eyes peeled for a future Rec League! 🙂
It does sound a lot like Spencer’s The Endearment, but that one isn’t a laugh riot. It is sweet and touching and hits all the other bells. One of Lynsay Sands’ medieval romances might hit the mark.
Please solve this HABO so I can read it!
There is a reading list for virginal heroes at All About Romance: http://allaboutromance.com/virginal-heroes/
There is a reading list for virginal heroes at All About Romance: http: //allaboutromance.com/virginal-heroes/
There is a reading list for virginal heroes at All About Romance: http: //allaboutromance. com/virginal-heroes/
From the Scottish mail order bride angle instead of the virgin hero I found Highlander’s Bride by Cora Lee Grey, as another option. The blurb describes it as “fun and flirty”, and it involves the heroine getting into what sounds like a mail order bride situation. No mention of a younger brother or the hero not knowing much about women.
@Jessica Goodreads has a list of VIRGIN Heros too.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1661.Books_with_Virgin_Heroes