Big thanks to Reader Shimonishi for sending in this Rec League request, with a particular twist on the “fish out of water” trope:
I would love some help finding contemporary romances that are set in the U.S. but feature a non-American hero. I can’t figure how to search for these. There seems to be many romances with an American heroine in foreign countries. I really enjoyed : Kristan Higgins – The Perfect Match; and Christina Lauren – Sweet Filthy Boy and Dark Wild Night. Something about that foreign accent against the American setting.
Are there romances like Crocodile Dundee when Mick is in America. Coincidentally I was watching the movie The Prince and Me starring Julia Stiles. Yes he’s the Danish prince, but I love the part where he’s trying to figure out how to make sandwiches and how people are reacting to his accent.
Amanda: Shimonishi makes a great point that it’s usually the heroine’s with the “fish out of water” experience and not the heroes.
Sarah: I have been thinking and thinking about this, and I know there will be suggestions in the comments that make me go, oh of course, but I thought of one – which is so embarrassing to me. I should have more.
Amanda: I know! I feel like I should know one, because this sounds like such catnip for me. But I’m drawing such a blank.
Sarah: Delphine Dryden’s Science of Temptation series, book 3: The Principle of Desire. The hero, Ed, is new to the BDSM world, and the heroine introduces him to the club she’s a part of.
The whole series is great, too. I recommend all three.
Amanda: Though that one is more a hero experiencing new experiences rather than a foreign hero in a new country.
This one is tough! What recommendations do you have? Let’s help Shimonishi out!
Courtney Milan’s The Heiress Effect has a subplot with an Indian guy in 19th-century England.
Juliana Gray has a trilogy – Affairs by Moonlight – where the three English heroes are all in Italy. The third, is the most “fish out of water” of them.
@Vasha: I love Anjan’s character in that and it’s one of my favorite books, principally for that subplot.
Also, there’s the new Vagabond Prince–Molly Jameson, where the lead is a prince back home in London after a long absence but the female mc is an American living in England who remarks it’s like they speak different languages because of the subtle fish out of water-ness of even an American in England where mores and vernacular differ.
Ok, I’m not sure if I can recommend one this or not, but it fits the brief. I spotted it on the recently read shelf at the library one week and couldn’t resist the WTF title: Dating an Alien Popstar.
The hero is an alien prince playing a British pop star who gets the heroine to guide him around NYC. She takes him shopping and introduces him to the wonder of the hamburger. I vaguely recall that he’s on some mission from his home planet. Definite crazysauce.
If you are not averse to M/M or (mild) fantasy, KJ Charles’s Magpie Lord-series has a hero who spent most of his life in Shanghai and doesn’t feel too comfortable back in good ol’ England.
The bit about the Danish prince learning to make sandwiches reminded me of a real-life experience. A boy I went to college with was from Sweden and at some point he realized that the things left on a table in the cafeteria were for making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He was APPALLED at the thought of a PBJ. Then we told him about Fluffernutters and he had NO WORDS (for those of you who don’t remember, those are sandwiches made with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff).
The Coincidence of the Coconut Cake features a British ex-pat hero, who is more alienated than bewildered. However a large part of the book is the heroine introducing him to “her” Milwaukee. It’s not completely what you’re looking for, but it is a delightful read.
@Steffi: If we included m/m there would be a zillion. But that’s the point; there’s some sort of subtle gender dynamic that is preventing authors from thinking of the idea of matching a woman with a fish-out-of-water man. Where are the exceptions?
Time travel… Aliens… ? Both of those used to be pretty popular.
Sonali Dev’s The Bollywood Affair features an Indian hero who comes to the US to find the Indian heroine, who has been living in the US while in grad school. I don’t recall any specific “fish out of water” moments, but I do think Dev uses the juxtaposition of the two characters in a foreign, less traditional region of the country to highlight a lot of the book’s themes.
I’ve written two: One Year Past Perfect’s hero is a Costa Rican singer doing his last gig in Honolulu and being entranced by the American housekeeper. King of Paradise features the heir apparent of a small European kingdom vacationing in Colorado and finding love with the woman in the next condo. The first one is more fish out of water.
My favourite example of a fish out of water hero is Mikolai from Pamela Morsi’s Something Shady. He immigrated to the US from Poland twenty years before the start of the book’s events and his accent is still apparent. In flashback scenes we see him often struggling to communicate in English, and that’s not the only part of the culture that he has difficulty navigating. The first meeting between the hero and heroine shows them communicating despite the language barrier, and is one of the cutest scenes I’ve read in romance.
Fiona Lowe’s Runaway Groom has an Australian hero in Wisconsin! This book, and the others in the series, are delightful. I recommend reading them all!
Others I see on my Goodreads read list:
– Run to You by Charlotte Stein (erotic) with a Hungarian hero
– The Reluctant Nude by Meg Maguire: French hero in Nova Scotia
– Kulti by Marianna Zapata: German hero in the US
– Two by Susan Elizabeth Phillips: English hero (Ain’t She Sweet), Russian hero (Kiss an Angel)
I’m sure I’m missing quite a few.
Zillions of Greek millionaires, not a fish out of water amongst them.
There are some Sandra Hill books with time traveling Vikings and similar, ever increasing crazysauces, that definitely have the hero dependent on the heroine to navigate the madness of modern life. I don’t exactly recommend them, but I can’t really think of any others, so…
Madly by Ruthis Knox. Hero is from England living in New York.
@Erin, I’m halfway through Madly right now! It’s crazy good.
Seconding “Kulti” by Mariana Zapata… and “The Wall of Winnipeg and Me” has a Canadian hero in the US (marriage of convenience to get his green card), but the fish out of water element isn’t as strong in that one.
Another way you sometimes find that fish out of water element is if it’s a paranormal with a really old or time-traveling hero acclimating to modern society (“Between a Vamp and a Hard Place” by Jessica Sims was one I read recently) or if it’s an alien hero coming to earth.
I would say Jude Deveraux’s classic “A Knight In Shining Armor” would qualify if you have never read it. The first half of the book is the heroine helping the hero adjust to life in the 20th century.
The Proposition by Judith Ivory is a reverse Pygmalion where the heroine has to help the hero (who is a 19th century ratcatcher) learn how to pass in society.
The subplot in The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne is a very young Adrian “Hawker” learning the ropes of being an English spy in Revolutionary France in part from spending time with the young french Justine.
It does seem overwhelmingly that the women in romance novels are the ones who are the fish out of water.
@steffi I binge read the Magpie Lord series last weekend and I can’t remember the last time I had a book hangover that bad when it was over. They gave me all the romance feels and Reminded me why I fell in love with the genre and made me want to shout from the rooftops about how good they were. (But alas, I have not found a clever way to work them into regular conversation in response to “tell me about what you’re reading”)
I just read the ARC for The Garden of Small Beginnings (which is AMAZING) and the hero is from Holland and living in LA when he meets the heroine.
Thirding the recommendation of Kulti.
Daisy Prescott’s Wanderlust might work, though the hero and heroine first meet in his country, the bulk of their relationship takes place in another country, before he joins her in Portland.
In The Hooker and the Hermit, the Irish rugby player needs the services of an NYC PR firm where he meets the heroine. In AJ Pine’s Six Month Rule, British hero works in Chicago for six months where he meets the heroine.
Jay Crownover’s Honor features a hero from the Middle East who has been in the US for awhile. This is perhaps an unconventional choice because the hero is more of an antihero but if you’ve read any of Crownover’s Point series, you know how good they are.
A stretch, but so worth it: Graeme Simsion’s THE ROSIE PROJECT. Don Tillman, Australian genetics professor, is definitely a fish out of every body of water, and Rosie is the woman in charge of all she surveys. At least, that’s how things look on the surface. I love this sweet and funny story.
I am agreeing with evertyhing for Kulti and Madly. I adore those books.
I also love Mary Ann Rivers Live (the hero is Welsh (poc) woodworker in the mid west)
Irish Rugby player in Michigan in n Touch (Play On Book 1) Brennan, C.D.
Alyssa Cole’s recent entry into has the South Asian Hero in New York in the 1900s Let Us Dream.
Thank you for all the recs. I am taking notes and my wishlist is growing. When I put in my request, we were commenting about the abundance of billionaires with their accents (and billions) but not so many regular guys. Good point about the paranormal and time travelers. m/m recs are welcomed. thanks again.
Karen Marie Moning’s Kiss of the Highlander. It’s part of her Highlander series. Hero is basically sleeping beauty. Lol. He’s been asleep for 500 years and she awakens him.
Ilsa Madden-Mills has a pair of Brit brothers in Dirty English and Filthy English.
Pucked by Helena Hunting is another Canadian hero. No accent, but some cute Canadian moments (which maybe I appreciated more because they take place in my neck of the woods!)
And I want to say Mia Harlow has one as well, but can’t figure out which book – one where the hero is a Canadian west coast fisherman. Also one of her reoccurring characters is French, but his actual book does take place mostly in France (Frenched).
I just finished the “Plain Fame” series and I really enjoyed it. It about a famous Cuban born singer hero and his unlikely romance with an Amish girl. It’s a (not overly preachy) Christian romance series by Sarah Price. I picked them up on Kindle Unlimited. Whipped through the six book series in a couple days.
I am not one for the inspirational romances normally, but something about this series hooked me. It takes place in the U.S. though they do tour through other countries.
I loved, loved, loved the Magpie Lord books! even read some shorter pieces set in the same world.
Emily Foster’s books, How Not to Fall and How Not to Let Go, feature the same couple in both books. He’s a brilliant British scientist, and she is a brilliant American grad student. The first book is set in the US and book 2 takes us to the UK, so they both get to be fish out of water. These are such good books, emotional and intense, and everyone must read them. Now.
If you are squicky about the following, though, you may skip: light bondage, lava hot sex, domination, rock climbing, and an intelligent h who is NOT TSTL.
Pamela Clare’s historical series The Kenleigh/Blakewell Saga and the Mackinnon’s Rangers series both have heroes who are fish out of water. In the kenleigh books the hero is mistakenly transported as a prisoner from England to the US which is a BIG fish out of water. THe Mackinnons are Scottish exiled to America and they are out of place in the british colonies. Also there are some subplots with native people who are being pushed out of their own territory.
Managed by Kristen Callihan, a British hero. One of my favorites read from last year.
Also The Hooker and the Hermit by L.H. Cosway & Penny Reid, Irish hero.
Elizabeth Hoyt, To Taste Temptation. American brings his younger sister to England for her to learn social graces. As I recall, he wears his moccasins all over the place along with (OH THE SHAME) his leggings….
Since you mentioned that m/m romances are okay – Avon Gale’s “Power Play” is about two hockey coaches who fall in love – one from Russia and one from America. It is part of a series but you don’t have to have read the others. It has both the Russian coach as the fish and the American coach also reflecting back some American stereotypes about Russians. And it is funny!
Doesn’t Grace Burrowes have some contemporaries with Scotsmen in the US for business?
Am I the only one who has a major sad when she can’t offer up suggestions? I WANT TO HELP DAMMIT! Alas, my memory is crap on a cracker so doing the recall thing is 122 levels of impossible. Siiiiiigh.
@Todd – your pbj story reminds of a story from my youth. I once completely grossed out a roomful of British friends by casually spreading peanut butter on apple slices and eating them. I had no idea they’d be so upset.
I think peanut butter is kind of the American equivalent of marmite or vegemite. If you grew up eating it, it’s pretty likely you’ll like it as an adult, but if you didn’t grow up with it, not so much.
@Vasha – the psychology of this is really interesting to me. I’d never noticed it before, but I can think of more mm examples than mf.
My very first published romance, “Lady X’s Cowboy” is about a Colorado cowboy who goes to England to find his long-lost family. Hilarity ensues.
@Zoë Archer OMG I DIDN’T KNOW I NEEDED THAT IN MY LIFE but holy yes I do.
You’ve been on my TBR list for 23,193 years so-*goes away to Goodreads hunt which book it was.*
Guess which book it was?
GUESS GUESS GUESS!
Lady X’s Cowboy.
*Laughs whilst face palming* I’m pathetic.
Not contemporaries, but a long-ago author using the pseudonym Madeleine Brent wrote several historical fish-out-of-water books that I still re-read from time to time. It’s always a young English girl/woman who has either grown up in or has been transplanted to an exotic locale, and in the end, her knowledge of that locale ends up saving the day. If I recall correctly, the time period is usually late 19th century. One exotic locale is a traveling circus, another China, another high in the Himalayas, another aboriginal Australia. The books are all long out of print, but some libraries and used book dealers may have them. Some digitized versions are available at openlibrary.org. I highly recommend these books if you can find them.
Completely blanked on Lady X’s Cowboy, but it is delightful!
The only ones I could think of are Nina Bangs’ Gods of the Night trilogy, which is – no lie- about dinosaurs reincarnated into the bodies of hot, recently dead, men in order to stave off the Mayan apocalypse. Crazysauce of the first degree here! The dino-men all need human (female, duh) chauffeurs to drive them around and explain modern US society to them. Somehow vampires are also involved, but I forget the specifics.
@ClaireC: I read that as “Nina Bangs Gods of the Night” and I immediately wanted to have that series.