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 Alexa and who is searching for a historical romance, possibly of the YA variety:
This was in the ’90s, but it was a library book, so I’m not sure when it was published; I remember it being not terribly tattered or brown around the edges, so it may have been published around then. I think it was part of a series, though this was the only one I ever read. It was about a girl who was marrying a man she was in love with, but thought that he was only marrying her out of duty; there was also Adventure on the High Seas. I think her name may have been Rosie or something similar; I believe she was an orphan, or otherwise Not Of Good Family, but more in the genteel poverty vein than the “inappropriate lineage” vein. She did beautiful embroidery and I think it generally had a seashell theme (I remember someone describing the edging on her shift). I am pretty sure her husband was captain of a ship, and she sailed with him. I believe his name also started with an R, but I could be wrong. The non-ship location I remember was a very, very steep seaside village. There was definitely descriptive sex, though I’m sure it was fairly tame and maybe only once or twice in the book.
I think it was in the Regency era based on what I remember from her dress on the cover; the cover had a dark blue (night? storm? ocean?) background, and a woman leaning back against a man; she is in a pale dress, and they are the dominant image on the cover. Mass-market paperback, not a doorstop. Maybe 150 or so pages?
This has been driving me insane for probably a decade; and before that, it drove me insane because the book was clearly part of a series but “asking the internet about books” wasn’t a thing in the ’90s so I didn’t have an easy way of looking up the author to find the rest of the series, which I wanted to read. ::shakes fist:: Now it’s probably all out of print, but maybe I can at least get some closure?
Does anyone know this book?
I know this!! I read these books as well. These books are a triology from Jean Ferris: Into the wind, Song of the sea, and Weather the storm. As a teenager I loved the story between Rosie and Raider
YES! That’s it! I had a friend who recently was able to point me in the right direction as well. THANKS this has been bothering me for years.
~Alexa
There is nothing more satisfying as a quickly solved HaBO. It keeps me from buying all of the intriguing book guesses. Good job dorazzle!
Oh man, I knew it immediately from the subject line! These books were like my Twilight back in middle/high school, no joke. XD I keep wanting to reread them, just to see how they hold up. There are a number of details I still remember that I really appreciate as an adult (like the way the heroine becomes friends with what is ostensibly her romantic rival), but I also know that there were a number of things that made me throw some side-eye at the book(s), even as a teenager.
Hope you can find some copies, Alexa (or at least find the closure you were looking for)! 😉
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Song-Sea-Part-American-Dreams/dp/0595362842/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510116476&sr=1-8&keywords=song+of+the+sea
Raise your hand if you saw the juxtaposition of “Rosie” and “Embroidery” and thought irrelevantly of Rosey Grier.
Nah, Rosey Grier did needlepoint.