This HaBO request is from Lynn, who is looking for the historical romance below:
I’ve seen postings for this book on different websites and so far no one has been successful in finding the book.
It’s a historical romance set in England, I believe, during the 1800’s or so. It was written within the last 5-10 years.
The heroine comes to work for the hero as a housekeeper. She is pregnant when she comes to work for the hero, but doesn’t disclose her condition to the hero when she takes he job and lives there. The hero is very cold and rude to her in the beginning. Once she gives birth, the hero is cold towards the baby too.
Until in one scene, the hero is sitting on a chair/wheelchair in his library or office and the baby is crawling around on the floor and the hero does kind of grow to like the child.
The hero is scarred/disabled from either war or from a tragic accident in his past. The only other people living in his home/the grounds are those who work for him and have been with him for years. So while they know he is rude and cold, they still love him and feel compassion for him because of everything he has been through in his life.
The hero doesn’t like the heroine in the beginning but kind of grows to like her throughout the story, it’s definitely a slow burn kind of historical romance. She is more sassy and kind of outgoing where he’s introverted and cold and quiet. What really kind of makes him realize he does care for her is when he falls ill and is completely out of it and the heroine takes care of him. Another scene that stands out clearly is that the heroine actually gives the hero some of her breastmilk when he is sick.
Once he recovers some is when he is sitting with the baby crawling on the floor ( I believe a baby boy).
This is kind of twist on the Beauty and Beast concept and is a historical romance.
(It’s not A Year and a Day.)
I believe in you, Bitchery!
I don’t know the book, but I’d swear it’s the same as this HABO: She Gives Him Her Breastmilk. It lists the same scenes. It’d be worth going through the comments for ideas.
Any chance it’s The Rake by Mary Jo Putney?
@Caitlyn: absolutely not! I have The Rake on my keeper shelf, Reggie has problems with alcohol, not drugs, and is otherwise perfectly healthy, i.e. not disabled, and Lady Alys is not and never has been pregnant, she has some children as her adopted wards, and she is his estate manager, not housekeeper. I’ve never heard of this HABO, the breast milk scene would certainly stick in my mind!
Is it Queen of Lost Stars by Kathryn Le Veque?
I know I’ve read this. Could it be To beguile a beast by Elizabeth Hoyt? (she has kids but is not pregnant, hero is scarred, I think)?
@ Feonua – I thought I was crazy for a minute there! They sound almost exactly the same 🙂
It’s not To Beguile a Beast BTW. I’ve read that one many times.
it’s definitly the same book as the previous habo asked by Kate. Maybe she found it?
I want to know !
So I responded to Kate’s HaBO-because I did read that book, but I can’t remember the name. This is just weird, to see this one. Especially because it is such a hard book to find anything about! Then to see Lynn looking for what seems to be the same book? At least 3 of the SBTB readers have read it!
I swear this is driving me nuts!!
This recurring HABO is becoming strangely fascinating. And I am reminded of questions I generally have about HABO requests which are often not answered in the original query: was it read as an e-book? did you spend actual money on it? were you so enamoured by it that you immediately read something else by the same author? It’s possible the answers might help trigger something as the description alone isn’t doing it.