This HaBO request is from Kate, who is looking for this historical romance:
I am looking for a book written within the last 5-10 years. It is a historical romance set in England. The hero is scarred/disabled and lives in a castle/mansion, is not married, and has a small group of employees who live with him. Older employees, like a cook, stable hand, etc. All his employees know that he is rude and angry, but they love him anyway because they have worked for him and his family for years and know how he is a generous and loyal man. But because of what’s happened to him, he’s become angry. He was in a war and became disabled and scarred physically and mentally from that.
The heroine comes to stay at his home and work for him as a housekeeper. I do not know if she already has children when she moves in, but I do not think that she does. She is pregnant however when she comes to work for him; that’s why she stays to work for him even though he is rude to her. She does not tell the hero she is pregnant when she starts working there, but the old female who is a cook/housekeeper there at the home figures it out and tries to help the heroine.
Finally the heroine does give birth, to a son I believe. Either before the baby is born or afterwards, the hero falls ill. I don’t know if he gets hurt or if he falls ill from sickness, but the heroine nurses him back to health. In one scene, she gives him her breastmilk. (The hero later finds his out, I believe).
In another scene, the hero has started to recover some and is sitting in his office/library. And the baby is there playing on the carpet and I think it starts to walk in front of the hero. The hero was cold towards the baby to begin with, but he does grow to like the child. Just like the heroine, the hero does not like her to begin with but he does grow to respect her and like her. She is a lot younger than the hero as well.
The closest I have come to finding this book is To Beguile a Beast. However, after talking with another read who remembers the same book as me, we’ve discussed it and neither believes that the book we are looking for is that one.
I think we’ve had a similar HaBO before. Or maybe they’re all running together at this point: secretly pregnant heroine, scarred and grumpy hero, breastmilk.
We’ve had this request twice in the past year, so here’s a head start on what the requesters say are NOT the book from the last 2 attempts:
To Beguile a Beast, A Year and Day, Silver Flame, Harper’s Bride, Dreaming of You, Passion or Wicked Intentions.
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2018/12/habo-housekeeper-heroine-hides-her-pregnancy/
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2018/09/habo-she-gives-him-her-breastmilk/
Hopefully third time’s a charm!
We’ve definitely had this HABO before and, iirc, it was not solved, although—surprisingly—there were several books suggested that included adult breastfeeding scenes.
not a similar habo, but exactly the same
https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2018/09/habo-she-gives-him-her-breastmilk/
But now I’m curious is if whether all the HaBOs are the same book, or just different ones that are very similar in terms of details.
HABOs never cease to surprise me. No matter how specific, esoteric, unusual, amazing, or crazy sauce the description, there’s almost always more than one book out there that contains the same (or similar) characters/themes/premises/scenes. Does anyone but an old timer like me remember the game show “Name That Tune”? (If you haven’t, YouTube is your friend.) Contestants would be given a limited amount of information about a song and then had to name it within a specified number of notes. I imagine a similar Romancelandia game show: given the names of the characters…how many tropes/scenes/settings do you need before you can name the book?
I hope someone can finally figure out this book because there are several people in a Goodreads thread trying to find it. I am the one who suggested Kate try SBTB HaBO. I thought for sure someone on here would know the book. I told her that SBTB HaBOs have a excellent success rate and I thought for sure the book could be solved on here. 🙂
Probably not the book, but The Red by Tiffany Reisz involves an adult breast-feeding scene.
Could this be a night in Eden by Candice proctor or queen of lost stars by Kathryn le veque? But feature a hero that is saved by breast feeding.
I am totally on board for a game of Name that Book, preferably involving adult beverages. We could call it Game of Tropes.
I love that this trope has been so prevalent in the genre that I can think of several times this comes up as a plot point but nothing that fully matches the story.
@Jennifer: It’s been a while since I read Night in Eden, but I don’t remember a breast feeding scene. Assuming I’m remembering the right Proctor book. Isn’t that the one where she was transported to Australia, had a baby who died, and then the hero hired her as a wet nurse? (FYI Proctor = CS Harris)
I believe this is the same HABO from Kate in September of 2018-not sure if these cycle through again if they aren’t solved. @Amanda-I do feel like that Lynne’s HABO was for the same book.
I have read this book, and it continues to drive me crazy that I can’t remember the title or author. I know I read it as a physical book, and I thought I owned it, but a sort through my bookshelves didn’t come up with an answer. I do have tons of books in boxes in my shed, it could be in there. I really hope someone finds the answer to this, because I can see myself spending my summer going through every book box. My husband calls it my “dog with a bone” syndrome, where I just can’t let things go.
It also mystifies me that google doesn’t help-it was the first and last time I’ve read about the breastfeeding injured people-so it seems like it would stand out!
Does she actually breastfeed him or just use her breastmilk as an ingredient? I don’t have a suggestion but I’m curious about this detail.
In the book I read, he actually nurses from her-sounds strange but in the context of the book, it worked. It wasn’t sexual at all, he was gravely ill or injured-basically on death’s door. As I commented on a previous HABO, I think what stuck with me is wondering how effective that would be, breast milk filled with vitamins and minerals, easy on the stomach-for injured adults.
I was the original poster of this question but looks like someone copied me! I’ve posted this book on several sites looking for the title so I suppose others are as well! I am really hoping this time it finally gets found. Unfortunately, it is not The Red, Queen of Lost Stars or Night in Eden. I am not sure if she actually feeds him her breast milk directly or gets it into a glass and feeds him it that way. I remember him being delirious though and not knowing about the milk until after he is healing up and she tells him then.
It seems like it ought to be one of the “Survivors Club” series by Mary Balogh. I don’t think it is, but it ought to be, dammit!
I honestly don’t remember this book that well. But- Simply Love by Mary Balogh? He suffered pretty catastrophic injury in the war. (Sorry, so many can blend together). I’m pretty sure he is terribly scarred and lost an arm or hand. He’s the steward for one of the Duke of Bedwyn’s estates. He’s the brother of one of the Bedwyn or Bedwyn-adjacent spouses. They all love him dearly and could care less about the grumpy, taciturn thing.
She is a teacher who is hiding out in a private school b/c she has a son who is the product of rape. I think her family disowned her. Someone invites her and her son for a holiday. For some reason, I think it was the rapists family? He is long dead and they acknowledge his awfulness. If I recall, they were nice enough.
She may have gotten pregnant. I don’t think he and the boy got off to a good start. That’s it. That’s about all I can recall. It was a pretty angsty book. However, it was Bedwyn related and I love me some Bedwyn’s.
Not at all the book, but Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck was the first I read of this. It was an in person feeding. When I complained the book didn’t have a proper ending, my English teacher told me it had “character completion “. I’m still bitter. Must be why I prefer romance to literature.
Adding a brief note for anyone who thinks this book has some catnip, here.
The book has a gross side story where the heroine has to face her asshole family who blamed her for her rape. That is why my recall is in pretty broad strokes. I never re-read it. It’s the wrong kind of angsty.
It Started With a Scandal by Julie Anne Long? Could it be this one?
CATNIP! this is my catnip! the best catnip ever, grumpy boss falls for younger employee.
Subscribing here in the hopes of an answer.
I wouldn’t mind it if unsolved HaBOs would be recycled every now and then, in case someone new knows the answer.
@Carol — Definitely Survivor’s Club nor Simply Love. (I’ve read them, most of them more than one time, and I’m sure haven’t read the book in this HABO.) It doesn’t actually sound to me like a Balogh scenario — the breastmilk scene, I mean — but I haven’t read every Balogh book there is, so I can’t say for certain.
Somewhat o/t, but Ive been wracking my brain trying to remember—there’s a short story by Guy de Maupassant called “Idylle” where a woman (with engorged breasts and no baby in sight) breastfeeds a man on a train. I tried to google it, but almost every related link was to breastfeeding fetish porn. Anyway, the story is rarely anthologized, presumably because of the subject matter. Its tone isn’t really sexual, but I’m not sure what else one could make of it.
It sounds SO FAMILIAR ! I want to know.
I’m a Balogh fan and can say there’s no book of hers that would fit this.
Remain super curious though!
I know I’ve read this. Thinking…
@ DiscoDollyDeb, It’s probably no surprise that when Guy de Maupassant’s short stories were translated and published in the early 20th cent. as the complete short stories this story was left out! However my husband particularly likes short stories for his commute and it turns out the collection he has from amazon: Guy de Maupassant: The Complete Short Stories (The Greatest Writers of All Time Book 44) purchased for .99 includes a translated version.
@Claudia-I agree-I think I’ve read all of Balogh’s books, and I don’t feel it is one of hers. If I remember correctly, and I could be totally wrong-I feel like this was a book set in medieval times. Shoot-I’m probably going to be spending the summer in my shed going through books, unless some SBTB person saves me from that fate. The worst part? I’m a huge library patron, so I might never find it!
I’m like a dog with a bone on this, and have looked at so many lists/shelves, and the only thing I’ve found not yet mentioned is “The Improper Bride” by Lily Maxton, but no mention of breastfeeding or a kid in any of the reviews. Will keep looking!
Elizabeth Hoyt? She has a lot of wounded warrior stories, like To Beguile A Beast?
@ DiscoDollyDeb Apparently, they made Idyll into a short starring Dougray Scott. It is on YOUtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xSP9RUoiX0
@ DiscoDollyDeb They made Idyll into a short starring Dougray Scott. It is on YOUtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xSP9RUoiX0
Is it Entreat Me by Grace Draven?