This HaBO request is from Emi, who is hoping to find this historical romance:
I’m looking for this historical romance (probably Regency) that I read years and years ago, but of course I don’t remember the title or author or year of publication or anything.
Here’s what I do remember: I read it ~10 years ago and it was NOT new then. I think part of the cover was red, maybe? It was definitely historical romance set in England, probably Regency.
Main characters were an older woman (a widow, I think? in her 40s, maybe?) and a younger man (like, 20s? 30s?), and I’m 99% sure the male MC was named Peregrine (she calls him Perry).
The plot went like this: the widow (?) was set to very sensibly marry a nice but boring man her own age (maybe older?), then goes to stay at his estate, where she meets his son (this is Peregrine), who’s very young and blond and sunshiny and full of joy, etc., and then they fall in love.
I remember an important scene taking place on top of a large hill, where the hero takes the heroine up to look at the whole estate and gets very emotional about caring for the land and his tenants. The primary emotional conflict was about their age difference I think, with her worrying it’s inappropriate/weird/he deserves someone his age/etc and him not worrying even a little bit.
I know this is not a lot to go on but hopefully someone will know this book. Also no worries if you all have more important things to do in these difficult times!! Hope you and all your loved ones are safe and well, and remain that way.
We already asked if it was Last Night’s Scandal by Loretta Chase. That’s not it.
This is Mary Balogh’s A PROMISE OF SPRING.
On second thought, perhaps not: the age gap is correct, but the heroine is not a widow—she has, however, had a baby out of wedlock.
That sounds very much like one of Mary Balogh’s books Someone to Trust except the h’s name is Colin. The widowed heroine is 9 years older than the hero but his description is thick and wavy light hair, blue eyes, tall, slender and lithe. She does get engaged to a seemingly worthy older man and does have a very earnest discussions with the hero.
Definitely not Someone to Trust — there is nothing similar about the description and Someone to Trust other than that the heroine is older than the hero. Not only that, but Someone to Trust only came out at the end of 2018.
Huh, there’s a trad regency by Patricia Olivier called Double Deception that has kind of the opposite plot. The heroine is a widow who is determined to marry a kind, younger man named Peregrine, but when he takes her to meet his father, she falls in love with him instead.
It sounds like a Mary Balogh that I read years ago (so not one of her newer books/series). Unfortunately, I can’t remember which one. A Promise of Spring… maybe?
When I first read the blur, I thought it was Mary Jo Putney’s, Silk and Shadows. But all I remember is his name was Peregrine. The heroine, Sara, was engaged to an older man who was a traitor/criminal.
The names don’t match, but I thought of The Viscount and the Vixen, by Lorraine Heath. It’s also way too new, but this is the first time a HABO has sounded familiar to me!
Mary Jo Putney’s Silk and Shadow has a hero named Peregrine but is definitely NOT the book in question.
Wasn’t there a Jo Beverly book that would fit this? I’m drawing a blank on the name and couldn’t find it online. But there was a woman who was older, the widow of a wealthy merchant or possibly moneylender.
Of course, when I think of the name Peregrine,I think of the character in 2 of Georgette Heyer’s romances, Regency Buck and An Infamous Army, but I know neither of those is the book. Although An Infamous Army does have a widow making a play for Peregrine.
I think it’s A Promise of Spring by Mary Balogh, although the details don’t all match up.
Description from MB’s website: “In A Promise of Spring, the young vicar of Abbotsford has just been killed while rescuing a child from a charging bull, and he has left behind him a destitute sister, who was his housekeeper. The people of the village and surrounding areas rally around to help her, but Sir Peregrine Lampman, her brother’s friend, offers her marriage.
There are a few problems. For one thing, they do not love each other or, indeed, even know each other well. For another, Grace has deep, dark secrets from her past, which she does not try to hide from him though she has told no one else. And for a third, Perry is ten years younger than she—twenty-five to her thirty-five.
He persists and Grace is too grateful and too dazed by the death of her brother to say no. She assumes it is a marriage of convenience that he offers, but that is not his intention. They settle into a gentle marriage of apparent contentment until events even Grace could not have predicted bring ghosts of the past into the present and threaten the very fabric of their marriage.”
Long shot:
At Last by Jacquie D’Alessandro was a short novella in the Mammoth Book of Scottish Romance in 2011; it was also released as a standalone (green cover according to GR).
They meet and have an affair in Scotland, she’s 37 and he’s 25. She’s a widow. They use assumed names. Without looking it up in my kindle–it’s charging–I can’t remember the assumed names.
Takes him six months to find her in London. She has a 15yob. She’s a Countess, he’s an Earl. He pursues her and HEA.
It has some matching plot points.
If not A Promise of Spring, could it be one of Balogh’s novellas or short stories? There are quite a lot of these, particularly in holiday collections (the christmas and valentine’s ones often had red covers), and the older heroines are definitely typical of Balogh. I’m not sure if all of these are summarized anywhere. (Wasn’t there a regency specific site at one point? I can’t remember what it was or find it with google to save my life.)
Thinking a bit more… I think the book that I keep thinking of is Lisa Kleypas’ Suddenly You, which this isn’t. The Beverley novella mentioned above is, I think, The Demon’s Mistress (originally in the “In Praise of Younger Men” anthology), which doesn’t have a Perry, and Demon isn’t particularly cheery.
I agree with @WS, the “The Demon’s Mistress”(which I am very fond of and have reread several times) does not fit at all, except for the younger man/older woman pairing. It’s a fairly dark story, the hero is destitute and does not have a family or an estate.
It sounds a little like Jane Feather’s “An Unsuitable Bride.” From the description on goodreads:
The third novel in New York Times bestseller Jane Feather’s sexy and scintillating Blackwater Brides trilogy about the bonds of family and the lure of romance.The headstrong and beautiful Alexandra Douglas is summoned to London from the seminary for young ladies upon the death of her father, Sir Arthur Douglas. There, the family lawyer explains to her that she and her invalid sister, Sylvia, have been left penniless, disinherited, delegitimized. Her father had divorced her mother on the grounds of insanity, making the children of the marriage illegitimate, but still allowing him to remarry. On Sir Arthur’s death, his considerable wealth and estates passed to a distant relative, while his widowed second wife and stepson received handsome inheritances.
Alex is determined to get the inheritance that she and her sister are due.When she sees an advertisement for a librarian at her former family home, she applies in the guise of an impoverished middle-aged spinster with experience as a school librarian.But when The Honorable Peregrine Sullivan arrives for a weekend of hunting with Alex’s stepbrother and immediately notices that the librarian is not who she appears to be, she finds it impossible to keep her distance.With her elaborate scheme unraveling and her future in jeopardy, Alex must rely on her wits—and her new love—to make sure justice is served.
“Last Night’s Scandal” by Loretta Chase? The hero is Peregrine Dalmay
Following bc now I am invested.
The Regency-specific site I remembered was thenonesuch.com, which is defunct. However, I used the wayback machine to go through it searching for Pere and Perr, which assumes the name is right. I’ve C&P what I ran across; if you’re sure of the hero’s name, there aren’t exact matches in Regencies. Here:
Louise Bergin
A Worthy Opponent. Signet, May 2004.
Characters: Peregrine Campion & Miss Judith Shelton
Summary: Determined to marry for money to provide for her orphaned siblings, a lady sets her sights on a wealthy viscount but falls for his business partner instead.
Gayle Buck
“Old Acquaintances,” in A Regency Christmas I. Signet, November 1989.
Characters: Sir Peregrine Ashford & Miss Judith Grantham
Summary: A lady helps a runaway heiress stranded by a coaching accident and discovers that the girl’s guardian is the gentleman she once jilted.
Elizabeth Mansfield
The Accidental Romance. Charter, 1988; reissued by Jove, 1994.
Characters: Peregrine, Viscount Wittenden (earl’s heir) & Miss Lucienne Gerard
Summary: Lady is infuriated when a lord publishes an account of their carriage accident in which he terms her a shrew.
Rating: excellent
Clarice Peters
Vanessa. Harlequin #11, October 1989.
Characters: Viscount Peregren & Vanessa Whitmore
Summary: Lady gets caught up in intrigue with a man who called her an antidote when his fiancee ran off with hers.
Rosemary Stevens
Miss Pymbroke’s Rules. Fawcett, 1997.
Characters: Peregrine Rolf, Marquess of Carrisworth & Miss Verity Pymbroke
Summary: Lady inadvertently breaks one of her own rules of conduct when she rents her house to a rake.
Series: Cats of Mayfair #2
Patricia Veryan
Never Doubt I Love. St. Martin’s, 1995; reissued in paperback by Fawcett, 1996.
Characters; Lieutenant Peregrine Cranford & Miss Zoe Grainger
Summary: Lady is invited to live with sisters who are involved in a sinister plot.
Series: Tales of the Jewelled Men 5.
Rating: superb
Mary Balogh
A Promise of Spring. Signet, February 1990; reissued in hardcover & paperback by Regency Press, 2000.
Characters: Sir Perry Lampman & Miss Grace Howard
Summary: Man marries an unwed mother but their love is threatened by the child’s father.
Setting: Hampshire
Series: Related to The Gilded Web
Norma Lee Clark:
Miss Holland’s Betrothal. Signet, August 1986.
Characters: Captain William Perronet & Miss Isabella Holland
Summary: Lady makes the match of the Season but comes to despise her betrothed and is courted by a lowly but honorable captain.
Carola Dunn:
“A Kiss and a Kitten,” in Snowflake Kittens. Zebra, December 1999.
Characters: Lt. Col. Damian Perrincourt & Miss Mariana Duckworth
Summary: Injured war hero meets a lady through the antics of an impish kitten.
Valerie King:
A Rogue’s Embrace. Zebra, September 2002.
Characters: Marquess of Perryn & Miss Fenella Trentham
Summary: While on a two-week charity caravan, a lady is forced to team up with the dashing scoundrel who kissed her five years ago.
Joan Overfield
The Dutiful Duke. Avon, 1994.
Characters: Wyatt Perryvale & Miss Thomasina Pringle
Summry: When a lady confronts a duke at gunpoint and insists he take responsibility for his brother’s byblow, he agrees and hires her as governess.
I agree with Jill Q. The description immediately reminded me of Double Deception by Patricia Oliver (1997). I pulled out my copy last night, and then stayed up until midnight and re-read the whole thing because DUH, of course I did. Despite the flipped plot, there were some notable similarities:
– Heroine is Athena, widowed, 29 years old, with a young daughter.
– She gets engaged to Peregrine, called Perry, who is blond, blue-eyed and 19 years old. He has a crush on Athena, and she agrees to marry him in order to provide a safe, secure home and future for her young daughter. In the text, she thinks of him as a child, boy, and puppy. She is conflicted because he is so much younger than she. He is completely unconcerned about the age difference.
– They travel to his father’s estate to get his approval. Perry’s father, Sylvester is 42 and openly doesn’t approve. He thinks she is a fortune hunter. There is a scene where Athena and Sylvester ride together to the top of a hill, and see a view of the estate. Sylvester thinks about how awestruck he is that the land has harbored his family for so many generations. Then he asks if she is thinking how great it would be to be mistress of this land someday. She is affronted and says how could anyone consider themselves mistress/master of anything so grand and enduring as this beautiful land? He stays silent but is impressed by her answer.
– Cover is of Athena and Sylvester in a boat on a lake. There is some red/red-brown on it. He wears a red coat. She has red hair and sits against a cushion that is reddish brown. It’s also a Signet Regency with the red striped author/title block at the top.
A major plot point is that Sylvester hires a young, beautiful actress to portray a family friend and lure Perry away from Athena. Sylvester starts to feel bad about it because it works so well and humiliates Athena. If this doesn’t ring a bell at all, then it’s probably not the book.
Thanks for giving me an excuse to re-read Patricia Oliver, and good luck!