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 JJ, who is trying to track down this historical romance:
I’m trying to remember the name of a historical romance or mystery that I’ve read in the past few years. The heroine is skilled at embroidery, but she does gruesome patterns, like a fox eating a chicken. The book is funny and characters are funny (like Lynne Messina or Deanna Raybourn) and there several interactions with family/friends commenting on her unusual embroidery themes. She may or may not be a governess, companion, or impoverished relative.
It’s not the Tessa Dare Stud Club series, nor is it the Elizabeth Hoyt Greycourt series.
I am very interested in this heroine!
Wicked and the Wallflower
by Sarah MacLean
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Oh! I’ve read this one….I’ll take a look and see if I can find it!
I have no idea, but it sounds terrific!
I feel sure this is a Julie Anne Long. Maybe How the Marquess Was Won with Pheobe Vale and Lord Ice (Julian).
This sounds so familiar! Feel like I’ve read it. Looking through my goodreads shelf to see if I can remember more.
A similar theme comes up in Jennifer Crusie’s Faking It, where the heroine’s mother does embroidery of animals with sharp teeth, but that’s a contemporary.
I’ve definitely read this multiple times – I feel like it’s Grace Burrowes – one of the Windham ladies, Eve or Jenny maybe?
Whoever wrote the book should put out a set of embroidery patterns.
Olivia Eversea from the Pennyroyal Green series. The embroidery thing doesn’t really come up much in her own book, as far as I recall.
I too thought of Faking It by Jennifer Crusie
I think this is “Not the Duke’s Darling” by Elizabeth Hoyt. There’s a scene where Freya is embroidering a merlin eating the heart of a sparrow and she does other pieces too, if I remember right.
On a similar theme, the mystery “Bravo for the Bride” by Elizabeth Eyre has a character embroidering a tapestry of the flaying of Marsyas.
I think this is one of the Blackshear family books — the one with the brother who is a lawyer??? Cecilia Grant A Woman Entangled…but I don’t have time to page thru right now to check 🙁
Who knew that macabre embroidery was so popular?!
Here’s a Pinterest link ~ https://www.pinterest.com/sassy_cici/macabre-embroidery/
I too have read this book or one like it. Women using the tools available to them to express their rage – I’m here for it!
Did this involve some of the embroidery being thrown into a fire? Because I vaguely remember that accompanying a book with macabre embroidery.
…Not that this tells me which book it is, but still.
@WS the embroidery being thrown in a fire is at the start of A Lady’s Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran. The heroine has made an elaborate scene with her guardians and the hero, etc., basically being evil assholes (which they are). One of the few amnesia books I really love!
A Lady’s Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran has this theme, I think. She did some embroidery of the hero as the devil, which was thrown into the fire (and pulled out by the hero).
Aha! I’m thinking of A Lady’s Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran, where indeed some embroidery serving as vicious political commentary is thrown into a fire. Probably not the humorous book the poster is seeking.
(And I see people answered while I was off searching my ebook collection. Oh, well…)
@kareni I was thinking the same thing! I was about to ask if anyone else was amazed at the sheer number of books people have come up with that include this theme! It’s not something I would have suspected. Now I’m really intrigued.
@Julie,That makes sense, women using what they had available.
I don’t know what mental association had me connecting the rabbit embroidery with that third Cecelia Grant book but I had time to do some searching & the tone isn’t right. I remember the scene & heroine of this HABO so clearly — she amuses herself embroidering a gory scene of rabbits or chickens getting attacked, & during some kind of confrontation in a parlor the hero is distracted by her needlepoint & comments on it, stopping midsentence & saying something like “Is that blood?!” Ugh.
That is the scene I remember too! There is a Caroline Linden book I am going to try to check.
@Charity I remember this exact scene too but can’t remember what book!
It’s “Wicked and the Wallflower” by Sarah MacLean! When the heroine is asked about it she says, “I was angry when I started it.”
Yes! Here it is, from Wicked and the Wallflower.
His gaze lowered to the embroidery hoop she continued to clutch in her hand. He tilted his head. “Is that a fox?” She lifted the project, looking down at it, surprised. She’d forgotten what she’d been doing before he’d arrived here and everything had gone to pot. “It is.” “With a hen?” It was, indeed. The orange and white animal held a silky brown chicken in its mouth. “Yes.” “Good Lord.” She looked up to him. “I’m quite good at needlepoint.” “So I see.” He stepped forward, not lifting his gaze. “The blood is rather . . .” She considered the hoop, then offered, “Gruesome?” He nodded. “Gruesome.” “I was angry when I started it.”
Excellent, thanks Kate and Melissa! That’s where I remember this from I’m sure. Sarah MacLean – that explains why everyone has read it, and also the rage. I should have thought of that! <3
YES! It’s Wicked and the Wallflower. Thank you so much. I’ve been trying to remember for weeks. I was starting to think I was making it up. Next time I won’t wait so long before asking.
Another HABO solved! Kudos all around!