This HaBO is from Erin, who is hoping to find this historical romance that blends erotica and suspense:
Hoping you Smart Bitches can help me find this book I’ve been Googling in vain.
Here’s what I remember:
Historical romance/thriller. I think it takes place in Victorian London or thereabouts, and there’s a serial killer the hero and heroine are trying to catch. The serial killer almost gets her at one point. I think the man is rich and she’s poor with an eccentric family or found family? Heroine might be a thief or maybe a servant? Lots of sex scenes, including one involving a bowl of cherries. I remember the cover involving a lot of black and red, and maybe the word Night is in the title?
Any help would be appreciated!
Very interested to hear about these cherries.
Any idea when it could have been published, or when you read it?
Could it be Joanna Bourne’s Beauty Like the Night? I haven’t read it but the kindle cover is red and black. Here is the blurb.
Product Description
In the newest Spymaster novel, “master of romance and suspense”* Joanna Bourne offers a stirring tale of intrigue, espionage, and attraction.
Séverine de Cabrillac, orphan of the French revolution and sometime British intelligence agent, has tried to leave spying behind her. Now she devotes herself to investigating crimes in London and finding justice for the wrongly accused.
Raoul Deverney, an enigmatic half-Spaniard with enough secrets to earn even a spy’s respect, is at her door demanding help. She’s the only one who can find the killer of his long-estranged wife and rescue her missing twelve-year-old daughter.
Séverine reluctantly agrees to aid him, even though she knows the growing attraction between them makes it more than unwise. Their desperate search for the girl unleashes treason and murder. . . and offers a last chance for two strong, wounded people to find love.
The cover doesn’t ring a bell, but the set-up sounds like Amanda Quick.
This sounds like a mash-up of a couple of different* Thea Devine books. Erin – if there’s crazysauce beyond belief, Thea may be your gal.
*She’s got historical erotic romances books set in London; there are a few titles with cherries on the cover (guess what happens in those books…); there’s some where there’s a huge difference in the wealthy/no money department. There’s also at least one with “Night” in the title, but I don’t think that’s it. And sometimes, they take these really insane leaps into the supernatural/horror lane.
Keep in mind that the covers that you see on line may have changed at some point. Good luck; hope this helps (or rules out a possibility).
@Ellie. Not the Bourne. No serial killer, and post-Napoleon sitting. Also no cherries. But read the book. You won’t be sorry.
I am re-reading Otherwise Engaged by Amanda Quick. The heroine is abducted but escapes a serial killer. She and the hero try to catch him. The hero is an engineer but does some spying on the side.
Was it either Lady Killer or Secret Admirer by Michele Jaffe? This was a two-in-one book from early 2000s. It has a sex scene with cherries and the cover of the books(s) has a lady in a red cloak with largely black/white/grey background. Lady Killer involves a serial killer called the Vampire of London and Secret Admirer also involves a murder investigation.
I have no idea but a bowl of cherries would be interesting!
Total shot in the dark – Not So Innocent by Laura Lee Guhrke? The Victorian London and “found family” thing fits but I don’t recall a bowl of cherries and the sex scenes were on par with a regular ol’ historical romance (not erotic romance). Also, the heroine is psychic…
I have a problem with the concept of a bowl of cherries as a prop for erotica. I get the symbolism, but wouldn’t fresh cherries be kinda hazardous? I mean what if you’re breathing heavy in the midst of a passionate moment and you aspirate the pit? Also, how do you spit it out gracefully during those intimate encounters. As for various types of pitted cherries, the aesthetics are all wrong–especially for those red dye enhanced maraschinos. Just sayin’