This HaBO is from Kate, who wants to find this category romance:
I have a HABO request. I am hesitating to submit it because my memory is crap and the details are thin, but I love the HABO column and every time someone finds their book, I dream longingly of finding mine as well. So…here’s go.
This is a book I borrowed from my grandma, sometime in the mid to late 90s. It was definitely before the chick lit boom began. My grandma pretty much exclusively bought mass market paperbacks from the grocery store so it would’ve been a not terribly obscure book. It was full length – not category – she never bought those.
The parts of the story I can recall is about a woman who has to return home for a wedding and maybe also a reunion. The romance is between her and a guy from her hometown. I think they had a former relationship, but also maybe not!??! So far, so generic. I know. The one detail I specifically remember was that the bridesmaid dresses were awful and made the girls look like Little Bo Peep. I think that was the exact description used.
I can’t even remember what I loved about this book. All I know is that I did and when I went back to my grandma’s to find it and read it again, she had thrown it away. She regularly trashed books that she’d read and didn’t enjoy enough to make them keepers. I was then and to this day still remain HORRIFIED by this information. My Grandma was not impressed by my impassioned protest that this was a horrible way to treat books. She was kinda famous for giving no fucks. I loved my grandma.
My own Googling attempts have been dead ends. The only thing I learned was that Little Bo Peep themed weddings are definitely a thing.
And that’s all I got.
I really hope we can reunite Kate with this one!
It’s not Kate’s book ~ The only book I can think of with a number of shepherdesses is Jo Goodman’s One Forbidden Evening.
Could it possibly be Now and Forever, by Claudia Crawford?
https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Now_and_Forever/2EMjcKL2THAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Little+Bo+Peep+bridesmaid&dq=Little+Bo+Peep+bridesmaid&printsec=frontcover
Not a clue, but I think that is a dreadful thing to do to bridesmaids. I take it this is a contemporary novel and not a historical?
Perhaps Donna Andrews? Murder with Peacocks, 3 weddings plus a romance.
Now and Forever is on Kindle Unlimited so I borrowed it and searched for Bo Peep. There was this passage:
“I know. It was okay when he ditched the three of us, but now? The nerve of her, expecting us to be bridesmaids!”
“Attendants.” Amy, being literal. “Her note says ‘attendants.’ ”
“So, okay, attendants.” Mona made the word sound obscene. “Bridesmaids, whatever you want to call it. We’re still too old for that. What’s she planning to do, dress us up like Little Bo Peep carrying baskets of rosebuds? Forget it, Charlie.”
Hope this helps, Kate!
Somewhat o/t, but back in the 1970s & 1980s, when most of my generation was getting married, there was a rule of thumb that I always found to be true: the ugliness of the bridesmaids’ dresses was inversely-proportionate to the duration of the marriage: the uglier the dress, the shorter the marriage. There were some really ugly bridesmaids’ dresses back then—and some commensurately short marriages!
As a two time Bo-Peep bridesmaid, with the pictures to prove it, I wish the poster luck, but I won’t be checking out the book. The flashbacks, Bitchery. The horrible, horrible flashbacks.
There seemed to have been a lot of ugly bridesmaid dresses and they always seemed to have a bow on the butt.
The butt bow! I worried that they presaged a return to bustles.
Thank you everyone for all your comments! Sadly…I don’t think it’s Now and Forever. But I bought the Kindle edition and am going to read it and see if it rings any bells.
I also used the Google book search (which I didn’t know existed! – thank you Sarah for the link that led me there!) and after trying ALL the word combos – I finally stumbled up on Fern Michaels YESTERDAY. It has a reference to bridesmaid dresses with hoops and crinoline – but no Little Bo Peep. It is possible my brain made that bit up, so maybe this is the book!?!
Anyway, I will read both and report back and also maybe search Google books until my eyes fall out of my head. Sadly, this is my idea of fun.
Thank you all again!
Not a book suggestion – but on the ugly bridesmaid dresses front, my first Saturday job was as a Bell ringer for weddings (I’m in the uk, it’s a thing) so I would get to see a lot of weddings and it was truly astonishing how often the brides would go for something really, really ugly for their bridesmaids – presumably to make sure there was no chance of them being outshone.
My particular highlights:
Snot coloured satin column slip dresses – the colour suited no one, the satin clung to everyone, and the style didn’t work on the body types of two thirds of the maids.
Dark purple. I can’t even remember what the style was, just the dark, dark purple, nearly black. The wedding was not Goth.
About distinctly dubious bridesmaid’s dresses [definitely including the butt bow!], I highly recommend “The Bridesmaid Dress Song” by Deirdre Flint from her album “The Shuffleboard Queens.” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BMPVY6/ lyrics: https://www.stlyrics.com/songs/d/deirdreflint1112/thebridesmaiddresssong50672.html