This Rec League came from Haley Berry from our very own comments section:
This reminds me, I recently connected some dots and have been meaning to request a #recleague. My favorite part of The Hating Game is when he takes care of her when she’s sick. He takes charge and she just gets to be sick and adorable. And I realized that a lot of the parts I rewind in movies and TV as my romantic favorites are when the “strong woman” gets to fall apart or be sick or get rescued or whatever, and the dude just handles it like a pro. Like in the Mercy Thompson books, where Mercy finally faces into her trauma and Adam supports her in every way, to make the space for her to do that.
I’m all for the moments when strong female characters hold their own, but I also really like the moments where they can just let go and not have to be the decision maker and caretaker and million other things generally expected of women in our society. Most recent example is in the excellent Toni Collette series Pieces of Her, Ep. 4, at 33:20. HOT. I need MOAR moments like these, in any genre. “I’ve got you.”
Sneezy: Oh!!! A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane fits, if fantasy is okay.
Sarah: Devil in Winter ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) might fit. I know there’s some illness/care but it has been so long I don’t remember the details.
Julie Garwood – The Bride ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) should fit right, Amanda?
Amanda: I don’t remember! It’s been so long.
Sarah: Also – the Kresley Cole one with Kaederin the Cold Hearted…no that’s when she is (spoiler) dead and he has to bring her back, No Rest for the Wicked. ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd )
Oh! The Chocolate Temptation by Laura Florand. ( A | BN | K | AB )
One more. Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis ( A | BN | K | AB ) but that’s ongoing care not one illness.
And Toni Blake’s Whisper Falls. ( A | BN | K | AB ) The heroine has Crohn’s and has a flare up during the story
Which books would you recommend? Let us know!
Didn’t enjoy the book in general but “People We Meet On Vacation” by Emily Henry has a scene like this and it was handled well imo.
#IHateDoingThisSoMuchBut
Two of my contemporaries (as Ren Benton) might fit the bill. (All sellers, library available, link to book info page in my name above.) In Ten Thousand Hours, the heroine is getting slammed with family stuff and then her boss also deals her a blow. She explicitly tells the “fling” who’s bringing some fun into her life that she’s tired of being strong and just wants to wallow in overwhelm for a change, and the hero gives her a place to not have everything together for a few hours. In Silent Song, the heroine has to get through the anniversary of her twin brother’s murder (warning for tons of grief and other heavy stuff noted at the link), and the hero gives her a hideout and plays guard dog to keep stressful people away from her until the clock runs out on the worst day of every year.
In Loretta Chase’s MR. IMPOSSIBLE, there’s a scene where Rupert takes care of Daphne while she’s having severe period cramps, which I think fits the bill. (I don’t know if this is a CW exactly, but the racial politics/Orientalism in the Egypt setting are a little Early 2000s, so YMMV.)
Both Act Like It and Battle Royal by Lucy Parker have caretaking scenes where the hero cares for the heroine while she’s ill. Act Like It is more memorable for character development I think, although I don’t know if Richard really does much of the physical caretaking (her mom is also there). He hovers concernedly very well though and we see his depth of care for Lainie.
There are so many unrealistic things I accept in romances without blinking, but the way that common illnesses are portrayed is not one of them. At least in my experience, general ickiness extends far past the acute illness and I’m always grossed out when sexy times occur as soon as the characters are feeling slightly better. What about the toxic snot?!
That said, Twist by Kylie Scott has some care taking scenes.
The Kate Daniels Series also has a lot of scenes where Curran takes care of Kate as she recovers from some wound and in general gets used to the idea of having someone to back her up.
This immediately made me think of Loretta Chase’s Dukes Prefer Blondes, in which the heroine Clara gets typhus and the hero Oliver is the only person around who has already had it and therefore isn’t in danger so he nurses her through it.
(This one also has an interesting reversal of roles in that Clara is the titled daughter of an earl, while Oliver is a lawyer of modest income and she has to really fight to make him believe she’s truly willing to give up the pampered life and social scene she’s always known.)
Also in Cat Sebastian’s Two Rogues Make A Right (an m/m historical), one of the heroes has chronic tuberculosis and a majority of the book is the other hero taking care of him.
Coincidentally, I’m reading a book right now—Skye Warren’s ONE FOR THE MONEY—where the entire story centers on the need to balance giving care and being cared for. The hero and the heroine are, for different reasons, the “caretakers” in their family; neither one of them feels that they can let down their guard and relax for a moment. When they get closer to each other (via the ever-popular fake relationship), each takes a turn being cared for by the other. It’s interesting that both MCs can see the dysfunctional dynamics in the other one’s family but, before getting involved, had never applied the same criteria to their own situation. One of them notes, “Both of us tend to our families like they’re terrariums, ecosystems that only exist because we’re keeping them together.” As usual, Warren’s work is on the darker side and ONE FOR THE MONEY is interconnected with a lot of other books in the Midnight Dynasty universe, so it won’t be to all tastes, but it was interesting to see what happens when a caretaker is finally able to set down their burdens and be taken care of for a change.
If including mm romance, Cat Sebastian’s Two Rogues Make a Right is a good one for this. One of my favorite books!
I feel like Courtney Milan, Lisa Kleypas, and Sarah MacLean all have at least one book with this trope but my brain isn’t working yet this morning. Kleypas definitely has several with the reverse set-up, heroine carrying for the injured hero.
A momentary marriage by Candace Camp fits I think. She nurses/figures out his “fatal” illness. A historical romances with all my favorite tropes, competent/intelligent heroine; marriage of convenience; light mystery; satisfying groveling by hero!
My brain immediately went to Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail for some reason.
But adding to the Lucy Parker rec above, Headliners also had a scene where she had period cramps and he goes out and gets her supplies.
Oh – I also thought of Grace Burrowes’ Windham Brothers books. I just LOVE all the men in those books (haven’t read enough of her others yet to know if it’s a consistent thing for her?) because the three brothers and their friends are all VERY caring, for the heroines but also for each other. They can still be a little oblivious, especially about love, but they’re very THERE for each other, they talk about feelings and grief, and they’re comfortable with hugs and physical affection and comfort even with other men.
Some of these men are war veterans, they’ve all lost people they were close to, and the way they openly care for each other is just really nice to see, when so many Regency heroes have piles of trauma and anger and are so repressed and brooding about it. It’s usually the *heroines* in these who have past trauma or dark secrets and are very wary of opening up or accepting help and love, and the heroes have to really work to earn their trust.
More specifically related to the topic – the first book, The Heir, has the hero suffering with chicken pox (somewhat serious in adults) and being nursed by both the heroine and an old friend. Later the heroine is injured and he cares for her, though there’s also some character development as he has to deal with how much he WANTS to take over and completely take care of her vs stepping back and letting her work through things on her own.
The hero of the second book, The Soldier, is a war vet with PTSD, who ends up in caring for an orphaned child (and the woman who cares for her), and the third book, The Virtuoso, has a gifted pianist who is in danger of losing his ability due to injury and a widow with a dark past and there’s a lot of mutual care-taking between the hero and heroine in those as well, along with the way the brothers and their friends consistently show up to support each other.
Sorry this is long! I recently discovered these books & just really loved them. While there’s a good bit of past trauma and angst, there’s such a warm and caring vibe among the characters and I really love that. I haven’t read much more of Grace Burrowes’ work yet but really looking forward to it.
In Lisa Kleypas’s Secrets of a Summer Night, Simon takes care of Annabelle after she is bitten by a snake.
In Sarah MacLean’s The Rogue Not Taken the hero takes care of the heroine after she’s shot.
One of my all time favorite romances is Jennifer Ashley’s The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie. It’s an older book (2011), so perhaps it’s less of a spoiler concern to reveal that Ian nurses beloved Beth back from the brink after a grievous wound. The devotion and tenderness of his care are what comfort reads are made of.
Driven to Distraction by Olivia Dade – female lead comes from a huge family and has essentially raised her younger siblings, and even in their 20s-30s, they are still relying on her to fix every single crisis, so she is run ragged trying to meet their constant demands. Male lead helps make her life easier, and it’s the first time anyone has reversed the role on her and taken care of her. She also gets sick with pneumonia at one point, and when she recovers, he gets a bad case of the flu/food poisoning. So they take care of each other through those illnesses. (CW: female character is very firmly childfree and male character initially thinks he can just persuade her to change her mind or that she isn’t serious about it)
Rescuing Mary by Susan Stoker. The heroine has breast cancer – again! – and the amount of support given by the hero is epic. She’s a bitch (reasons) & he’s bossy (more reasons), providing lots of conflict. Then there’s an accident & the tables turn….
The author says that a reader might benefit from reading Rescuing Rayne first, to see where this relationship starts, but I don’t think it’s 100% necessary.
@squee_me Sarah Maclean’s The Rogue Not Taken has a great one IIRC!
The Devil and the Heiress by Harper St. George also uses this to great affect.
If you like webcomics, I’ve noted that a lot of the contemporary romance Korean webtoons/ manhwa comics loooove this trope.
Ref: Laramie above, all of Grace Burrowes’ books feature very caring heroes who take care of the women in their lives, whether it’s a major illness/injury/trauma or just period cramps. Just finished reading DOUGLAS by Burrowes and the hero not only helps the traumatized heroine work through her issues gradually but also when her five-year-old daughter gets sick sits up with the child and helps care for her so the heroine can get some rest. (CW for DAVID, though, in which the hero helps a sex worker survive a botched abortion. There are also a couple of her books, I think ANDREW is one, that involve difficult and dangerous pregnancies/deliveries.)
Losing It by Cora Carmack has a great sickbed scene. This is M/F college professor and student so be ye wary if that squicks you out. It overall reads very much early 2010’s new adult but for some reason that book Worked. For. Me.
Chiming in with agreement for the Lucy Parker recs, she has a real talent for supportive heroes. In Headliners, the hero comes running in with period supplies, chocolate, and a mystery novel, and the heroine’s first thought is “Definitely the love of my life”.
In Sweethand by N.G. Peltier, the hero shows up with soup at the heroine’s house when she has the flu. Since their relationship up until that point had been (with the exception of sex) fairly snappish and antagonistic, it was both a big gesture on his part, and one on hers to accept that he was doing something kind.
@Lena Brassard/Ren Benton: I so enjoyed TEN THOUSAND HOURS. My Amazon review read thusly:
TEN THOUSAND HOURS is the romance I didn’t know I’d been waiting for. Ren Benton has crafted real, vulnerable, wounded characters with heart and humor. Their journey is so honest–it was hard to breathe at times–yet written with such wit and word play that only highlighting every line would suffice to show my delight. Brava. And more, please.
I just remembered that Ainsley Booth’s HATE F*#K (which was highlighted in the Books on Sale post yesterday and is still free in the Kindle Store today) has a scene where the hero (a gruff and taciturn bodyguard) takes care of the heroine when she’s on her period—starting with bringing her ice cream.
I’m in the middle of Chloe Liese’s ONLY WHEN IT’S US, the first book in her Bergman Brothers series, and there are a few marvelous scenes that fit this trope. Willa is a total badass soccer star, and the moments when she lets herself be vulnerable with brawny/grumpy Ryder are fabulous. Definitely recommended.
I believe Kresley Cole’s historical IF YOU DECEIVE fits here. If I remember correctly Ethan is cruel to the heroine Madeleine because she is the daughter of his greatest enemy but in the end he realizes she may not have fled the city during an epidemic and tears the place apart looking for her and then nurses her back to health. Good times.
Eloisa James – WHEN BEAUTY TAMED THE BEAST. Published a while ago but was a great re-read for me. He’s a doctor and he tends her very devotedly when she gets sick.
I love men as caretakers! Squeeing to DUKES PREFER BLONDES and THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MCKENZIE (for so many, many reasons). I want to add BOOK LOVERS by Emily Henry to this list, too, because while the lead female is not ill, she has been holding herself so tight that she hasn’t cried in 10 years, but is able to fall apart due to the care of the man. In DUCHESS BY NIGHT by Eloisa James, the daughter of the male lead is bitten by a rat and is sick for weeks with rat bite fever. He is on the front lines caring for her.
Talia Hibbert is really good at this. Evan and Ruth in A Girl Like Here are my favorite, where he cooks for her. In The Roommate Risk, Rahul researches Black hair care products for Jasmine and buys her a whole selection so she will have what she needs. And Zafir in Take a Hint wants to take care of Dani when she’s on her period.
A scene I come back to again and again and again is in Lisa Kleypas’ Sugar Daddy, and it’s the hero who’s got the flu, and he’s been such a jerk to the heroine the whole time but she stays and cooks him soup and it’s just everything I want from a caretaking scene. I usually skip over the first half of the book, though, if I’m being honest.
Jackpot! I just finished work for the night and opened the newsletter and found this thread. It’s like surprise Christmas! Reminding me of some of my faves, and adding so many new ones to my lIst to read. Itch = scratched. Thank you!
WHEN BEAUTY TAMED THE BEAST by Eloisa James.
In more than one of the Lucy Liu’s books the hero takes care of a sick heroine by bringing her delicious food (home made!). If only I would remember which series/title… ;)))
In Jackie Lau’s The Ultimate Pi Day Party, the hero takes care of the heroine when she has bad period cramps.
In Kristen Ashley’s The Gamble, the hero takes care of the heroine, who he has only just met, when she has a bad flu and is out for a few days.
@Kelly, I remember enjoying that scene, too. Now I’m trying to recall if this is the rare Kristen Ashley book where the male lead talks in complete sentences.
Yay for Two Rogues Make a Right!
In more m/m… in Joanna Chambers’ Englightenment series, the first three books tell the story of David and Murdo (defo not to be read as stand alone!) and it’s clear that Murdo loves to take care of David. Not happening in the first book, Provoked, where they argue a lot, despite the attraction, but it’s happening in the next two, Beguiled and Enlightened, especially after David’s accident.
I’m taking notes on these titles, as I enjoy a hero-as-caretaker quite a bit.
Re: The Devil in Winter (Kleypas) – While Sebastian does take care of Evie in the first few chapters, on a multi-day coach ride, and briefly at other points during the book as well, the main caretaking sequence in the book sees Evie taking care of Sebastian after he is seriously injured.
I love the caretaking scene in Georgette Heyer’s Frederica. Well, it’s not the FMC who is ill, but she’s caring for her younger brother who is, and the MMC’s just trying to make things easier for both of them! <3
There's also Roarke who takes care of Eve in the "In Death" series by J.D. Robbs. I do find him a bit high-handed at times and maybe not quite what we're looking for, but that's his charm, I guess (*rolls eyes*). I've lost count of how many times that comes up in the books.
Also, not a book, but I do adore the scene in You've Got Mail, where our heroine is down with a cold, and gets a surprising visitor with daisies! 🙂
A favorite caretaking scene is from Lisa Kleypas’s Smooth-Talking Stranger( sequel to Sugar Daddy). The heroine, Ella, gets stuck having to face the narcissistic mother who made her childhood hell, with the hero, who’s exactly the kind of wealthy good-looking man she wants. After, he takes care of her in a really moving way.