This Rec League comes from Viktória. Thanks, Viktória!
I am on a marathon of rewatching Bridgerton and the thought came to me: are there any historical romance books where the main character is the father chaperoning his daughter(s) into society? Or guiding sons through the hardships of overbearing mamas? Anthony is such a papa bear, er, I mean brother bear as Daphne tries to find a husband – do we know of any books not focused on the children, but the papa bears finding love? I would love to see a widower or some other wifeless gentleman finding love while shepherding children of a marriageable age. I am also okay if it’s papa bear vibe like Anthony is, bring in the guardians, brothers, uncles and relatives too. My only real request is that I am looking for their story while they look for a match for their charge(s).
Sneezy: I feel like I’ve heard of m/m’s with this exact premise but I can’t remember any.
Shana: I feel like I’ve read this as the B-plot to a younger couples’ romance. Let me think.
Oh, and A Lady for a Duke somewhat has this energy. The hero is the guardian for his sister, and he’s overbearing in his approach to her entry into the marriage mart.
Sarah: Bedwyns should fit, right? ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) Isn’t Wulfric rather like this?
Claudia: He doesn’t actively look for matches for the siblings, but in terms of energy, it would definitely fit.
He’s in all the previous books untangling the messes the siblings make, in the background but a very strong presence. His book is a big payoff is you read at least some of the others.
Ah, in that same vein, Loretta Chase’s Lord Perfect, part of her Carsington Brothers series.
Elyse: Tessa Dare had the one with the wards that would throw elaborate funerals for their dolls: The Governess Game.
AJ: The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles ( A | K | AB ) is an M/M that fits the bill!
Which romances would you recommend? Let us know below!
This is going to sound more like a HABO than a recommendation, but an historical I read probably ten years ago included as secondary (but major) characters, the unmarried, 40+ year-old uncle of the male MC. While attending a ball with his nephew, he runs into his long ago love, a newly-widowed woman, who is chaperoning her niece, an exceptionally tall young woman who was promised to another. At the end of the book, the uncle and the chaperone get married because he got her pregnant, to her great embarrassment. The book is part of a series and the young woman’s cast-off suitor (he was shorter than she and really into farming, gardening, and/or botany) found a better match in a later book. My favorite characters were absolutely the uncle and chaperone. I’m really not sure that the uncle was exactly a bear, though; his nephew was decidedly larger than he and was the one pursuing the young woman with a vengeance.
Jo Beverley’s Malloren series for sure fits the bill. Rothgar is extremely involved.
The children in Lord Perfect are just that, still children. Still, the two widowed parents have to resolve the crises that ensue. And speaking of Chase, there’s a secondary older couple in her current series, trying to steer the MC’s straight, who obviously have a history.
There is a Georgette Heyer short story (in Pistols for Two, iirc) where a widow bringing her daughter out discovers that the older gentlemen she thought was interested in her daughter, actually wants to become the daughter’s father. The Talisman Ring might also fit this category.
Ah! This is one of those things that I feel like I’ve read before — you know, the man who hates society but has to come escort his sister/niece/ward/daughter, and ends up having to rely on some woman of his acquaintance to help out — but now that I’m trying to think of specific titles I’m struggling.
Maybe Lisa Kleypas? I’m thinking Leo’s book in the Hathaway series (Married by Morning) or maybe the first book in the Ravenels (Cold-Hearted Rake).
There are some Mary Baloghs that may also fit the bill–I’m thinking the first book in the Westcott series (Someone to Love), where Avery has a very Head Of Family feeling to him, or the most recent one (Someone Perfect) where Justin is trying to reunite with his estranged sister and introduce her to society. The hero in The Proposal (first in the Survivors Club series) is also trying to launch his sister in society and needs the heroine’s help iirc.
And I think the second half of A Lady for a Duke technically fits these parameters?
Oh, and then there’s Sarah MacLean’s A Scot in the Dark, wherein the hero unexpectedly finds himself with a ward and tries to introduce her to society and find her a husband only to fall in love with her himself. I don’t know if that counts as papa bear energy though…….
The children in Lord Perfect are the main characters in Last Night’s Scandal, but no parents are chaperoning them. It’s one of my favorite plots–unchaperoned road trip full of shenanigans.
For the overbearing older brother, see Suzanne Enoch’s Scandalous Highlanders series. Book 1 is the older brother meeting his match and books 2-4 are him interfering with his siblings.
One of my favorite older regencies, “The Bedeviled Duke” by Judith Lansdowne… he’s a widower, chaperoning his oldest daughters (twins) through the season – and pretty much ends up trying to help and keep track of three sets of couples, while conducting his own wooing. It’s a fun book (I should dig it my copy from my keeper shelf and reread it), but you’ll probably have to haunt used sites to find a copy of it.
Judith A. Lansdowne’s The Mystery Kiss has this vibe, even if I don’t think the hero has children. Excellent rep for older characters though (I recall the hero thinking the heroine’s gray hairs look like stars in the night sky).
Thanks for all the great recs so far! I loved Lord Perfect and while I agree it does not involve meddling but the mc has the vibe I’m looking for. I totally agree with @alexa z that it has the vibe of read it before, don’t remember where – that is partly why I penned this ask. I’d love to read more!
Thanks again for every rec so far!
Many of Grace Burrowes’ books have this trope. I know in the Windham series both the sons and the daughters have to put up with their grandbaby-obsessed ducal father’s meddling. Also all the brothers in the Haddonfield series gang up to look after their sisters as they each come out (or not, in some cases.)
In Nita Abrams’ Regency-era spy romance series, Couriers, the last book, The Spy’s Reward is about a father’s mid-life romance. To appreciate it, you have to read the previous books which feature his son(The Spy’s Bride) and daughter(A Question of Honor). He was widowed very young, and the offspring get married in the two earlier books. What adds extra interest is that many of the main characters are Jewish. I adore this whole series.
P.S. I should add that the hero of The Spy’s Reward is not the “shepherding” type, he’s too busy running around spying for England, plus being Jewish, they are not part of “society”. But he does appear in the earlier books, and there is one very touching scene where he comforts his grown son whose marriage is in trouble.
I second Jo Beverly’s Malloren series, and there is also Balogh’s “Simply” series, which has an overbearing eldest brother who involves himself very much in his siblings affairs.
Ok, weird, I thought I left a comment, but I don’t see it now…
Anyway, Judith Lansdowne’s “The Bedeviled Duke” definitely fits this. The hero is a widower, and he’s chaperoning his two oldest daughters for the season (as well as helping out another set of younger lovers), and of course also finds love in the course of the story. It’s one of my favorite books (on my keeper shelf), but it’s not available electronically, unfortunately, and it’s out of print – so a used version will be the way to go (highly recommend though – it’s a very funny book).
I’m drawing a blank on recommendations, but I hope someone knows the book @Qualisign described. It sounds like a book I’d love to read!
I haven’t read it yet, but there’s a new Sabrina Jeffries, A Duke for Diana, that seems to fit the bill:
Self-made civil engineer Geoffrey Brookhouse has unexpectedly inherited the dukedom of Grenwood. But he has a secret that could ruin his family. Hoping to save his timid sister from that fate, he seeks to marry her off to a respectable, protective gentleman. With the London Season imminent, Geoffrey hires Elegant Occasions to orchestrate her debut. Yet Lady Diana Harper, spirited fashion expert, proves more than he bargained for.
Jane Ashford’s Way to a Lord’s Heart series. The set-up: a widowed earl has dinner with four younger men who have experienced tragedies. The first four books are the earl assisting these men in finding love, and the last book is the earl’s own romance.
For a auntie bear with assists from the papa bear (and step-mama bear), Eloisa James’s Wilde series has the eccentric aunt advising her brother’s children. So far she hasn’t gotten her own romance, but James seems to still be writing the series.
The later books in Elizabeth Boyle’s Rhymes with Love series have a guardian and a chaperone who rekindle the flames while guiding their debutants. Starts with the Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane (the cover for this one definitely deserves some snark, but don’t judge the book by its cover).
The hero in Mrs. McVinnie’s London Season by Carla Kelly is an uncle who hires the heroine to help him chaperone his
niece during the London season. He’s a naval captain, of course!
Not quite Papa Bear, but I have seen 2 books that may fit this:
1) An Affair Without End by Candace Camp is the end book in the Willowmere series about a group of sisters from America who show up in England, and their maternal cousin, the Earl of Stewkesbury, has to introduce them to society. The last book is about him falling for the woman he asks to help guide the sisters to ‘the cream’ of society.
2) Marry in Haste by Anne Gracie is about an army officer who finds that he’s become a lord and must now manage 3 half-sisters who are not the least deferential to any authority. When he meets a former teacher of theirs who is able to corral them into decorous behavior, he persuades her to marry him.
That said, the energy may be less Papa Bear and more befuddled bear – the girls in both books are wild/unsuitable for genteel society and both male figures kinda tear their hair out before finding someone who can get the girls to look and act the way society expected.
Car Sebastian’s Unmasked by the Marquess might fit the bill. The main character, Robin, starts out looking for a good match for their adopted sister but ends up finding love along the way unexpectedly.
I agree with @alexa Z on the Kleypas, and I also think some Anne Gracie books might hit a note or two of this, but more in a marrying-into the family way in the Merridew sisters books (H from the first book gets protective of the sisters in the later books, especially the youngest), and in The Autumn Bride the H is very concerned that his grandmother is getting conned/taken advantage of by the h and gets super protective of grandma. I feel like you might see this trope most with Nanny/Companion romances, but not a lot others are coming to mind right now…
Tessa dare the Governess Game ! The main MC becomes the caretaker of two small girls who aren’t related to him (or are distantly related ) if I’m remembering correctly. The heroine is hired as their governess. It’s fabulous.
Also I just realized that was recommended by Elyse above ♀️ But it is that delightful soo
@Qualisign and @Maureen I’m 90 percent sure the book you are talking about is Mary Jo Putney’s first book ( or at least an early book),The Diabolical Baron, which was recently re- released. It’s a charming ensemble piece and was a comfort read to me recently in a really tough time.
Actually… I just reread the first comment again and I think I’m wrong! I missed the bit about pregnancy, that’s definitely not in Diabolical Baron. But Baron has the secondary romance with the exceptionally tall aunt who is newly widowed.
Very late to this answer, but The Essex Sisters series by Eloisa James. Four orphaned sisters become wards of the Duke of Holbrook. Starts with Much Ado About You