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 comes from Isabella, who wants to find this historical romance:
The details are hazy but I remember the hero was some kind of gardener but also maybe nobility? And he was rebuilding something akin to Covent Garden or Vaxhall Gardens after a fire. It might even have explicitly been Covent Garden…
There was a scene of him in the garden doing gardenery stuff with his shirt getting soaked through from the rain. I think there was some discussion in the text over the kinds of trees being selecgted for the garden.
I think at the end the theatre gets set on fire again.
I don’t remember much about the heroine but, I think she was either a singer/theatre person or a lady or something along those lines.
Any help would be appreciated! It’s likely to be from the last 20 years, but probably not earlier than that and it’s definitely a historical romance.
Sound familiar?




It’s “Darling Beast” by Elizabeth Hoyt.
Seconding Darling Beast, it’s one of my faves!
somehow, I remembered the review of Darling Beast from when it was released: https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/darling-beast-by-elizabeth-hoyt/
Fourthing Darling Beast!
100% Darling Beast!
Well, at least I got as far as “Isn’t one of the Maiden Lane books along those lines?” before you all named the specific book . . . Lol
Yes, please whatever this is, just for the gardening nob.
Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt
Whelp I have not read this yet but now I’m going to!
GOLDARNIT I finally knew one … and so did everyone else!
Six minutes. Is that a record?
On another note is Elizabeth Hoyt still writing?
I believe she has one coming out later this year, No Ordinary Duchess. In November, I think.