This HaBO is from Krysty, who wants to find this romance:
Hi, I stumbled upon your website yesterday hoping someone will help me find this book. It’s been in my head for over 10 years and I’m beginning to forget.
So the book is about a heroine – Marianne or Mary – can’t quite remember, falls in love with a brooding, standoffish hero with a scarred face who stays in the dark in a big mansion. He likes to hide in the dark because he’s conscious of his scar gotten through fire (not sure). I think he came to visit the heroine’s father when she caught a glimpse of him and had a crush on him. He likes to wear a hat too to cover the side of the scar.
She found a way to his house and tried to find out more about him. Fast forward, they had sex (she was a virgin) but he didn’t believe there could ever be a happy ending between them because of his scars. There was a happy ending, of course.
The book cover had moonlight over a lake. You might mistake it for a suspense/thriller novel. I know it’s not a lot of information but my memory is not so great anymore with the details. Please, I don’t know why but I NEED to re-read that book. Maybe because I was so innocent when I first read it or that I’m also deformed but it left a mark on me as a teenager. Thank you in advance.
I know this is some hefty catnip and we have a lot of ground to cover!
Is it a steampunk paranormal? https://books.google.com/books/about/Firelight.html?id=Ie03AQAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description
Yay! I finally know one! It’s “Night Magic” by Charlotte Vale Allen, published in 1989. The hero Erik is horribly scarred as a child in a car accident that kills his parents. He grows up in isolation & becomes an architect, conducting most of his business through an intermediary. He meets the heroine Marisa when he comes to her home to consult with her father. They fall in love and marry. The rest of the book deals with their attempts to negotiate the differences between their two worlds. They have a bumpy road but eventually reach a happy-for-now ending. I‘d say it‘s more women‘s fiction with romantic elements. Also some readers will find the age difference between the hero/heroine very problematic, as she is 17 and he is 31. The author portrays Erik as completely innocent (and a virgin) because of his isolation but YMMV.
“Night Magic” sounds like a variation on Phantom of the Opera; scars, a hero named Erik who trained as an architect (and is also a virgin).
Following.
You might look at lists of Beauty and the Beast trope romances. I have thought of a few, but none of the ones I’ve thought of have a Mary or Marianne or have a cover as described.
I loved this book! Not a romance per se, but very romantic and intense.
Night Magic is on Kindle Unlimited, for those who are scared but curious.
I was obsessed with Night Magic when I was a teenager; a fun take on Phantom that acknowledges it is about it.
Night Magic! I remember being bored at someone’s house when I was a young teen and going through their book shelves and struck gold with this. Wonder if it holds up. I’ll have to keep an eye out at library sales.