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 Danni, who wants to find this book for her friend:
I’m searching for a book on behalf of my friend who has been desperately hunting for this book for years but hasn’t been able to turn up anything with regular google searches. I tried looking for them too, but I wasn’t able to find anything either. A couple got close, but nothing quite right.
They read this book around 2006, the title potentially has the word kitten in it but I wasn’t able to turn anything up with that when I was looking myself. May have been a regency, or at least set in that sort of setting. Might be called romance, might be an erotica. The cover had a woman in a red dress wearing a black cat masquerade mask. My friend also drew out what they can r
The plot points they can remember are:
– The heroine is described as a mousy unattractive wallflower
– She puts on a black kitten mask and goes to a masquerade party but
accidentally seduces the wrong man (she had been tying to seduce a man
who had insulted her before I think?)
– The hero has a dead wife, and his dead wife was having an affair with
another guy (possibly the guy who heroine was trying to seduce?)
– The hero is convinced that this other guy murdered his wife and is trying
to prove it (the murder is a central plot point throughout the book)
– The main characters sleep together in a stable at one point
– In the end it turns out that the wife was killed by the maid who was
possibly a lesbian
I feel like I can picture this cover, but I can’t recall the title.
A Lady’s Pleasure
by
Renee Bernard
Add To: Goodreads to-read list →
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying
purchases.
We also may use affiliate
links in our posts, as well. Thanks!
Is the new book post going up today? (Sorry I can’t help
OP!)
Follow.
There is a lot going on here…You might check this list on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/18296.Romance_with_Masquerades_Costume_Balls
I feel like I know this. But there are so many masquerades in books.
I am so interested in this! I hope someone knows it!
I sadly have no clue about the book, but I ADORE that cover mock-up. Major props to the friend for putting in the time and effort to make it!
Went and looked at the list that Caroline added, and found this book that sounds a lot like the HaBO
A Lady’s Pleasure by Renee Bernard
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106341.A_Lady_s_Pleasure
I’ve sent everything along to my friend along with this thread!
I think we found it!
A Lady’s Pleasure by Renee Bernard sounds like it has to be it. Thank you guys so much.
Hello, I’m the friend! An this is the book! No, no, this is The Book. Like. THE BOOK. My white whale. I’m so so excited to finally have a name put to it. Thank you so much to all the smart bitches here, especially elianara, for truly living up to that name. I really can’t tell you how much ending this two decades long search means. Feels like an itch on my back that I’ve finally gotten to scratch!
As for reading and recommending this book? The discovery in real time of finding out the maid was a deranged lesbian (speaking as a deranged lesbian myself) who killed the previous wife really made this book into the icon it is to me, so sadly, with that world-rocking (but entirely necessary) spoiler shared, it’s just a lot of sex scenes jumping out at you like cheap skeleton props in a haunted house ride: fun in its own way, especially when shared with friends, but there are better experiences to make you scream out there.
Danni’s Friend, if you’d like to review this book and your reaction to it after 20 years, I would be DELIGHTED to share it. I’m really happy we found your lost book! Honestly, this community knows everything.