Tag Archives: Romance

374U: Gentleman Falls for Horse-Loving Woman

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I am an avid classic novel reader and I read a book a few years ago and absolutely cannot figure out what it was. It reads very similar to a Brontë but I don’t think it was very mainstream, since no one else seems to recognize it.
It was set in the 1800s I think somewhere in the United Kingdom.
The plot was about this spunky brunette who was beautiful and unconventional. I remember her riding horses. She didn’t follow social norms and people had difficulty with that back then. Men kept falling for her. The main part of the plot was about a gentleman who falls for her against all his better judgement, proposes, and she declines. He licks his wounds and eventually marries a much more conventional easy going woman and they end up making a great pair, but the girl always wondered how he felt since she was his second choice. Ultimately, the spunky girl does settle down with someone and they are all able to be friends.
It’s not Far From the Madding Crowd or Portrait of a Lady or Age of Innocence or Pride and Prejudice.
If you can figure it out, I will be overjoyed.

373Z: Southwestern Gothic Romance Tragedy

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I am looking for a book written before 1978.  The storyline is that a man from the Northeast travels to the Southwest because he has a lung ailment.  He is of modest means when he arrives at his new home but over time becomes wealthy and successful.  He becomes the owner of a Hacienda, not just of a large house but basically the owner of a large cattle ranching operation.  He marries a beautiful Hispanic woman who is much younger than he is.  She later betrays him with a young American cowboy.  The workers on the Hacienda learn what has happened and they let the hero know that they will kill the Cowboy if that is what he wants.  The hero of the story decides that he loves both his friend and his young wife (whom he feels guilty for marrying) and decides to spare the lovers.  However, the shame of the situation means that he must abandon his home and much of the great wealth he has accumulated. 

When the man first arrived in town he had almost nothing.  When he leaves, even though he is abandoning great wealth, he is riding a very expensive horse on a saddle with silver buckles, silver spurs, etc.  He is armed and has money in his saddlebags.  The idea is that despite all he is losing he is much better off than when he arrived.  The only relatively precise quote that I can remember from the book is: “Ten years is only an long time at the beginning or very end of a man’s life.”

This book may have been a Readers Digest Condensed book.  It may also have been written by a Mexican author and translated or an American author with ties to the Southwest and the Hispanic community.  The cultural norms play a large role in the book.

I read this book between 1972 and 1978.

373D: English girl travels to Europe for summer as au pair to her rich, spoiled fraternal-twin cousins

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This book came into my hands in 1972, so it’s probably from 1960s (or possibly late 1950’s). The heroine is smart and has been accepted to university, but needs to make money over the summer. She agrees to take care of her fraternal-twin cousins (one of whom is named “Gaylord” and hates the name) as the family travels to the Continent. Definitely some beautiful descriptions of Lake Como. The beautiful elder sister of the cousins is meant to be getting engaged to some solid English prospect but has actually fallen in love with an “unsuitable” yet charming Italian. Our heroine ends up meeting the suitable prospect and sparks fly. His name is Timothy and/or he’s the heir to a tin mine (might have made up one of those because it sounds like the other). The ending is that they’re both going to the same university in the fall and presumably their romance will be continued/completed then. Oh and the twins come around in the end, too. I was most fascinated by the beginning, though, which is an account of her figuring out with her mum how to sew a respectable wardrobe for the summer with very little money.

372U: Novel about a little boy that doesn’t speak but can hear almost everything

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Jessica Vlies,

There is a book I read in my youth — a novel from the library that I am trying to find! I can barely recall any details because I was so young, however, I believe it was about a young white girl from a wealthy family who sleeps with a young black man. Her mother is furious and she gets pregnant. The main plot of the book is the fact that she gives birth to this boy who does not speak but can hear everything (like literally grass growing). It was a good book with multiple timelines and character plots. No details on the cover but I believe that the boy’s name started with an A and was in the title (maybe: the curious tale of. . . — or something like that). Please help!!! Thank you!

372E: Romance leads to “cheating”

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I’m looking for a book I read in High-school (2011) I believe the book was written and or published 1985 to 1999.


Keywords: YA romance, senior year American high school, new girl, friends boyfriend returns from a semester abroad, new girl falls in love with friends boyfriend.


Summary/synopsis:The book starts out with a main female protagonist who was new that school year. The setting is high school, in the autumn/winter. She goes to school and talks with her new friends and finds out that one girls boyfriend who is returning home from a semester abroad.When the boyfriend returns, he’s very welcoming and excited to talk to everyone again but it seems like everyone is treating him very similar to the way he was before he left. He wants to talk about his new experiences and the only one who can relate to is the protagonist as she had family in the part of England that he visited. They talk about the old stained glass windows. Later it’s apparent they like one other a bit to much. They are hanging out together but during one day, it is too much and they talk about his feelings for the main character in his car. They decide that they should put distance their relationship so as not to be unfair to his current girlfriend until he breaks up with his  girlfriend to be with the main character.Somehow the friends catch wind of this and assume that the main character and boyfriend were cheating more than they did. The Ex girlfriend and main girl get into an argument and later at school the friend group is mad at both of them but the two main characters support one other through this until the friends realize the main characters were sincere and tried to make the most out of a hard situation. I believe it ends with talks on them going to college potentially together.


Other details I remember: they held hands in the car and the main character noticed the boyfriend’s thick healthy nails.The main character was a brunette.The ex girlfriend was blonde.The boyfriend played a sport before going to England. 
I can work out more information if I can, but I don’t want to Mandela effect myself more than I may have already done.

369Y: Strange episodical book about young woman’s (sometimes erotic) experiences

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Hello, I am hoping you can help me to track down  a book that I read years ago, likely between 2000-2003, although I doubt it was a new book at that time. It was absolutely weird and wild and no one seems to have read or heard of it besides myself! I believe the cover was light pink with black script. The book itself is about a young girl’s life and sexual experiences, thoughts, fantasies, and imaginings, some very strange, including a party of men holding golden dicks on sticks that are used in a sort of ritual-like scene.I believe it was arranged episodically. 
 I distinctly remember a very strange passage where the girl goes into what may have been some sort of club, then up some stairs. I believe she is led up the stairs by a man. She ends up in a dark room with a lot of scantily clad or naked men who have all these golden penises on long rods and are sort of parading them around. At one point I think they all formed up around her while she laid on a bed. It was a very erotically charged scene and that’s why it stuck out to my young self, but the book itself was not erotica, I think, though it had some sexual themes. It was more about the girl’s thoughts and point-of-view rather than about the suggestive scenes.  I THINK the book also involves the girl talking about her mother and their relationship, maybe some men the mother dated as well? I feel like I remember a part where she was attracted to a man her mother was seeing, but that could be incorrect.
 I also feel like I remember a passage from the book where the girl was talking about a guy that I think liked her and perhaps wanted to get physical with her, but she couldn’t get over his pimples. She describes his face and the pimples in detail and how gross she thinks it is.
This is something that has been driving me WILD every time I think about it (it’s been many years forgotten) and I’d love it if anyone could help me figure it out!

369S: Dragon Obsessed With “Mutt”

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I saw an ebook that had a woman in pigtails at a bar on the cover. She looked alternative and edgy. The book was a paranormal romance or urban fantasy. The woman is a mutt. A mix of different shifters with no special powers. The back cover blurb called her a mutt. She works in a bar. The setting was mentioned on the back cover.  A dragon comes in and becomes obsessed with her. She can’t figure out why she’s nothing special in their world. I can’t remember the author or title. But the tone had a bit of humor and I went to click on it later and couldn’t find the ad and link. I really want to read this book. It sounded fun.

369F: Nerdy Woman Finds Love on Plane

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I’m certain I read this book in late 1999-early 2000. It’s about an erudite middle-aged woman who never had much romance in her life and never received much attention from men. I remember her explaining the one thing she has going for her is that she has stayed fit while other women her age gained weight. She never had a husband or kids. On the plane ride over she meets a man who is kind of bumbling and she doesn’t think would be a good fit for her. The book was probably set in the 90s. I think the man was a handyman. They fall in love when they’re both in London.  If my memory serves, I believe the man dies.

367S: Falling for the Prince of Fae

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Contested Fae Romance YA fantasy novel I read in library between 1994 and 2000. Protagonist girl falls for cold and intriguing guy (maybe named Percival? Parsifal?), finds out he’s the prince of Fae and his mother does not consent to their relationship. At some point mortal protagonist saves him or the mother AND him from iron-related trap, thus earning her respect. Cover had small pointy leaves on left side.