Tag Archives: Romance

377U: Boy on the Bayou and Hard Lessons

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This is a book (novel) I read as a boy, so would have been published before 1970. Set in South (probably Louisiana), the boy and his dog paddle through the bayou on a boat (pirogue?) and fish for Gar. The boy has a sister; she is assaulted at one point by a young man from a bad family, but is rescued by a young man from a quiet and good family. The assaulting man is killed and the killing hushed up. Afterwards I think the girl and her rescuer marry. Later the boy goes into town and there is some mention of black superstitious practice involving (if I remember) putting something into a tree, then plugging it up.I tried AI but it was absolutely no help.Perhaps a Harper & Row publication. perhaps 1965.

377T: My Aunt is a Witch? (Solved!)

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I read this book in the mid-1970s.  It was set in about the witch trial time.  A young boy had an single aunt (she would be called a free-spirit now).  Because she did not conform the the norms of the day, she was accused of being a witch.  He tried to save her from being a witch by plunging a needle repeatedly into his leg.  She ran away rather than be tried as a witch.  He went after her and she was claimed to have kidnapped him.  At the end of the book, the aunt was in jail and two brothers, both ship captains, offered to marry her.  One brother wanted her to finish the jail term and then he would marry her.  He claimed his sterling reputation would make her acceptable to the community.  The other brother said he would break her out of jail that night and sail away with her, never to return to the colonies.  She took the second brothers’ offer.
It has been at least 50 years since I read the book.  I seem to remember the title contained the witch, silver or wake but I could be completely wrong about the title.  I checked the book out from a bookmobile in Oklahoma.

376Z: Help me find this YA book I loved

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From what I can remember of the book it took place in a village in the woods. In a time where there was no technology. The main character was a young adult girl. People were getting murdered in their homes during the night by something supernatural they assumed. At one point there is a romance with the main character and this boy out in the woods somewhere. From what I remember, it was a fairly gory book. I’m still trying to piece together my memories of it so if I think of something else, I will send it to you all.

376S: Pilot hidden in attic (Solved!)

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So I read this book in 2020 or 2021 and I believe it was written roughly around that time. The author is a woman with a unique name (which for the love of cheese, I cannot recall) and her bio said she lives on an island off the coast of England (could be Channel Islands) or possibly coast of Australia! Oh man, I’ve really forgotten!

The story is written first person from the perspective of a girl as she grows up, and then also as she is an adult. I forget how her father died, but I think he was on a boat at sea and never returned. The girl is sent to live in a house on the coast with a woman guardian, who is not her mom or stepmom, and their relationship is curt. There is a creepy male family friend who drives up every other week or so to check in on them and I think gives them money.
At some point, a German pilot crashes his plane into the ocean, swims to shore, and comes to their house. They help him and hide him in their attic. As I recall, he speaks little English. The little girl develops a loving sweet relationship with him, and he teaches her to draw. The girl’s guardian woman falls for him, and the little girl feels jealous of their relationship.  At some point later in the book, the creepy man is coming over and the girl is upset with her guardian, and intentionally leaves the door to the attic open where the creepy man will hear them talking. The creepy man discovers them and basically tells the man to walk into the ocean, knowing he will not survive the freezing water.
In the meantime, in the present, the now  adult little girl is planning the day she will die and leaving a note for her neighbor letting him know. She is visited by a teen girl who is sitting on her fence (and I think she is the daughter of the creepy man and her guardian). I know it’s complicated!
The grown little girl does end her life as she planned, but it’s not graphic or violent.
I cannot remember any names, but I think the time is WW2 because of the German pilot.
Thank you so much for any ideas! I’ve searched so many searches and authors and come up empty.

376R: Looking for a book based on the Affair of the Necklace

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Here are things I remember about the book I’m trying to locate:

  1. The title may have something about killing the husband. If not the title, around the first paragraph, the narrator talks about how she murdered her divorced husband’s new wife.
  2. The book is a modern take on the story of the Affair of the Necklace. The wife in the story is a big fan of Marie Antoinette and the story of the necklace.
  3. The wife was a waitress, then became the mistress, and then the wife of an older wealthy man. They live in some rich enclave like the Hamptons.
  4. The wife is a big contributor to an art gallery. Her husband thinks it’s stupid to make such big donations and threatens not to make good on their most recent promise.
  5. The husband has had a heart attack and is not allowed to be too active.
  6. The first wife’s friend introduces her to a French woman who’s staying with a friend but doesn’t know anyone in the neighborhood.
  7. As a kindness to her friend, the first wife invites the French women (“Frenchie”) over for lunch and she and the husband discover a mutual fondness for backgammon.
  8. The wife’s friend warns her to keep an eye on her husband, but she’s convinced he couldn’t fool around if he wanted to.
  9. Of course, the wife hears a noise in the pool house, and catches her hubby dying after having sex with Frenchie.
  10. The will is read, and the wife is essentially written out of the will. Meanwhile, Frenchie is left everything.
  11. Time passes, the wife loses her home and eventually runs out of money, and has to take a job selling carpet. Her rich friends go on with their rich friends and many befriend Frenchie who is throwing money around to social climb her way into society.
  12. The wife tries to set up an auction where she will have a friend anonymously bid on a necklace like Marie Antoinette’s that she knows Frenchie covets – to raise the price. But Frenchie doesn’t take the bait, and the wife’s friend is stuck with the necklace that the wife will have to buy from him.
  13. The wife – as a last ditch effort – spends the last of her $ to throw a soirée only to find out that Frenchie has scheduled one for the same date and time. When no one shows up at her party, the wife sneaks into Frenchie’s party and pays a waiter to spill the dessert all over Frenchie’s vintage designer dress. The French lady just laughs it off.
  14. The wife finds out from a friend who lives in France that French was married and probably drugged and killed her husband who was the wife’s French friend’s son. The friend shows her some sleeping pills that she thinks were used.
  15. When she returns to the US, the wife runs into a woman who could be the twin of the French woman. She convinces her to pretend to be the French woman and sign a document giving back everything she inherited back to the wife. The wife is going to drug the French woman and push her off the balcony.
  16. The plan works, but it looks like suicide; the French woman leaves info about how she had cancer.
  17. The wife gets everything back, pays the lookalike, who is a little ominous about the info she knows and what she could do w/it.

That’s the book.

Thanks for all your help.

376M: New Girl Teen Love Triangle (Solved!)

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The book revolved around three high school kids in a small town, two boys and a girl. I think the girl had recently moved to town, possibly from down south somewhere, and had befriended the two boys. One of the boys I remember being more awkward and emotional than the other. They have a spot in the woods that they meet up. Both boys fall for the girl, and eventually the girl falls for the not-awkward boy. Awkward boy catches other boy and girl either dancing or kissing in the school gym, and reacts badly. Girl goes to the special spot in the woods and finds that awkward-boy has hung himself. Possibly an 80’s Avon Camelot book.

375R: Pregnant girl gets her man

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The book I’m looking for was published 1970s-1980s. It takes place in the country, and horses figure prominently.
The plot is that a 17-18 year old girl is in love with a slightly older man. They live on farms near each other. His family is wealthy and raises prize horses. Her name is Ellen, his is john Waters or Watson. She keeps coming by to watch him train horses, and eventually they have relations. After she tells him she’s pregnant, he goes away on business. Meanwhile his family’s prize horse is stolen, and vanishes. While Ellen waits for John to return, her pregnancy advances. At the end of the story, she goes for a walk, and by chance discovers the stable where the prize horse is hidden. She goes into labor, and barely makes it into the stable before she passes out. When she comes to, her baby boy is wrapped in a flannel shirt. John is there, and finally admits the baby is his.
I know this is a weird plot line, but can you help me remember the title? I’d love to have it if I could find it because it was a coming of age story for me.

374U: Gentleman Falls for Horse-Loving Woman (Solved!)

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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.