ISO books where the heroine doesn't like the hero at first

Laela · Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 85

Suggestions please!

Lynda X · Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 1261

If you can get it, Lorraine Heath's ALWAYS TO REMEMBER is a great (A+) book, IMO. It's set after the Civil War and the heroine hates the hero because he did not fight during the war. He was against all war and if I remember correctly, was kind of a medic. She vows, having lost her fiance, to make the hero's life absolutely miserable. This is an extremely touching book with a fabulous hero and a heroine you sympathize with almost immediately, although most people would not be in favor of her obsession. You can probably get it for free from your local library; if they don't have it (and mine didn't), they can find it in another state and have it sent to you.

JaneO · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 755

Loretta Chase does this a lot. In fact, more often than not, her heroines begin by not thinking much of the hero, from her early Regencies (e.g. KNAVE'S WAGER) to her most recent, SCANDAL WEARS SATIN.

Miranda Neville did it, especially in CONFESSIONS FROM AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE.
Jennifer Crusie does it (BET ME), SEP does it (the one about the woman who owns the team).
Practically everyone I can think of has done it at one time or another, and generally more than once.

I think it's a fairly common gimmick.

JaneO · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 755

Loretta Chase does this a lot. In fact, more often than not, her heroines begin by not thinking much of the hero, from her early Regencies (e.g. KNAVE'S WAGER) to her most recent, SCANDAL WEARS SATIN.

Miranda Neville did it, especially in CONFESSIONS FROM AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE.

KataO · Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Posts: 67 Location: Finland

The Gamble by LaVyrle Spencer

Sandlynn · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 1613 Location: Washington, D.C.

Although not many books come immediately to mind, this sounds like a pretty common scenario. Of course, the most famous plot of this sort is Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Far from that classic, the following have similar dynamics:
Julie James' Just the Sexiest Man Alive
Mary Kay Andrews' Deep Dish
Laura Lee Gurhke's Breathless

I'll post again if I can think of more.

Manda · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 522

Mary Balogh uses this trope in SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS and THEN COMES SEDUCTION.

Eloisa James does it in DUCHESS IN LOVE and YOUR WICKED WAYS. Lisa Kleypas does it in THE DEVIL IN WINTER.

Nora Roberts has this trope at least once per trilogy in the ones I've read. Usually building up to a match between the two who spar the most. My faves though are stand-alones: CARNAL INNOCENCE and THE WITNESS.
_________________
Manda Collins

limagal · Joined: 17 Jul 2010 Posts: 88 Location: lima, peru

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
London's Perfect Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch

I think at least a half of the historicals I have read start out like that - very common!

Susan/DC · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 1602

Tempting the Bride, the last book in Sherry Thomas' recent trilogy, and Not Proper Enough by Carolyn Jewel both have this theme.

esskayel · Joined: 25 Feb 2011 Posts: 38

This is one of my favorite scenarios, so I'll be watching this thread closely!

Linda Howard has a few, the two that come to mind immediately are MR. PERFECT and PREY.

Susan Anderson - JUST FOR KICKS, CUTTING LOOSE, and OBSESSED

Elizabeth Hoyt - SCANDALOUS DESIRES

willaful · Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 1476

I just read a great short by Charlotte Stein called Restraint, in which the heroine hates the hero because he hates her... or does he?
_________________
"I say, don't read the classics -- try to discover your own classics; every life has its own." -- Rudolf Flesch, _How to Make Sense_