Deadline mania is in full force. Ack!!!!
So, here’s an assignment for you to address in the comments.
It’s 1814 and you (a tolerable young Miss of 23) and your family are in London for the first time ever. Your father, in a moment of unfortunate inattention, agreed to loan his third cousin all his money on a sure bet to win the Derby. The horse came in last. Papa has now mortgaged the carriage and horses to fund this Season for his beloved daughters.
The family fortune depends entirely upon someone related to you (perhaps even you yourself!) marrying extremely well. Mama and Papa are out of the question as they are already married to each other. You do not have a brother or step-brother and no one is currently speaking to your father’s (fat and ugly) third cousin.
Your younger sister (who you love beyond reason) is the beauty of the family, but she is a bit madcap, cannot carry a tune, and requires close supervision at all times. Well, nearly all times. Your mother walks with a limp.
On your second day in London, you espy the PERFECT man for your sister. Lord Gentlebrook. Gentlebook has pots of money and is conveniently single. He is blond. The only potential downside to this union is that Gentlebrook is a snob about singing (by the way, you sing like an angel) and his Best Friend Forever is the notorious rake the duke of Badhoneur.
Badhoneur has black hair and piercing blue eyes. He, too, has pots of money. Pots and pots and pots of it. He is known to consort with married women. In fact, you believe you saw him wink at your mother (who despite her limp is quite attractive). Badhoneur may well have designs on your sister and you despise him the moment he stares down the front of your evening gown. (You’ve always been a bit shy about your bounteous charms.)
1. Who is the hero?
2. Can you identify the sequel bait?
3. What color is Badhoneur’s horse?
Go.
Ha! The hero is Badhoneur, of course, who won’t know he needs to be married.
The sequel might be when the horribly bad singer meets the singing aficianado and horrifies him with her warbling. Hijinks ensue, and he loves her despite her pipes.
Badhoneur is the hero. His friend Gentlebrook gets the sequel and the sister. The fat and ugly third cousin goes to the Regency equivalent of a fat farm and emerges as hero #3, with a little help from a shy governess who helps polish his social graces and other appendages. (We all know trilogies are de rigueur right now.)
Hi 🙂
The hero is Badhoneur (Bad Honor, heh!).
The horse is black.
The sequel is the younger sister falling for Badhoneur’s best friend who is won over by her mad cap ways.
🙂
Thanks for the fun post!
All the best,
RKCharron
xoxo
Let’s twist this….The hero is Lord Gentlebrook, who is steadfast and honorable throughout, even though his friend Badhoneur does his best to cause trouble. The sequel is Badhoneur and the younger sister, who has learned to be more serious.
But the horse is black, raven-black
Badhoneur is the hero.
I agree that the sequel here is the sister snaring the music snob.
His horse is gleaming black, of course.
Great post!
Well Badhoneur’s horse is obviously black. I’d love to agree with everyone that Badhoneur is the hero, but you see I’m with Diane in that I like the clean cut gentleman over the bad boy. So I think the first book has me the sister getting Gentlebrook together with my younger sister. Then in the sequel I suppose I get compromised with Badhoneur and have to marry him. The compromise would consist of being caught alone in a carriage on my way to visit my sister and her new husband at their country estate. Banhoneur is thrown from his horse and must ride in the carriage with me and when my parents see this they demand satisfaction. Banhoneur does not want pistols at dawn so he agrees. I am not really Banhoneur’s type because I am a bluestocking and he despises a woman who thinks. But the more he is around me the more he realizes it’s nice to be able to talk with someone. Also it turns out that even woman on the shelf can be volatile in bed. Turns out I’m quite the sex kitten.
Hero is Badhoneur
Sequel, is the sister and the snob and I have to go with a black horse. This was a fun post.
The hero is the fat, ugly third cousin no one speaks to, natch. He’s returned from the Navy a (slightly) wounded war hero and due to seafaring deprivations, is no longer fat or ugly. He is, of course, decorated, wealthy, and nursing a huge grudge against my family. But I don’t know why and Papa’s not telling. In fact, I am forbidden contact with him even though I’m sure that he’ll fall head over heels for my beautiful sister and save us all. It’s inconvenient that my heart flutters at the mere mention of his name.
Badhoneur and Gentlebrook duke it out over little sis in the sequel.
And Badhoneur’s horse is the same blood bay that the third cousin lost to the rake in a dodgy wager right before he sailed to battle as a way to escape scandal and disgrace.
Gentlebrook is the hero. Badhoneur will kidnap the younger sister as the result of a convoluted plot, and Gentlebrook and our 23-year-old heroine will take off after him across the countryside, where Gentlebrook will display hertofore unknown manliness and courage. He will fall in love with our heroine’s singing voice and bounteous charms.
Gentlebrook’s horse is a black gelding named “Beelzebub,” which is another clue to his secret manly nature.
In the sequel, Badhoneur and little sister are engaged because she has been ruined by the flight across the countryside. They hate each other. They will, of course, cease to hate each other, and madcap little sister will transform into a more sophisticated beauty who will catch Badhoneur’s black heart.
Badhoneur will become reformed as a result of his love for lil’sis, and all will live happily ever after.
You guys are so funny! Love the hero-spotting. Ha.
Right I love Jane George’s take on it so much I’m seconding her suggestion.
This is fun.
This day began badly when I spilled coffee all over my lap in a meeting this morning, and it didn’t get much better after that. However, reading about Badhoneur, Gentlebrook, et al made the end of the day much better. Perhaps the horse is the hero, a la Dudley DoRight or Wallace & Grommit (although Grommit is a dog, he’s my hero).
Obviously Badhoneur is the hero, one who needs to be understood and loved.
Of course the sequel will have Badhoneur helping you match up your younger sister with the love of her life, Lord Gentlebook.
Of course the horse is black.
We have all read too many romances and expect the obvious, but it will still be fun. There are some really fun variations and plot twists here.
I second the horse as hero. He’s a hunky Irish redhead who was turned into a roan horse (definitely not a gelding) by Lord Gentlebrook, who is a wicked druid in disguise. I get to keep the hero (in human form, mostly) when I save him, but only at the cost of giving my gorgeous voice to my little sister, who then runs off with Badhonneur to become an itinerant opera singer. As a side effect of the magic that restores the hero (more or less) to his original form, my mother’s limp is also cured. When Gentlebrook charges into our bedroom to battle with the hero (who is part faerie and has magical skills of his own), I scream for help, and my newly-ghastly voice shatters a ceiling mirror (the horse-hero’s kinkiness comes in handy in more than one way) and a shard of glass pierces Gentlebrook’s evil heart, inside which is found a cache of precious gems that restore Papa’s fortune. And we all live happily ever after.
Oops! I forgot about the sequel.
Wow! Barbara, that’s just brilliant.
Heh. Thank you, Jane. If only I could come up with a plot so quickly and tidily for a story I’m actually writing… sigh.
I don’t want to beat a dead horse here (Eeek..no ill wishes implied), but just wanted to say thank you all for making my day. I just loved reading these comments. And I must add that Barbara, you do take the cake on this one!