So bizarre, but one of my friends was hanging out while I was putting away a stack of books just two days ago, and asked about the very same book in even vaguer terms than you used, and I pulled out Lord of Scoundrels and she's currently borrowing it to re-read. Weird coincidence is weird.
I do recommend Loretta Chase just about everything, (I actually liked Captives of the Night mentioned in another comment, but it's definitely a YMMV thing) and the Carsington Family series has a couple of books that top my list of favorites. One of them has a divorced woman, another has a young lady who had a child out of wedlock when she was very young. All of her heroes are clever and reluctantly sweet (if sometimes in weird ways) and always, always, always deeply respectful of the heroines and their minds, abilities, desires, and so on. Mr. Perfect has a hero who is much less intelligent than the heroine, and totally okay with that, because he has other strengths.
Other romance recs: Jennifer Crusie. My favorite ever Crusie was Bet Me, but the first one of hers that I read, Welcome to Temptation, comes close. They're clever and heartfelt and hilarious, and no one writes banter like Crusie. Seriously, I could read just three pages of some unnamed novel and know it was hers, she's that distinct. Also just about any of the newer works by Mary Balough, who is the only writer I can think of where I can read three of her books in a row and all of them are capable of moving me to literal tears. This is a good thing, I promise. Oh, oh, and Jayne Castle, who is the pseud of Jayne Anne Krentz that she uses when she's writing her future romances, which are silly and essentially brain-candy but a whole lot of fun nevertheless.
Urban fantasies that are also romances, Kelley Armstrongs's Women of the Otherworld series. For the most part you can pick up just about any one of them out of order, too, because they're a linked series with a whole wide cast of heroines who all get their own stories, so it's basically an endless supply of awesome first-time romances with the occasional established relationship story thrown in for plot continuance.
Oh, and Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff. It's a little... odd, not really the usual kind of romance, by which I mean it's got a certain amount of falling in love really fast and in stressful circumstances and living happily ever after, but it's also got characters who are mostly bisexual and have a lot of sex while pwning the universe with magic, and occasionally with magic pie. I mean, it's never fully stated, but even at the end of the book it's pretty heavily implied that along with the fairy-tale romance of the two main characters, the heroine is also going to continue sleeping with her wanderlust female cousin because monogamy is sort of a general guideline for her family. It's... definitely unique. But in a good way.
Oh my god, I have to stop now before I get completely out of control.
no subject
I do recommend Loretta Chase just about everything, (I actually liked Captives of the Night mentioned in another comment, but it's definitely a YMMV thing) and the Carsington Family series has a couple of books that top my list of favorites. One of them has a divorced woman, another has a young lady who had a child out of wedlock when she was very young. All of her heroes are clever and reluctantly sweet (if sometimes in weird ways) and always, always, always deeply respectful of the heroines and their minds, abilities, desires, and so on. Mr. Perfect has a hero who is much less intelligent than the heroine, and totally okay with that, because he has other strengths.
Other romance recs: Jennifer Crusie. My favorite ever Crusie was Bet Me, but the first one of hers that I read, Welcome to Temptation, comes close. They're clever and heartfelt and hilarious, and no one writes banter like Crusie. Seriously, I could read just three pages of some unnamed novel and know it was hers, she's that distinct. Also just about any of the newer works by Mary Balough, who is the only writer I can think of where I can read three of her books in a row and all of them are capable of moving me to literal tears. This is a good thing, I promise. Oh, oh, and Jayne Castle, who is the pseud of Jayne Anne Krentz that she uses when she's writing her future romances, which are silly and essentially brain-candy but a whole lot of fun nevertheless.
Urban fantasies that are also romances, Kelley Armstrongs's Women of the Otherworld series. For the most part you can pick up just about any one of them out of order, too, because they're a linked series with a whole wide cast of heroines who all get their own stories, so it's basically an endless supply of awesome first-time romances with the occasional established relationship story thrown in for plot continuance.
Oh, and Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff. It's a little... odd, not really the usual kind of romance, by which I mean it's got a certain amount of falling in love really fast and in stressful circumstances and living happily ever after, but it's also got characters who are mostly bisexual and have a lot of sex while pwning the universe with magic, and occasionally with magic pie. I mean, it's never fully stated, but even at the end of the book it's pretty heavily implied that along with the fairy-tale romance of the two main characters, the heroine is also going to continue sleeping with her wanderlust female cousin because monogamy is sort of a general guideline for her family. It's... definitely unique. But in a good way.
Oh my god, I have to stop now before I get completely out of control.