[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by pisceschick

I have to admit that GB is my shameless wallpaper weakness. I know her history's not terribly strong, but I *love* those beta heroes of hers.

I'm trying to remember which character Jane was talking about. The only illegitimate offspring I can think of that has something that's normally inherited was given an Earldom that had reverted back to the crown because the Earl had died without a surviving heir. There wasn't anyone from other branches of that family that qualified, and the hero that was given the title earned it because of his superior wartime service.

Spoiler:

Well, at first guess it was Devlin's book (The Soldier), since he was 1) given the earldom despite his illegitmacy at his parents' request to the crown (although it was stated it was because of service during the way) and 2) he also "inherits" the illegitimate daughter of the previous earl...and his earldom just happened to be written in such a way that Winnie could be the one to inherit the title. LATER EDIT: I saw in the book today that actually, if he has a (natural) son, that son will inherit. If he doesn't, Winnie's first-born son will inherit. That's even weirder than I originally thought.

Then you have Maggie's book where she and Vim decide to adopt the abandoned baby - who was the child of a housemaid and a footman.

Then there was Douglas' book - he married Victor's first wife who'd been living in hiding and believed herself to have been duped (so everyone who assume her child was illegitimate).

I could have sworn there's another one, but I can't remember for sure.

Originally Posted by pisceschick

And I can't stand paranormals because those strong and independent heroines to me are often written as TSTL or mega-bitchy. To each their own, then?

I like paranormals, but I have to not read too many in a row for that reason. Although...I just listened to a couple of historical romance audiobooks that got on my nerves. The first book's heroine was a shrew. Sometimes I wonder if I would enjoy books like that more if I'd just read them - I don't always expect the same "intonation" for thing said in the book as the one the narrator goes with.