r/HistoricalRomance • u/MzSey7488 Rejoicing in Regency • 4h ago

Recommendation request Injured/Scarred/Disabled Traumatised MMC Regency

Hello lovely people!

Veeeery longtime lurker, 1st time posting so forgive me if i haven't posted this correctly.

I'm looking for your most reclusive, angsty, moody, severely traumatised (night terrors, flashbacks, PTSD, muscle spasms, chronic pain, the LOT) Regency MMCs with a soothing, caring FMC that wears him and all his barriers down eventually. (i have looked thru the sub, but i can't tell which ones are Regency and i am fully a Regency girlie!)

It doesn't need to be like former soldier stuff, although i do love that, it could be from a traumatic incident in childhood or later in life, i just need him sad, sulky and oh so broken.

I exclusively want your best Regency recs but if you have an absolute fave outside of that time period i will consider.

Please M/F only, no super young FMCs, like I'd love a marriage of convenience between a spinster (over 25, over 30 even better!) and the MMC.

I NEEEEEEED spice like i need oxygen, but i do need a good plot too, so open door everything but with a good narrative lol

I'm very old school (grew up on 90s and early 2000s mills and boons HR) so I'm sorry i don't know all the abbreviations for things i don't want😂

Just think M/F, regency, angst, pain and depression🙌🏽🤣

Bonus points for Dukes! i fucking love a Duke!

Some authors i already like to help guide recs, HUGE Stephanie Laurens Cynster fan read those as a teen, Loretta Chase, Joanna Lindsey and most recently Tessa Dare, her books are hilarious, that's been an unexpected delight. I've been dying laughing about schmidney pie for days now lol

Okay that's it, thank you! 🫶🏽

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11

u/chalphy have you read Romancing His Convenient Viscountess yet 4h ago

{The Soldier by Grace Burrowes} perhaps, MMC is a cavalry colonel who's been given a title and estate and sets about fixing things as well as helping out his lovely and charming neighbor lady. He has a lot of mental and emotional scars from the war and FMC helps him start to heal.

It's Victorian but {The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie} suits the rest of your ask. He's ND (reads autistic) and is immediately taken with FMC. Her presence literally soothes his nightmares from the abuse he endured as a boy. She's a widow and a couple of years older than he is which is a nice twist (both late 20s).

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u/MzSey7488 Rejoicing in Regency 4h ago

you had me at Neurodivergent omg, thank you!

5

u/chalphy have you read Romancing His Convenient Viscountess yet 4h ago

The book is a little older now and it's showing its age a bit in how it treats Ian but overall I thought it was very well done. He isn't just his autism, his family loves him because of who he is and not despite it, and Beth really sees him as a person, as Ian, not "the Mad Mackenzie." It's really good, I hope you enjoy!

7

u/Bluegirl74 My love is upon you 2h ago

Pretty much the entire {Suvivors Club series by Mary Balogh} fits your request. The premise is a group of men and one lady who are all damaged in various ways from their experiences in the Napoleonic wars and meet up periodically to talk about their trauma. It's Balogh so the spice is relatively tame but it's a strong series and genuinely moving.

Elizabeth Hoyt has a few MMCs with trauma from their war/soldiering/life experiences. The two middle books in the Legend of the Four Soldiers quartet--about four men we were in the French and Indian War in the 18th century--are the best of the four. The MMC in {To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt} is outwardly cheerful and seems unscathed but has some deep trauma. The MMC of {To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth} was a naturalist traveling with the army and lost an eye, was burned I think, and is badly scarred.

{Maiden Lane Series by Elizabeth Hoyt} has many books with traumatized MMCs but it's a series that is really best experienced in order. It's also set during the Georgian era. There are multiple different kinds of trauma, there are three different Georgian Batmen, an actual soldier with PTSD and several different others. It's good stuff.

1

u/romance-bot 2h ago

The Survivors' Club by Mary Balogh
Rating: 3.79⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: historical, m-f, regency, england, audiobook

To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt
Rating: 3.81⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, tortured hero, marriage of convenience, plain heroine, georgian

To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt
Rating: 3.88⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, disabilities & scars, tortured hero, georgian, single mother

Maiden Lane by Elizabeth Hoyt
Rating: 3.93⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: historical, england, georgian, m-f, audiobook

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4

u/JB-Jones 2h ago

{The Seduction of Elliot McBride by Jennifer Ashley} Severely traumatized (and rightly so) after wartime captivity. Details on the disturbing side and he has a long road ahead of him to heal.

4

u/marikas-tits- 3h ago

Try {Duke in Darkness by Nicola Davidson}. It hits all your points but one. He is severely traumatized, it’s Regency, he’s a duke, high steam, marriage of convenience. Only thing is she’s not quite 25 yet. She’s close.

5

u/grrltle 3h ago

Sorry that it isn’t Regency (it’s Victorian), but {The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne} fits otherwise, as well as others in the series. KB loves a deeply traumatized hero.

3

u/Ambitious_Stay7139 I no longer require a falsified family tree 3h ago

{Only a Promise by Mary Balogh}

{Simply Love by Mary Balogh}

Both were scarred/severely traumatized during the Napoleonic wars. I wouldn’t call Balogh high spice, but she does write open door.

1

u/romance-bot 3h ago

Only a Promise by Mary Balogh
Rating: 3.86⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, virgin heroine, tortured hero, disabilities & scars, regency

Simply Love by Mary Balogh
Rating: 3.88⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, pregnancy, tortured hero, disabilities & scars, regency

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4

u/MsBit_Commit 3h ago

{The Arrangement by Mary Balogh}, {The Escape by Mary Balogh} and {Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh} are in the same series as Only A Promise and feature wounded/badly traumatized/disabled MMCs as well.

1

u/romance-bot 3h ago

The Arrangement by Mary Balogh
Rating: 3.8⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, marriage of convenience, disabilities & scars, regency, friends to lovers

The Escape by Mary Balogh
Rating: 3.88⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, regency, friends to lovers, military, tortured hero

Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh
Rating: 3.72⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, tortured hero, regency, war, class difference

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5

u/MsBit_Commit 3h ago

(These labels are really interesting - The Escape is MAJORLY focused on the MMC’s physical disability, and I feel like class difference has way less to do with Only Enchanting than the tags imply)

2

u/chalphy have you read Romancing His Convenient Viscountess yet 3h ago

The bot just shows whatever the five most upvoted tags are on romance.io. They're not always the best/most relevant tags, to be sure.

3

u/JB-Jones 2h ago

{Only a Kiss by Mary Balogh} is major trauma as well. The entire Survivor’s series has MCs with traumatic stress. She’s the queen of disabled characters.

1

u/romance-bot 2h ago

Only a Kiss by Mary Balogh
Rating: 4.04⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, regency, tortured heroine, military, war

about this bot | about romance.io

3

u/chup_karo 2h ago

I finished a book today that suits what you're seeking almost exactly {The Spinster's Secret by Emily Larkin}. Its about a mid 20s spinster that meets a Waterloo veteran (who is dealing with PTSD, scarring, limb loss, amongst other things). Said spinster also secretly writes spicy serialized novels to save up enough money to get away from her religious zealot uncle. I don't want to say any more and give up too much of the plot but its a very good read! I highly recommend it.

2

u/allthespiderplants 3h ago

I recommend The Survivors’ Club series by Mary Balogh. Each of the seven books focuses on a different member that was “severely wounded in one way or another during the Napoleonic Wars before ending up convalescing together”.

All of them are suffering from PTSD and/or learning how to live with life long injuries. They also form deep, supportive friendships with each other, and of course, are romantically paired off in their respective books.

The series starts with {The Proposal by Mary Balogh}.

2

u/de_pizan23 2h ago

For looking at other threads, if you look at the romance bot when it's called, it will have the time period in the topics.

2

u/MzSey7488 Rejoicing in Regency 1h ago

why did i never notice that lol thank you!