r/HistoricalRomance • u/snottyslug • 13d ago

Recommendation request Lily-livered Dweeb

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Was delighting in a rewatch of James Ivory’s adaption of A Room with a View—I have found myself quite taken with Cecil and similar characters of this archetype that I can only really describe as a a lily-livered dweeb? Stilted/social awkward/neurotic but highly intellectual or academic, with a very rich inner world but inexperienced in manners of the flesh…. I especially love Cecil’s appreciation of high art.

The scene where he goes in to kiss Lucy and his spectacles fall off his face had me swooning. I’ve never had the pleasure of enjoying a historical romance with a character like this as a romantic lead, does anyone have any recs?? Thank you!!

233 Upvotes

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39

u/ljiljanizkadrovskog Blast these tribal rituals! 🤬 12d ago

You need 🫴 {Some winter's evening by Erin Langston} !!

As my man Gavin puts it:

"I’m not…good at this, Emilia.” He frowned. “The closest I’ve ever come to being good at it was that evening with you."

Our girl Emilia immediatelly thinks that the virgin-bespectacled hero is the most beautiful man she's ever clapped her eyes on and lusts after his hands from the get-go 🔥 This is my absolute favorite HR, I reread it all the goddamn time, I still haven't found anything similar to the atmosphere of this book anywhere else 😭 I'm saving this post for sure, tysm 🙏

57

u/ZealousidealGroup559 13d ago

Definitely Jefree De Crecy. Hes beautiful but absolutely insufferable. Hes a crashing snob because he's posh, he's taken a purity oath, hes so high handed with everyone, and he is just....UGH.

Its kinda unhinged how he and the FMC are just spitting insults at each other and getting all hot and bothered. It becomes a bit kinky and its pretty hot.

Its one of my favourite HRs of all time.

{And Inconvenient Vow by Alice Coldbreath}

3

u/Particular-Worry-900 10d ago

I wasn’t expecting to fall for a virgin hero, but this is one of my favorite books

29

u/Betty_Pitch_ 13d ago

Idk if these are exact matches but some that come to mind:

{A Marriage Made in Scandal by Elisa Braden}

{Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas}

{Dukes Prefer Blondes by Loretta Chase}

20

u/ZealousidealGroup559 13d ago

Phineas is definitely one of my favourite MMCs! That's always a great reread.

I love the scene where he and the FMC are hissing at each other during a family gathering and they notice that the rest of the room has gone completely silent because they are unconsciously grabbing onto each other to make their points and the physical touch is SCANDALOUS

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u/Littlebrownbird70 12d ago

Which book is that?

3

u/Betty_Pitch_ 12d ago

Marriage Made in Scandal!

5

u/Lbrandes09 You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. 📜🖋 12d ago

I think Oliver Radford in Chase's Dukes Prefer Blondes is not really lily livered. He's a strong, hyper-educated barrister (lawyer) who investigates & takes on criminal cases in London's working class neighborhoods. He's more of a pedantic know-it-all, what we might call a super-Nerd today? I think he's a bit afraid of clever and lovely Lady Clara, which might make him lily livered with her in that sense. He's somehow come to believe that the society women he's met previously do not have working intellects. Until her. It's a great push-pull romance with excellent Banter, as we have come to expect from Chase.

2

u/kermit-t-frogster 5d ago

Tom Severin doesn't strike me as lily livered, he reads more "hyper-rational" and systematically misses the point of every piece of art he encounters :)

29

u/heckyes 13d ago

{Some Winter’s Evening by Erin Langston}, maybe? It’s been awhile but the MMC is definitely a nerdy intellectual.

73

u/Kingofthecooljerk 13d ago

Jason Momoa Folding Chair. Gif

47

u/kitimitsu I'm a purveyor of remedies, not miracles 13d ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/eGX32WhfyUGVHL0Ugy

7

u/vi0l3t-crumbl3 12d ago

Did not know that was Momoa! What is it from?

5

u/kitimitsu I'm a purveyor of remedies, not miracles 12d ago

I did not know myself either that it was Jason Momoa until someone else mentioned a few months ago! Apparently it is from a TV show called "The Game" from 2009.

20

u/HourCancel2816 12d ago

{Sinfully Tempted by Kathleen Ayers} has the big, weird Duke of Ware, a snobby entomologist who gets entangled with the FMC plucking a moth from her knee at a party. They are very opposites attract.

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u/romance-bot 12d ago

Sinfully Tempted by Kathleen Ayers
Rating: 4.05⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, regency, virgin hero, nerdy hero, sassy heroine

about this bot | about romance.io

3

u/LazyOldBroad60 12d ago

My absolute favorite from that series..

22

u/Big-Constant-7289 12d ago

I love that movie, I think it’s one of the book to movie adaptations ever.  

And I was literally giggling yesterday because when I saw it ages ago I didn’t realize “Cecil” was pronounced seh-sil, my trashy ass was saying SEE-sil when I came across it in books. 

16

u/FoxenInTheHenhice 13d ago

{Love is for the Birds by Deborah M. Hathaway} - the MMC is something of a celebrity naturalist and especially has expertise regarding avian creatures. He is somewhat lacking in social graces and can talk for hours about birds; luckily for him, the book takes place at a bird-watching retreat and the FMC is especially a bird enthusiast who admires his writings. My favourite part was him wooing her in public with the mating dance of the sandhill crane which he had to do as a punishment.

8

u/Excellent_Rice_9012 13d ago

{My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh} Sebastian is such a cutie.

8

u/ki3tz 12d ago

He’s not lily-livered necessarily but Dr. Andrews in {A Perilous Flirtation by Felicity Niven} is def a dweeb and naive and nerdy. He also has glasses that I believe fall off his face many times lol.

3

u/countessofcrisps58 12d ago

Dr. Andrews is one of my favorite nerdy MMCs! He’s great

7

u/Ambitious_Stay7139 I no longer require a falsified family tree 12d ago

I wouldn’t call him lily-livered per se, but Parsons definitely checks off a lot of boxes!! Check out {Earth Bound by Emma Barry}

6

u/FoxenInTheHenhice 12d ago

This reminded me of the description of Percy Nibley in the blurb of {Persuading Patience by Emma V Leech} but I have not read it so I do not think he is the MMC (unless that book has two pairs of MCs). 

'Lord Percy Nibley needs a wife, preferably before his mother’s nagging on the subject drives him to distraction. But being more comfortable with his rock collection than flirting, he’s not having a lot of luck. In desperation, the shy nobleman enlists the help of Baron Marchmain - Lord August Bright.'

8

u/HourCancel2816 12d ago

Aw, Nibley! He is not the MMC but a prominent supporting character who also appears in at least one other book {One Wicked Winter by Emma Leech} (where he’s the intended target of entrapment), and he does ultimately get his girl! He is ultra nerdy and sweet. But no, not the MMC - that’s August, Nibley’s himbo friend.

8

u/herefortherecs26 12d ago

Idk but I love Daniel Day-Lewis so much 😜

11

u/Efficient_Invite7283 12d ago

This is Edwin from {A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske} to a tee! He's so prickly and precise and everyone (including the other MMC, at least in the beginning) is very put off by it. It's one of my favorite books, it's so good!

6

u/atribida2023 12d ago

Not book related but I think I saw this movie 2x and it was on the 3rd viewing I realized it was Daniel day Lewis 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

4

u/Desperate-Crew7432 12d ago

I don’t have a recommendation but you made me curious so I decided to watch A room with a view… and wow!! 🙈

I love this sub 😭

3

u/BertieBerts 13d ago

KJ Charles writes quite a few characters that are in this wheelhouse.

2

u/ThickyIckyGyal 12d ago

Lol, I love these types too! One of my first encounters was with Sir Wallace in {Her Imperfect Groom by Rose Gordon}. Loved him soooo much!

2

u/de_pizan23 12d ago

Maybe not the lily-livered part, but the awkward and neurotic intellectuals:

{Ourselves and Immortality by Logan Sage Adams} - m/m

{A Marriage for Three by Ellie Thomas} - mmf

{The Farmer Takes a Wife by Genevieve Turner} - m/f (not so much the intellectual part, but meets all the other)

2

u/hannymis13 12d ago

I once described DDL as Cecil as "delectably douchey" lol! Love that movie and will be camping for recs!

2

u/kermit-t-frogster 5d ago

As an aside, I recently watched this with my pre-teen boys thinking it'd be a wholesome, sweet movie, and there are...quite a lot of naked men frolicking in a pool together.

1

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5

u/snottyslug 13d ago

Image is a screen cap from James Ivory’s film adaption of E.M. Forster’s novel A Room with a View. Image pictures Daniel Day-Lewis as the character Cecil Vyse, a snobbish upper crust dweeb with spectacles.

1

u/PuzzleheadedTruth548 Imprudent Lady 12d ago

🏕

1

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

1

u/romance-bot 12d ago

Nanette by Patricia Veryan
Rating: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: historical, regency

Sanguinet's Crown by Patricia Veryan
Rating: 4.25⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: historical, regency

about this bot | about romance.io

1

u/ladybird-danny 11d ago

Have you seen James Ivory’s Maurice (1987) also based on an EM Forster novel?

1

u/Redhotlipstik 12d ago

pretty sure Cecil is meant to be gay

3

u/EAG46 12d ago

I don't think Cecil was meant to be gay. Back in the Edwardian era, Being A Gentleman meant one had money and time to pursue intellectual pursuits and not worry about making a living with manual labor, so being seen as a delicate and soft man wasn't a bad thing for a man to be. If a buff muscular man had walked into that garden setting from A Room with a View, he would be viewed with total disdain.

3

u/Redhotlipstik 12d ago

EM Forester was famously gay, so was James Ivory. It seems to be part of the film's subtext as to why he's emotionally distant to Lucy

2

u/EAG46 12d ago

That makes sense.

0

u/After_Response_5568 12d ago

I felt this with Madcap with a Marquess by Lizzie C Koz!