Beauty and the Beast - Physically Wounded Heroes

Historical Romance

I got Elizabeth Hoyt’s newsletter thanking her fans for putting To Beguile a Beast on the bestseller list. The book follows the beauty and the beast theme. That started me thinking about books featuring physically wounded heroes and beautiful heroines. I realized that I had three favorites that fell in that category. In all three books the heroes suffered wounds in a war that left them with visible unattractive scars; scars that caused them to hide from the world.

Here are my three beauty and the beast favorites. Leave a comment if you have others.


To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt was published by Forever in 2009. This is the third book in the The Legend of the Four Soldiers series. Sir Alistair Munroe is a naturalist who traveled with the British Army in America. In an ambush that killed most of the company he was captured and tortured by Indians leaving him with terrible facial scars. He has retreated to his home in Scotland and is living as a recluse when Helen Fitzwilliam arrives with her two children to act as his housekeeper. Helen is hiding her own secrets. To Beguile a Beast is new to my favorite shelf. It can be read as a stand-alone. I purchased it as an e-Book from Fictionwise.

Delacorte published Simply Love by Mary Balogh in 2006. This is part of the Simply Series featuring teachers from Miss Martin’s School for Girls. Sydnam Butler and Ann Jewell are both uncomfortable in polite company. Sydnam has horrible scarring from the war. Ann’s scars are internal. She has a child conceived during a rape. There is an attraction when they are meet but neither thinks they are worthy of love. While it is part of a series it can be read as a stand-alone.

The Unlacing of Miss Leigh by Diane Gaston is a novella published by Harlequin and available only in eBook form. I purchased the story from Fictionwise. Captain Graham Veall came home from the war scarred and a recluse. He decides to hire a mistress and Margaret Leigh responds to his ad thinking he needs a lady’s companion. This is a short but sweet story.