Happy Mother’s Day! I wanted to take some time and love on the heroines of our books. We love our heroes, of course, but what about the woman behind it all? So many times we see her in a dark place and forget that she also is filled with light.
In this post, I’m going to talk about some single mothers in romance. Ones who not only risk their hearts for love but also are faced with the task of protecting their children. I tend to have a lot of these books. I don’t know if it’s the fact that I was raised by a single mother or spent so much of my life as a military wife feeling much like one myself. Either way, I love showing that heroines can face adversity and come out on top.
I get asked often which of my heroines are my favorites, and the funny thing is, it’s usually one that is the single mother story. This was something I noticed amongst my friends as well. It got me wondering, which are some of yours and do you know you do it as well? Is it the girl power in all of us? Is it because romance is uplifting at its very core? We read for hope. We read for love. We read to see ourselves live the life we desire. We’re strong and wonderful and beautiful and amazing and … all the things. Here are some more beautiful single moms who deserve some love this Mother’s Day!
Bountiful by Sarina Bowen
The heroine of Bountiful is Zara, and she is fierce! She never expected to see her baby’s father again. And when he walks into her coffee shop after two years, she has to reevaluate everything she thought she knew about trusting people.
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Inked Expressions by Carrie Ann Ryan
Everly knows books, her favorite cheese, and her sons. And what she doesn’t know she can usually find in a book. She’s raised her twin sons alone since losing her husband on the day her water broke. She’s strength, determination, and a little stubbornness thrown in. And when her world shattered again and she realizes that her life was a lie? She remained strong. Not just for herself, no, never for herself, but for her boys. Always for her boys.
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Easy Charm by Kristen Proby
Gabby was a young mama, scared out of her mind and heartbroken. But she pulled up her bootstraps and with the help of her family, dedicated herself to her precocious, funny, loving son, Sam. He’s number one, always, and she made sure Rhys understood that from the beginning. She’s the epitome of the courageous mama bear, and I have the utmost respect for her.
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Rescuing Emily by Susan Stoker
Throughout the book, Emily’s daughter, Annie, came first. Everything she did, she did with the safety of her child in mind. She even went without food so her daughter didn’t have to. That kind of devotion and love is what I wish every child had. Everyone needs a mother like Emily.
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From This Moment by Melanie Harlow
I loved writing single mom Hannah and good-guy hero Wes because they were two genuinely nice, mature people (in their mid-30s) who had suffered a terrible loss and understood each other better than anyone–but they couldn’t be together. (Hannah was married to Wes’s identical twin brother, who died suddenly a couple years before.) When Wes moves back to their hometown, Hannah enjoys getting closer to him and watching him be an uncle to her little daughter, but as her feelings for him grow, she struggles with tons of guilt. I love writing that kind of inner conflict, and getting Hannah through it to where she could be happy with Wes was a wonderful journey for me!
Corinne’s Single Mother Books
Natalie finds herself a widow at 27 while 8 months pregnant with her daughter. She wades through grief along with a new baby with so much poise, it’s almost impossible to believe. I can remember writing her and thinking … I would’ve been in a ball by now. But she never was. She was doing the best she could with the hand she was dealt.
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Presley is beyond strong in my mind. She was able to deal with a loss that shook her to her core and still be a wonderful mother. Her boys always came first. Not matter what. She was always a pillar of strength in front of them, even when she was breaking inside.
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One Last Time – Kristin is the first story I wrote where the father wasn’t dead. She had to deal with her divorce, feelings of inadequacy as a woman and mother. Her story was amazing because she went from almost a battered wife to this beautiful, strong, and determined woman. Her growth was everything.
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If I Only Knew – Danielle is probably one of, if not, my favorite. I saw myself in her the most, I think. She was vulnerable in a real way. She was dealing with a teenager who hated her and a five-year-old with a lot of questions. Not that she didn’t have her own to grapple with as well. I think she’s one of those stories where you saw her find herself in every facet of her life.
