Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Betsy’s mom in MaryJanice Davidson’s Undead series is great. So what if her daughter’s dead as long as she’s happy!

Hi there, new poster here. ^_^

The romance novel mother that leaps immediately to mind for me is Susa Donovan in Elizabeth Lowell’s books--definitely a strong and positive mother figure, to her offspring as well as their eventual spouses. She was particularly cool in Die in Plain Sight, as I recall.

I’m with you, Sarah, on Violet Bridgerton. In fact, there are a few other moms in Quinn’s books that are very cool women. It’s a shame that well-adjusted, interesting mothers aren’t more common in romance.

Jennifer Crusie had a neat mom character in Gwen, from Faking It.  I loved her relationship with Ford, the hit man who brought her drinks with umbrellas.

And Sarah?  Happy first mother’s day!  Give Freebird a hug from all of us.

Georgette Heyer had some very nice mothers, although more for heroes than for heroines IIRC—the mothers in False Colours, Sylvester, and Devil’s Cub spring to mind. Oh, and a sweet-if-not-terribly-effective heroine’s mother in The Unknown Ajax.

I’m sure there are more…

Maria Fitzgerald in Mary Jo Putney’s “One Perfect Rose” is a great mom.  Actually Rosalind’s relationship with her adoptive parents is one of the best things about this book.

I thought I had a great mother to add, then realised she was in detective novels and not romance novels.  I’m going to toss her into the mix (so to speak) anyway.

Honoria, Dowager Duchess of Denver is Dorothy L. Sayers’ Whimsy novels.  I do like her.

Ditto on Gwen from Faking It and Queen Betsy’s mom from the Undead and... series. 

Another good mom is Susan Templeton from La Nora’s Dream trilogy.  Kind, supportive, successful.

I thought I had a great mother to add, then realised she was in detective novels and not romance novels.  I’m going to toss her into the mix (so to speak) anyway.

Honoria, Dowager Duchess of Denver is Dorothy L. Sayers’ Whimsy novels.  I do like her.

I loved these books because of the relationship between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane. I read them when I was first at university many moons ago and they got me through some lonely times.

I liked Adelaide from Eloisa James’ Potent Pleasures, briskly and lovingly reassuring her deflowered daughter that virginity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and provided she keeps her mouth shut about it, there’s absolutely no need for her life to be over.

(Of course, the hero has a different view, and the rest of the novel becomes all about Who Got My Heroine’s Virginity, Dammit, Oh Wait, It was ME, Hurrah!  But Adelaide’s scene provided a much-needed perspective...)

I heartily second (third? fourth?) Gwen from Faking It. I love it when a mom is her own person, instead of just serving to provide interference/comic relief/tired plot points.

I agree on Gwen from Faking It, also Meggie from Crazy About You

Not really romance, but who can forget Grandma Mazur from the Stephanie Plum books?

The mother in Alexis Fleming’s Stud Finders, Inc. is awesome.  Open, supportive, slightly crazy, and all-around fun.  Reminded me of my own mom!

Ha, I’ll add my drop to the Gwen from Faking It bucket.  She was so cool, and so multifaceted.

Lady Sinclair in Shirley Karr’s What An Earl Wants.  Marvellously scheming on behalf of her son.  Looks good in yellow.

I second (fifth, tenth...) Gwen in Faking It.  Well, most of the mothers in JC’s books are pretty cool (except Phin’s in Welcome to Temptation, who is terrifying).

here’s another Mother’s Day vote for Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series. Violet is awesome, and JQ also wrote a heroine (Kate Sheffield) who has a loving, close relationship with the stepmother who raised her. Thumbs up for non-evil stepfamilies!

Anna Quinn! and seth’s other mother’s too, but mostly anna. cuz she rocks.
not that my mommy doesn’t!

In addition to JQ’s Violet, one of the others I can think of off the top of my head is Crystabel Ashcroft from Lauren Royal’s Flower Series.

Well, it’s pushing it to call it romance, but Cordelia from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan novels gets my vote.

I loved the mother in false colours. She was so charming and silly. The mother in Sylvester was a lot more intelligent though. I also really (oddly) liked the gouty, grumpy father in Charity Girl. Overall, Arabella’s parents were the most balanced. They seemed like such a nice family and it was so cute when Mr. Beaumaris told Arabella that he spent the whole evening talking to her father “until the candles gutted in their sockets” and she was like “Dear sir! What *did* you talk about!” But that whole last scene in Arabella is so great.

I guess a lot of romance novels are of the type where to be a heroine or hero the character must have had a pretty rough childhood and everyone has the worst parents possible to make for interesting pillow talk and themes of redemption or something.

Although maybe it’s just so that the protagonists in books where more...action takes place can have more privacy. It’s hard for me to read a romance novel where the hero and heroine are off doing it somewhere and someone like Violet Bridgerton is just around the corner knitting or something.