Posted May 10, 2019 by Suzanne in Front Page, Top Ten, Under the Covers / 6 Comments
With mothers day coming up, I thought it would be a fantastic time to talk about our favourite mum heroines. Although, please note I am using the title ‘mum’ to describe any female guardian of a child; adoptive parents and guardians need love to! (For all the dads/male guardians, they can wait for fathers day for their list!) But, I love a mum heroine. Not only do you often get the ‘cute kid’ scenes, but I like the maturity that motherhood often brings to a heroine. They have to put the needs of their child before themselves, and that often includes their love life. Which makes the romance deliciously complicated.
Lisa Miller
from Grim by M.K. Eidem
#1 Tornian series
I can’t do a recommendation list and not have a sci fi alien romance on it. Luckily, one of my favourite sci fi romances happens to slot in perfectly. Lisa, a single mum, has been abducted, however, she isn’t worried about herself…it’s the two young children she has left behind. However, only one of her captors is willing to go back and get her children, on one condition, she agrees to be his mate. She accepts gladly. This book…it hits all my sweet spots! A curvy heroine, adorable kids, a gorgeous hero who is just a big sexy marshmallow. Cue my swoon!
BOOK INFO
Released: August 30th 2013
Series: Tornians #1
Published by M.K. Eidem
Pages: 438
King Grim Vasteri is the strongest, most feared warrior in the Tornian Empire. He has been sent by his Emperor to find and retrieve compatible females for their dying civilization.
King Grim Vasteri is the strongest and most feared warrior in the Tornian Empire. He is the King of Luda, blood brother to the Emperor and his line will die with him. He will have no offspring for no female would join with him for once he was scarred he was considered 'unfit'. The Tornian Empire has been dying ever since the great infection caused the birth of females to become a rarity. Since then they have been searching the known universes for compatible females. The Emperor's discovery of a compatible female on a slave ship changed that. He'd ordered Grim to find his Empress' home world so more 'unprotected' females could be obtained, knowing Grim would never be allowed to Join with one.
Lisa Miller is a widowed mother of two little girls, Carly and Miki. Her husband died just a year ago, after a long battle with cancer and she misses him immensely. Friends want her to start dating again but in her heart, she knows there isn't a man on the planet she could love like her Mark. Who could love their girls like their own. Therefore, she'll stay alone.
When Lisa is discovered 'unprotected' at her husband's grave, she wakes on an alien ship heading for an alien world. Refusing to accept this she confronts the large males, demanding she be returned to her children. Seeing his chance to have a female, Grim agrees to accept and protect her offspring, if she agrees to Join with him and only him. Realizing this is the only way she can retrieve her children Lisa agrees and the Tornian Empire changes forever.
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Lilly Donovan
from Until Lilly by Aurora Rose Reynolds
#3 Until series
This book is a double whammy as it features a single mum and a single dad. It’s utterly perfect if you want something that’s short and sweet.
BOOK INFO
Released: February 27, 2014
Series: Until #3
Published by Self Published
Pages: 259
When Cash Mayson was forced to choose between the love of his life and his unborn child, he knew exactly what he had to do. No matter how broken it left him.
When Lilly Donovan was forced to accept that the guy she loved wasn’t who she thought he was and became a single mother, she knew exactly what she had to do. Proving just how strong she was.
What happens when years later you find out that everything you thought you knew was a lie?
Can two people who once loved each other overcome the obstacles that are thrown at them and fall in love all over again?
Cash Mayson had forgotten how it felt to be loved Until Lilly came back into his life. And now that he remembers, he will do everything within his power to keep not only the woman that he loves, but also his children.
The power of love is a beautiful thing.
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Ginger Paulson
from Raising Kane by Lorelei James
#9 Rough Riders series
I am not a fan of the bad boy hero character type, so when I first read Raising Kane featuring hell raiser Kane I wasn’t that excited about it, but I loved the series so I picked it up. Little did I know that Kane had transformed into a reformed bad boy. That is something I can get into. Kane isn’t the man he used to be; he’s grown up and wants to give back, which is why he is part of the Little Buddies programme. But, as fantastic as Kane is… Ginger our single mother who has her boy in the Little Buddies programme is who I love. She’s strong and independent with a heart full of compassion, I can see why Kane fell so hard for her.
BOOK INFO
Released: June 29th 2010
Series: Rough Riders #9
She surrendered the reins. Now he's raising the stakes.
When a patch of ice sends attorney Ginger Paulson head-over-high-heels down a flight of stairs, she has no one to care for her young son and her invalid father - until lethally sexy Kane McKay shows up at the hospital, determined to prove his cowboy chivalry. Past experience has inoculated her against take-charge men, but even Ginger isn't immune to Kane's invasive charm and Built Ford Tough body.
For two years rancher Kane McKay has followed the Little Buddies mentoring program's cardinal rule - hands off his Little Buddy Hayden's mama. But one look at Ginger's bruised body and Kane is through watching the stubborn woman take care of everyone but herself. The feisty, curvy redhead needs his help, and he'll give her the hands-on type whether she likes it or not.
After Kane throws out doctor's orders and issues his own demands - her full sexual submission - Ginger realizes Kane's caring nature extends beyond just fulfilling her physical needs.
Can the former hell-raiser convince the gun-shy single mom to look beyond his past - toward a shared future?
Warning: Contains one sweet and hot hunk of cowboy manflesh who uses every sexual trick in the book to render a sassy, fast-talking attorney speechless and put a new twist on the term "binding arbitration"
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Helen Fitzwilliam
from To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt
#3 Legend of the Four Soldiers series
If you’re a fan of fairy tale re-imaginings then To Beguile a Beast is perfect. It’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling involving a scarred naturist and a former courtesan with the addition of children. What I love about books where you have a hero or heroine with children is seeing the bond form between the children and the parent’s love interest and this book does this so well. They are all wounded in different ways and human kindness and acceptance goes a long way towards healing.
BOOK INFO
Released: May 1st 2009
Series: Legend of the Four Soldiers #3
Published by Forever
Pages: 374
CAN A WOUNDED BEAST . . .
Reclusive Sir Alistair Munroe has hidden in his castle ever since returning from the Colonies, scarred inside and out. But when a mysterious beauty arrives at his door, the passions he's kept suppressed for years begin to awaken.
TRUST A BEAUTY WITH A PAST . . .
Running from past mistakes has taken legendary beauty Helen Fitzwilliam from the luxury of the ton to a crumbling Scottish castle . . . and a job as a housekeeper. Yet Helen is determined to start a new life and she won't let dust-or a beast of a man-scare her away.
TO TAME HIS MOST SECRET DESIRES?
Beneath Helen's beautiful façade, Alistair finds a courageous and sensual woman. A woman who doesn't back away from his surliness-or his scars. But just as he begins to believe in true love, Helen's secret past threatens to tear them apart. Now both Beast and Beauty must fight for the one thing neither believed they could ever find-a happy ever after.
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Diana Casillas
from Wait For It by Mariana Zapata
If I can get Mariana Zapata on a recommendation list I will, I love her books they are full of slow burn romance goodness. Wait For It isn’t her most popular title, however, I really enjoyed it. Diana is the guardian of her two nephews and I just loved her relationship with them. It was tragic, they’d all suffered a loss, but beautiful as well as she embraces them fully into her life and takes on a mother figure role.
BOOK INFO
Released: December 8th 2016
Published by Self Published
If anyone ever said being an adult was easy, they hadn't been one long enough.
Diana Casillas can admit it: she doesn't know what the hell she's doing half the time. How she's made it through the last two years of her life without killing anyone is nothing short of a miracle. Being a grown-up wasn’t supposed to be so hard.
With a new house, two little boys she inherited the most painful possible way, a giant dog, a job she usually loves, more than enough family, and friends, she has almost everything she could ever ask for.
Except for a boyfriend.
Or a husband.
But who needs either one of those?
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Alexis
from King of Hearts by L.H. Cosway
#3 Hearts series
There is so much to love about this book, L.H. Cosway gleefully tap dances on our heart strings and has you smiling one moment and heartbroken the next. I don’t want to say too much though as it would give major spoilers. But needless to say…read this book, you won’t regret it.
BOOK INFO
Released: July 16th 2015
Series: Hearts #3
Published by L.H. Cosway
Pages: 308
Welcome to the City, London’s most prestigious square mile, where finance reigns and Oliver King is a rising prince.
I used to rule the world.
There might be wolves on Wall Street, but there were crocodiles in Canary Wharf. Some of us craved money. Some of us craved power.
I liked money, and power had its advantages, but what I really wanted was to excel, to surpass the men who came before me. I never cared much for love and romance until I met Alexis.
I could feel it the very moment she walked into the interview, with her outspoken charm and vivacious personality. She cast all the others in shadow, made me laugh when life held no humour. Our friendship should have remained professional, but it wasn’t long before the lines started to blur.
You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? Well, I never foresaw where my plans would lead, and only in my darkest hour did I finally see the light…
You can have all the money and prestige in the world and still be the poorest man alive. And love, well, I hate to use a tired old cliché, but love can be the thing that truly sets you free.
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Phoebe, Lady Clare
from Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas
#5 The Ravenels series
Devil’s Daughter was one of my most anticipated released of 2019, I adore Lisa Kleypas, she writes some of the best romances. However, she doesn’t often include children in her relationship dynamics. But, like she does everything else, she did this fantastically. The relationship between her and her children was lovely and some of my favourite moments in the book was when she, West (our hero) were out with the children. Hot men being kind and cute with kids…it’s an ovary explosion.
BOOK INFO
Released: February 19, 2019
Series: The Ravenels #5
Published by Avon
Pages: 384
Although beautiful young widow Phoebe, Lady Clare, has never met West Ravenel, she knows one thing for certain: he's a mean, rotten bully. Back in boarding school, he made her late husband's life a misery, and she'll never forgive him for it. But when Phoebe attends a family wedding, she encounters a dashing and impossibly charming stranger who sends a fire-and-ice jolt of attraction through her. And then he introduces himself...as none other than West Ravenel.
West is a man with a tarnished past. No apologies, no excuses. However, from the moment he meets Phoebe, West is consumed by irresistible desire...not to mention the bitter awareness that a woman like her is far out of his reach. What West doesn't bargain on is that Phoebe is no straitlaced aristocratic lady. She's the daughter of a strong-willed wallflower who long ago eloped with Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent—the most devilishly wicked rake in England.
Before long, Phoebe sets out to seduce the man who has awakened her fiery nature and shown her unimaginable pleasure. Will their overwhelming passion be enough to overcome the obstacles of the past?
Only the devil's daughter knows…
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Violet Winters
from At Peace by Kristen Ashley
#2 The ‘Burg series
Kristen Ashley tends to write more single dads then she does mums, but one of my favourite romances by her is At Peace whose heroine is single mum Violet. Violet is mum to twin teenage daughters and moves next door to the extremely hot Joe Callahan. Now, Joe. Joe is an alphahole, something I don’t normally tolerate, but damn I love him anyway. As for Violet I really loved her and her relationship with her girls, when the kids in a book are babies/toddlers cute moments are much easy to create. Teenagers aren’t cute. However, they are funny and I love the closeness of the mother-daughter relationship in At Peace.
BOOK INFO
Released: January 2nd 2015
Series: The 'Burg #2
Published by Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Pages: 621
Violet Winters once had it all but lost it when her husband was murdered by a criminal madman. During a cold winter night Violet has to leave her warm bed to tell her neighbor to turn the music down. And that’s when she meets sinister, scarred, scarily attractive security specialist, Joe Callahan.
She wants to deny it, but Violet can’t beat back the hunger she feels for Joe so she gives in again and again. Feeling it himself, Joe feeds Vi’s hunger, breaking his own rules to keep her in his bed.
Even though Violet had only one man in her life, she’s sure Joe is giving her the signals and Vi decides she’s ready to take a second chance at life and, maybe, love. But Violet doesn’t know the dark secrets in Joe’s past, secrets so soul-wrenching, they’ve drained him dry. With nothing left to give, Joe’s determined to live his life alone and he breaks Violet’s heart.
Crushed by Joe’s betrayal, Violet comes to terms with the fact that, no matter what signals he gave, Joe was not theirs to win. But Violet’s husband’s murderer is obsessed with her and heartbreak again haunts the door of the Winters home. When it does Joe is forced to face the knowledge that he can’t fight Violet’s pull, she’s under his skin and filled him full to bursting.
Joe needs to win her back and put his life on the line to keep Violet safe. But, having had it all once, can Violet endure losing Joe?
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Abby Davis
from Worth the Fall by Claudia Connor
#1 The McKinney Brothers series
Claudia Connor has written so many great books that feature single mothers and I highly recommend you read all of them. But I had to pick just one for this list, so I landed on Abby. She won on head count alone – she has four kids and is pregnant with her fifth when she meets Matt our hero. The kids in this book steal the show, they are so darn cute and Abby is utterly devoted. This is a sweet summer romance that will leave you with a smile on your face and reaching for the next book.
BOOK INFO
Released: September 7th 2014
Series: The McKinney Brothers #1
Pages: 312
They meet on a beach. . . . Abby Davis isn’t wearing a skimpy bikini or sipping umbrella drinks, not when she’s busy chasing around four little ones. And Matt McKinney isn’t looking for fun—he’s a Navy SEAL, a grown man with a long list of missions . . . and fallen brothers.
They only have a week. . . . Abby has brought her children to this beach to start over, to give them the enjoyable memories they deserve. Matt’s been sidelined by a combat injury, and haunted by the best friend he lost and the promise he made: to remain a SEAL—focused and dedicated. This leaves no time for what he’s always wanted: a family.
But a week is all it takes. . . . Matt opens her heart while Abby soothes his soul. And though they plan to say good-bye when the week is over, something magical happens on that beach, something neither can forget. Something utterly, completely worth falling for.
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Ella Varner
from Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
#3 Travises series
When I was thinking about some of my favourite book mums, the first person that came to mind for me was Ella from Smooth Talking Stranger. But, Ella isn’t a mum, she’s an aunt who has taken on responsibility for looking after her nephew Luke. Watching Ella and baby Luke form a maternal bond was beautiful, it really showed that you don’t have to birth a child to be a mother. Tack on Jack Travis taking care of Luke and this book is guaranteed to melt your ovaries.
BOOK INFO
Released: March 31st 2009
Series: Travises #3
Published by St. Martin's Press
Pages: 340
Jack Travis leads the uncomplicated life of a millionaire Texas playboy. He makes no commitments, he loves many women, he lives for pleasure. But no one has ever truly touched his heart or soul. Until one day, a woman appears on his doorstep with fury on her face and a baby in her arms. It seems Jack is the father and this woman is the baby's aunt. The real mother has abandoned the child to her more responsible sister. And now, Jack is being called upon to take responsibility for the first time in his life. With delicious romantic tension, characters so real they walk onto the page and into your heart, Lisa Kleypas delivers the kind of novel that makes you laugh, love; cry and cheer ...in Smooth Talking Stranger.
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Gosh, we all seem to be admitting our ages…and I hate that I am at the point in life when admitting my age is a “thing”…whodda thunk it? I was kind of hoping I would remain 21 forever. However, I have moved out of that New Adult stage of my life and am now strictly in the Contemporary Romance age zone of 28. I would prefer to be in an Urban Fantasy arena, but I don’t think I own enough black leather. However, I could probably squeeze into some PNR, I am fully prepared to give a horn job to my favourite demon, or suck on my sexy vamps…fangs and I am definitely up for some heavy petting with some fine looking shifters. Than again their’s always Sci Fi…I am fully prepared to do the right thing and help some poor alien race with more 6 packs than a supermarket repopulate their planet. Not that I am loose woman or anything.
Annnnnd I will stop myself there, before I start waxing lyrical about my love of historical romance and fantasy as well; no one needs to know about my elf fantasies. As you can tell, I adore and day dream about most romance genres, and my three big loves are 1) reading about romance 2) writing about romance and 3) talking about romance with my gals. Which, is why I love Under the Covers so much, I get all my bookish needs satisfied and don’t get judged when I talk about my favourite characters like they are real people. Which they are right?
Latest posts by Suzanne (see all)
I’m drawing a blank, I know I’ve read and loved quite a few but no titles are coming to mind
You forgot one of the most famous mothers: Violet Bridgerton by Julia Quinn.
She is definitely my number 1!
Violet bridgerton from the bridgerton series, bridget valentine from dear bridget, I want you are the first 2 to pop in my head. Lisa miller is a good choice.
March Lawson in Luck of the Bride is the mom-figure/older sister and doing everything she can to help her family survive
I agree with Violet Winters and I’ve never really thought about this.