#RomBkLove 2021 Day 9: Parenting
05/09/2021
Mother's Day can be a hard day. Hard for the mothers's who feel uncherished, hard for those who have lost their mothers, hard for adults with rocky relationships with their mothers, hard for those who wanted to be mothers and were unable to, hard for biological mothers who adopted out, etc. If any of those apply to you. I hope you take some time for yourself today, and know that you are enough.
I asked the #RomBkLove team to share their inclusive recs about People who Parent in romance.
Today we are going to talk about all people who parent, mothers, fathers, foster parents, siblings, grandparents, loving parental figures in Romance, either as MCs or supporting characters. Share who you find the most compelling!
Lauren @llamareadsbooks recs Reese Ryan's Something About You
Lita and Trey meet when they discover their kids are planning to get married… and are having a baby.
Representation: both MCs are Black and are “grown folks”; author is a Black woman
Content Warnings: alcohol consumption
Hannah @hannahheartsro1 recs Jay Northcote's Second Chance
Nate and his teenage daughter move back to the town he grew up in to stay with his mother. The relationships between all three generations is truly wonderful. The other MC has also moved back in with his parents, though that relationship is less positive. I think this book is a lower-angst exploration of how relationships, including parent-child relationships, evolve through time and life changes.
Representation: Gay trans man MC, gay cis man MC, both are white
Content Warnings: depression, alcoholism, past self-harm, past drunk driving accident, past child abuse, MC’s daughter is drugged at a party, transphobia, misgendering, deadnaming
Nick @nickofthebooks recommends Therese Beharrie's From Heiress to Mum
In this book, Hunter finds out that he’s a father after an ex-hookup of his shows up at his doorstep with a baby in tow. She initially kept her pregnancy from him because they were essentially strangers at the time of the hookup. Hunter is completely at a loss on how to parent and immediately reaches out to his ex-girlfriend/current friend, Autumn, for emotional support. With Autumn’s help, Hunter learns how to be the best father he can to his little guy. I really loved how easily Autumn slipped into the role of a non-traditional parent here too but didn’t necessarily take over the role of a mother. Instead, she’s there to emotionally support Hunter while also growing a bond with his baby. Grace, the birth mother, is also treated so nicely by all the characters involved in the story - there is absolutely no shaming of her character nor is she treated like an evil ex!
(Disclosure: Therese and I are friends)
Representation: Both MCs are Black
Content Warnings: grief, unplanned pregnancy
Archive: Day 9's Tweets:
For a full list of prompts visit: https://www.anacoqui.com/2021/04/rombklove-2021.html