Task #14: Read a romance starring a single parent

[Robin]

Sand's __Mare au diable__? Is it romantic enough? I've been meaning to read some Sand, and this might be my little extra push

[Bonnie G.]

Robin wrote: "Sand's __Mare au diable__? Is it romantic enough? I've been meaning to read some Sand, and this might be my little extra push"

Its a stretch, but sure. There is a HEA of sorts.

[Hayley]

Hi. Does anyone know if Celeste Ng's "Everything I Never Told You" fits this prompt? Thanks!

[Bonnie G.]

Hayley wrote: "Hi. Does anyone know if Celeste Ng's "Everything I Never Told You" fits this prompt? Thanks!"

Its a book about a teen suicide. No romance, no single parents.

[Hope]

Wondering if Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate fits this challenge? There definitely a romance involving a single parent but “starring” is a stretch. And the book is not a romance, it just includes a romance as part of the story.

[Shelley]

I accidently completed this. I did a binge read of the Clean Sweep series and the fourth one Sweep of the Blade is about a single mother trying to fit in at her new love's interstellar vampire royal court while also making sure her five year old half vampire daughter doesn't add to her kill count. Totally cliché premise, I know.

I think it would work as a read alone, just because the prior three stories focused entirely on Maud's sister, with Maud only showing up in the third book. Also, the authors do a really good of over explaining past plot points. I know that can drive some people nuts, but I hate it when authors just drop you in a story and expect you to remember everything from a book that came out two years before hand.

[Christine]

Susan May Warren Take a Chance on Me!!! Not the best but not terrible either!!

[Rebecca]

I chose Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters. This is her debut novel and it is charming! Evie Summers is an assistant at a screenwriting agency who agrees to reenact the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedies to help her #1 client get through his writer's block only to become involved in her own meet-cute.

[Nicole]

I don't much care for romances either and I've tried a couple times with this category. I did end up reading Follow the Stars Home which i found touching.

[Judith]

Thanks to whoever suggested Bewitchberry Cottage some way back - a nice little novella. I really liked the way she described the child, who came across really convincingly, although most of the others were fairly typical romance novel characters.

[Sara]

I counted With the Fire on High for this category. There was definitely a romance, even if it wasn't a main part of the story. (It was also young adult and very mild, if you aren't usually a romance reader.)

[Linda]

Ok. I just finished a YA romance that I am counting for this category: The Accidentals If I can find something else, I might change it, but as it stands, this book had too much sex for me! (I am not someone who likes to read about anything throbbing!)

The teen girl has meets the father she never knew after her mother dies.

[Christi]

Has anyone found a book for this task that's set in Canada, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales? I'm trying to do a bit of an international theme.

[Brandy]

Would an expectant single mom count. Just read The Cactus by Sarah Haywood and she's pregnant throughout and does end up falling for a man who is not the bio dad.

[Christine]

This book was wonderful. About a marriage that failed and the husband never knew he had a daughter and finding out and falling back in love. I just loved this book and if I could would give it more than 5 stars!

[Mariah]

I read Royal Holiday for this and loved it. It’s about an older woman who is a single mom of an adult daughter. The protagonist and the love interest are both black, so it is also diverse romance. I love Guillory’s books!

[Westiegirl]

I read Simply Irresistible which was a fun read for this prompt.

[AJ]

@ChristieKoenig While not entirely set in Scotland, One Plus One by JoJo Moyes has a decent amount of it taking place in Scotland.

For everybody who detests romance novels, read this book!!! It is more of a road trip book than a romance novel. The romance is second fiddle to the primary motive of the book.

[Melissa]

Sue wrote: "Some recommendations:
Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny by Rebekah Witherspoon
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
Tempest by Beverly Jenkins (also fits the histor..."

Excellent! I really like Beverly Jenkins, so I think I'll read Tempest. I never thought I'd like romances until I read one by Beverly Jenkins for a prompt maybe last year? And now, I like romances :) particularly historical fiction ones.

[Audrey]

I read Royal Holiday, also. I enjoyed that the protagonist was a mature/older woman and included references to The East Bay Area of CA.

[Jennifer]

Christi wrote: "Has anyone found a book for this task that's set in Canada, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales? I'm trying to do a bit of an international theme."

Try Jenny Colgan. Her The Bookshop on the Corner was fun & sweet -- and set in Scotland

[Tammy]

Sara wrote: "I counted With the Fire on High for this category. There was definitely a romance, even if it wasn't a main part of the story. (It was also young adult and very mild, if you aren't usually a romanc..."

Thanks, Sara. I'm about 1/3 of the way through this and think I will count it. It's really good so far! A quote from the book: "I keep a tight leash on the words that yank on my tongue: I want to get to know you, too."

[Bobby]

I picked up a copy of Jane Eyre on the cheap and am really enjoying it. Now I'm wondering if I can shoehorn it into this task even though it's not really a romance novel and the main character is not the single parent. Thoughts?

[Erin]

Bobby wrote: "I picked up a copy of Jane Eyre on the cheap and am really enjoying it. Now I'm wondering if I can shoehorn it into this task even though it's not really a romance novel and the main character is n..."

I’d say that’s ultimately up to you, since the purpose of these challenges are to expand your own reading. In my opinion, any book with a romance being central element to the plot/characters could count as a romance, even though if it wouldn’t fit the genre definition. The single parent aspect though, might be too much of a stretch, but ultimately up to you.

[Tiffany]

Anyone have thoughts on whether The House in the Cerulean Sea counts? There is a romance (although not the focus of the book) and one of the parties is a guardian of children at an orphanage.

[Meredith]

It took several trys, but I found a book for this task that I actually enjoyed! Safe Harbour felt like a true love story -- not just need or desire, which turned me off from the other romance books I tried. Thank you, Danielle Steel (!!), for an easy, enjoyable, entertaining summer read. I can see why this is one of your most loved books, and I'm glad I gave it a shot!

[Rachel]

thanks to the suggestion from Sue above, I read Jane Steele. I fully recommend it to those who hate mainline romance. It claims to be in some way related to Jane Eyre: not really. It's about a gritty, serial killer heroine who winds up falling in love and escaping the law. Her love interest is a single dad. It's a nice little love story for those of us who don't like cliches or actual porn.

[kimberly]

I need something very not romance-like for this one. I rarely read from this genre (aside from YA romances) and the covers kill me. I just can't... lol. Any suggestions are appreciated!

[Anne]

Are there any that take place in Australia or China? Trying to find ones that broaden my Nation of Origin section...

[Bonnie G.]

Anne wrote: "Are there any that take place in Australia or China? Trying to find ones that broaden my Nation of Origin section..."

Its not a genre romance, but maybe Dreams of Joy. I think it still works.

[Megan]

I recently finished The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms for this prompt.

[BookWormBen]

Does a book count if the main character is a parent and becomes widowed five chapters into the story?

[Bobby]

ProfBen10 wrote: "Does a book count if the main character is a parent and becomes widowed five chapters into the story?"

I would say if one of the characters in the romance becomes a single parent anywhere in the story it would count.

The book I read for this challenge was Katherine, by Anya Seton. The title character does not even have children when the story begins. She marries one man and has two children by him, then her husband dies and she has an affair with another man, bearing him four children out of wedlock and also helping him raise the children born to him by his first wife. Eventually they get married and there is a happy ending.

[BookWormBen]

OK. Thanks!

[Bonnie G.]

I have read a bunch that fit this prompt, but i just finished Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny and it was a straight up delight, a 4-star for me. Sweet and funny and sexy. There is graphic creative but vanilla sex between (joyfully) consenting adults, which seems to bother some people for some reason, so I figured I would mention it.

The other books I read were
Royal Holiday 2-stars
Rules of Engagement 4-stars
Smooth Talking Stranger 5-stars
Scandalous Desires 3-stars
One to Watch 3-star

[Laurel]

Tiffany wrote: "Anyone have thoughts on whether The House in the Cerulean Sea counts? There is a romance (although not the focus of the book) and one of the parties is a guardian of children at an ..."

I was also wondering about this! Both this and In the Vanisher's Palace aren't necessarily primarily romances, but the protagonist does start a romance with single parents (both via adoption).

Anyone have any feedback to give?

[Pankhuri]

Megan wrote: "M wrote: "The insistence on announcing a refusal to read romance—a broad genre with only one unifying trait (it’s about love or lust with a happy ending)—smacks of internalized misogyny to me. Why ..."

I have to agree with you. This entire genre makes me very uncomfortable, even though I am a woman. I'm also skipping this one.

[Laura Cort]

I read 'when you're ready' by J.L. Berg

[Julia]

I read To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and it was delightful,.

It's a mg/ YA book about preteens who are sent to the same camp because their dads are having a relationship. Yes, there's a "Parent Trap" vibe, there, but the secondary and tertiary characters are fun.

I am not a usual fan of Romance, because I'm a feminist and too often in Romances women are there to be rescued, rather doing the rescuing.

I also have About a Boy & I own it and The Bride Test on my list of books for this challenge, which I may or may not get around to.

[Nancy]

I'm so very late to the party on this prompt, but have decided that for the first year ever, I'm going to finish this challenge! Having been a single parent myself, I have "thoughts" about this topic. I just found a blog post titled "Romances Featuring Realistic Parent/Child Relationships" and I'm going to use one of the titles mentioned in the post. https://allaboutromance.com/aar-loves... I hope it is helpful to others late to the party as well. One of the intriguing titles is It Takes Two to Tumble which is described as a "queer ode to The Sound of Music".

[Julia]

Good luck Nancy! It looks like a fun one.

[Tamsin]

Mullumbimby by Melissa Lucashenko works as a single parent romance where the romance isn't overdone and isn't the key part of the story and I found it to be an entertaining read.

[Virginia]

I read A Bend in the Road.