Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

In Christine Feehan’s Shadow Game, the heroine has a severe limp.  I would classify the book as contemporary with paranormal elements, so not actually very SF/F.  It’s the first book in her military GhostWalkers series.

The heroine is Sandra Brown’s Unspeakable is deaf.  But to be honest I don’t remember enough of the story to say if SB cops out on the ending. 

answer72.  Hmm, I can think of about 7 books where the hero has a handicap, but only 2 with the heroine.

It’s not SF but Raeanne Thane’s story, Dancing in The Moonlight, has a heroine who was a military nurse who lost the lower part of her leg in Afghanistan. The story focuses on her recovery and coming to terms with her loss - permanently. No magic cure. It is one of the free Silhouettes on Amazon.

It’s a Regency Historical and not SF/F, but Amanda Quick’s Reckless has a heroine who walks with a limp due to a childhood accident.

(And now I wish I had it at hand for a reread…)

Heather, If you haven’t read any of Catherine Anderson’s books I highly recommend that you do.

You can start with Annie’s Song - an historical where the heroine is deaf and her hero helps her overcome the prejudices she faces in a hearing world. After that read Phantom Waltz - the heroine is paralyzed and despite the fact that she will never walk again finds a satisfying HEA. In addition Anderson’s other handicapped heroines include a woman who is brain damaged as well as a woman who goes blind.  Yes, Anderson does deal with handicapped heroines quite a bit and their HEA never requires that they are miraculously cured. Instead they find happiness with heroes who love them and accept them as they are.

Oh, I like this question - will definitely be keeping an eye on this thread!

Just an aside: Shouldn’t it be ‘disabled heroines’ or ‘heroines with a disability’ (although obviously both the British and the American usage destroy the handsome alliteration…)?

In Marjorie Liu’s The Fire King, one of the big issues of the novel is that the heroine has to learn to cope with the loss of her arm (which happened before the book began).

Mouth to Mouth by Erin McCarthy has a deaf heroine who is still deaf at the end

Diana Palmer’s Fearless is a contemporary romance featuring a disabled heroine. She walks with a cane and at times has a pronounced limp. She may have one or two others, but the names escape me at the moment.

Having disabilities myself, I’ve really been playing with the idea of writing the disabled heroine lately in a future work. I also primarily write SF, so after reading this and seeing there’s an interest, it’s moving higher up on my to do list.

How about Elizabeth Bear’s Jenny Casey series (Hammered, etc.)? More sf than romance, but there are romantic elements. Including, if I remember rightly, a sex scene on a space elevator- the biggest phallic symbol ever conceived? Although I’m not sure whether you’d call Jenny “disabled” or “enhanced”- she’s partly bionic as a result of war wounds, but her bionic parts are failing.

I’ll second or third Catherine Anderson’s older books (it appears she converted or reaffirmed or something recently and newer books are heavy on the Catholic ideals which might annoy some)

I’ve a heroine disabled via accident in Tea for Three (mmf, set in NZ) from Loose Id.

(And ps I was told off recently for the use of handicapped… not pc these days, apparently. Disabled/differently-abled I believe is the current phrasing)

Out of the Blue by Sally Mandel.  Heroine has MS which she has been previously diagnised with prior to start of the book.

Also, the heroine of “What a Scoundrel Wants” by Carrie Lofty is blind, and an alchemist!

I have a disability myself (in fact, 2) since birth and I can tell you that a limp is not a disability so that in itself is a cop-out IMHO.  Having said that I do recall Danielle Steele’s book, Palomino, which featured a paraplegic heroine.

A very early Christina Dodd - Candle in the Window - is I think a lovely medieval where at the end the heroine keeps on being blind (she was born blind), although the hero regains his eyesight.

Lady Saura of Roget lived a lonely life of servitude—her fortune controlled by her unscrupulous stepfather—until she was sumoned to the castle of Sir William of Miraval. The magnificent knight had once sworn to live or perish by the sword. But that was before his world was engulfed in agonizing darkness.

They came together in a blaze of passion—the raven-hared maiden and the golden warrior who laid siege to her heart. Yet danger awaited them just beyond the castle walls. Saura and William soon found themselves fighting for their lives, even as they surrendered to an all-consuming love.

There are lovely side characters, like a dog and the hero’s son and father and the heroine’s older confidante (who gets together with the father) and a villain you really enjoy hating.

I’m trying to remember which of Katie MacAlister’s Dark Ones books has a heroine with various problems following a car crash. I do remember that when she’s made immortal, she’s annoyed that her problems aren’t cured, and she’ll have a wasted leg for eternity.

I’m going to mention The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne, because although the heroine’s blindness is cured, she tackles it in such an awesome way. “I’m not blind,” she snaps, “I just can’t see.”

I’ve written a blind heroine, but confess I negated it by giving her second sight. I’m in the process of writing another, and can occasionally be found wandering around my own house with my eyes closed, bumping into things in the name of research.

Christine Feehan has another heroine in The Carpathians series (sorry, don’t remember the name). She is a blind pianiste and after bonding with her mate, discovers she is a shapeshifter who can see shapes of the objects with her animal senses.

I recall reading years ago a Silhoutte where the heroine was in a wheel chair.  She had some sort of condition where her legs could not support her body, but she was able to carry a child(and got pregnant in the book).  If I remember it was a cute, fun story and I did a quick Google search and found A Little Bit Pregnant http://www.amazon.com/Little-Pregnant-Silhoutte-Special-Readers/dp/0373245734

One of my all time fav romances is Erin McCarthy’s Mouth to Mouth.  The heroine in this story is deaf, but has learned to adapt to the world around her.  The hero is an undercover officer. There’s a lot that goes on in the story, but I love the way they learn to communicate with each other with and without words.  It’s sexy, and emotional, and at times suspenseful.  I LOVE it, it’s one of my fav reads!

Then there is also Beth Williamson’s newest historical romance The Stranger’s Secrets.  The heroine in this one is handicapped (something wrong with her leg).  I haven’t had the chance to read this one yet, but it’s at the top of my wish list

Not a heroine, but a disabled hero: India Grey’s HQ Presents. ‘Mistress: Hired for the Billionaire’s Pleasure’ features a hero becoming blind and having to come to terms with it through the book.  What I really liked was the way that there is no suggestion at any point of a possible cure - instead he has to deal with the fact that this is now who he is and stop feeling sorry for himself.  And get on and win the girl.

The heroine in Ride a Storm by Quinn Wilder had been injured falling from a horse, which result in her having restricted movement and limited physical activity. The injury happen prior to the start of the novel and prior to when she met the hero. There isn’t a cope-out at the end, but the hero does convince the heroine that her injuries aren’t as restricting as she thinks.

And then there’s LaVyrle Spencer’s THE GAMBLE.  The heroine has a badly cripple leg/hip that causes her to limp badly and be in pain a lot (I can’t remember if injury is from an accident or whether she was born with the disability—must go re-read- now).  This is one of her historicals, set in Kansas, Victorian era.

Hmmm spamword married34 (well, actually a bit longer than that)

@Cat Marsters - the Katie MacAlister book is Sex and the Single Vampire.  And I remember when she was annoyed she wasn’t healed as well as a scene with the Vampire along the lines of “wait, is that the only reason you wanted to be turned, you didn’t really love me?”  Which I thought was nicely done.

Mouth to Mouth gets a thumbs up from me.  I really enjoyed it.  Plus, the fact that the heroine is deaf is dealt with, but the relationship and it’s issues are NOT about her deafness.  If I remember right, she’s pretty rich and he’s pretty working class, with a kid.  Very good book.

Can severely disfigured stand in for disabled? I’ve read a few books with horribly scarred protagonists, though I can only remember one clearly—one of Kresley Cole’s Highlander series, with a hero who had his face pretty much mutilated before the story starts. Not as dramatic as a truly disabled character (loss of a sense or the ability to move around normally) I suppose, as all you really need is for the other protagonist to not be too shallow.

This isn’t necessarily a romance book, but did any of you ever see the heavy flirtation between Joey Lucas (deaf) and Josh Lyman (not deaf) on the West Wing Season 2?
The writers never let it go so far, but Josh was completely smitten with Joey, and the flirty conversations between him, her and her interpreter Kenny were sweet and adorable. The fact that she couldn’t hear was never an issue.

On oldie but a goodie:

Palomino by Danielle Steele - The heroine is actually injured in the book, not before the story starts, and the resolution of the story is very HEA tied up in a big frickin’ bow, but I loved the way she didn’t end up being held back by it. No, I won’t give spoilers, you’ll just have to find out how it affects her twue wuv. *wink*

The only book I can think of has already been mentioned: Candle in the Window by Christina Dodd.  The only other I’ve read that might qualify is Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer.  The handicap doesn’t happen until the end of the book, and it’s the hero not the heroine.

Among historicals, Mary Balogh’s Dancing with Clara and Eloisa James’ Fool for Love both feature heroines with a severe limp. There’s another one I can’t remember, but I think it was a Jo Beverley.

I definitely remember reading a Regency trad years ago in which the heroine becomes blind as a child after being hit by a carriage which the hero is driving—he doesn’t realize anything is wrong and drives off after being assured she’ll be fine.  They meet again years later.  I don’t THINK she miraculously recovers at the end.  Does anyone know what book I’m talking about?

I’m not really sure this is a “disability”... yet it’s a true inability to communicate. This is SF.

Sarah can’t speak—except in quotes. Plus?

“Sarah can never truly assimilate, for she possesses wild talents. Walls tell her their secrets. Safes tell her their combinations. And a favorite toy dragon whispers dire warnings about those who would exploit her for their own malevolent purposes. There’s no place Sarah can hide, from her pursuers or from her past…”

It’s called Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls
the author is Jane Lindskold

PS: I guess it is a disability—she’s a high-functioning autistic who views herself as insane.

there was one just recently that Harlequin offered for free in December. I got it from the allromanceebooks.com.  The woman was an amputee after being hurt by a roadside bomb in Afghanastan.  She came home and a boy she grew up with is now a doctor and he’s been secretly in love with her forever.  No detail of the amputee discomfort or limitations is spared in this book.  I enjoyed it even more for that reason alone.

P.C. Hodgell’s Kencyrath Series (God Stalk, Dark of the Moon, Seeker’s Mask, To Ride a Rathorn) features a heroine/protagonist who is cursed in such a way that she’s physically altered, marked, and reviled by her own. I simply ADORE this series and am really excited to see that there’s a new book due out this year!

oh—and how could I forget the Jani Killian books by Kristin Smith? This is definitely SF, slightly hard of center. The five books are: Code of Conduct, Rules of Conflict, Law of Survival, Contact Imminent, Endgame

Jani Killian is a veteran of a war that was neither lost nor won. Left for dead, and then rebuilt using both technology and alien DNA, her mechanical legs often fail her, her soldier implant interacts badly with her new physiology, and she’s constantly finding things she is now allergic to, or can suddenly be around. Her medical issues are a constant drumbeat behind her life. There’s a sort of HEA in book four. I haven’t gotten to book five yet….

Simply Love by Mary Balogh features Sydnam Butler, the hero, who was tortured so severely in the Napoleonic Wars by the despicable French (ptui!) that he is blind in one eye, has only one arm, and has severe, disfiguring scars down one side of his face and body.

There is no copout, he will always have these physical handicaps, plus he is psychologically frozen up, dealing with the way people react to his visible scars.

All about Romance has a great listings for exactly this type of heroine and disabled heroes as well.  http://www.likesbooks.com/disabled.html and http://www.likesbooks.com/lessthan.html

I’m on a Sarah McCarty kick right now, so I’d suggest Promises Linger by Sarah McCarty.  The heroine Jenna limps from an accident that the hero saved her from previously and she still limps at the end of the book.

Not sure if it counts, but I remember the heroine of Lisa Kleypas’s Again the Magic (historical) having had her legs horribly burned in a fire.  If I recall correctly, her legs are awfully scarred and her walking/dancing ability is impaired.

Suzanne Brockmann’s Into the Fire has a deaf heroine and, as best I can recall, avoids cop-outs related to her deafness.

I cannot find which Julia Quinn it is that has a heroine with a lifelong hip weakness leading to a limp and, she thinks, inability to do a lot of things—she can walk, carry things, but doesn’t dance and thinks pregnancy and childbirth will kill her.  The hero, after some book, persuades her to try things, and by the end, she’s affected by it but not disabled, if that makes sense.

Patricia Brigg’s story in Strange Brew is about a blind witch and a werewolf.  It’s not one of her best—it relies a lot on the reader already knowing that they end up together—and she can ‘see’ with the help of the werewolf, but it’s something.

I’m really not thrilled with the pattern I’m seeing here.  I have read so many historicals with PTSD, scarred-up, limbs chopped off heroes, and okay, it’s not like that many women were at Waterloo, but *still*.

I haven’t read this book (had to look through AAR’s special title listings to find it because I couldn’t remember the title) but it’s supposed to be good. “Lord St. Claire’s Angel (1999) by Donna Simpson - Celestine Simons is plain and has disfiguring arthritis.”

I came across this one while looking.  “Prospero’s Daughter (2003) by Nancy Butler - Miranda Runyan is scarred and confined to a wheelchair.”  I haven’t read it either, but I really like Nancy Butler.

I definitely remember reading a Regency trad years ago in which the heroine becomes blind as a child after being hit by a carriage which the hero is driving—he doesn’t realize anything is wrong and drives off after being assured she’ll be fine.  They meet again years later.  I don’t THINK she miraculously recovers at the end.  Does anyone know what book I’m talking about?

Juliet Blythe’s The Parfit Knight.  Very unusual, actually, the flavor’s quite different. 

There’s also Elisabeth Fairchild’s The Counterfeit Coachman for a hero with a stutter—not physical, but it definitely impacts his life.

Home Before Dark by Susan Wiggs.  The heroine is going blind and no, there’s no cop out.  The story was gripping, despite - or perhaps because of - a tricky, often unsympathetic, complicated heroine.

@JaneO I thought of Dancing with Clara too, but if I remember rightly (and I might not because it is a LONG time since I read that book and I don’t have a copy of it), it fails on Cop Out #1.  Doesn’t Clara get over her disability, at least to some degree, because of the hero’s help? 

@Diatryma, I know which Julia Quinn you mean and I can’t think of the name of it either, but I also think that fails on Cop Out #1 because the heroine finds she can do all sorts of things that she previously assumed she couldn’t.

Jo Beverly’s Hazard.  The heroine has some sort of club foot or foot deformity and has trouble walking.  It is never healed but the hero never has any problem with it.  Though someone above said that just a limp is a copout, so YMMV.  I love this book though - I just reread it a few weeks ago!

Tanya Huff’s Blood books have Vicki Nelson, who left the Toronto police because she has a degenerative retina thing going on and is slowly going blind.  Since one of her partners is a vampire, night-blindness is thematically interesting.  In the first book, I don’t think it matters, but in the third, she loses her glasses and has to navigate hostile territory without.  In the fourth book, there’s a potential copout (rot13d): fur vf ghearq vagb n inzcver gb fnir ure yvsr, juvpu svkrf gur jubyr ivfvba guvat nf jryy nf bgure zbegny pbapreaf. 

(rot13.com or Leetkey will decode for you.)

Fool for Love by Eloisa James has a heroine with a handicap that stays a handicap. It’s got a lame heroine (apparently a limp is the handicap of choice).  I really enjoyed it, especially since there was no magical fix (I also hate magical fixes).

Annie’s Song by Catherine Anderson had one of the best disabled heroines I’ve ever read. She’s deaf.

Also Phantom Waltz by the same author has a heroine who is paraplegic and in a wheelchair. I thought that romance was handled very well also.

Homespun Bride by Jillian Hart has a blind heroine.  I actually really enjoyed the book, particularly because she DOESN’T get cured of her blindness in the end, and I thought both characters were mature and likable through most of the book.  Other readers thought it was boring and predictable, but since I was expecting huge, dramatic blow-ups and a lot of juvenile sniping, I was surprised.

My thoughts on the book in case anyone is interested.

*praying for no HTML failure*

Lynn Kurland’s historical This Is All I Ask features a permanently blind hero and an emotionally scarred heroine who thinks herself ugly and unworthy. Parts of it are so very poignant that it’s one of my all time favorites.

I can’t remember which book this is, but the heroine was thrown from a horse and seriously injured as a young woman and now has a limp from the hip injury.  She doesn’t think she’s able to have children.  She is an heiress who is content not to be married since she believes she can’t have children.  A guy kidnaps her to force her to marry him for her money.  She gets away and escapes after the carriage wrecks in the rain to a cottage.  A English lord, a marquee or earl I think, is also escaping the rain from an attempt to rescue his step sister.  The young lady and man don’t know each other’s in the cottage until the next morning when they are caught in a compromising situation by her father, brothers, and some local gossips. They are forced to marry.  He didn’t want to remarry due to his horrible first wife.  Anyway, they marry, move to the country.  There’s a serial killer she’s telepathically linked to and sees the murders taking place in a local dungeon.  Turns out to be his cousin.  She wasn’t thrown from her horse years before, but from the cliffs after she wittinesses the murder of her husbands brother?  More books follow up on the cousins.  Serial killer back.  I’m thinking regency England.

I have a book on my keeper shelf called (if I remember correctly) A Man Like Mac - can’t recall the author right this moment - where the hero was a college track coach who became a paraplegic after being shot while trying to break up a domestic dispute between two strangers.  The heroine was at one time his student, then an olympic-class marathon runner who is both physically injured (after being hit by a car while running) and emotionally scarred (from a troubled childhood).  The story is engaging.  The hero is amazing.  The heroine…you want to slap around a little through much of the early part of the book, but she eventually becomes less slap-worthy.  Their HEA does resolve some of her emotional issues, but both of their physcial challenges remain.  It’s a pretty enjoyable read.

I haven’t yet read beyond Cordelia’s Honor, but I know Lois McMaster Bujold’s character Miles Vorkosigan is pretty disabled.  The book is SF, and I don’t know how much of his disability is changed through technology, but it might be worth checking out.  I think the compendium Young Miles is the first to pick up after Cordelia’s Honor, and I don’t think you need to read the first to enjoy the rest of the series.

I think his “official” book is still forthcoming, but isn’t John Matthew from the Black Dagger Brotherhood also hearing impaired?  Wrath is supposed to be nearly blind, but he kicks too much ass despite that fact for me to really count it. 

I’ve also got to second This is All I Ask and Candle in the Window.

get78: I hope you get at least 78 good recommendations!

@Melissandre In the BDB books John Matthew is Mute you must not forget that Zadist is horribly scarred and tattoed with slave symbols and his brother is missing a leg.

In the latest book Love Avenged the king goes totally blind and has to start using a seeing eye dog.

BTW, dont care what anyone says I still love that series.  :0)

Precious Bane is a novel by Mary Webb, first published in 1924.

Prue Sarn has a harelip, which is seen as a mark of sin and possibly witchcraft. So not only is she disfigured, but her neighbors fear and distrust her. She is also saddled with a selfish, arrogant brother, Gideon, and a father.

Only one person can see how kind, generous and beautiful Prue is.

I LOVE THIS BOOK. Love it. Back in 1989 the BBC made a movie version with Janet McTeer as Prue.

I second the Catherine Anderson early works - Annie’s Song was amazing. The new books are extremely religious. WAY too religious for me.

A book that features a disabled heroine and a temporarily disabled hero that I have absolutely loved and adored for over 20 years is Only Love by Susan Sallis. It’s a young adult novel. There is no easy fix for either of their disabilities. The heroine stays in her wheelchair. The hero is temporarily disabled due to a motorcycle accident and has to cope from going from a highly active teenager to in a wheelchair. There are quirky disabled and non-disabled people at the home they’re all at (ie - there’s a guy who constantly loses his teeth just so the heroine can find them and spend time with him).

It’s realistic and touching. There is no HEA. Instead, the ending is bittersweet. I found that that made it a better book because the author didn’t come up with a magic cure for the heroine’s disability and disease. She dealt with the ramifications accurately, realistically and poignantly.

I cannot go on about this book enough. It’s an amazing read.

Just an FYI - one of Anne Perry’s mystery novels featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt has an ancillary couple that always intrigued me. The story is set during the Victorian era and the ancillary female character has some sort of gyne condition which leaves her in pain all the time and unable to have sex therefore quashing any marriage opportunities for her. The ancillary male character was beaten and raped and left paralyzed below the waist, also quashing his hopes for marriage. They are introduced for some reason - can’t recall why, exactly - and although the story does not follow where this pairing might lead, it leaves you with a poignant hope for them to find happiness in their restrictive society.

CANDLE IN THE WINDOW by Christina Dodd. Heroine is blind.

TO PLEASURE A PRINCE by Sabrina Jeffries.  Heroine is dyslexic.

A PRINCE FOR JENNY by Peggy Webb, a Loveswept from 1993 features a Downs Syndrome heroine. Nicely handled and recommended.

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate this topic. 
I also wanted to ask if anyone can recommend any romances where the disability isn’t as obvious?  There are a lot of suggestions for limps, deafness, blindness, and loss of limbs.  I have several “unseen” disabilities, as do most of my friends.  The only book I’ve recently that included my disease (or other “unseen” disabilities) ended with the heroine being magically healed by fairies!  Do you know of any books like this or has anyone considered writing this type of heroine?  I can speak for myself, my friends, and a lot of women in my support groups that would be thrilled.  I would love to see this in a book as it would be wonderful to see the disease and social stigma, as well as the emotional tole, used as conflict instead of the usual contrived type that is typical in many books I’ve read recently.
could62

Mary Balogh’s Red Rose has a heroine dealing with pain and a limp after a riding accident.

@Leslie H.  I think Jenny is the daughter of one of Webbs earlier heroines.  A Rose for Jenny???????  It was an Intimate Moments books that is on my keep shelf also.  WOW, didn’t realize Jenny’s book might be out there, I remember in the epilouge of the first one thinking that Jenny’s story would be wonderful.

Great topic.
Ditto on Mouth To Mouth by Erin McCarthy - one of the sexiest sweetest books ever and Catherine Anderson’s books.

Halfway To Heaven by Susan Wiggs

Heroine has a ‘wasted’ foot and has to wear specialty boots, walks with a limp, etc.  No cop-out, special powers.

Historical and not SF/F at all, but nice.

James F David wrote several brilliant books among which was BEFORE THE CRADLE FALLS.  It’s part scifi, part murder mystery chock full of time travel weirdness topped off with a touch of romance.  The heroine is a brilliant scientist who lost both her legs in an accident and who remained handicapped all the way through to the HEA and beyond.  The hero is a scrummy and wonderfully tragic police detective whose scars may be inside, but run just as deep.  Oh, and it takes place in one of my favourite cities (and my hometown):  Portland, Oregon.

Note: While James F David is a Christian and a professor at George Fox College, this novel is non-relgious, as are all but one of his novels.

These might be a bit difficult to find but they’re all good reads:

The first is Mary Balogh’s “Silent Melody” - its a sequel to an earlier book, “Heartless.”  The heroine, Lady Emily, is the sister to the first book’s heroine and she starts out as both deaf and dumb in the first book.  Over the course of the books she painstakingly learns sign language so that she can communicate.  What I liked was that she wasn’t bothered by being different; she was very confident in herself and what she could do, especially by the end of the book.

Another lovely one is Susan Mallery’s “A Little Bit Pregnant.”  The heroine is in a wheelchair, which doesn’t slow her down a bit.  Mallery includes alot of the details of how she organizes her world and her space in order to be independent.  I liked how Mallery wrote the book so that, even with showing the compromises the character made to her disability, it really wasn’t about that; instead her personality drives the story.

Iris Rainer Dart’s book, “When I Fall in Love”, deals with a hero, rather than a heroine who’s disabled.  Lily, the heroine, starts out with a really wonderful life which goes off the rails when her son, Bryan is shot and becomes a paraplegic.  Her new boss, Charlie, has cerebral palsy, and she tries to get him to spend time with Bryan to show him that life still goes on even if he has to live a little differently.  As things go on, she begins to see Charlie in a new light as well.

The book Lyn is thinking of is Scandal Becomes Her by Shirlee Busbee. Heroine had a limp.

Lynn Kurland also has a short story, To Kiss in the Shadows in the anthology Tapestry. Lianna (heroine) has been severely scarred by smallpox.

Based on all the heroines-with-limps listed above, it seems like a limp is the popular way to make a character disabled while not affecting their conventional attractiveness.

Meg. Thank you.  Scandal Becomes Her is correct.

Meg wrote> Lynn Kurland also has a short story, To Kiss in the Shadows in the anthology Tapestry Lianna (heroine) has been severely scarred by smallpox.

To Kiss in the Shadows is a good short story and comes after and related to This is All I Ask.  Another good book with heroine dealing with some PTSD from past abuse, the hero is blind in this book.

An older medieval historical romance, Winterbourne by Susan Caroll, has a heroine with a club foot which causes her to limp. The disability is part of the story, she doesn’t get a magical cure either.

I thought of a few more.  Night into Day by Sandra Canfield about a woman with rheumatoid arthritis.  A Soldier’s Heart (SIM 602) by Kathleen Korbel about a nurse with PTSD.  Lucy Monroe’s Blackmailed into Marriage about a woman with vaginismus.

Based on all the heroines-with-limps listed above, it seems like a limp is the popular way to make a character disabled while not affecting their conventional attractiveness.

I imagine in the past limps would’ve been a big deal for women since grace and beauty were considered some of their most prized attributes.  So maybe not a complete cop-out.

Kristina, you’re right about John Matthew; it’s been too long, and I’m forgetful about the details.  Lover Avenged is in my pile to read, so I guess I’ll soon learn about Wrath and his ass-kicking deficit (though I’m sure the usual perks of being a vampire help make his blindness a little more bearable).

There was a HaBO book a year or so ago that had a dyslexic hero.  He was a sea captain or something, and the heroine was the postmistress of Bath.  I read the darn thing after that, but I can’t remember the title or the author.  That was another good one, and certainly a more “hidden” disability.  It also went outside of the limp/blind/scarred trifecta.

Oh, now I can’t remember either author or title (my bad—and most of my books are packed away because we’re trying to give that “uncluttered” impression while our house is on the market), but the heroine was going blind at the beginning of the book, and there was NO miraculous cure, and she’d lost most of her vision by the end. I enjoyed the book and feel terrible that I’m slighting the author by not being able to remember which of the myriad books I’ve read over the past few years should be credited.

The hero in JQ’s The Lost Duke of Wyndham was also dyslexic.

If you consider mental health issues due to past abuse or trauma a hidden disability, that’s a good chunk of the market. Heroine in most need of therapy that pops up in my head is from Anne Stuarts’ A Rose at Midnight, girl was seriously tormented.  And Eve Dallas, of course, dealing with her tragic childhood.  Sometimes there’s an actual breakdown, like the heroine in NR’s Sanctuary (who was being gaslighted, but still).

~~lurking and writing titles down frantically~~

Thanks for this thread!!!  I, too, hate cop-outs—makes for a more interesting story when the characters have to deal with and accept the disability of one or both characters.

time01:  time to buy yet another bookshelf for my books!!  (hope the bf is cool with another IKEA Billy clogging up the condo!!!)

“Just an aside: Shouldn’t it be ‘disabled heroines’ or ‘heroines with a disability’ (although obviously both the British and the American usage destroy the handsome alliteration…)? “

I hate this crap. It all means the same thing. I go by cripple, personally. Fewer syllables and letters and gets right to the point. I use a walker or scooter depending on my mood, can’t write with a pen or pencil and can’t speak very clearly. I’ve got the cripple merit badge and wear it proudly. It gets me good seats at hockey games.

I have not read many novels with disabled heroines. It’s sort of like reading books set in Boston - they’re too close to my own existence so I end up furiously taking issue with how they handle it. For instance, Sally Mandel’s Out Of The Blue was a big hit for people, and I was red in the face screaming at the heroine for being a big fucking whiner. Anna’s a 29 year old diagnosed with MS 5 years prior who was an excellent athlete before her diagnosis required her to use canes and wheelchairs. Replace MS with HSP, and that’s exactly how you can describe me. When she started pushing the hero away because she didn’t want to be a burden, I had a fit. Why do disabled characters in books always do this? Do the able-bodied see us as a burden? Should I feel guilty about accepting my husband’s help and love? This trope is incredibly hurtful to me and I really don’t understand it. Being disabled isn’t really all that bad. I’m just as worthy of love and sex as anyone else.

I’ve also read Again the Magic and hated it, for the same reasons, but scarring is not a disability, please. Girl should’ve built a bridge and got over it.

Marin Thomas’s Samantha’s Cowboy had a woman with cognitive and emotional issues after a head trauma in her teenage years. No quick fix at the end. Good handle on how she was practical about moving forward and her reasonable qualms about being responsible for children.

That’s it for me. I haven’t really cared for how authors have treated disability so far, so I kind of avoid those stories. I will try Catherin Anderson, though, before I quit entirely.

Lisa Kleypas - Again the Magic - heroine has horrible burn scars on her legs, but still mobile.

Elizabeth Hoyt - To Beguile A Beast - the hero is horribly scarred on his face and missing an eye if I remember correctly

Laura Kinsale - Prince of Midnight - hero has inner ear problem causing problems with his equilibrium / balance

Laura Kinsale - Flowers From The Storm - hero has a stroke or something that compeletly ruins his ability to speak and is put in an insane asylum, gets speech back but nothing like previous abilities were

Okay, I guess I mostly knw about disabled heros, so I will stop the list there…great topic, though…many new reads to check out from this list.

I forgot Steve’s Story by Jess Dee
Very brave of the author to write an unusual HEA.

Meg from What a Scoundrel Wants, by Carrie Lofty.  Meets all non-cop out requirements, easily.  And to boot? It’s a fabulous book.

I have nothing to add, because while I’ve read quite a few romances with disabled heroes, I’ve never read one with a disabled heroine. I wonder if that’s just coincidence, or if disabled heroines are written less often than disabled heroes.

Very good topic!  I was thinking about this recently, and I love all the examples here!

Lois McMaster Bujold has done it thrice, although they’re all male. The Curse of Chalion’s hero, Caz, has a damaged hand due to his time as a POW.  He doesn’t consider himself disabled, but his handwriting is terrible and it hurts to grip a pen, and at one point he tries to hang off something and his hand starts cramping up, causing him to fall.  No magical fix. 

The Sharing Knife’s hero, Dag, has an amputated hand long before the story begins.  He has a wooden cap on the end of his wrist into which he screws a hook, a spork, a bow, etc.  It’s a masterful portrayal of a disabled person just getting on with their life without diminishing the effect that the disability has on their activities.  Dag doesn’t mind his missing hand, his family doesn’t mind, and the heroine quickly gets over it, but throughout the story he is acutely aware of how strangers judge him and treat him differently.  There are some magical ramifications of his missing hand, but there is no magical cure.  He stays an amputee from start to finish.

Miles Vorkosigan (probably start with The Warrior’s Apprentice) was poisoned in the womb; as a result he is a hunchbacked, manic-depressive dwarf with brittle bones and all kinds of medical complications.  Future medical technology eventually replaces his bones with plastic, but he immediately turns around and develops a seizure disorder to make up for it.  It does not feel like a copout at all.

I felt like I knew more examples of this trope, but upon perusal of my shelves most examples are of the “magical disability” variety, where an amputee receives cyborg limbs or the disability is a side effect of the superspecialawesome powers used to save the world.  And it is rather disturbing to see that most examples are male: probably so that the heroine can be nurturing and maternal to the brooding, wounded soldier. *eyeroll*

There’s a longish short story by John Varley called, I believe, Blue Champagne. At least it’s in the collection of stories under that title. It’s SF, there is a romantic plotline, and it includes a heroine with full-body paralysis. I have to hedge about whether her condition violates the 4th item in your list: she certainly doesn’t save the world in any way, but she does acquire a very unique compensation for her disability that makes her famous. Several other characters in his stories have what might be called disabilities, although in the worlds he creates they are really just “other” attributes.  At any rate I would always recommend anything by John Varley to anyone anytime.

P.s. I think her character shows up once more in another short story, but I don’t remember if it’s in the same collection.

Oh, thought of another heroine:  Donna Kauffman’s Let Me In - heroine is ex-spy who’s body was seriously damaged in her last mission gone awry.  She’s recovered fairly well, but I thought it was well done how the heroine’s body was not the same after recovery from such physical trauma, and she had to work with that in her daily life.  So often, especially with the Alpha male warrior types, yeah, they get injured and then they are back to normal in no time - but the body isn’t always that resilient. 

Also thought of a couple of hero examples:  Cindy Gerard has a black ops hero who takes a permanent physical hit in Show No Mercy;  Brockmann’s Frisco’s Kid has a SEAL who’s trying to figure out what’s next after he’s been injured too much.

In Bujold’s The Sharing Knife series, the heroine is handicapped in the hero’s community by not having the magical powers that are typical for adults there, and the hero is physically handicapped (missing his left hand.) 

Their limited abilities, and how they compensate and learn to deal with the other’s weaknesses is quite central to the story, and handled in a respectful way.

Dark Symphony by Christine Feehan had a blind heroine who could play piano.  I really enjoyed the book years ago, but I can’t remember if she becomes immortal and can then see.  Hmmm…  She may have been healed in the end, but I’m not sure…  I remember her being blind but never a “victim” mentality.

Hope that helps!

I seem to remember a Carla Kelly (Elizabeth Fairchild?) Signet Regency about a blind heroine who is wooed by a two men - one of whom wants to wrap her in cotton and keep her away from any chance of hurt and another who supports her need for independence. The latter is the hero, of course, and gets the girl.

I particularly remember a scene in the book where they are all touring the Tower of London and, with the hero’s help, she ascends to the top and he holds her while she hangs out a bit to feel the air way up there…or something like that, it’s been a while since I’ve read it.

Another mention for both of Jess Dee’s stories in the Circle of Friends duo. Only Tyler is book one, Steve’s Story book two. The first book…I don’t want to post spoilers…the issue is potentially there and in the second the…

Okay, totally can’t tell what the stories are about without giving spoilers. But Ms Dee doesn’t give easy cures to the characters, and I think she still manages a HEA.

Hot books too, BTW.

I’ve read a few of the mentioned above.
Aside from that, I can only come up with “Sisters Found” by Joan Johnston. It features a set of triplets, one of whom is missing one of her hands - birth defect, not an accident -.
I think she started developing the character in one of her earlier books (part of the Whitelaw series), but I can’t remember which one.

Not entirely sure this counts.

Nicole Camden’s “the Nekkid Truth” (novella in Big Guns Out of Uniform), the heroine was in a car accident and can’t recognize people’s faces.

Best story in the book, imo.

Definitely Hazard by Jo Beverley and Dancing with Clara by Mary Balogh.  Also, Simply Magic (?, it’s one of the Simply books anyway) by Mary Balogh - the hero was horribly tortured and has had an arm amputated, is missing one eye and had horrible scars on one side of his body - but that’s the hero not the heroine…).

The other one I can think of is Palomino by Danielle Steel - I should probably hang my head in shame at admitting this out loud but I read it ages ago and my teenage brain thought it was pretty good at the time.  During the course of the story, the heroine becomes paraplegic.  There’s still a HEA but there’s no magic cure or anything.  I can’t vouch for how good the novel would be if I were to read it again, but it does meet the criteria!!

While not necessary disabilities, I’ve recently read two titles that deal with diseases that (obviously) can’t be magicked away.
The first is Bright Hopes part of a series of titles that deals with a young, athletic woman’s struggles to have a normal life while not wanting to burden a husband with her physical problems. The second is Red’s Hot Honky-Tonk Bar by Pamela Morsi which is a older woman, younger man romance and he is sick (I won’t reveal with what).

I should clarify: Bright Hopes is part of a series, but it’s not all about the same person. It’s from the series “Welcome to Tyler.”

I went about half-way through the comments and didn’t see An Accidental Woman, by Barbara Delinsky. Poppy Blake is wheelchair-bound, runs an answering service, and catches the romantic attention of a journalist. She is disabled for life, no cop-outs. One of my favorites…

This probably won’t fit the Bitch in question’s requirements, but I wanted to put in a plug for Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love. It’s not a romance and the disfigurements and disabilities dripping off the pages are—bizarrely—orchestrated to create a family freak show (Dunn’s term, not mine.) It’s not really the ticket for this thread but it’s a lovely story, unlike anything else I’ve read, and I still remember it vividly even ten years later.

Don’t read on if you don’t like the idea of freak shows, but here’s the plot summary from Wikipedia:

The novel is the story of a traveling carnival run by Aloysius “Al” Binewski and his wife “Crystal” Lil. When the business begins to fail, the couple devise an idea to breed their own freak show, using various drugs and radioactive material to alter the genes of their children. Who emerges are Arturo (“Arty”), a boy with flippers for hands and feet; Electra (“Elly”) and Iphigenia (“Iphy”), the Siamese Twins; Olympia (“Oly”), the hunchback albino dwarf; and Fortunato (“Chick”), the normal-looking telekinetic baby of the family, as well as a number of stillborns kept preserved in jars in a special wing of the freak show.

Perhaps 20 years ago, there was a Harlequin Presents book, where the heroine was a painter who had gone blind, the hero helped her work through her issues (including giving her an ivory cane, since she didn’t want a typical white cane), and she ends up becoming a sculptor.

Someone already mentioned one of my favorites, Sandra Canfield’s Night Into Day (rheumatoid arthritis), but she also wrote Star Song, in which the heroine was Deaf and the heroine’s “little sister” (Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program) was deaf. Also Bobby Hutchinson’s Draw Down the Moon (heroine uses a wheelchair, trying to finish a marathon—the hero initially thinks she needs to be “saved”  and ruins her first attempt, she is hella pi$$ed), and Hutchinson’s Sheltering Bridges (child of deaf adults [CODA] becomes a tutor for a deaf boy, falls for the dad, porntacular mustache on cover!) Caroline McSparren’s Listen to the Child (heroine deafened by gunshot in line of duty, eventually seeks a cochlear implant). Nightshades and Orchids by ??? (PTSD), Make Me A Miracle by Ruth Glick (heroine is a pediatric pulmonologist, strong CF subplot, hero may have Huntington’s). All of those books are Harlequin Superromances. There’s a Harlequin Historical, Sweet Annie, where the heroine has a significant limp.

Oh, and in SF/F, do read John Varley’s Persistence of Vision—awesome short story about a utopian community of deaf-blind people. Samuel R. Delany Jr.‘s fiction often features disability in some way, whether physical or perceptual/learning disability.

One point I feel should be made about Catherine Anderson’s Annie’s Song: IIRC, Annie’s hearing is miraculously restored via pregnancy—hormones or Annie’s body matures, something—and by the end of that book, she can HEAR. I threw that sucker across the room. Anderson also tends toward the “money conquers all” panacea—yes, her disabled heroines are feisty, independent, spunky, whatever, but they also know the alpha hero will pave paths everywhere for their wheelchair or install fences and intercoms on their ranch to guide the blind heroine so the heroine can be as independent as money will allow.

Awesome to see this topic covered at Smart Bitches—as a woman with a pre-birth disability, I’ve sought out books with realistically disabled heroines since I first got hooked on romances back in the early 80’s, so this list is going to be a treasure trove. Disability pride—that’s how I roll!

One more to add:  Liz Fielding’s The Marriage Miracle.  Heroine in a wheelchair from start to finish - and I think that book went on to win the RITA that year.

“Sweet Everlasting” by Patricia Gaffney had a mute heroine.  It’s been years since I’ve read it, and I remember enjoying it, but I don’t think remember there being a miracle cure at the end.

“The Portrait” by Megan Chance, although it’s the hero in this one.  The hero suffers from manic depression.

An older medieval historical romance, Winterbourne by Susan Caroll, has a heroine with a club foot which causes her to limp. The disability is part of the story, she doesn’t get a magical cure either.

I have that one. Also, the heroine is treated like crap by her family through most of the book and manages to persevere. The king thinks she is malformed because she is evil so he tries to kill her. And her husband is a douche through, oh about 3/4 of the book. I still liked her though.

I’ve read a ton of heroes with disabilities, but few heroines. I can’t think of any not mentioned here. Except for a Loveswept I read years ago and can’t remember the title. Heroine had a limp and was carried into a hot bath by the hero then given a foot rub.

I have C. P. so I can recall thinking that this was my dream date LOL!

Amazing! Simply amazing. Can’t wait to read all of the comments here. Thank you, Sarah, for facilitating this discussion and thanks to everyone who contributed titles. I appreciate it so very much.

Ann Rose

One point I feel should be made about Catherine Anderson’s Annie’s Song: IIRC, Annie’s hearing is miraculously restored via pregnancy—hormones or Annie’s body matures, something—and by the end of that book, she can HEAR. I threw that sucker across the room

This does not happen in my copy of Annie’s Song by Catherine Anderson

Are you all reading the same Catherine Anderson books that I am? Cause I certainly don’t pick up on any overly Catholic bents at all. I am definitely not religious, and not Christian or Catholic, and none of her recent books have struck me as such. I particularly enjoyed her newest one that just came out about a month ago (forget the name of it, of course). As far as I can tell, the closest she leans towards a Catholic bent is by describing the family or the heroine as Catholic, that they pray, and attend church—nothing wrong with that. It kind of helps shape the characters. If you read closely enough, she usually has a supporting character somewhere that tempers the Catholic views of the main character—especially when they get in a snit about something. Maybe you’re just being overly sensitive…

In regards to Annie’s Song, she doesn’t regain her hearing through pregnancy or by outgrowing it. At the end of the story she travels to Boston to have an experimental procedure done (a very early version of the Cochlear implant surgery) that allows her to hear CERTAIN sounds only, but she cannot hear conversation. After the surgery she attends a special school for the mute and deaf for intensive education to regain speech (deaf people CAN talk w/ the right therapy), learn sign language, and lip reading. With the right education and training, it almost seems like a deaf person can hear, especially when they are reading lips, and you would never know it.

spam-o-meter: reading87. Damn, I think I did read 87 books in 2009.

It’s been awhile since I read it, but one of Dee Henderson’s O’Malley series deals with a blind girl (I think she falls in love with the paramedic). I think she becomes blind due to a car accident. It is definitely not explained away in any way. Christian romance (lots of angsting about giving oneself up to God) with some sort of suspense element.