Reader Jaye sent us this Rec League, searching for characters with a particular background. Here’s the request:
I’d love to call on the Rec League for books that feature protagonists who had terrible childhoods and/or dysfunctional families with one of the main characters being the child of a narcissist. I love seeing characters who had it tough growing up find their HEA!
Examples of what hits my sweet spot would be Lisa Kleypas’ Smooth Talking Stranger (heroine raised by narcissist mother), Nora Roberts’ Vision in White. I enjoy both contemporary and historical romances.
Now romance has no shortage of unhealthy upbringings, but can we find narcissist parents specifically for Jaye?
I feel pretty unqualified to answer whether these are true examples of narcissism or just really shitty parenting, but a few came to mind right away:
I recently finished Cat Sebastian’s excellent m/m regency The Ruin of a Rake, where one of the heroes had a cold self-centered mother, and the hero’s mother in Eloisa James’s Much Ado about You was ghastly and very concerned with her own great consequence (to the exclusion of all else.)
On the contemporary side, the heroine’s mom in Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s Kiss an Angel is pretty narcissistic and manipulative (famous model party girl who attempts suicide when daughter tries to leave her, and also sleeps with her fiancé–for daughter’s own good, natch.) It’s also one of my favorite SEPs! I think a lot of her heroines have difficult mothers.
Oh, and maybe check out Anne Stuart, her heroines often have lots of mommy issues. Her mothers are always controlling and selfish, although maybe not as pathologically narcissistic as you’re looking for. The mom in Ruthless basically forces her daughter into prostitution and then berates her for being damaged and useless. Pretty sure there are some others that were worse, but they’re not coming to mind right now.
Good luck!
Jill Shalvis’ series, Animal Magnetism, has some less-than-stellar parental allusions. It’s also a fun series to read.