The Rec League: Eccentric Older Women

The Rec League - heart shaped chocolate resting on the edge of a very old bookWe have a pretty fun Rec League this week. Dori sent this one into us. Thanks, Dori!

I am hoping a Rec League can help me out.

I’m looking for recommendations for books with eccentric older aunts, grandmothers, godmothers, etc. that play a pivotal role in the main characters finding romance. Think Lady Osbaldestone or the eccentric aunt from Maya Rodale’s Wicked Wallflower.

I find these characters so amusing and it always makes me enjoy a novel so much more!

The Lady Travelers Guide to Deception with an Unlikely Earl
A | BN | K | AB
Amanda: Doesn’t Wishes by Jude Deveraux have one?

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ) has witchy older women, which are my personal fave.

Elyse: That’s a hard one because I’m not what qualifies as eccentric.

Carrie: I just finished Victoria Alexander’s The Lady’s Guide to Deception with an Unlikely Earl and it fits that description perfectly.

What eccentric side women are your favorites in romance? Tell us in the comments below!

Comments are Closed

  1. Belinda says:

    Lady Danbury from the Bridgerton books! Especially ‘It’s in His Kiss’ but she makes appearances in quite a few Julia Quinn books

  2. Konst. says:

    Loud YAY! for Lady Dunbury from Bridgertons 😀
    I want to be her when I grow up!

    But also Aunt Dove from the Whisper of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn fits the deal.

  3. Lix says:

    What a fun rec league!

    Mother Hilde the midwife from Judith Merkle Riley’s Medieval/Margaret of Ashbury books. Hilde even gets some love of her own, which is great and encouraging (as I get closer in age to her than to the heroine).

  4. Katie says:

    Loretta Chase’s Duke in Shining Armor has an aunt. I think the hero is her nephew, and he and the heroine hide out at her country house after the heroine climbs out a window at her wedding. I’m not sure if she would qualify as eccentric. The grandmother in Chase’s Carsington series and Genevieve in Lord of Scoundrels are for sure eccentric and fun to read.

    I hesitate to recommend Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts for this. There is an eccentric artist grandmother who is awesome and probably my favorite character in the book. She’s a huge influence on the heroine’s life and the romance. HOWEVER, I don’t think this book is a romance. It has a romantic subplot, but they don’t really meet except in passing until halfway through the book. It’s mainly about the aftermath and long-term effects of a mass shooting on survivors and their families with a suspense plot. This is not for everyone, and no one should go into it expecting a happy Roberts romance. So if you really want the eccentric grandmother, and she’s great, go for it. But the whole thing is often grim, and I didn’t really know what to make of it when I read it since it was so far from expectations.

    That’s all I have off the top of my head. May come up with more if I keep thinking about it, because now it will be in the back of my mind…

  5. Ren Benton says:

    POSITIVELY PIPPA by Sarah Hegger has a grandmother who used to be an opera singer and remains suitably flamboyant. She has a crumbling mansion and always calls the contractor hero instead of a handyman, thus flinging him and her granddaughter together.

  6. Maria says:

    Not an aunt or grandmother, but I really liked the very loud hockey fan Mama Riley in “Good Boy” by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. 🙂
    Also yes to Lady Danbury!

  7. Jiobal says:

    THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM by Tanya Huff ist set in an alternate reality Canada and has great eccentric, pie-baking aunties, who are plot-driving forces to be reckoned with – highly recommended.

  8. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    Although I must admit that the “meddling grandma” is not my favorite romance trope and I suspect it’s more common in historicals, two recent contemporaries spring to mind:

    HATE NOTES by Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward: the hero’s grandmother is instrumental is getting the heroine the job that puts her in the hero’s orbit.

    ONLY LOVE by Melanie Harlow: the heroine’s grandmother introduces her to her (the grandmother’s) neighbor, a military veteran who has been helping the older woman with yard work and fix-ups around the house.

    I should caution that both books are on the angsty/bittersweet side—and parts of HATE NOTES are downright melancholy.

  9. Another Anne says:

    Cami’s fluffy aunts in Rogue Spy by Joanna Bourne. I’d read a series featuring them breaking codes and solving mysteries.

    I know that there are more, but I can’t think of them right now.

  10. Rachel says:

    Tessa Dare’s When A Scot Ties the Knot features an aunt who is eccentric, independent, and so supportive of her socially anxious niece— and only becomes more so when we learn more about her history later in the book.

  11. They aren’t romances, but I really liked the Mrs. Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman, which are about an older woman who becomes a spy and discovers that she’s quite good at it.

    If you like cozies, you might try the Agatha Raisin series by M. C. Beaton (which is also a TV show). These do have some romance in them between Agatha and various other characters, although I don’t know if she ever gets a HEA or not.

  12. Another Anne says:

    I knew I’d think of another one. Anne Gracie has a series about brides — Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer. There is a very eccentric aunt who is involved to some degree in each of the romances.

  13. TamB. says:

    Miss Lacey’s Last Fling features an aunt/grandmother/godmother/older someone, that Miss Lacey goes to stay with, who is connected, cool and encourages all the shenanigans.

    It’s been a while since I’ve read it but I think SBTB has reviewed it (maybe).

  14. Lucy says:

    What a great rec league! My favorite women in this category tend to help the romance indirectly, by helping the protagonists be more comfortable and courageous themselves.

    First, shoutout to Aunt March for giving Jo the inheritance she needed to live independently, practice her vocation, and marry her adorable but impoverished Professor Bhaer.

    I love the lesbian witch aunts in the All Souls Trilogy. They’re great, I love how they love Diana, and I love how they take no nonsense from — and give unconditional love to — their weird immortal son-in-law.

    Lady Alleyn, in Ngaio Marsh’s Alleyn mysteries, is a wonderful character, and there are two or three novels (among the strongest in the long-running series, imho) that center both her son’s romance with the anxious, independent artist Troy, and her relationship both with her son and Troy herself. I love her. The first with the Alleyn/Troy romance is Artists in Crime.

    Oh! and then of course there is the magnificent Dowager Duchess of Denver, important in Strong Poison, largely absent from the page in Have His Carcase and Gaudy Night, but absolutely vital in Busman’s Honeymoon.

  15. K.N.O’Rear says:

    Seconding the adopted aunt in Anne Gracie’s brides series, she’s a lot of fun to read.

  16. Hope says:

    I’d just like books where the eccentric older woman is the main character and has adventures and does cool stuff and finds love and sex. I’d like that A LOT.

  17. Kati says:

    Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series has the eccentric chaperone Gwendolyn Meadows. She also gets her own romance later in the series.

  18. Jeannette says:

    A good fantasy series with an older protagonist is the Tanyth Fairport series by Nathan Lowell. More adventures than romance, but adventures nonetheless.

    As for eccentric older female characters two spring to mind:
    Tante Lulu in Sandra Hill’s Cajun series
    Granny in Evanoch’s Stephanie Plum

  19. MirandaB says:

    Anne George’s Southern Sisters mysteries feature two mystery-solving sisters in their sixties. One is happily married and the other finds romance.

  20. Kate says:

    Maybe Lady Knowe in the Wilde books by Eloisa James? I think particularly in the second book.

  21. Rhonda says:

    The Need You Series by Lorelei James has a kooky Swedish mom. Mixed metaphors etc. She is a fun character but wise and strong.

  22. susan says:

    The Countess of Rivendale shows up in a couple of Jo Goodman’s books (A Season to Be Sinful and One Forbidden Evening)and kind of facilitates things, if I remember correctly.

  23. Joan says:

    Loretta Chase’s lord of scoundrels has a great sex positive aunt in it who also has a satisfying romance

  24. PosieAnna says:

    Talking of M. C. Beaton / Marion Chesney, there’s a shedload of unconventional older female characters in some of her romance series (each of the following consists of six books).

    Effie and Amy Tribble are forced by their dire financial circumstances to offer their services in bringing out and marrying off ‘Wild, Unruly, or Undisciplined’ young ladies in the School for Manners books. And Lady Godolphin performs the same function for most of The Six Sisters. One thing I love about these three is that a lot of their perceived eccentricity arises out of their stubborn refusal to accept the generally-held view that they are far too old to wish for romance and/or sex. OK, this causes a fair few embarrassments for them but, hey, we’re in Romancelandia here so there may just be a HEA on the horizon…

    Then there are a few who aren’t eccentric as such – in fact, they all abound in common sense – but are certainly unconventional as far as society is concerned. Lady Fortescue sets up a hotel and calls it The Poor Relation; an unexpected change in Miss Hannah Pym’s fortunes leads her to become The Travelling Matchmaker – the matchmaking part is an accidental consequence of her decision to journey to various cities by stagecoach for the sheer joy of the journey; and Miss Trumble is an unusual governess who – shock, horror! – teaches actual academic subjects to her charges, The Daughters of Mannerling.

    These books were actually one of my main gateways into the wonderful world of romance – I first picked one up as I was familiar with the author from her mystery novels. They’re from the 1980s/90s and they do feel quite old-fashioned now that I’ve got stuck in to some of the more sophisticated and complex novels written more recently. Also, some of the heroines can be a bit frustrating – there’s lots of ‘stuff she must learn about herself in order to achieve her HEA’ and sometimes it’s painted with a pretty broad brush. But a lot of the characters are fabulous and if you want to curl up with a completely undemanding read at the end of a brain-frying day, these are lovely. And very funny.

  25. Hayley says:

    @Hope, Courtney Milan has an as-yet unpublished book with a heroine in her 60s or so called Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure.

    At the Duke’s Wedding is an anthology of novellas that all take place at the same house party. There is an outspoken elderly relative who plays a role throughout the book. I really enjoyed it!

    Slightly Wicked by Mary Balogh has two aunts who are central to the story and might qualify as eccentric.

    Love and Other Scandals by Caroline Linden features an aunt who is a bit scandalous/marches to the beat of her own drum. It’s a wonderful read!

    For a contemporary, in 99 Percent Mine, the heroine’s fortune-teller grandmother has already died, but she plays a big role in the story.

    She’s not eccentric, but I really loved the hero’s mother in Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare.

  26. PosieAnna says:

    Aargh, I knew I’d screw up the italics. Really sorry about that!

  27. Ren says:

    I was also going to say Anne Gracie’s Chance Sisters series, but I have to warn that I found the quality of the books very uneven. I liked Winter & Autumn best.

  28. Amy! says:

    @Lucy, another vote for Dorothy L. Sayers’s work (though it’s only romance-adjacent). I’m going to add a quote from Clouds of Witness, where Sir Impey Biggs introduces the Dowager Duchess this way: “Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.”

    I thought of that quote immediately on reading this Rec League. One of my ambitions is to become that sort of advanced old woman. 🙂

  29. Kay Sisk says:

    If I may mention my own books: I love writing older, interfering, independent women. In my romantic suspense ONCE UPON A MCLEOD, there’s the housekeeper Edna Earle and in my six part Texoma series, Bertie makes her appearance in T’S TRIAL and is predominant in the first three books.

  30. This is such a fun thread. I too thought of Lady Danbury from the Bridgerton books.

    Is it cool to mention my own books? (If it’s not, pretend I stopped typing right there.) Eccentric and determined Lady Irving plays a role in all four of my Holiday Pleasures romances. In the last one, Season for Desire, she gets her own HEA as a secondary romance.

  31. Claudia says:

    Elisa Braden’s Rescued from Ruin HR series has a dowager marchioness clearly modeled after the Dowager Countess of Grantham but fun nonetheless. Her ‘dits’ head each chapter in the books (there are 8 or 9 now) and she also play minor roles ‘saving’ reputations in a few. The books are good fun.

  32. Gina says:

    Wait, this comment is part response, part HABO. Is it a Tessa Dare novel that has an older lesbian as a side character? What I’m thinking of was pretty brief in the book but I liked her a lot. If not Tessa Dare, someone similar…

  33. Darlynne says:

    AUNTIE MAME: AN IRREVERENT ESCAPADE by Patrick Dennis (and the outstanding movie with Rosalind Russell) is my benchmark for eccentric older women and a splendid matchmaker. The book takes a hard swipe at anti-semitism (iirc) that the movie skipped, and Ms. Russell will always be Mame Dennis in any version. I have high hopes of being my family’s Crazy Aunt Darlynne. I’m close, or so they tell me.

    And while not eccentric or female, Brother Cadfael did more to facilitate impossible and forbidden romantic relationships than any character I know in each of the 20 books.

  34. June says:

    @Joan – yes, Jessica’s aunt Genevieve, Lady Pembury for whom she buys the naughty watch! She’s hilarious.

    Sherry Thomas has the gossips Lady Avery and Lady Somersby who show up in some of her books. They don’t try to help the h/h, but they pop up here and there and move things in interesting directions. They were both in Beguiling the Beauty and in Private Arrangements, and Lady Avery was definitely in His At Night. Not sure about other books, but I think they may have been referenced in the Lady Sherlock series as well.

    There’s Isabel, Lady Kirton in The Devil to Pay by Liz Carlyle. She may have been in some of Carlyle’s other books – possibly A Woman of Virtue and No True Gentleman.

  35. Meg DesCamp says:

    Is it a Tessa Dare series that has the recurrent character, I think she’s a duchess, and she pretends to be moderately unhinged when in fact she’s part of a “let’s rescue battered women” group? There are chickens involved. Who the heck is this author/series? It’s going to make me crazy until I find out!

  36. EC Spurlock says:

    Another vote for Lady Danbury! I think the first book she appears in is How to Marry a Marquis, where she is the hero’s aunt and matchmakes between him and her companion, but she carries on throughout the Bridgerton series and i believe the Lady Whistledown books as well.

    Also, I just finished reading Merely a Marriage by Jo Beverly, which features an acerbic great-aunt helping the heroine navigate society.

  37. Maite says:

    @Gina:
    Older lesbian as a side-character I’ve read:
    – Courtney Milan’s “The Duchess War”: Historical, heroine was raised by her aunts.
    – Laura Florand’s “The Chocolate Kiss”: Contemporary, heroine was raised by her aunts.

    On the Actual Rec League:
    Loretta’s Chase’s Carsington series: Yes, the old lady is amazing. Best part of “Not Quite a Lady” and “Last Night’s Scandal”.

  38. CelineB says:

    @Meg DesCamp It’s The Lords of Worth series by Kelly Bowen. Definitely a great pick!

  39. Megan says:

    I second Auntie Mame, both the novel and film! She is the quintessential eccentric aunt. For years this has been my go-to novel when I need to be cheered up.

  40. Katie says:

    @Maite: The Chocolate Kiss is so good! Magalie’s aunts are fun.

Comments are closed.

By posting a comment, you consent to have your personally identifiable information collected and used in accordance with our privacy policy.

↑ Back to Top