We have a very special request from Brittni. Thanks so much for sending this one in:
About four years ago, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (type 2–yes, there are multiple types). I have been struggling with the illness since I was 12, and having a name for it, and medication to take, has been a blessing. However, the only representation I’ve see in the media of my illness is Kanye West and plots where the bipolar character is another character’s tragic backstory (my childhood was fucked up because I had to take care of my bipolar mother). I would love to read a romance novel with good bipolar representation. I’m specifically looking for a romance novel with a bipolar heroine, but I know I may be asking for the moon and the stars there. Any books that you can recommend would be greatly appreciated. I would, however, like to make a distinction between books that deal with depression or anxiety, and books that deal with bipolar. Yes, they’re all mental illnesses, but they are very different conditions, and I’m specifically looking for bipolar representation.
Lara: This request has kicked me in the nethers. I’ve had my bipolar diagnosis for about 15 years and I’ve never read a romance novel that shows that part of me. It never even occurred to me that bipolar could be just a characteristic and not a tragic flaw. Something to unpack in therapy!
Shana: I may need to noodle on this for a bit. I really liked Glitterland by Alexis Hall (ed. note: Glitterland is being rereleased in the new year, so finding an ebook copy may be finnky right now) but it’s a m/m. One of the heroes is bipolar (type 1), and while it has its dark moments because he’s holding a lot of shame about his diagnosis at the beginning of the book, the romance is adorable, and there’s a lot of kindness from found family. (edited)
What Iiked about the rep in Glitterland is that the hero starts the book already having a diagnosis, meds that work, coping strategies, and a solid career. What’s hard about the rep is his deep internalized ableism, and how one of his friends has, in my opinion, caregiver burnout and says hurtful things.
Sneezy: I can’t think of any, but just wanted to send Brittni lots of hugs!
Can we think of some more titles to recommend?
Forgive me if I’ve characterised the condition incorrectly, but I think Grace Callaway’s Never Say Never to an Earl may fit. Given that it’s historical fiction, there’s no diagnosis, but the descriptions of the hero having a blue angel who pushes him to greater and greater recklessness when he’s having highs and then the black angel who makes him feel like he’s useless and a danger to himself and his loved ones feels like that’s what the author was going for. If I’m wrong, it was still an evocative and successful description of a mental health condition for a time when the DSM wasn’t around yet without just using the term Bedlamite.
Great story, bit of a whodunit, steamy, lovely couple.
I think Ann Whynot’s book “Dewey Belong Together” has a bipolar main character. It is on my very long to-read list but I haven’t gotten to it yet so I can’t verify. It’s part of a series set in the Penny Reid universe but I am like 98% sure it can be read as a standalone.
Wintersong and Shadowsong by S Jae-Jones have a bipolar heroine, and I believe the author has bipolar too. They’re YA historical fantasy novels, not really romances, though there are significant romantic elements. Wintersong was specifically inspired by the film Labyrinth, and doesn’t explore the heroine’s bipolar disorder too much, but Shadowsong grapples with it explicitly (and is quite a bit darker in tone). Unfortunately I read these books a few years ago, so I can’t remember specific content warnings. There’s also an episode of the podcast from 2018 featuring an interview with the author, where Jae-Jones discusses these books and writing bipolar characters.
Heidi Heilig (who has been open about her own bipolar diagnosis) has a fabulous YA fantasy duology with a bipolar heroine, starting with For a Muse of Fire.
Jackie Lau’s Hot Shot CEO features a main female character with cycling depression and possibly hypomanic episodes. The loving determination of the male main character is set the book apart for me. Highly recommend it.
https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/review-mr-hotshot-ceo-by-jackie-lau/
No recs, just lots and lots of love for those who are dealing w/ bipolar. My oldest son is bipolar 2. He had a very rough couple years in high school but once he was properly diagnosed and found the right cocktail of meds, he has been doing really well. It’s a shitty, shitty disease and you often have to fight the system to get what you need. You are all my heroes.
I just received a publicity email about an upcoming book that fits this brief:
Two people meet in the armory of the Chicago Art Institute by chance one day: a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with calculations about time travel and a bipolar counterfeit artist undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. ALONE WITH YOU IN THE ETHER [by Olivie Blake, out 11/29/22] is a story of love, struggles with mental health, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you’re not broken.
It’s not a romance, but Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychologist, wrote An Unquiet Mind, a memoir of her own life with bipolar disease which includes her relationship with her husband. She also wrote Nothing Was the Same, an incredibly wrenching book about the death of her husband and the struggle with grief.
I have so much love for everyone struggling with bipolar disorder. My brother is a brilliant, hilarious, caring person and his life is so much harder than it should be due to his mental health struggles.
Trial by Desire by Courtney Milan has a male MC with bipolar disorder. It’s one of her earlier books and it’s been years since I read it, but I recall enjoying it. I hope you’re able to find yourself represented in some of the recs you get!
Jenifer Lewis’s memoir, THE MOTHER OF BLACK HOLLYWOOD! I haven’t read Lewis’s new one yet but the way she writes about her bipolar diagnosis is one of the best things about her first book (and it’s a great book).
If you’re on the fence and want spoilers, there’s a very good podcast episode of Celebrity Book Club with Chelsea Devantez about it.
Appreciate all these wonderful recs and commenting so I receive notices of any others.
I keep feeling like there’s a Roan Parrish book with a bipolar character, but I may be projecting because the books of hers that stand out in my head deal so well with other mental health issues (depression in Invitation to the Blues, social anxiety in Better than People).
I agree with everything said above about Glitterland, but it’s my least favorite Alexis Hall book because the main character is a pompous prick and he comes across as more resigned than accepting at the HEA.
This is an older book, but The Portrait by Megan Chance might fit the bill. The male MC is bipolar – of course, being an older book he is not diagnosed and parts are hard to read. But it has remained one of my favorite books for many years.
L. H. Cosway’s Fauxmance has a male escort as one of the main characters. At one point early in the book he mentions that his mother is severely bipolar, and that he has inherited it and manages it with medication and self-care. I’m not familiar with the specifics of this disorder, so I cannot attest to the authenticity of this particular interpretation. The condition didn’t seem to play a major role in the plot or in Julian’s character–at least not to me–so it may not work as bi-polar representation. I did enjoy the book, though Cosway seems to draw a wide range of responses from readers and reviewers
A book I read that had a bipolar heroine was We Were Gods by Moriah Jovan. The MCs are a Mormon couple – he’s on the spectrum, she’s bipolar, and they are married with 5 kids, but are separated when the book begins. A caution about this one – much of the book is about the affect of the Mormon religion on their marriage. She started off as a free-spirited artistic type at the beginning of their relationship, then slowly changed into the stereotypical Mormon matriarch under the weight of her own mother’s influence until those changes basically broke their marriage. Also, there were a distracting number of side characters that were thrown in. I loved a previous book by this author, Paso Doble, but was only lukewarm about this one as there was just too much focus on the religion for me, but YMMV.
According to my notes, another book I read with a bipolar heroine was Just What I Needed by Lorelei James, but I don’t remember if the heroine was actually diagnosed as bipolar or if I just noted that based on her actions and characterization. Anyway, I loved the book, but I’m pretty sure that if she was actually diagnosed bipolar, it wasn’t a major plot point, it was just part of who she was (occasionally had both fairly extreme highs and lows).
Not romance, but I remember reading the Bo Bradley mystery series by Abigail Padgett, and the main character is a child protection advocate investigator with bipolar disorder. There is a romance subplot later in the series for Bo Bradley. While most of this series was published in the 1990s, there was a recent addition to it in 2019. These seem to be well-regarded by readers who have bipolar disorder and by readers working in the psychiatric field. But since they all revolve around child abuse, please be aware of any CW/TW related to that subject.
A few years ago, I read a fantasy novel with a bipolar heroine who is discharged from a hospital and moves in with a woman and a bunch of others. Portals to other worlds are involved. What really impressed me was the author’s deft use of Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills. I wish I could remember as I would love to read the rest of the series. I think I gave this a “DBT” tag, but I can’t figure out how to search by a tag.
This form of therapy was created by Marsha Lineham who herself has Borderline Personality Disorder. She created it to help herself.
I have lived with Major Depressive Disorder since I was 9. I have much experience with many treatment modalities. DBT has proven to be transformative for me.
Marsha Linehan has recently published her memoir, “Building a Life Worth Living.” I loved it.
Love Walked in by Marisa de los santos. The (wonderful, loving, accomplished) mother of the eleven year old narrator in one of the two POV’s, Viviana, is bipolar and is only diagnosed after an extended manic episode leads her to leave her daughter. Much emphasis is placed and rightly so on the fact that the symptoms are not reflective of who Viviana is or how she leads her life. She is reunited fully with her daughter after successful treatment. I adore the book and I’m reading it with my eleven yo currently who also noted that “you can tell how much Viviana did everything with Clare and loves her so much”. She has a personality and interests and isn’t just person-with-illness
Glen – I’m pretty sure that Will Highland’s sister in Where We Left Off by Roan Parrish has a bipolar diagnosis. You don’t see much of her beyond her illness though.