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Have a Happy Mother’s Day with Bad Book Moms

Celebrate this Mother’s Day with some truly terrible mothers in literature.

I know, I know, we’re supposed to be honoring all the good moms out there today.
And I kind of am.. in my own way.

What?
When you have kids and you have to be the bad guy about damn near everything (in their eyes at least) it’s just nice to be reminded sometimes that you’re not actually a monster out to ruin their lives.

Motherhood is a thankless job but
All those special little moments.. the hugs, kisses, and laughter?
They exist because of you.
So go a little easy on yourself.. You’re doing great.

These book moms? Not so much.

Enjoy!


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Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews

At the top of the stairs there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent, and struggling to stay alive…

They were a perfect family, golden and carefree—until a heartbreaking tragedy shattered their happiness. Now, for the sake of an inheritance that will ensure their future, the children must be hidden away out of sight, as if they never existed. Kept on the top floor of their grandmother’s vast mansion, their loving mother assures them it will be just for a little while. But as brutal days swell into agonizing months and years, Cathy, Chris, and twins Cory and Carrie realize their survival is at the mercy of their cruel and superstitious grandmother…and this cramped and helpless world may be the only one they ever know.


Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

MEET HANNA: Seven-year-old Hanna is a sweet-but-silent angel in the eyes of her adoring father Alex. He’s the only person who understands her. But her mother Suzette stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good.

MEET SUZETTE: Suzette loves her daughter, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. She’s also becoming increasingly frightened by Hanna’s little games, while her husband Alex remains blind to the failing family dynamics. Soon, Suzette starts to fear that maybe their supposedly innocent baby girl may have a truly sinister agenda.
A battle of wills between mother and daughter reveals the frailty and falsehood of familial bonds in award-winning playwright and filmmaker Zoje Stage’s tense novel of psychological suspense, Baby Teeth.


Introductions by C.L. Stone

With an agoraphobic mother and a barely-there father, Sang abhors the isolation keeping her in the shadows. The only thing Sang craves is a fresh start and to be accepted as ordinary by her peers, because for her being different meant being cast out alone.

When her family moves to a new school district, Sang infiltrates a group of boys nearly perfect in every way. Grateful for an influence outside of her parents’ negativity, she quickly bonds with the boys, hoping to blend in and learn from them what it means to have a natural relationship with friends.

Only the boys have secrets of their own and they’ll do anything to keep her safe from the knowledge of the mysterious Academy that they’ve sworn allegiance to. Bit by bit, Sang discovers that her friends are far from the normalcy she expected. Will her loyalty change when she’s forced to remain in the dark, or will she accept that she’s traded one house of secrets for another?


Carrie by Stephen King

Unpopular at school and subjected to her mother’s religious fanaticism at home, Carrie White does not have it easy. But while she may be picked on by her classmates, she has a gift she’s kept secret since she was a little girl: she can move things with her mind. Doors lock. Candles fall. Her ability has been both a power and a problem. And when she finds herself the recipient of a sudden act of kindness, Carrie feels like she’s finally been given a chance to be normal. She hopes that the nightmare of her classmates’ vicious taunts is over . . . but an unexpected and cruel prank turns her gift into a weapon of horror so destructive that the town may never recover.


Verity by Colleen Hoover

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
 
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of the night her family was forever altered.
 
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her.


Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The Other Mother

“Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house….”

When Coraline steps through a door to find another house strangely similar to her own (only better), things seem marvelous.

But there’s another mother there, and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.

Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and courage if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.


Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.


The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.


A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Cersei Lannister

Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King’s Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert’s name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse—unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season.
 
Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen’s brothers Jaime and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister—the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms.
 
Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki—whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys.


After the Woods by Kim Savage

Liv’s mother, Deborah

Would you risk your life to save your best friend? 

Julia did. When a paroled predator attacked Liv in the woods, Julia fought back and got caught. Liv ran, leaving Julia in the woods for a terrifying 48 hours that she remembers only in flashbacks. One year later, Liv seems bent on self-destruction, starving herself, doing drugs, and hooking up with a violent new boyfriend. A dead girl turns up in those same woods, and Julia’s memories resurface alongside clues unearthed by an ambitious reporter that link the girl to Julia’s abductor. As the devastating truth becomes clear, Julia realizes that after the woods was just the beginning.


Fallen Crest High by Tijan

Mason and Logan Kade are two brothers who did their own thing. They were rich and expected to attend Samantha’s school, Fallen Crest Academy. They chose public school and now she has to live with them. The problem is that she doesn’t care at all: about them, about her friends, about her cheating boyfriend, or even about her parent’s divorce. But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe change is a good thing.

This book contains adult/mature young adult situations.


Alone by Robert J. Crane

Sienna Nealon was a 17 year-old girl who had been held prisoner in her own house by her mother for twelve years. Then one day her mother vanished, and Sienna woke up to find two strange men in her home. On the run, unsure of who to turn to and discovering she possesses mysterious powers, Sienna finds herself pursued by a shadowy agency known as the Directorate and hunted by a vicious psychopath named Wolfe, each of which is determined to capture her for their own purposes…


And that’s that..
I actually found it a little sad how easy it was to put together this many (and you wouldn’t believe how many more) books with horrible mothers in them. But I enjoyed most of these so.. I can’t say too much.

Thank you for stopping by, stay safe, and I hope you have an amazing day!

Have you read any of these books?
Which character do you think wins the title of ‘worst mom in literature’?

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This Post Has 16 Comments

  1. Carla

    Happy Mother’s Day to you, Sheri. Some interesting choices on this list.

    1. Sheri Dye

      Thank you, Carla, I hope yours went well!
      And I agree.. it actually concerns me a little with how easy it is to find unfit parents in literature.😅

  2. Reading Tonic

    That’s a great twist 🙂 Makes us appreciate our selfless and supportive mothers even more. Happy Mother’s Day, Sheri!

    1. Sheri Dye

      Thank you. I hope it does.
      Not everyone has a great mom but every mom is human. I think we forget our parents are just as lost, messed up, and exhausted as we are.. and they’ve been doing it for longer.

  3. Lady Tessa

    Flowers in the Attic was perfect for your top spot!!!

    1. Sheri Dye

      Oh, it had to be V.C.Andrews.. no one does fcked up families like she does!

  4. Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum

    Oh man, awesome theme – great twist of a reading list for Mother’s Day 😀

    1. Sheri Dye

      Thank you!
      I hoped everyone would get a kick out of it.. Guess it worked. 😆

  5. Deeksha Bhardwaj

    Happy Mother’s Day, Sheri. Such an interesting collection. Thanks for sharing😄👏🏼

    1. Sheri Dye

      Thank you! I hope your Mother’s Day went splendidly!
      And I’m glad you enjoyed my.. somewhat dark twist on things. 🤭

  6. Deeksha Bhardwaj

    Ooh! I did enjoy the twists. You made me realize I too have read some books with bad moms in them!! Verity is very hyped amongst the book community. Do you recommend it?

    1. Sheri Dye

      Thank you.
      And there are so many, aren’t there? It’s crazy. 😆

      I would absolutely recommend Verity.
      It is one of those dark and twisted, edge of your seat, tension filled kind of reads that leaves you shaking your head and gripping your pearls. If any of that interests you, you’ll definitely want to read it. The author did a brilliant job.

      1. Deeksha Bhardwaj

        Thanks so much. That sounds great!! Would definitely read it now.. I have heard so many good reviews about Colleen’s books. Time to pick one up😄🙌🏼

        1. Sheri Dye

          You’re very welcome!
          It’s the first of her books I’ve had a chance to read and it’s so twisted.. I loved it.
          I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

          1. Sheri Dye

            Any time. 😊
            Best of luck!

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