WHEN YOUR HEROINE IS A MOTHER

by Maria C. Ferrer

The Ides of March are past, the April showers are over, and now we have May flowers popping out everywhere. Flowers are a great gift for Mother’s Day (this Sunday, May 12, don’t forget!).

My heroine is a mother.

Jessenia Lopez is a single mother of a precocious five-year-old, Antonio. She is also a sexy modern woman who runs a day-spa and drives our hero Rafael Quintero crazy with lust. The two spent three wicked nights in bed following their cousins wedding and Antonio was the result. Unfortunately, after their wild weekend they parted ways. Now, six years later, Rafael is back in town and furious that Jessenia kept his son from him. He gets even by moving into the apartment above her and starting his campaign to claim his son and the woman he has never been able to forget.

So the battle of the sexes is on, but with a child in the house it has to be covert.

I have scenes where Jessenia and Rafael awaken to the lust between them. It never died, but there is a child present so it’s not like they can have sex at the drop of a hat, and certainly not in an open room where their son may walk in on them. (Yikes!)

Readers must see Jessenia as a Sexy Mama, after all, they will identify with her. I want my readers to see my heroine as a combination of Marilyn Monroe and Clair Huxtable – sex goddess and mother.


While many of my scenes are between Jessenia and Rafael alone, Antonio still plays a big part because he is the bone they are fighting over. However, once they agree to “joint custody” that part of the battle is over and now the true battle for sex begins. Rafael wants a marriage of convenience; Jessenia wants a lover not a martyr. It is so much fun to write scenes where Jessenia pushes Rafael’s buttons, and of course, the ones where Rafael pushes back are equally hot.

However, I also want readers -- and Rafael! -- to see the good mother Jessenia is so of course I have to have scenes between her and Antonio, with her being nurturing and motherly. Like when Jessenia wakes Antonio in the morning with a game of spiders and drums; when she cuddles him after a traumatic rush to the emergency room; when she reads to him yet one more story at night; when she turns a blind eye to the dog that he slips into his bed.

When your heroine is a mother, the writer must have a good mix of scenes where the heroine is shown as a sex goddess and then as a mother. The writer must always remember that they are writing a romance novel. Readers will want more Marilyn than Clair so most of the scenes should be between the heroine and the hero; maybe 30 percent with the child. Whatever the percentages, a writer cannot shortchange the heroine or the hero or her readers. If they do, mother will be angry!♥



Maria C. Ferrer is not a mother, but she is an aunt and godmother to nine brats. She loves that she can send them home to their real mothers at the end of the day! Her secret baby book is entitled, DADDY FOUND.  This article was also published in the RWA/NYC chapter blog at www.rwanycblogginginthebigapple.blogspot.com.