This month in BookTrib, we are celebrating women’s fiction books where the children or being childless is the issue.
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD by Deb L. Brown
(Peshina Publishing, October 2025)
To Have and to Hold weaves heartache, humor, and hope into the unpredictable journey toward parenthood. Amelia Greathouse is an event planner who thrives on structure, checklists, and perfection. She wants to have it all — marriage, a career and a family. Her husband, Melvin, is a creative museum curator with a spontaneous streak. When infertility turns their plans upside down, their marriage and faith are pushed to the brink.
Amelia’s pursuit of motherhood becomes all-consuming. As she silently compares herself to moms around her, she feels broken and alone. At work, a major opportunity tempts her to prove her worth. Just as joy seems within reach, a heartbreaking setback threatens to unravel everything. This book explores the tension between striving and surrender, and the power of faith to carry us through life’s detours — toward the family we never expected but were meant to have.
THE ALCHEMY OF FLOWERS by Laura Resau
(Harper Muse/HarperCollins, July 2025)
A broken woman. A mysterious job ad. A chance to heal in French castle gardens — but strange things are growing behind the ancient stone walls. Exhausted by fruitless attempts to make a family, Eloise takes the chance of a lifetime to answer an ad in a French gardening magazine. To fly away from her life in the States and tend to her shattered heart and the flowers of Paradise. And best of all for her: Absolutely no children allowed on the premises.
At first, the Gardens of Paradise and its inhabitants charm her. But as she digs deeper into the mysteries of her sanctuary, she begins to suspect there’s a child on the grounds — who may be in danger. When Paradise becomes a deadly prison, she must risk everything to protect her newfound family and claim her second chance at happiness.
This debut adult novel is an enchanting, modern-day take on The Secret Garden, sprinkled with magic.
SHAKEN by Jill A. Chafin
(Vine Leaves Press, March 2025)
When Sally unexpectedly becomes a mother at twenty, she tries her best to build a stable life for her son, Morgan. But the sleepless nights, overwhelming isolation, and relentless cries wear her down until she breaks, and in a moment of desperation, she does the unthinkable: she shakes her baby.
Consumed by guilt and fear, Sally buries her actions beneath a facade of normalcy, but the cracks are beginning to show. Enter Alyssa, the teenage babysitter, who is left in charge the night after the incident. As Morgan’s condition deteriorates, Sally’s partner, Charles, grows increasingly concerned. A series of alarming doctors’ visits spiral into a nightmare when authorities are alerted and fingers start pointing at Alyssa.
Will Sally come forward and risk losing everything, or will she try to maintain the illusion of being a perfect mother — even if it means someone else takes the blame?
THE HORNED WOMEN by Christy Matheson
(Buttercup Books, November 2024)
Being a single mother is hard enough without murderous Fae in your living room. All that Maura Robinson wanted from her contentious divorce was custody of her two young children — and an Irish castle. Instead, she ends up with her ex’s teenaged kids, plumbing problems, and twelve horned women carding and spinning by her fireplace.
The horned women demand tea, then cake…and then blood. After compelling Maura to fetch water in a sieve, the witches dance towards the sleeping children with their knives upraised. Trapped in the courtyard, Maura’s only power is her knowledge of folklore—and grim determination to protect her children. But is a stepmother’s love enough to save the grumpy teens … or will their new home in Ireland destroy their family?
ELEANORA IN PIECES by Jessica Maffetore
(Black Rose Writing, September 2024)
It’s been two years since her 4-year-old son, Owen, disappeared from his bed in the middle of the night. Every day, Eleanora waits for news that he’s been found, living with the nightmare of knowing that she failed to protect her boy. Intuition tells her that Owen is still alive, and Eleanora shuts out anyone who doesn’t believe her. But she can’t see that her single-minded hope comes at the expense of all she used to care about. With her career ruined, her marriage failing and her family coping in ways she can’t understand, Eleanora is left trying to claw her way out of the dark.
When an unexpected gift suddenly offers Eleanora a second chance at happiness, she is shocked to feel … nothing. Doubting her own worth, questioning her right to find peace, and still praying for her son’s return, Eleanora struggles to see that life, ugly and painful as it can be, might still be worth living.
THE OTHER SIDE OF NOTHING by Anastasia Zadeik
(She Writes Press, May 2024)
The day after she turns 18, Julia Reeves enters a psychiatric facility, longing for relief from the grief and guilt that have engulfed her since her father’s untimely death. There she falls for Sam Lorenzo, a fellow suicide attempt survivor with bipolar disorder.
When Julia and Sam leave secretly and disappear on a cross-country odyssey, their mothers form an uneasy alliance to embark on a journey of their own, desperately hoping to find their children before they are lost forever.
OF LIES AND HONEY by Donna Norman-Carbone
(Red Adept Publishing, May 2024)
Harper Alexander is devastated by a miscarriage even though she thought she never wanted to be a mother. Because of her husband’s determination to create a family and her inability to carry a child to term, they consider alternative options.
As the result of a secret love affair, Callie Sebastian becomes pregnant. Her socialite mother is appalled by her teenage daughter’s behavior. To protect the family’s reputation, she sends Callie to a Catholic boarding school for wayward girls.
When Raina Edwin’s third child starts school, leaving her with an empty house, she begins to long for another baby. Unfortunately, their farm will not support a new addition to their family. To fill the void, Raina starts a new business: selling honey.
As Harper, Callie, and Raina deal with their strife, their lives collide in unexpected ways. A revealed secret forces each of them to make choices that will alter their roles as mothers and daughters forever.
