On paper, Imogen and Alex couldn’t be more different. Alex is a single mother by choice, a professional musician, and a recent transplant from New York City to the suburbs. Imogen is a former teen mom who’s been married for eleven years and spends her days as a stay-at-home mom of four. But when the two of them meet at student drop-off on the first day of school, they immediately hit it off. Imogen is intrigued by the cosmopolitan Alex, and Alex is relieved to find at least one welcoming face among the hordes of suburban mothers. When the two of them realize that Alex is Imogen’s new neighbor, having just moved into her childhood home after her parents’ passing, their friendship is even more firmly cemented. As the two of them navigate the ups and downs of their very different lives, they find their friendship might be growing into something more romantic.
The introduction to Motherlover explains that Imogen and Alex’s story sprung from a pair of background characters in Lindsay Ishihiro’s autobiographical webcomic How Baby, inspired by Ishihiro’s own experiences with parenting, and that authenticity shines through in the story’s writing. While you can find the odd romance story with a single parent here or there, Motherlover is unusual in the way that both protagonists are navigating their version of motherhood in their thirties, giving the story a fresh spin on the common friends-to-lovers trope.
Ishihiro’s art is vibrant and expressive, with a special talent for portraying characters’ body language and expressions. The character designs feel specific and realistic, from Alex’s tattoos and undercut to Imogen’s curves and stretch marks to the evolving gender presentation of a side character. There’s a perfect balance between text and illustration, even including a chapter that is totally dialogue-free, instead allowing the art to shine as it portrays the evolution of Imogen and Alex’s lives.
Similarly, Ishihiro excels at balancing the lighter and heavier emotional components of the story. Alex’s return to her childhood home is causing her to unpack her difficult childhood and the emotional walls it left her with, while Imogen is struggling to discover herself outside of motherhood and advocate for what she wants. I’m of the opinion that the best romances—especially contemporary ones, where characters and stakes feel more realistic—should really show you not just attraction between two characters, but how being in each other’s lives makes them better, and Motherlover does this superbly. Both of them have their own personal issues and romantic troubles: Alex a fear of commitment, Imogen a husband who treats her as a source of unappreciated labor. I was truly convinced by the story that these two women cared about each other and were good for each other. The portrayal of queerness across the story is similarly nuanced and thoughtful, exploring the rejection and hardships that queer people can face, but also the bonds of community and the joy of self-discovery that it offers.
Overall, Motherlover is a lovely slice-of-life queer romance with a depth of character and colorful art that is sure to warm your heart.
Representation: Japanese American lesbian main character; plus-size queer/questioning (probably bi or pan) main character; F/F romance; trans girl side character; gay, Japanese American side character; Black nonbinary side character
Content warnings: infidelity (not in the main romance); discussions of abusive/homophobic parents
