My Mother's Boyfriends

by Samantha Schoech

A daughter witnesses her mother grow angels' wings. A mistress begins writing letters to her lover's wife. Thanks to a genealogy test, a middle-aged woman meets a sister she's never known, and they're very...different.




The 14 insightful, witty, and often laugh-out-loud stories in My Mother's Boyfriends are populated by angels, earthquakes, sibling complexity, love affairs gone bad, and children left to figure it out on their own. Woven throughout is an abiding sympathy for the mess-ups, bad choices, and missteps humans make despite their best intentions.




"Witty and utterly enchanting." -Vendela Vida, author of We Run the Tides




"My Mother's Boyfriends will both break your heart and make you smile. A dazzling set of short stories that touch on the most human of experiences; growing up, raising children, watching ailing parents, and aging. Each story is a gem full of warmth, insight and a touch of humor." 

-Courtney Flynn, Trident Booksellers and Cafe




"In My Mother's Boyfriends, Samantha Schoech writes with precision, grace, and considerable wit on subjects ranging from the magical to the mundane. Packed with sharply observed characters and surprising sentences that masterfully turn a story inside out, this collection is as unsettling as The Big One, but so much more fun. These are voices you'll hear in your head long after you've closed the book. A terrific read with a big San Francisco heart." -Michelle Richmond, bestselling author of The Marriage Pact and The Wonder Test

Genres: Short Stories

195 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 21, 2025

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the cover blurb says, “Witty and utterly enchanting.”

I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but this is one of the best covers I’ve seen. The young woman in the bikini is in color, and the man leering at her is in black and white. Like the stories in this collection, the photo is clever and witty and makes worry about a world in which men are often lurking and staring and a little bit dangerous. I love the organizing idea behind the stories, the way many of them circle around the idea of “my mother’s boyfriends” from different angles. From little kids sleeping in a van waiting for their mom to come back from dancing with her boyfriend to the adult daughter in a “secret” family who finally meets the daughter from her father’s “real” family. I grew up dealing with several of my mother’s boyfriends and then as a single mom myself dated and saw the situation from the other side. And so it’s as an expert on this topic that I say: Samantha Schoech nailed it!

From the first story about a woman who literally becomes angel—a very unlikely one—we’re intrigued. The story is narrated by the woman’s jaded teenage daughter in a deadpan voice that wins over our skepticism. The premise is absurd but also absolutely spot on. And the ending is a surprise that also makes perfect sense. I laughed out loud.

The characters have their share of pain and suffering (car accidents, a broken neck, a broken heart; eating disorders and bad trips—both literal and metaphorical) but all of the stories shine with humor that makes them so fun to read. The narrators are direct and opinionated, and I also laughed out loud at lines like these:

“So, Justin, what in the hell are you doing here? Last time I saw you, you were standing me up outside Planned Parenthood. You’re the only person in the world, besides Hitler, who I say I hate.” I tried to say this in a friendly way.

One of my favorite stories is “Walking Wounded,” which starts with the narrator going to the emergency room for some tampon trouble and with this beautiful paragraph:

“I can only do what I can do. Buy a box of my own tampons. Watch the time-lapse videos Ellen sends me of her eating lunch in the attendance office. Wake up early to make big breakfasts. I can bump my way through this new world, these weird days. But I’m confused, my internal compass is off. I’ve lost my focus and I forget so many things. I don’t have Alzheimer’s. But I do have something. I have everything. It’s all so fucking awful because it’s all so fucking beautiful.”

What a perfect description of life. Not just for the perimenopausal woman in the story, but for all of us.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the complicated, loving, doing-their-flawed-best moms in Samantha Schoech’s fabulous collection, My Mother’s Boyfriends. Sandy, the mother of Schoech’s title story, adores her kids but they are not going to keep her from going out dancing. Patty drinks from the #1 Mom mug her daughter gave her and has sprouted angel wings. “So, you're an angel now?" her daughter asks, and then reflects, “It bugs me to ask this. If there's anyone on the planet who thinks she's an angel, it's my mother. It annoys me that this image of herself seems to have been realized.” And then there’s Kate, who after watching a Great Dane calmly birth a litter of puppies realizes that “so much of mothering…was often merely imitating what an imagined good mom would do—limit sugar, enforce bedtime, impose curfews—even when she didn't really care about those things that much.” Each of these stories offers a richly detailed, sensitive, often funny exploration of love and family.

[Becca Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was perusing the a bookstore in the SFO airport, and this book jumped out at me. I thought it sounded interesting so I gave it a read.

The book was not what I was expecting at all! I was expecting many short stories of a mother’s dating life. What I got was better, instead, short stories of family life, the good the uncomfortable and difficult times that life can offer. Some of the stories were funny. Some were sad. They were all relatable in some capacity.

I really enjoyed this author’s writing style, it was very approachable and fun to read. It was definitely one of my favorite books I’ve read this year!

[Liza_lo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very solid collection of short stories mostly focused on interpersonal relationships and the small dramas and devastations that can follow them.

My personal favourites were Halo, in which a woman in a serious car accident is visited by her teenage ex-boyfriend, Walking Wounded in which a woman going through menopause loses a tampon inside her body, and Sudden Fictions where a creative writing professor starts a relationship with a custodian that they both misunderstand.

Great for readers of literary fiction and especially those who want to read about mother-daughter relationships.

[Ashley Hodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice Quick comfort read- I would bounce into a new chapter every night or morning when I had some time to read- I really beyond this collection of short stories even though I often found them odd and even anxiety inducing - these awkward social interactions were something else!! Overall I really loved the book- my favorite was likely the last story just because it made me think of my own mom as well as the story titled ‘my mother’s boyfriends’ - the perspective from the young daughter was great and I found the tale intriguing as well as heartbreaking…

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never thought I'd give a book of short stories 4 stars, but here we are. I often find them to end abruptly, leaving me frustrated, but these were different. Maybe because many were set in the Bay Area, where I live (always a plus), maybe because they were unusual topics, maybe because the author's husband is one of the owners of one of my favorite independent bookstores. Who knows? There's really no accounting for taste, I guess. But I found the stories engaging and the characters interesting, and reading it was the perfect way to spend a raining day at home.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book of short stories and I highly recommend it. As a 50 year old woman, every story seemed to resonate with my 70s & 80s childhood. Samantha is incredibly detailed and creative in her writing that I could picture or smell exactly what she was describing. I love this kind of writing! It was a true delight to get through all of these touching, funny and at times magical stories.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not usually a fan of short stories because I find the character development to be limited by the number of pages. Not an issue at all with this wonderful collection. Schoech is impressive in her ability to fully shape characters and settings. I savored one or two of the stories each night, and appreciated the spectrum of human foibles, quirks, and emotions.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book of short stories I’ve read in recent memory. Actually, this is the best BOOK I’ve read in recent memory. I’m a sucker for stories that explore mother-daughter dynamics. Samantha portrays these relationships with exquisite tenderness. Her characters are awkward, tender, prickly, flawed, authentic—and so very relatable.

[bingle bangle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Writers that aren't completely horrible but fall flat frustrate me so much more than bad writers do. I felt the same way about Emma Cline's The Guest but the difference between her writing and Schoech's is that I couldn't put down The Guest despite my growing disdain throughout my reading of it. I even picked up The Girls afterwards. These stories lacked depth and poeticism for me tbh.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobody’s life, relationships, or family is perfect. These short stories bring out the first hand truth(s) about different families in what they’re experiencing behind closed doors. It really brings out the differences in people’s lives compared to our own.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eclectic and interesting series of short stories telling tales of women dealing with mothers, children, relationships and their own mortality. Thanks to Libro FM for the audio version read by the author.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is solid, with characters that feel real handling complex relationships. The author writes dialog that feels true and did a great job narrating the audiobook.

[Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I want in a collection of stories: hilarious, intriguing stories that reveal something profound about the human condition. I loved this book!

[Kate Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone with a perfectly imperfect mother. I hope a few of these become a longer novel!

[Marrakech Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories are told through such an interesting non-linear framework. Vulnerable, wise, and a large amount of hilarity this was an incredible memoir.

[Lloyd Fassett]

5/7/25 - saw it at The Green Apple SFO shop in terminal B while on a long layover. Green Apple is a great store.

[libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO good. cried. and this is an unbiased take.

[Guinevere DelaMare · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Audiobook) Short story collections can be hit or miss. This one walks in like it owns the place with a nonchalant tale of a suburban mom who grows wings and ordains herself the Angel of Bitterness. Her teenage daughter is not impressed. Throughout the book, Samantha Schoech shakes up a stiff cocktail of parental neglect and cultural expectations, the core ingredients that muddled Gen X women into a mess of resentful overachievers let down by broken promises and disappointing men. The added twist of San Francisco nostalgia tops it off for me. Loved it.

Thank you to Libro.fm for the ALC!