Characters from the Eight Cousins saga.
Rose Campbell
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted. Rose is attracted to the idea of being Charlie's Morality Chain, but her common sense and Uncle Alec both warn her not to commit herself to a man she cannot trust.
- The Caretaker: To Mac.
- Cool Big Sis: To Kitty.
- Daddy's Girl: Rose was this to her late father, George, and at the beginning of the first book she's still grieving very painfully for what appears to be his relatively recent loss. Over the course of the ensuing year, she grows to be this for Uncle Alec as well.
- Dead Guy Junior: Rose is named after her dead mother.
- Like Brother and Sister: Rose offers to be Charlie's little sister so he can confide his problems to her. Once he starts courting her, it stops.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: Rose openly admits that her ideal husband is a man just like her uncle Alec. She ends up marrying Mac, Alec's godson, who fits the role perfectly.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch
- Nephewism
- Oblivious to Love
- Parental Substitute: To Dulcie.
George and Rose Campbell
- Deceased Parents Are the Best
- Disappeared Dad and Missing Mom
- Sibling Triangle: Both George and his brother Alec liked Rose Sr. George won and this led to Alec distancing himself from them for years.
Dr. Alexander Mackenzie Campbell aka Uncle Alec
- The Confidant: To Rose.
- His Heart Will Go On / The Mourning After: Uncle Alec is heavily implied to have been in love with Rose's dead mother. (It may be noted that of all the Campbell brothers, he alone never married.)
- Parental Substitute: To Rose.
- The Promise: Prior to his death, George asked Alec if he'd take care of his daughter Rose, and Alec accepted. This is the exact reason why he takes Rose under his wing.
Phebe Moore
- Beta Couple: With Archie.
- The Caretaker: To Uncle Alec.
- She's All Grown Up: In the second book.
Aunt Plenty
- The Caretaker: To Peace and, after she dies, to Myra.
Aunt Peace
- The Heart: In a way. Everybody loves her, and when her funeral is described in the second book, it mentions that in addition to the sprawling Campbell clan, she served as a mentor to a number of young women in the neighborhood, who honored her by acting as pallbearers.
- Her Heart Will Go On / The Mourning After: Aunt Peace's fiancé died just hours before their wedding; she almost died herself from the shock, but managed to survive, although she never got over it.
- Maiden Aunt: Never married after her fiancé's death.
Aunt Jessie and Uncle James aka Jem
- Cool Aunt: Jessie is Rose’s favorite aunt.
- Happily Married
- Parental Substitute: Aunt Jessie is the nearest thing Rose has to a mother.
Aunt Clara
- The Ditz: And her brothers-in-law aren't exactly impressed with it.
- The Fashionista
- I Was Quite a Looker: Probably crossing into a softer version of...
- My Beloved Smother: Her lenient and smothering parenting is one of the reasons why Charlie is so screwed up.
Uncle Mac
- Cool Uncle: He's Rose's favorite uncle other than Alec.
- Henpecked Husband
Aunt Jane
- Doting Parent: In her own odd way, particularly to Mac after he almost goes blind.
- Education Mama: She has a tendency to nag Rose about her studies early in the first book.
- My Beloved Smother: To a degree
Aunt Myra
- My Beloved Smother: To her dead daughter Caroline. It's implied that this may have had a role in said daughter's death.
Archibald "Archie" Campbell
- Beta Couple: With Phebe.
- Big Brother Mentor: To all of the younger cousins.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Charlie.
- Parental Marriage Veto: The aunts are collectively appalled by Archie's proposing to Phebe - at least until she saves Uncle Alec's life.
"Prince" Charlie Campbell
- The Ace: Charlie is seen as the most accomplished and handsomest of the cousins. He becomes the Broken Ace in the second book when years of spoiling makes him arrogant and lazy with no clear ambition or talent.
- The Alcoholic
- Death of the Hypotenuse: A subversion. When he dies in a riding accident, Rose and Mac, the other sides of the "triangle," don't even like each other that way until a few years later.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Archie.
- Like Brother and Sister: Rose offers to be Charlie's little sister so he can confide his problems to her. Once he starts courting her, it stops.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Charlie is described as acting like a melodramatic theatre character.
Alexander Mackenzie "Mac" Campbell
- Berserk Button: Please, don't mock someone else's goals in front of him. Especially if this involves Charlie trying to not drink alcohol. When that one happened, Mac almost went berserk on Kitty's brother Alf.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Kitty's brother Alf triggers's Mac's Berserk Button and finds out Mac is a Badass Bookworm.
- Bookworm
- Eye Scream: As a child he almost loses his eyesight due to too much reading in the sun, and Rose takes care of him until he recovers.
- Family Theme Naming: Like several of the cousins, he's named after not one but two of the uncles - he shares his first name with Uncle Alec, his middle name with his father.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Bookish Mac and flamboyant Steve.
Stephen "Steve" Campbell
- Beta Couple: With Kitty.
- Big Brother Worship: He idolizes Charlie and copies him in everything, not always to his own advantage.
- Family Theme Naming: Like several of the cousins, he's named after one of the uncles - in this case, he's named for Charlie's father Stephen.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Bookish Mac and flamboyant Steve.
William and George Campbell (Will and Geordie)
- The Big Guys
- Family Theme Naming: Like several of the cousins, Geordie is named after one of the uncles - in this case, Rose's late father.
James Campbell, Jr. aka Jamie
- Family Theme Naming: Like several of the cousins, he's named after one of the uncles - in this case, his father, Jem.
- Likes Older Women: Jamie (at 12) proposes to Rose (at 19). She laughs it off.
- Tagalong Kid
Annabel Bliss
- Accidental Misnaming: Uncle Alec refers to her as "Ariadne Blish" at one point while talking to himself, although it's unclear whether this is Malicious Misnaming or if he actually thinks that is her name. In the first edition, the character’s name actually was Ariadne Blish.
- Beta Couple: With Fun See.
- The Ditz
- Friendly Enemy: She and Rose have this sort of a relationship in the first book, but they improve considerably as they grow older.
- Lovable Alphabitch: While much more of a ditz than Rose and is somewhat set up as an example of the vapid girl she shouldn't aspire to be, she's not a bad person in herself.
- She's All Grown Up
Fun See
A boy from China who has come to America for an education.- Funny Foreigner: At first...
- She's All Grown Up: The Fun See from the second book is said to be Tall, Dark, and Handsome.
Debby/Dolly
In the first edition, her name is Debby for the first three chapters, changing to Dolly when she reappears later in the book. In later editions, she is Dolly throughout.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is a cook in Aunt Plenty's household. Underneath her bad temper, she has a kind heart.
Kitty Van Tassel
- Beta Couple: With Steve.
- The Ditz: Though to her merit, she is aware of her ditziness and tries to get better.
Dulcie
- The Dulcinea Effect: Has this on Mac when he first meets her, which is how she acquires the name.
- Happily Adopted: By her doting "Aunty Wose."
- Heartwarming Orphan: Her dad is in jail, and her mother has passed away.
