The Rec League: Unconventional Occupations

The Rec League - heart shaped chocolate resting on the edge of a very old bookI’m personally excited about this Rec League we have! It’s all about cool or lesser seen jobs in romance novels. We did a giveaway where the one of the women protagonists was a magician and I asked what sorts of unconventional jobs readers wanted to see more of in romances.

Several commenters mentioned that it would make a good Rec League post and we’re all about satisfying (heh) our community!

Sarah: I love Nora Roberts’ artist heroines, like in Born in Fire ( A | BN | K | G | AB ), which contrasts in a lovely and thoughtful way with Brianna (I think that’s her name) in Born in Ice, who runs and B&B because she creates a warm, temporary home for guests to replace the cold home she grew up in.

Elyse: I did a Lightning Review of a heroine who worked for an oil refinery.

Amanda: Oooh!

Elyse: Break the Rules by Clare Boston ( A | BN | K | AB ).

Edge of Glory
A | BN | K | AB
Sarah: Edge of Glory – heroines are pro snowboarder and pro skier.

Nora does a lot of competence porn heroines, which is often my favorite element of re-reading some of her older contemporaries.

Livia in Hate to Want You ( A | BN | K | AB ) is a professional tattoo artist.

Amanda: Highland Dragon Warrior ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) has an alchemist heroine, which I really liked.

Cream of the Crop
A | BN | K | AB
Sarah reviewed the book as well and enjoyed it.

The Black Lily ( A | BN | K | AB ) is a paranormal/historical romance where the heroine is the leader of a resistance organization against the vampire ruling class.

Cream of the Crop has a swoony, dairy farmer hero.

Elyse, which Nicole Helm book had the hero who made organic dog treats?

Elyse: Uh…shit

Ich weiss nicht.

Amanda: All I Am! ( A | BN | K | AB ) Remembered it!

What books would you recommend? I know this request can be interpreted: unconventional jobs in a general sense or something different than your typical billionaires, PR people, ranchers, etc.

Comments are Closed

  1. Lora says:

    Personally if i read one more romance about a secretary I’m gonna scream. There are other jobs. Also I have been a secretary and you do NOT HAVE TIME TO FLIRT WITH THE CEO, for real. THere are phones to answer. SMH

    In historicals, I loved the heroine in Talk Sweetly To Me, who was an astronomical calculator for a bunch of elite white guy academics who of course can’t be arsed to do their own advanced mathematics. I think that was the very best part of the book for me.

    In The Princess Scandal, the heroine is a women’s studies prof, but she writes a feminist blog and I loved her blog entries which were much sassier and funnier than her professional persona.

  2. Zyva says:

    The female lead and adult title character in The Texas Wildcatter’s Baby, by Cathy Gillen Thacker.

  3. MirandaB says:

    These aren’t romance heroines, but a couple of references for historical jobs for women other than dress-making.

    Behind Closed Doors by Amanda Vickery: In Georgian times, there were women who were accountants! They did the estate books for the local gentry. Someone write a Georgian accountant heroine 🙂

    Betsy Ross and the Making of America by Marla Miller: Women and girls worked in upholsterer shops. They made mattresses (you will learn more about Colonial mattress-making in this book than you may want to know), tents, flags :), and so on. Non-dressmaking sewing.

  4. Emma says:

    Not strictly speaking romance, but Gene of Isis by Traci Harding has two archeologist heroines.

  5. Francesca says:

    It occurred to me that a lot of Kathleen Gilles Seidel’s books have occupations you rarely see. In Summer’s End his last job was moving houses (the actual disassembly and moving of a house). The female in Don’t Forget to Smile owns a bar – not a chic, little bistro in a big city or a cafe in some twee, small town, but a working class bar in a mill town in the PNW. The guy in this one is involved in lower management of the union for the mill that dominates the local economy. The male in Maybe This Time is a high school teacher, who is generally believed not to have realized his potential as the smartest boy in school. How this is resolved (spoiler: he loves being a teacher) is a major part of the story. Also, although it’s women’s fiction rather than romance, the main character of Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige is an ICU nurse, who is beginning to struggle with the limitations (speed, stamina, etc.) that middle age are bringing to her ability to do her job.

  6. Helena says:

    The next book in Lucy Parker’s West End series has a circus artist heroine and a makeup artist hero.

  7. Gigi says:

    Sarina Bowen’s Bittersweet the hero is an apple farmer. Tessa Dare’s A Week To Be Wicked the heroine is a paleontologist. One of my favorite books! I think some of Laura Lee Guhrke’s Bachelor girl series might qualify, but my brain is not cooperating right now.

  8. Carol S says:

    In The Suffragette Scandal (GO COURTNEY MILAN!), the heroine publishes a newspaper. Kulti by Mariana Zapata features a pro soccer player, and Wait For It features a hair stylist. There’s a Julie James where the heroine owns a really cool wineshop. I want this wineshop in my town. There is one where the heroine designs board games (not really a job, more of a passion) — I think it’s a Lisa Kleypas. I also read one recently where the heroine is a property manager. Plus if you want to go crazysauce, Maya Banks has one where the heroine is an aid worker in the Middle East.

  9. Booklight says:

    Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series – Mercy is a VW mechanic

    Kelley Armstrong’s Nadia Stafford trilogy – Nadia owns a wilderness retreat (climbing, rafting, hiking, etc.) and is an assassin on the side

    Sarah Maclean’s Never Just a Lady by her Cover – heroine owns her own The Fallen Angel, a historical nightclub.

    Amanda Quick’s Til Death Do Us Part – heroine owns a Victorian version of a dating service.

    Julia Quinn’s Romancing Mr. Bridgerton – heroine makes her own money anonymously writing a scandal sheet – story arc over all the Bridgerton books.

  10. hng23 says:

    Penny Reid’s Love Hacked (Knitting in the City series) has a psychologist heroine; in Beard In Mind (Winston Brothers series) she’s a garage mechanic.

  11. Janine says:

    THere is no one reading this site regularly who does not know about Lucy Parker’s books, but in both Act Like It and Pretty Face the heroines are working, middling-successful actors (they have steady acting jobs, but are not incredibly rich or famous) and the books spend a lot of time talking about how they do their jobs.

    In Desire by Amanda Quick, the heroine has a very successful business making perfumes and scented products that is the source of wealth for her whole estate.

    In When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare, the heroine is a scientific illustrator (and the hero is a retired army officer, which is not super common).

    In Pairing Off by Elizabeth Harmon, the leads are figure skaters.

  12. Lucy says:

    In Deborah Harkness’ All Souls’ Trilogy, the heroine is an academic — the Bodleian Library plays a key role, if that’s your sort of thing, as it is mine! — and the hero is a vampire who runs a yoga studio, among other things. There is… a lot going on in those books.

  13. MegS says:

    I definitely second Nora Roberts & competence pr0n. The Three Sisters trilogy had highly capable heroines. And I love the Search (I think that’s the title?) with the dog training heroine.

    Lorelei James’s Rough Rider Legacy series starts out with Sierra as a highly capable young businesswoman. And she makes good career choices. Actually, Lorelei James is all about competent heroines, especially in her more recent series (the one in Minnesota and the one in Denver).

    Another Shelly Laurenston shout-out for Wolf Next Door—the heroine is a master organizer.

    Anne Calhoun is ALL about women having serious careers. I actually recommend just about anything she’s put out from that perspective.

    There was a recent two-book series about hate-to-love that started with two chefs getting together. Wrecking Ball? I’m not sure, since I was reading two new authors with this approach at the same time.

  14. Heather S says:

    Amanda Stevens’ Graveyard Queen series has a heroine who is a cemetery restorer – she learned the trade from her dad and she takes photos and does research before she gets to the heavy labor like clearing underbrush and scrubbing headstones.

  15. Alexandra says:

    I feel like Heroines with unconventional jobs is one of Nora Roberts’ specialties. Besides the ones already mentioned, here’s what I can think of.
    – Whiskey Beach has a heroine with multiple jobs: cleaning houses, teaching yoga, making jewelry to sell at a local shop
    – Bridal Quartet: 4 friends live together in one mansion; a photographer, florist, pastry chef, and wedding planner, and together they own a wedding business.
    – Sign of 7 trilogy: one of the heroines explores and writes about local mythologies, one is a researcher.
    – The Collector: heroine is a beginning author (has 1 book, working on another) but her main job is house sitting.
    – The MacGregors: in Serena the heroine is a card dealer for a casino, and in one of the other books in the series the hero runs a riverboat with a casino.
    – Taming Natasha: the heroine owns a toy store!
    – Blue Smoke: the heroine is an arson investigator
    – High Noon: the heroine is a cop with a specialty in hostage negotiation and the hero won the lottery and has his fingers in many pies.
    – Chasing Fire: the heroine is a wild land firefighter.
    – Tribute: the heroine is a former child star that flips houses.
    – Northern Lights: the heroine is a bush pilot (I think that’s the right term) in a tiny town in Alaska.
    – Three Fates: One of the heroines is a stripper.
    – Chesapeake trilogy: The three heroes own a boat building business, one heroine is a social worker, one cleans houses, and one is a sociologist.
    – In The Garden trilogy – The heroines own/work at a nursery and I think one is a landscape architect.

    There are probably more, but that’s what I can remember off the top of my head.

  16. No, the Other Anne says:

    Rhoda Baxter’s books are full of awesome people (both heroes and heroines) in specific areas of science and tech who are smart and good at what they do, whether it’s inventing apps or researching microscopic life forms that live around underwater volcanoes. As a reader and person who lives in the real world, I also really appreciate that the characters’ work lives are realistic – if they have a PhD, they’re at an appropriate age to have done the work to get there; their jobs are realistically time-consuming, not leaving you to wonder if they’d get fired in real life for never seeming to actually go to work; barriers to women in STEM are recognized pragmatically; etc.

  17. Momo says:

    I enjoyed the taxidermist hero in An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles.

  18. Kay Sisk says:

    In my T’s Trial, the heroine owns a convenience store and the jilted beau is a game warden. He gets his own story two books later.

  19. Maddy says:

    The leads in Lynsay Sands’ Argeneau books often have unusual jobs, especially whichever h/h isn’t an immortal, but the job doesn’t always feature largely in the story (depending on the plot of the book). Coroner, kitchenware store owner, portraitist, stage actor, therapist, romance author (one of the heroes), game dev…

  20. Cat C says:

    The board games one that @Carol S mentions is Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas. One of the coolest unconventional jobs I’ve ever read in romance is a heroine involved with resurrectionists in Elizabeth Boyce’s historical Honor Among Thieves (so, yes, it’s a little dark and grisly). The contemporary novella “The Patter of Paws at Christmas” by Nikki Logan is about zookeepers trying to help track baby wild African dogs with lots of really interesting details (it’s in the anthology A Puppy for Christmas, the other two stories are blah and cliched, oh well).

    So glad this thread exists, really looking forward to checking out the other suggestions!

  21. Emily C says:

    Level Up by Cathy Yardley is well-loved on this site, and the heroine works as a game developer. I also thought of A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley where the heroine is hired to work as code breaker and to translate a historical journal. She is also on the autism spectrum, so additional rec for a neurodivergent character.

  22. Mona says:

    Rose Lerner’s heroines (regency historically, Lively St. Lemeston series) are political fundraisers, bakery employees, maid for all work. The romance takes place while they do their work and even takes a realistic backseat. Strongly recommended if you are tired of Dukes in historicals, and want heroines with a life before the hero.

  23. Crystal says:

    :::plops in:::

    Hello.

    Forever Mine by Erin Nicholas — the heroine is a former cop that, after an injury, becomes a martial arts instructor/cosplayer and cosplay designer.

    The Collector by Nora Roberts — the heroine is a professional house-sitter and ends up witnessing a murder/suicide, because plot.

    Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts — heroine is a smoke-jumper.

    The Villa by Nora Roberts — heroine is basically about to take over the family winery, and knows the wine business from all ends.

    The Anatomical Shape of a Heart by Jenn Bennett — YA romance, the heroine plans to go into anatomical drawing.

    Duke of My Heart by Kelly Bowen — Regency-era Olivia Pope.

    When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon — YA romance, heroine is into coding and app design.

    The Trouble With Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis — heroine runs a pet store and is a bit of an animal whisperer.

  24. Lucy says:

    Some of the heroines in Anne Stuart’s Ice series (my favourite romance series ever) have different jobs, especially in Ice Storm where the female protagonist is the head of the covert organisation around which the series revolves.

  25. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    I know this request is for unconventional occupations, as opposed to competence porn, but I find that often the two go hand-in-hand (do we want to read about an incompetent heroine regardless of her job?). Anyway, Jill Sorenson’s books have some incredibly competent heroines in unconventional (or, perhaps, just rarely seen in romance novels) careers. Here are a few:

    AFTERSHOCK: EMT

    DANGEROUS TO TOUCH: Owner of a pet-boarding business. Extra points for the heroine’s affinity for animals which plays an important part in the plot.

    FREE FALL: Park ranger in a national park.

    SET THE DARK ON FIRE and STRANDED WITH HER EX: Bith heroines are animal biologists.

    WILD: Zookeeper who works with elephants at the San Diego Zoo.

    SHOOTING DIRTY’s heroine is a stripper. What I like about that is Sorenson shows her as a three-dimensional character with determination and ambition, not just someone who takes off her clothes for money.

    I also second the Anne Calhoun recommendation because, whatever occupation the heroines in her books have (and, off the top of my head, I can think of commercial mortgage broker, chef, organic farmer/restaurant owner, fashion designer, house renovator, librarian, basketball coach, and cop), the women are always incredibly competent and the heroes always respect them for that.

  26. KJ Charles says:

    I love unusual jobs in historical. Rose Lerner’s Lively St Lemeston series is great for that. If I may, I wrote a taxidermist in An Unseen Attraction, which was fascinating to research, and a waste-man in A Queer Trade/Rag and Bone (a Victorian job, collecting and selling on used paper, usually to the food industry for wrapping).

  27. C.F. says:

    An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles features a hero who is a taxidermist.

  28. Katy says:

    Riza Curtis has a series about modern day cupids, quite an unusual profession.

  29. MClaudia says:

    I’m reading A Dangerous Legacy by Elizabeth Camden and heroine is a working-class telegraphist for the AP in New York in the early 1900s; hero is Reuters NYC bureau chief and former Boer War correspondent.

    It’s technically an ‘inspie’ but that has not been overly showcased, which I very much like. Hero’s hobby is raising homing pigeons, which Reuters actually used when it was founded back in the 1850s. Fascinating history. Also, heroine’s family invented a water-pipe valve that made it possible to pump water to a building’s upper floors, and the book describes NYC tenements where one would have to go up and down multiple flights of stairs to haul water from the one single faucet.

  30. PamG says:

    Rachel Gibson’s See Jane Score features a female sports reporter. Some of her other books feature specific types of writers, and a beauty salon owner.

    CD Reiss’s King of Code has a tech genius heroine doing a major beat down on the tech genius hero and her ShutterGirl is focused (hur) on a successful paparazza.

    Sarah Mayberry has romances centered on people who work in believable but interesting jobs, including tattoo artists, boxers, auto mechanics, and behind the scenes in television.

    Laura Florand’s books feature some really interesting professions for both heroes and heroines in perfumery and cookery/confectionary, and they are all French, all the time! However, one also gets humanitarian aid overseas, ze Foreign Legion, and all manner of unusual back stories.

  31. LauraL says:

    In Her Summer with the Marine by Susan Meier the families of both the hero and the heroine are in the funeral home business. Not mentioned in the book description despite the family business being a big part of the story.

    Yardley Summers, a recurring character in D.D. Ayres’ K9 Rescue series, trains dogs for the military, police, and protection, not teaching Bella or Max to sit! She gets her own story in Rival Forces and is a force to be reckoned with, like the rest of the heroines in the series.

    And, another vote for Rose Lerner’s heroines!

  32. A CHRISTMAS GONE PERFECTLY WRONG (FREE!!!) by Cecilia Grant – the heroine trains falcons.

    And I second the ANNE CALHOUN list from DiscoDollyDeb – LIBERATING LACEY is the one where the heroine is the extremely successful commercial mortgage broker and deal-maker. She makes much, much more money than the hero, a cop who also does home remodel. That’s an issue they have to deal with.

    I’d also say that my books have heroines with unusual jobs, the most in HIS ROAD HOME, where the heroine works for National Marine Fisheries Service. It’s not actually THAT unusual of a job in Seattle (I know more than one person who works for NMFS) but overall, yes, unusual. In THE SECOND LIE the heroine (an undocumented immigrant) owns a high-end wine fulfillment service, helping wealthy people build their private collections. And in FIRST TO BURN the heroine is an army doctor deployed in Afghanistan. Statistically, only about 14% of the army are women, and only 0.4% (yes, that is zero-point-four percent) of the American population are active military personnel — all branches — so, it is unusual that the heroine is an army officer.

    Seriously, go for the free Cecilia Grant right now.

  33. June says:

    Thirding Anne Calhoun. DiscoDollyDeb missed one – Lauren from Uncommon Pleasure is a petroleum geologist. Another vote for Jill Sorenson as well.

    Helena in Tempting the Bride by Sherry Thomas is a publisher. Julianna is The Wild Marquis by Miranda Neville is a bookseller who advises the hero on buying books at auction.

    Leila Beaumont in Loretta Chase’s Captives of the Night is an artist, and Lydia from The Last Hellion is a journalist who also writes serialized fiction.

    In Carrie Lofty’s Flawless, the h/h run a diamond brokerage (not by choice). In Starlight, the heroine is a union organizer.

    Tammara Webber’s student heroines in Easy and Sweet are an upright bass musician and a marine biologist, respectively.

    Erin in Cara McKenna’s After Hours is a psychiatric LPN. McKenna also has that boxing trilogy where two of the heroines are matchmakers and one is a retired MMA fighter? Boxer? Who now works as a trainer.

    I know KJ Charles’ taxidermist hero has already been mentioned, but my vote goes to Justin Lazarus, the spiritualist hero in An Unnatural Vice.

    Now, if someone would like to write an m/m title featuring figure skaters for me… how can people fail to be inspired by Yuri on Ice?

  34. chacha1 says:

    I am bookmarking this discussion for the next time I am allowed to buy books. The unread titles on my Kindle go on for 7 pages … 🙂

    @KJ Charles, love your stuff!

  35. Kerry says:

    In Pins and Needles, one hero is a tattoo artist/oil engineer and the other is an attorney starting his own practice who takes the engineer’s workplace injury case against an oil company. Extreme competence and legal plot p@rn better than Grisham that’s balanced with great character development and relationships.

  36. CelineB says:

    Tiffany Reisz’s Men at Work series has a heroine who owns a greenery in the second book and a welder heroine in the third. I haven’t read the first to know what the occupation in that one is.

  37. PamG says:

    @MegS

    I think the Laurenston is Wolf with Benefits and its one of my faves.

  38. Nicole says:

    Oh this post is going to be hard on my wallet!

    In Some Kind of Wonderful (Puffin Island #2) by Sarah Morgan the heroine is an archaeologist. And in Christmas Ever After (Puffin Island #3) the hero is a (brooding) historian.

    King of Code by CD Reiss features two hackers.

  39. Kareni says:

    In Sherry Thomas’ historical romance Delicious, the heroine is a chef.

    I recall old Elizabeth Lowell series romances with heroines who were photographers and glass artists.

  40. Teev says:

    In Heroes Are My Weakness, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, the heroine is a puppeteer and the hero writes horror novels.

Comments are closed.

By posting a comment, you consent to have your personally identifiable information collected and used in accordance with our privacy policy.

↑ Back to Top