The Rec League: Childfree Romance

The Rec League - heart shaped chocolate resting on the edge of a very old bookI’m honestly surprised we haven’t done a Rec Leage for this yet. We tend to get this request a lot via our Instagram Rec It Wednesday stories, and it’s often the topic of a lot of comments through our Books on Sale and Whatcha Reading posts.

Well, now we have a Rec League for it!

Ideally, we’re looking for heroines who don’t want children or historical romances that don’t end with a baby epilogue. Those two seem like the most difficult to come by, but we’ll also take whatever you want to throw at us.

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is always an obvious recommendation, but we want more!

Can you help us? Give us your recommendations! 

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  1. Michelle says:

    Shelly Laurenston has at least a couple of child free couples. One couple even went and happily got fixed (but that may have happened in a later book). Pack Challenge?

  2. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    I can’t think of specific books where the decision to be child-free was expressly stated, but I can think of a number of authors where children are rarely mentioned and are certainly never posited as the only way to an HEA. In most of Anne Calhoun’s books, there’s not an epilogue of any kind, child-filled or not. In fact, in THE LIST, the heroine has a pregnancy scare and is NOT happy about it. Many (but not all) of Jill Sorenson’s heroines are childless and it’s no big deal. Most of Cara McKenna’s heroines are childless at the end of their stories.

  3. JILL Q. says:

    One I can think of where the couple explicitly says “we don’t want kids” and stick with it is, “Bet Me” by Jenny Cruisie.

    Another one with no kids that I love is “Earth Bound” by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner. They don’t spell it out, but it’s clear they are both totally happy with their careers and kids aren’t for them. Emma Barry even has them listed in the category “we are never having kids” on her website.

    I wish more romances were like this. I have two kids and I love them dearly, but lots of people don’t want kids or choose not to have them/can’t have them for a lot of complicated reasons and that’s okay! I am happy more contemporary romances are at least leaving it ambiguous.

    I hate shoehorned in baby and pregnancy epilogues. Like if it was clear for the whole book it’s what the couple wanted, whatever, but otherwise it just feels like the author felt they needed babies to “be complete.” Ugh.

  4. Qualisign says:

    Wednesday’s HABO, Finding Grace by Rhea Rhodan, fits the bill perfectly. One clicked and read on Thursday. Wonderful book.

  5. Zyva says:

    A freebie (because it’s a hook into a long series of books about different couples):

    Winning Back His Wife by Zoe York and Gwen Hayes

    Twenty years ago, Michael Tully fell hard and fast at summer camp.

    Now his soon-to-be ex-wife has quit her job and invested every last penny into re-inventing Camp Firefly Falls.

    It’s a crazy, ridiculous plan–which he ignores, right up until he’s served with divorce papers.

  6. Azure says:

    If I remember right, “Not Quite a Husband” by Sherry Thomas ends with an epilogue where the couple grows old together without children. Not sure if that was because they didn’t want them or because one of them couldn’t have children, though.

  7. Maria F says:

    Not Another Family Wedding by Jackie Lau. Contemporary friends to lovers. Heroine does not want her own kids, has never wanted kids, will never want kids. Issue for her as she feels societal disapproval strongly and also a deal-breaker in a past relationship.

  8. Reetta R says:

    Tiffany Reisz’s dominatrix/switch heroine Nora most definately doesn’t want kids.

  9. Hope says:

    Jennifer Crusie’s short Anyone But You is also a story where the couple explicitly states they are not having children. It is also a story about a heroine who is 40 and a hero who is 30 and an adorable senior dog rescued from the pound and it is funny and awesome.

  10. Jenny says:

    Elia Winter’s Slices of Pi series (Even Odds, Tied Score and Single Player) does not include a single child in any of the books. They’re all relationship-centric – even when couples discuss long-term commitment, I don’t recall the subject of children coming up. Only one couple (the one from Even Odds) is actually married by the end of the series, and the other two seem more Happy For Now. [I love Elia Winter’s writing. The Slices of Pi series focuses on employees of a small company that develops computer games. Even Odds features a female computer programmer dealing with workplace harassment. Tied Score features some light BDSM with a male sub, and Single Player is m/m.]

  11. Perrine says:

    Though it isn’t explicitly stated or an issue in the story, “Talk to the Hand Model: A Guido la Vespa Romance in France,” by Veronica Bell, has a child-free heroine. The hero is older and has adult kids, but they don’t have any of their own, and in a subsequent book they still don’t have any of their own. The heroine is very focused on her academic career.
    And as @Maria mentions – “Not another Family Wedding” by Jackie Lau. It is explicitly stated there.

  12. Hope says:

    PS: Baby Epilogues piss me off. And I have kids and I’m glad I do and I like them in stories if there is a reason for them to be there but the smugness of Baby Epilogues just makes me want to gag.

  13. Kathleen says:

    Thank you so much for this! The only thing that bothers me more than a surprise baby epilogue is a baby epilogue that magically cures the heroine’s infertility, and more and more I find myself seeking out books that not only don’t have this element, but explicitly refuse it.

    My absolute best recommendation for this is Rose Lerner’s True Pretenses. Both the hero and heroine have family members for whom they have had to provide a lot of support and care, and thus explicitly do not want to have children of their own. This book is such a wonderful upending of many historical tropes, and I cannot recommend it enough.

    My recollection (and others may correct me here) is that many of Courtney Milan’s historicals do not have baby epilogues, though I can’t remember specific titles.

  14. Ren Benton says:

    I wrote one. In Silent Song, the heroine had a hysterectomy at 25 secondary to abdominal trauma and isn’t interested in adopting after a lifetime of parenting her “helpless” mother, and the hero also doesn’t want kids. They don’t hate children; they just don’t want their own.

  15. Kate Johnson says:

    Ooh good rec league! Rhoda Baxter’s Girl In Trouble has a heroine who very much does not want to have children—and a hero who doesn’t want his daughter to move away. It’s really well done.

    I can think of plenty of books that don’t mention children, but not many that explicitly state they’re not going to be part of the future, and that this is a good thing. The Magic Baby Epilogue makes me vomitous. Ew.

    This is probably why I’ve written a few baby-free books! SF: Max Seventeen has a heroine who violently does not want children: mybook.to/Max17. Contemp: Not Your Cinderella has a girl who has spent most of her life raising her siblings and doesn’t want any kids of her own, falling for a prince… who is sort of expected to provide heirs (even if he doesn’t really want to): mybook.to/NYC

    Am looking forward to hearing more recs!

  16. Barb in Maryland says:

    Re: Sherry Thomas’ Not Quite a Husband. Heroine had fertility issues that meant kids were unlikely. I really appreciated the baby free epilogue. I did not want a ‘magic/miracle’ baby to make an appearance.

  17. J E says:

    Oh great rec league idea! My least-favorite historical baby epilogue type is the one where it’s like, the doctor says sexy times are back! Like after 4 weeks. And they have orgasmic, all-day sex with zero pain and no thoughts of the baby at all. Duke marries governess requires less suspension of disbelief.

    Most of my recs have already been mentioned. I want to add another shout-out for all of Rose Lerner’s work. Her voice and her characters are unique in the genre, and she’s so talented.

  18. aaaaa says:

    Kaylea Cross – her second book in the Titanium series. Hero had a vasectomy and heroine had decided by the end she was ok not having children.

  19. Michelle says:

    Maggie Wells’ Play for Keeps heroine is over 40, involved with a slightly younger man (I think it’s a 6-year age difference).

    There are a series of reasons she never had kids during her child-bearing years, including a bad marriage, but eventually says regardless of those factors, she didn’t think she ever wanted to have kids.

    The whole series (3 books) is great, btw. Heroines over 40 who put their careers first and aren’t sorry about it.

  20. Deborah says:

    The heroine in Emma Barry’s PARTY LINES is childfree, although this message is delivered in a kind-of babylogue featuring the offspring of the couples from the two previous books in the series. (Sort of a “childfree people don’t actually eat children” message.)

  21. chillyjen says:

    @J E

    This is also a pet peeve of mine – the full scale sexy times after baby’s arrival. At 4 weeks, 6 weeks, whatever, sexy times was the LAST thing on mind. Sleep deprivation, crazy ass hormones, nursing, breast milk/formula of indeterminate age stuck in your hair are NOT aphrodisiacs. And um, ouch.

  22. Skye Kilaen says:

    Victoria Dahl’s Flirting With Disaster. Both MCs explicitly do NOT want children.

  23. June says:

    Laura and Javier in Pamela Clare’s Striking Distance don’t plan on having kids. There’s a far-future epilogue that makes it clear that they didn’t change their minds.

    In Captives of the Night by Loretta Chase, Leila assumes she can’t have children, and Esmond tells her he’s perfectly happy not to have kids, or the adopt if that’s what she wants.

    I don’t recall any babies in at least two of Miranda Neville’s Burgundy Club books – The Wild Marquis and Confessions from an Arranged Marriage.

    Vivian and Miles in Flawless by Carrie Lofty can’t have children. There’s also no mention of kids for Joe and Lulu in His Very Own Girl. Which is set during WWII and the heroine is a pilot, so go read it.

  24. Scifigirl1986 says:

    The first series that came to mind was the In Death series by JD Robb. Roarke and Eve don’t have children and haven’t totally decided if they will ever have then. Eve doesn’t seem to want them and is constantly off-kilter when presented with them. Even if they do eventually have kids, there are 40+ books in which they don’t.

  25. Sarah says:

    Courtney Milan’s HR “The Countess Conspiracy” (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13489925-the-countess-conspiracy?from_search=true). The h has had multiple miscarriages and is petrified of becoming pregnant again. There’s explicit consideration given to this point. It’s also a terrific book that everyone should read anyway!

  26. Iris says:

    Carol Marinelli’s Protecting the Desert Princess was rec’d to me specifically because the heroine did not want children. I remember this book seemed unusual for a Harlequin Presents but still had tropes: overprotected spoiled daughter, powerful sheikish dudes, coldly unemotional Russian dudes, which didn’t appeal to me and overroad the aspects I did find interesting.

  27. Darlynne says:

    DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION (Lovestruck Librarians series) by Olivia Dade features a bookmobile librarian who raised her siblings and knows she will never have children of her own. Her enemy-to-love-interest wants a big family and how that issue is resolved is really satisfying.

  28. Perrine says:

    @Kathleen – yes, I absolutely hate the “wow, she’s pregnant even though it’s medically impossible” kind of baby epilogue. So silly, and might actually be quite a downer for a reader struggling with infertiliy.
    @JE – spot on! So unreal. I’ve got kids and…no way!
    But baby epilogues per se don’t bug me, as long as every single book doesn’t have them.

  29. mel burns says:

    Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase comes to mind, IIRC Daphne and Rupert have a child free epilogue. Some of Nora Roberts’ romantic suspense stand-alones end with no kids. But it seems to me that even when the couple doesn’t have babies (like Bet Me) there are still kids in the book. Child -free books are hard to come by in Romancelandia.
    @Scifigirl1986: Even the Kate Daniels series ended with a baby and I think Eve Dallas will end with a baby too, but that could be years away.

  30. Nena says:

    The couple in Cara McKenna’s MFM erotica Crosstown Crush chose to not have children. Great, hot book (well, it is Cara McKenna), just a headsup it’s about the cuckold fetish, if that’s not your thing.

  31. Katta Hules says:

    Thank you for this awesome rec league! I am completely uninterested in having kids and am getting to the age (and have been with my partner long enough) where I’m starting to get the “when are you having kids?” questions, which are extremely annoying. So the assumptive “of course they get married and have kids and are super smug” epilogues really annoy me. Almost as much as the cameos where those characters come back and “teach” the current MCs how wonderfully amazing children are. Ugh. Just actually put down Bec McMaster’s MISSION: IMPROPER because of that.

    Am really excited to try out these recs though! Thank you everyone! :]

  32. I read DEATH IS NOT ENOUGH by Karen Rose recently – the couple explicitly says that they will not have kids because all of their friends have kids for them enjoy & they don’t want to do the whole baby thing at their age (late 30s/early 40s).

    Also seconded on In Death series. Eve & Roarke are palpably uncomfortable around kids, & Robb has said they won’t have kids unless the series is ending… so you get at least 45 books kid-free 🙂

  33. Hayley says:

    Here are some historical romances where eventual children might be implied, since the hero will need an heir, but no yearning is discussed and there is no baby epilogue.
    -Forever Your Earl
    -His Wicked Reputation
    -Scandal Wears Satin
    -A Week to be Wicked (and a lot of Tessa Dare books, with the exception of her Girl Meets Duke series and Any Duchess Will Do)
    -Scandalous series by Caroline Lindeb
    -A Momentary Marriage
    -A Duke in Shining Armor
    -In for a Penny
    -The Brothers Sinister series
    -A Duke in the Night (I think?)
    -The Rogue Not Taken (I think?)

    contemporaries:
    -The Hating Game
    -Hold Me (Milan)

    Hopefully my memory serves! I am happy to be corrected if I’m wrong.

  34. BKmeggie says:

    In historicals, just want to throw in Any Groom Will Do by Charis Michaels. The heroine is infertile due to childhood illness, she tells the hero, and they still get together. There’s no magic baby and they are happy.

    Glad this is a rec league. I’m infertile AND I have children now, and while I don’t mind children in an epilogue, I don’t love magic baby epilogues at all (I’m looking at you, Day of the Duchess).

  35. DonnaMarie says:

    My favorite is Meljean Brook’s Demon Angel. neither Hugh nor Lilith have any desire for children. I loved that when Archangel Michael announces he can not heal (unasked) her barreness as though it’s horrible news, they both basically laugh in his face. Most of the characters in her Guardians series are childless/child free.

    I’ll also add Seven Years to Sin by Sylvia Day. It’s my favorite of her books. A historical second chance love with a barren heroine, which matters not at all to him, but then… Nope, you’ll have to read it.

  36. Starling says:

    I would rather handle lemons with a paper cut than read a book with a magic baby in the epilogue. The story always seems to be that True Love and Hot Banging Fix Infertility. I’m infertile, so obvs my love is insufficiently true/my banging is insufficiently hot, because we needed expensive medical procedures instead.

  37. Meg says:

    THANK YOU FOR THIS! As an infertile woman who has had to come to terms with said infertility over the past few years, reading these books where you can have a happy life without children is extremely important. I like kids in books, but I hate it when the author shoves them your throat in the form of a babies-ever-after epilogue as a means of “look how happy they are, THEY HAVE A BABY.”

    So my rec is … Eva Leigh! Her Wicked Quills of London series has ZERO BABIES. It made me fall in love with her as an author. Her current London Underground series also baby-free. While it’s implied that babies are most likely in the future, they just remain that way – in the future and not shoved down your throat in an epilogue.

    On the other end of the scale, I am so disappointed in Julia Quinn and one key book of her Bridgerton series. “When He Was Wicked” was a beautiful story of love and loss. Then she put out the “Second Epilogue” for it, which starts off as a very poignant tale of infertility, the emotional struggle that both husband and wife go through, and a beautiful scene involving Francesca and her mother where they grieve together … and then there is a magical pregnancy thanks to making love at a certain angle on a hillside and she has no fertility problems after that.

    I wish that this had ended with Francesca and Michael choosing to adopt and showing off that baby instead. It would have been truly groundbreaking for a series centered around insanely large families. But instead, Quinn had to cop out and go the traditional route.

    I really wish adoption and fostering was explored more in romance, especially in historic romances.

  38. HeatherS says:

    @Darlynne: I bought up that librarians series. Ya girl is here for librarians in love!

  39. Ms. M says:

    @Scifigirl1986 They will eventually; Nora Roberts has said that the series will end with either pregnancy or childbirth. I can’t remember which one.

  40. Kayla Rudbek says:

    Jean Johnson’s The Tower has an explicitly childfree hero and infertile heroine, if you like fantasy with your romance.

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