This is request for our very own Shana, who is looking for closed door romances that don’t fall into the inspirational umbrella. I thought we did this before, but I couldn’t find anything so here we go!
Sneezy: Loathe at First Sight ( A | BN | K | AB ) has no sex at all.
Amanda: I know there are a few newer contemporaries that qualify? Guillory or maybe Christina Lauren? Can’t say for certain though!
Elyse: If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy is closed door.
Sarah: Uzma Jalaluddin’s romances!
Kiki: Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron was closed door contemporary!
I think her first novel was as well, but I’m not certain
Sneezy: Hana Khan Carries On is a Halal romance, so that would fit
Sarah: Then definitely Hana Khan and Ayesha too, yes.
Sneezy: Did This is How You Lose the Time War have sex??? ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) I don’t remember there being sex.
Sarah: My own book, Lighting the Flames – I was aiming for a wider audience age-wise, so I didn’t write sexy times. A lot of kissing, though.
Sneezy: The one Catherine reviewed recently, Briarley, is closed door too, I think?
Lara: Most of Therese Beharrie’s books are closed door… or maybe only the early ones?
Elyse: To Sir With Love by Lauren Layne
Tara: I don’t think there was sex in This is How You Lose the Time War.
Catherine: Briarley is closed door and there is no sex in This Is How You Lose the Time War. I know I’ve read a heap that meet this brief recently, and can’t think of any of them right now! Apart from Ice Swan by J’Nell Ciesieslki, which I reviewed recently. All Stirred Up by Brianna Moore is another I’ve reviewed that I think is closed door.
Which romances would you recommend for Shana?
Marion Chesney wrote a number of closed door regencies- these are being rereleased in e book under M C Beaton (one of her other writer names).
Mary Balogh’s early regencies are not closed door, but the initial sex scenes often feature disappointing experiences for the heroines.
I just finished Dragonhaven and agree with @Jiobal that it is a closed door fantasy.
The Linesman trilogy by SK Dunstall is science fiction with the tiniest bit of romance that develops over the series.
@Steph Mariana Zapata’s books are not closed door, but there’s usually only one sex scene that occurs as the penultimate scene just before the epilogue.
@Amy I just did a reread of some of Michelle Diener’s Verdant String series: the first two novellas are closed door, while books 3-5 (she recently released 5) are “open door” in that there is on-page sex, but the scenes aren’t drawn out. I want to say that books 1-2 are closed door? And form their own arc within the series, so if you wanted to stop at book two there wouldn’t be any cliffhangers.
I just finished Emily Tesh’s m/m duology, Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country. They’re very definitely closed door, with quite some time taken to develop the relationship.
Yes to Elisabeth Fairchild and Barbara Metzger! These more traditional Regencies were my gateway drug to romance. Can suggest a few more older Regencies that I still love:
Lady Alex’s Gamble – Evelyn Richardson
The Vampire Viscount – Karen Harbaugh (may have some mention of bedroom goings on, but very tame)
Fair Juno – Stephanie Laurens
The Reluctant Marchioness – Anne Ashley
Gallant Waif – Anne Gracie
Upside Down by NR Walker is a contemporary m/m romance with two asexual MCs, so that would also qualify I guess. And it’s super, super cute and fun!
The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz, a science fiction fantasy romance featuring an asexual woman and an AI.
I’ll second Upside Down by NR Walker which I recently read.
I can’t recall whether The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune was closed door. I think so.
There is on-page sex in Accidentally Engaged, but not in great detail and the scenes are brief (it’s clear everybody’s happy).
@Kareni that reminds me of my favorite T.J. Klune book, How To Be A Normal Person, also closed door, where one of the heroes is ace. A real comfort read for me.
@Midge, thanks for those recs!
Re Michelle Diener; before she starting writing sci-fi, she did a trilogy of historical romances set during the Regency, which were fantastic, and they are closed door. The first one is “The Emperor’s Conspiracy”. And before that she did a series set during the Tudor era. There is just one brief sex scene in the first book, “In A Treacherous Court”, and none in the rest of the series. I keep hoping she will go back to historicals, she did them so well.
@JJ – That’s a good point! I didn’t mean to say that England was comprised 100% of English Christians, just that the majority of the country was. I’m going to check out the website you mentioned, as it sounds really interesting.
The Furrever Friends Cat Cafe sweet romance series has six books. Christmas Cookies at the Cat Cafe is only 99 cents right now, although it’s the one that could be considered to have a slight inspirational element in it. They’re all in Kindle Unlimited except book one, which is permafree.
https://www.amazon.com/Kris-Bock/e/B006WV4I5O
DE Stevenson and Molly Clavering are 2 authors from 1930’s and 1940’s. Great books – some are newly in reprint. And Kelley Armstrong Rockton series – mystery but with relationships. And I totally concur on Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters – her books are so awesome!
And Jodi Taylor books – which are fantastic!
@DDDeb
When the update for Magnolia was first announced I opened my version looking for the new chapter and it wasn’t there. But it was for a subsequent re-read.
Anybody’s guess if your version has updated.
I’ll second the recommendations for Mary Stewart and Susanna Kearsley, although in both cases, I would define them more as novels with romance, because the romance is not always the central element in the plot.
I also second Stephanie Burgis’s Harwood Spellbook novellas, an alt-history Regency-ish fantasy series. And I’m trying to remember whether Masks and Shadows is closed-door; I rather think it is. Someone else recommended Rosamunde Pilcher; I think most of hers are closed-door, though I’m not sure about Coming Home or September (which are really more novels than romances, anyway.) But her earlier romances fit what the OP is looking for.
For contemporary romance, try RaeAnne Thayne. Most of her romances are closed-door; actually, many of the couples don’t get as far as the bedroom (until after the book ends.) I believe Thayne is Christian, and she has written a lot of Christmas-themed romances, but many of the other books are not overtly Christian. Try her Hope’s Crossing series, which leads into the Haven Point series. (I’m not familiar with her most recent series, so I can’t say whether the door remains firmly closed in those.)
If you like a little romance with your mystery, I recommend the first two Aunt Dimity books by Nancy Atherton: Aunt Dimity’s Death, and Aunt Dimity and the Duke. They’re charming, and the romances, while secondary to the plot, are equally charming.
Mimi Matthews writes secular closed door romances that feel as hot as open door romances.
Sariah Wilson is closed door for modern contemporaries. I think everyone else has covered most of my favorites and recents.
Another mystery series I enjoyed with strong romantic elements is Earlene Fowler’s Benni Harper series. Definitely know that sexy times are happening but not explicit. And Benni’s journey from grief to new love with someone the opposite of her first deceased husband is fun, natural and challenging especially mid-series in Steps to the Altar. I didn’t read them for a while due to the quilting theme in the titles–thought they would be another fluffy, belabored cozy mystery themed series–but tried one and really enjoyed it. Then I glommed the rest. Not typical cozy with much more relationship depth that progresses through the series instead of stalling forever and ever until I quit.
The Harwood Spellbook series is just lovely. Really lovely.
I’m going to look up some of these mysteries b/c I love a mystery plus romance. some of them need more kissing though, at the very least!
I read a lot of closed door!
Early Balogh is mostly closed door. I went on a huge kick of her re-releases last year.
Carla Kelly is wonderful. I really enjoy her books. Some of her earlier books are actually open door, but vague. She’s a great writer.
I mostly read historical, so my recommendations skew that way. But I did enjoy a Sarah Adams book last year. She’s a newer contemporary author that I think does a nice job.
I also really enjoyed Mr. Malcolm’s List by Suzanne Allain.
An Early Loretta chase — knaves wager . Kissing and at the very end perhaps a an indication that sex will be occuring! But this is still one of the hottest books without the sex . The chem between h& h is off the charts. although my preference is plenty of sex in my romance novels, knaves wager sans sex is my #1 favorite romance book. Chase is at her wittiest here : the hero and heroine and all the secondary characters are spectacular
I wrote a book called Romancing Olive about a spinster librarian who travels west to rescue her niece and nephew and ends up falling in love with a younger man. It’s a closed door romance other than a few lines at the end, very non-descriptive. It’s a very popular book for me but I’ve often contemplated adding some sex scenes because of the negative feedback I get, even now, after the book’s been out so long. Readers read my other books where there are sex scenes, reasonably descriptive, and really don’t like that I’ve varied from the ‘non-sex’ type story. I don’t think I’ll ever write another one, even though I’ve had some plots pop up in my head that would suit a closed door book. Maybe there aren’t many of these books because authors hesitate to write them.
A Cowboy to Come Home To by Donna Alward
The Playboy’s Plain Jane by Cara Colter
I highly recommend Delaney Cameron
I love Betty Neels as a comfort read
One more to recommend The Baron and the Babe by Carole Dunn
@Alexa:
According to Chase’s website her first six books including the one you mentioned follow this mold. I haven’t read them, so I can’t offer an opinion though.
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary and Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes are both closed door contemporary romances (slightly more toward the general fiction side) that I highly recommend.
At the time of reading, I wrote of The Flatshare: I wouldn’t say it was especially angsty, but it does deserve some CWs: hospice patients include child with leukemia and elderly man at death’s door (child recovers, man does not die onscreen), emotional abuse by previous romantic partner (mostly offscreen or remembered, leading to PTSD symptoms that aren’t narrated as detailed flashbacks).
Evvie Drake Starts Over also has a protagonist recovering from a toxic marriage but I think it’s less likely to be potentially triggering.
Sarah Morganthaler’s Moose Springs series is closed door.
Also, Alexandra Christian’s Falling Into Rhythm is a closed door sweet romance between a kindergarten teacher and a rock star. It’s also a fall romance if you’re ready for fall.
Penny Reid writes contemporary romance that rarely gets graphic.
@Carol S:
This comment is super late, but, Coming HOme, the only Rosamunde Pilcher I have read so far, would fit in my opinion. While there is on page sex, it’s not really described. The book does deal with the heroine’s sexual trauma resulting from an attempted assault though. IN spite of this, the book is very comforting, and makes me want to visit Cornwall.