This request comes from Eliza. Thanks, Eliza!
I’m looking for fiction books that tackle the stage of a relationship after two characters have fallen in love and decided to spend their lives together. Once people are in love, there are still problems that come up, small hurts that each partner accidentally causes the other, and confusions or disagreements that need to be resolved in order to keep a relationship strong. I want to read about two characters who love each other and are committed to their relationship, but know that they still need be emotionally available and spend time and energy on keeping their relationship healthy. This is a relationship stage that’s missing from most books I read. Both standalone books and series recommendations would be welcome.
I think the later books in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon are a good example, as is Wild At Heart by KA Tucker, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Do you have any other ideas?
Amanda: At first, I was going to call this post-courtship couples, but I don’t think courtship should necessarily end once you agree to a long term relationship or marriage, so this is the best I’ve got.
We have a “Married Couple” theme in our Book Finder that may have some suggestions. Tropes and character types can be whittled down as well, using the actual finder.
Elyse: Only a Promise by Mary Balogh
I believe Marie Force’s Fatal series would qualify.
Sneezy: I think Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey fits, but I don’t remember reading that one.
Amanda: Carrie reviewed and gave it a B- I think.
Shana: This request is perfect for me, I love these stories too!
Rend by Roan Parrish ( A | BN | K ) is a contemporary m/m with this energy. Shelter Somerset’s m/m Amish trilogy has this too.
What would you suggest?
The Duke and HIs Duchess by Grace Burrowes is a great example of this trope. Both H&h have quite some work to do, but they are both committed to their marriage, so the HEA is unavoidable and sweet. Plus the dialogs!! https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/bookinfo/the-duke-and-his-duchess/
A number of historical mystery series do the “married couple” stage really well, I think, including C.S. Harris’s Sebastian St. Cyr series, Anna Lee Huber’s Lady Darby series, Anne Cleeland’s Doyle & Acton series, and Deanna Raybourne’s Lady Julia as well as Veronica Speedwell series (though right now Veronica and Stoker are still in pre-marital courtship). I stopped reading J.D. Robb’s In Death series years ago, but Eve and Roarke made a great married couple team. The relationships though vie for time with the mysteries, of course.
If you’re interested in Fantasy, Ilona Andrews’ KATE DANIELS SERIES is a good representation of what you have in mind, I think. The later books where the heroine and hero finally get together showcase the realistic amount of work required to keep a relationship going. Not to mention that it’s excellent writing, with a great plotline and great characters that will make you fall in love with the series.
I can def recommend Robb’s In Death series
If you like the genre Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series has this. The first few books are where the couple meet and get together and the rest they are a solid couple dealing with issues.
Also the Hidden Legacy series by the same author has the same idea over a trilogy.
I just reread Jennifer Crusie’s “Crazy for You,” which has a B plot of a husband and wife trying to recapture the spark of their early days as a couple.
I recently discovered Chloe Liese and love her books. Ever After Always is about a married couple struggling with being very different people with different needs. As somebody who has been married for over a decade it was so relatable. The main characters loved each completely but needed to work out how to be in love together.
Making It Last by Ruthie Knox. You don’t have to have read the ‘courtship’ book to enjoy this one. Basically, what happens when the ‘temporary’ stressors become regular life.
http://www.ruthieknox.com/book/making-it-last/
I also remember thinking that “Their Miracle Baby” by Caroline Anderson also handled this sort of thing well (infertility leading to loss of communication), but admittedly, I’ve been off the baby kick for a few years now so take it with a grain of salt.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6275657-their-miracle-baby
And ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT NOTE, “The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal” is one of my favorite KJ Charles books because she explores what it means to build a decades-long partnership (but you know, with ghosts and murderous politicos).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34680762-the-secret-casebook-of-simon-feximal
You didn’t specify romance books, so I’m going to recommend Mary Robinette Kowal, who has this in most of her books. I remember it most strongly in her most recent book, the Relentless Moon, where a many-years married couple works through issues surrounding her anorexia and his political career and own health issues. (Mmm, though I’m just going to warn with the spoiler that he ends up dying of a heart attack, as I recall. But the way they work through marital issues is very well handled.) The other books in the Lady Astronaut series feature a different married couple that have issues and work them out.
Her Glamourist Histories books feature a couple that get married or at least engaged in the first book, and then are together for the other four books. I don’t recall as much them working through issues but that’s probably my crappy memory. I do recall always being impressed at how she realistically portrays committed couples as deeply in love but not perfect couples that never have strife.
Turning Up The Heat by Laura Florand is a novella about a couple married 11 years. It’s about them finding their way back to each other
Anna Lee Huber’s Verity Kent series features a couple married before WWI and their struggles with their marriage post war. Great series. I haven’t read it but a recent Stephanie Laurens book, The Games Lovers Play feature a couple married for several years that have young kids.
Elizabeth Hunter’s Runaway Fate has the most adorable main couple ever. They are well over forty, have been together for a long time and the dynamics and steady love between is sigh-worthy. As a bonus, both are highly intelligent, sometimes slightly socially awkward, working for the university.
Oh, and there’s out-of-the-blue psychic powers the heroine is trying to come to terms with. There’s plenty of action and danger, yet it still felt like such a warm hug of a book.
I second (third?) Robb’s In Death series. Eve and Roarke are totally my favorite couple ever! Eve’s reliance on “The Marriage Rules” is a delight and while Roarke’s a masterful businessman and she’s an awesome murder cop, their backgrounds don’t lend themselves to understanding love and marriage. Still, they manage to stumble through like nominally adult-adults.
What about Patricia Briggs? Both her Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series deal with long-term relationships/marriage. Mercy and Adam have obstacles they overcome, as do Charles and Anna.
I don’t read much historical and the suspense I read is more geared toward standalones, even in a series (ie. there’s a different couple in each book). The same with women’s fiction. I am curious, though, so I’ll be checking all the comments.
I feel like I’ve read several of these, but damned if I can remember any of them. I think Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series would fit the bill. Also a loosely connected series under her pseudonym Barbara Michael’s starting with the couple getting together in Shattered Silk and then seeing them later as side characters in Stitches in Time having problems and working them out.
Unfortunately, the only books featuring established couples that come to my mind involve either infertility or infidelity—both of which I know can be hard-passes for many readers. However, if you do not find this sort of uber-angsty and painful subject matter off-putting, I would recommend SNOW-KISSED by Laura Florand (infertility/miscarriage—super sad, yet ultimately affirming, although no “baby epilogue” which I actually appreciated); SHAME by Ainsley Booth (a woman married for 20 years discovers her husband has been unfaithful; the hero has a lot of work to convince the heroine that he wants to save their marriage); and one of my favorite (though gutting) HPs, CARIDES’S FORGOTTEN WIFE by Maisey Yates (which includes the death of a child in the past, infidelity, and amnesia). What can I say? I’m an angsty heartache queen!
I recommend PASTICHE by Celia Lake. The couple’s been fairly happily married for years, but their relationship needs to evolve. It’s a delightfully warm hug of a book.
On the erotica side, THE SHAME GAME by Hannah Murray is about a happy couple in a D/s relationship who find a new kink the wife likes. The loving relationship between the hero and heroine was the first draw to this book, and their excellent communication and thoughtfulness towards each other makes it understandable that they were able to find and try new things after 14 years together.
Ooh, what about Dorothy Sayer’s “Busman’s Honeymoon”? There are lots of historical MOCs where most of the book takes place post-marriage. For instance Mary Balogh’s The Arrangement, Elizabeth Hoyt’s To Seduce a Sinner, and Miranda Neville’s Confessions From an Arranged Marriage. I love those type of stories.
Just about anything by Camille Pagan. And she’s just a great writer in general!
What about BETTER THAN BEFORE by Judith Duncan? It is an older book, published by Silhouette Intimate Moments in the 1980’s. The H/h have been married 20 years. Definitely an angsty read but one of my favorites by a favorite author.
It’s just a novella but I really liked A Midnight Feast by Emma Berry and Genevieve Turner. Margie and Mitch have been married 20 years, but he’s spent a lot of that time on deployments and now they are dealing with the stress/fame of him being an astronaut (it’s set in the 60s). By accident, they are having a Thanksgiving weekend alone and Mitch views it as a time to reconnect with his wife and see if they can save their marriage.
My quick recommendation would be for E J Noyes’ “Ask, Tell Series”. It’s a 3-book series about 2 women medics in the US Army (first book starts in Afghanistan) and it’s a wonderful story about relationships, coping with PTSD and much more! The books in order are “Ask, Tell”; “Ask Me Again” and “If the Shoe Fits”.
LESSONS FROM A SCARLET LADY – By Emma Wildes.
— A Regency Romance. As the book begins the couple are already married. It is not a MOC but an actual marriage that (before the book started) was a conventional courtship. And even as the book starts they are satisfied and happy. But the heroine is determined that her husband never has to stray outside of marriage. To that end, she gets her hands on a very scandalous book written by someone named Lady Rothburg. Lady R. gives young wives and women tips on not only how to please their men in the bedroom but also insights on the male psyche. And the heroine puts all that advice to good use.
RICHARD AND ROSE series by Lynne Connolly –
— The first two books are about their courtship and marriage. from books 3 onward they are adjusting to marriage with books 5 onward introducing the major stressors, but the couple remain ride or die always.
One of the draws for romance books are the HEAs, which is why most don’t go too far beyond an epilogue. The suspense and mystery genres give a great opportunity to follow a couple over a long period of time, so I’m not surprised to see most of the recommendations are from those or from urban fantasy. I second the above suggestions for the Patricia Briggs’ books, plus Anna Lee Huber’s books. the Verity Kent mysteries themselves are not quite as engaging as the Lady Darby books,but this series is definitely about a married couple who care about each other trying to work through some very difficult issues.
Earlene Fowler wrote the Benni Harper mystery years ago, and they were one of transition series from mysteries to romance. The couple meets in the first book and marries, but they have some things pop up along the way that challenges their marriage.
Marriage of Conveniences are another way to follow a married couple, although I’m not sure if that’s what is being looked for here. In any case, I’ll suggest a few I love.
One historical romance book that sticks in my mind is A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer. They are married almost the entire book, but have to learn how to be married and love each other. Some people think the HEA is lukewarm, but it’s one of my favorite Heyer books. It shows lasting love and partnership doesn’t have to start as a grand passion.
Others- mostly marriage of conveniences turned real:
Marrying the Royal Marine and The Wedding Journey by Carla Kelly.
A Wicked Kind of Husband and A Beastly Kind of Earl by Mia Vincy (get them on audio, Kate Reading is masterful on the narration)
A great MOC book is The Marigold Chain by Stella Riley. Set in 1666,it covers an eventful year in British history and a wonderful tale of two people coming to appreciate each other after an unusual start. Narrated by Alex Wyndham, who is excellent.
Another Stella Riley book that fits this is A Garland of Straw, the second book in her Roundheads and Cavaliers series, also narrated by Alex Wyndham. Set during the English Civil Wars, A woman ends up forced to marry her fiance’s brother to maintain control of her family estate. This is an enemies to lovers situation. As always, Riley does an amazing job with her history.
And one of the best known MOC books is Morning Glory by LaVryle Spencer. It’s a marvelous book showing a married couple falling in love.
I think the Charlie Adhara Wolf series would apply.
Every Parasol Protectorate book after Soulless. Conall’s behaviour after Changeless will infuriate you though.
Willing Victim/Brutal Game by Cara McKenna (an author I really miss). But check out the content warnings first because there’s a lot going on in those books.
The Will Darling trilogy by KJ Charles doesn’t quite fit, but you do see a relationship that evolves and develops.
The MCs from Jennifer Donnelly’s The Tea Rose appear as secondary characters in the next two books in the trilogy, which span around twenty years. Their life together is happy, but comes with plenty of challenges.
It’s only 2 books so far, but the Colony duo by Veronica Scott features the same couple. Colony under Siege and Colony under Fire. I love everything she writes
Oh, and not forgetting the Lucy Kincaid series by Allison Brennan
Love this topic. Jasmine Haynes’s Fair Game and really Past Midnight. Also Erika Wilde’s The Marriage Diaries, Lorelei James- I want You Back.
BlackJack , Why did you stop Reading J.D. Robb? I would really like to know because I am having a hard time trying to get back in to the series and would really like your take on why you stopped reading the series. Thank you for your answer to my question.
Ever After Always by Chloe Liese is about a couple who has been married 10 years and is on the verge of splitting up
This is a great topic – I can’t think of any books to contribute, but I’ve bought three things from the replies!
This isn’t *entirely* relevant as it’s not a book, but the topic did remind me of a rather underrated old movie that I love – Two For The Road (1967), with Audrey Hepburn & Albert Finney. It’s a couple on a road trip, twelve years into their marriage, which is now struggling, reflecting on their relationship through flashbacks of past road trips (so there are time jumps, and there is some infidelity). It’s somewhat forgotten compared to other Audrey movies, but it’s well-reviewed and well worth a watch as a really creative, bittersweet look at the ups and downs of a marriage. (Bonus points for a Henry Mancini score and some *amazing* late-60s fashion too.)
@Carrie G: I remember absolutely nothing about Morning Glory by LaVryle Spencer except that I LOVED it. I think it may be buried in a box of books somewhere, so with luck, I’ll stumble upon it one of these years.
Good prompt. The only one I can think of is The Stranger I Married, a long term follow up after a marriage of convenience,.
I have to be honest–this is not usually my cup of tea. I don’t really relish the reminder that HEA is never truly the end. However, that may be why I’ve retained a few of these.
Just Once More / Rosalind James is #7 in her Escape to New Zealand series, but it’s not a standalone. It’s kind of a reunion story. However, it could be read after reading book #1, because the focus is on the first couple, Hannah and Drew who are navigating major life changes. James also has a trilogy called Not Quite a Billionaire in which the extremely alpa hero has a really loooong road to worthiness.
Jennifer Ashley’s MacKenzie series continually updates readers on the relationship between Ian and Beth the wonderful couple in the first book, frequently through reunion novellas.
I’d also recommend Celia Lake’s Pastiche as an excellent spouse to lovers story. It is one of my favorite Albion books.
Kate Canterbary has some stories like this in her Walsh series. Foundations (9)–which is a novella–continues the first novel in the series; Restored (5) follows the couple from Necessary Restorations (3); The Spire (6) is described as a marriage to lovers romance. All of the books in this series are interlinked and involve continuing growth arcs for all the major characters & relationships. Canterbary just doesn’t write static or shallow HEAs. Nor does she write autobabies.
Retrosexual by Ainsley Booth and Sadie Haller is part of the Frisky Beavers series, and features the Prime Minister’s chief of staff and his wife. He’s very busy with a very stressful job, and she understands, but they both want more time for each other.
And a second vote for Laura Florand’s Snow-Kissed. It’s very emotional (CW: miscarriage, infertility), but a great story about a couple fighting their way through grief back to each other and their happier future.
Seconding @Carrie G’s recommendation of A CIVIL CONTRACT. It’s a lovely look at a marriage in progress.
Funny this should come up today because Tuesday I amused myself with a post about Molly Harper’s Half-Moon Hollow vampire series – Talk about taking it to Eleven!
I love her work but! the idea of 1000 years married to the same person/vampire…? Cletus (Anacletus to you 😉 is nearly 1000 years old when he meets Iris. Yikes. So it’s possible he’s looking at another 1000 years with Iris. 1000 years at Walmart. 1000 years of Dick Cheney watching ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ marathons. Just… 1000 years. That’s taking the marriage continuum a bit too far, imo.
fwiw Commenters were 3-1 for HELL NO!
Penny Reid’s Happily Ever Ninja fits. But it is the fifth book in the Knitting and the City series, it has a prequel that’s numbered 4.5 (I think) on Goodreads, and I’m not sure it stands alone.
Mia West’s Into the Fire MM erotic romance series fits the bill. It’s a 9 novella series set over the 30+ year relationship between a soldier and a blacksmith, set in early medieval Europe, starting with the fall of the Roman Empire in the west. Each story takes place over a relatively short amount of time, but set years apart, giving us little snapshots of the long term relationship between Marcus Roman and Wolfram Smith.
They grew up together in Roman controlled Gaul (present day Germany) but Marc left to join the Roman army at age 17. Story 1 starts with Marc’s return to his home town 20 years later, when the Roman army withdrew from Gaul – only to discover it mostly deserted except for Wolf. They walk across Gaul to the ocean. I really got into it around story 3, once they joined a community and the stories started including their expanding chosen family (as well as a lot of sex – it is erotica). Marc and Wolf are interesting characters and they (and their relationship) change in believable ways as they age. They’re in their 60s in the final story and it was nice to read that.
The world building is good. I don’t know much about this time period but it feels convincing.
The series is also a prequel to Mia West’s excellent queer retelling of the legends of King Arthur.
The Ocean Between Us might fit this- it’s about a navy family/ community and the problems they have. It reads more like women’s fiction than romance to me, although it ends with HEA/HFN.