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?
@Tiago5: 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.
I found the In Death series repetitive after a handful, and as a mystery lover, I didn’t find the actual mysteries that compelling. I did though really like the first few of them. I also have friends who are still reading them, and so the series has been a very successful one.
Two mystery series by Laurie R. King, the Mary Russell series and my favorite, the Kate Martinelli books have established couples, with both sets working on their relationships over time.
There’s also Lois Bujold’s Penric series, which starts with a man and his demon, and then grows to include his partner. I loved seeing Pen and Des’s relationship in the latest book – I think she called him “love” for the first time in this one.
Another favorite couple in a mystery series is Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid in Deborah Crombie’s books. They aren’t a couple in the 1st 2 books in the series but Siri’s but grow into a relationship and then have a lot of work to do in it.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness (A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, and The Book of Life.) By the end of the first book, the couple are committed to each other (if not exactly married), and the next two books are about them learning to adjust, compromise, and accept one another for who they are, while challenging and supporting each other to grow. For a determinedly independent, feminist witch and a 1500-year-old vampire with wolf-pack tendencies, that’s no easy task. It’s complicated by a number of threats from outside the marriage, and a lengthy stay in the 16th century. The series has its faults (Matthew is pretty much a stalker in the beginning, which gets glossed over), but it’s a fan favorite for a reason.
One of my favorite MOC books is Slightly Married, by Mary Balogh.
It’s memoir rather than fiction, and I haven’t read it in years, but I really enjoyed Madeleine L’Engle’s Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage, about her 4 decades with actor Hugh Franklin.
I totally agree about the fatal force series, I loved that series!!
Tracy Grant’s Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch series (the characters names change way some point) could for this. Makes could, but spies for opposing sides during Napoleonic years.
I’m one who has quit the In Death series, largely because it was turning into a drinking game. Eve drinks a tube of Pepsi? Do a shot. Roarke owns the building where the murder happened? Shot. Peabody wears a funky outfit? Shot. Dr Mira, shot. R calls Eve “his cop”? Yep, shot. Roarke fingers the button in his pocket? Finish the bottle.
I second the Richard and Rose books by Lynne Connolly. Great historical detail.
Hesitantly stepping in to mention my three-book (so far) M/M series CO-STARS. The three books can be read as standalones but follow one couple from first night together through marriage and beyond. These are midlife contemporary, set in Los Angeles, with entertainment-industry-adjacent characters. More details available at thelastories dot com. 🙂
Someone mentioned Runaway Fate by Elizabeth Hunter which is the first book in her Moonstone Cove paranormal women’s fiction series. I wanted to add Suddenly Psychic, the first book in the same author’s Glimmer Lake series which also features a married couple with a strong relationship who are dealing with the wife’s sudden development of psychic powers (she can see ghosts). I’d recommend all of the books in both of these series. They were all wonderful.
In UF, I’d also recommend the World of the Lupi series by Eileen Wilks. The main couple start out with a fated mate trope, but unlike most, neither of them welcomes the relationship. Not only that, they quickly realize that they can’t even be any distance apart without suffering actual physical pain, so they have to figure out how to deal with that complication. She’s an paranormal FBI type agent and he’s a werewolf alpha so there is quite a bit of adjustment for both of them that takes place over a series of books.
As others have mentioned, genre books are often the best place to revel in a long running romance.
Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series as well as Alpha & Omega (although I have serious problems with the latest entry in the second series).
Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty the Werewolf series I think does a particularly good job with a supportive marriage.
Charlie Adhara’s Big Bad Wolf series was almost mentioned. (One character has PTSD, and it’s a long slow process of dealing with it.)
And I adore CS Harris’ Sebastian St Cyr series (although the marriage is not until several nooks in) and Anne Lee Huber has two historical series, although I prefer the Lady Darby series.
An older mystery series is Candace Robb’s Owen Archer series, although there is one book that is only Owen. But it’s a much earlier time period, and she is an apothecary.
Nicole Kimberling has two series–one a mystery series and one about a supernatural food inspector (!). Both are more collections of short stories / novellas where the couple is established in the first story and then further adventures.
If you’d like something lovely but also very different, I recommend Drew Hayes’ Fred the Vampire Accountant series. The relationship develops over the course of the series, and they eventually get married and the whole thing is a DELIGHT.
Michelle Diener has a medieval mystery series based on real life characters: Suzanne Horbout (all the misspellings there) was the illuminator for the king. IIRC it’s three books.
@June:
One of my first thoughts was to mention the Tea Rose Trilogy.
Based on what the original commenter wrote: I think people who like the Outlander Series would like this one.
I also really like reading these types of relationships! My favourite Jo Beverley is a MOC story, The Viscount Needs a Wife. After a rocky start, they get along fairly well but are not really in love and it is only when the heroine assists the hero in his investigation they find they actually want each other *that* way.
Winter Witch by Paula Brackston is another favourite. I really liked the scenes of them working together in the cattle drive.
If you like the crazy sauce of Bertrice Small (I’m here for it!), she also did several of these types of stories. I would recommend Francesca and The Border Vixen.
In addition to CS Harris and Candace Robb already mentioned above, I’d also like to add Anne Perry’s William Monk series but only after the ninth book, I think. Catherine Lloyd’s Kurland St. Mary series after the fourth (?) book also fits.
And lastly, I’d like to mention the Poldark series! I think this is the first series I read with a married couple at the center whose relationship is not idealised and the both of them mess up a lot and grow and learn together.
Sherry Thomas – Not Quite a Husband, Private Arrangements, His at Night… very angsty, and so good.
I was just reminded of this series after seeing a review on the Joyfully Jay site ~ N.R. Walker’s Red Dirt Heart series. It’s an m/m series.
What about Beverly Jenkins “Blessings” series. It’s a fairly long term series of books that deals with married couple/newly involved/long terms relationships.
HOW has no one mentioned Shelly Laurenston’s ongoing, interconnected shifter world. You get updates on most couples (and people in general) throughout each book.
My mind also goes to sooooo many married detectives and spies in fiction
Tommy and Tuppence books by Agatha Christie
Nick and Nora Charles by Dashiell Hammett
Mr and Mrs Noth by Frances and Richard Lockridge
Radio, movie, etc versions of the three above also abound
If you’re up for a movie, Mr. and Mrs. Smith even involves the pair attending marriage counseling.
These two might lean too far into “rom-com” territory, but I liked YOU DESERVE EACH OTHER (engaged couple who are fighting), by Sarah Hogle, and THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB, by Lyssa Kay Adams. LOVE HER OR LOSE HER, by Tessa Bailey, is also about a couple dealing with marital strife.