This Rec League comes from frequent commenter DiscoDollyDeb:
I’m looking for contemporary romances with what I call the “Ooops—we’re still married” situation. A couple marry spontaneously/impulsively, usually as a result of one of the following: a whirlwind courtship/knowing each other very briefly, as part of a fake relationship, and/or after a crazy night in Vegas. Very soon after the marriage, they think they’ve made a mistake, agree to a divorce/annulment, and go their separate ways. Fast forward a few years and—oh, no’s!—the MCs discover their marriage was not actually dissolved (papers weren’t filed, signatures were missing, forms were lost, etc.), and now they have to get back together in order to get divorced. (By the way, I’m fine with situations where one MC has always known the marriage is still valid or if one or both MCs have been secretly pining for the other during the time they’ve not been together, but at least one of the MCs must have spent the past few years thinking they are single. I’m not looking for separated-but-not-divorced romances where both MCs know they’re still married.)
Sarah: I feel like I saw this in a thousand different sitcom story arcs.
Foggy brain says: Oh, Presents! But this is not helpful.
Amanda: If You Love Something by Jaycee Ellis is a recent one that was on my radar!
Main character’s grandmother (CW for terminal illness) reveals that she has cancer, isn’t seeking treatment, and is giving half her estate to the MC’s ex-husband. The will stuff is how they find out they’re still married and need to fake their marriage to keep a conniving uncle at bay until the will is done being contested.
Tara: Sarah, my foggy brain said the same. I haven’t read a Presents in more than a decade, but I swear I read at least a few like this.
Amanda: For a second, I thought maybe one of the Christina Lauren Wild Seasons books had this, but I think all three couples get annulments. There’s no “oops still married” scenario.
Sarah: Foggy brain says: the background couple in Jill Shalvis’ Wilder series has some marriage tumult throughout the three books in the trilogy. I cannot remember the specifics but either they get close to divorce and do not, or maybe the wife thought they were divorced but oops they aren’t? I’m so sorry my brain is not serving up any concrete ideas.
I did find an older silhouette called, literally: OOPS…We’re Married! But that doesn’t quite fit this brief.
I’m sorry Amanda and to this asker!
Shana: I’m sure many examples exist, but I’ve got nothing.
Sarah: It’s kind of embarrassing how much I’m fixated on my inability to identify a book for this request because I feel like I’ve experienced it several times. In the distant past. Which for my brain could be last month, I’ll be honest.
What romances would you recommend? Let us know below in the comments!
Nora Roberts – Birthright. There is a lot of other stuff going on in this book but regarding the main couple, the heroine sent back the divorce papers but the hero never signed/filed them (she doesn’t know this). There is a reveal at the end of the book.
Slightly adjacent, but Mia Vincy’s A WICKED KIND OF HUSBAND features a married couple who went their separate ways after the wedding and have never truly met until a few years later. (It’s a historical, but it’s also excellent which is why I mention it here.)
There’s Judith McNaught’s Paradise, but I’m guessing DiscoDollyDeb is already familiar with that one. Also, it’s probably really dated by now.
Strike Three by Avery Flynn.
Summary “I never should have married him and now I can’t get him to sign the divorce papers.
Really, what in the world was I thinking? I’m as straight arrow as they come—except for one weekend in Vegas when I ended up saying “I do” to Jace Ballston, a retired baseball player with a wild streak and an ass made for pinstripes. We had three weeks of wedded bliss before everything went sideways and now here I am at his fantasy baseball camp trying to do the one thing my lawyers couldn’t—get my soon-to-be ex-husband to sign on the dotted line.
As long as I can avoid the temptation to kiss him, everything will work out according to my ten-point plan.
The only problem? Jace has a plan of his own…”
I got the book for free on Prolific Works. I think it’s still free.
Here’s the link.
https://claims.prolificworks.com/gg/6UMXzRrZbzzZ0r6P42bX
Just Not That Into Billionaires by Annika Martin hits this trope 110%. I thought this was one of the funniest in the series (I’ve enjoyed all of them to varying degrees, which is a ringing endorsement given that my real-world political opinions should make them my anti-catnip, but hey).
My bf’s parent’s divorce was apparently not legal, and thus neither was the dad’s remarriage. But in fact this has mattered not at all to any of the people involved. It invalidated no wills, led to zero reconciliations, nor was it a motive for any murders. My reading habits have left me unprepared for this reality. They have undoubtedly prepared me well for this request – except my memory is depriving me of any fictional instances of this plot point.
The Westcott series by Mary Balogh is based on the fact that the father’s first marriage was never properly ended and so it makes his second “wife” a technical bigamist. You probably already know this one and it’s more about the effect on the family, but it popped to mind immediately.
I can’t actually think of any books with this trope. Many where they are talked out of getting the annulment immediately because it would be bad publicity, and then they decide to stay married, or where both parties know they’re married and are just ignoring it and others assume they’re single. So, this will be an interesting list.
I second @Tina in terms of Just Not That Into Billionaires by Annika Martin – I read the entire series (I think based on DDD’s recommendation for The Billionaire’s Wake-Up-Call Girl; how’s that for symmetry?)
Just Not That Into Billionaires definitely fits the parameters, and I really liked Benny and Francine. At first I had my doubts b/c it seems like Benny could be a real controlling jerk and that this would trend a lot darker than the rest of the series. But it works out in an unexpectedly comforting way. And there’s a bit of a mystery too, which adds some excitement (though you’ll probably figure it out well before all is revealed).
This is the only one that I did on audiobook, and it was a very good rendition.
I’m reading Fierce at Heart by Zoe York right now and looked at the descriptions for the rest of the Kincaids of Pine Harbour series last night. Book 5 doesn’t come out until next year but according to Goodreads: “This is a second chance romance, a marriage renewal because the annulment didn’t happen, and when a certain woman shows up in Pine Harbour to get her estranged husband to sign divorce papers, he refuses.”
Thank you everyone for the recommendations. @Tina, @RoseRead, and @Leigh Kramer: Yes, Annika Martin’s JUST NOT THAT INTO BILLIONAIRES and the teaser for the Zoe York’s upcoming REBEL AT HEART were the two books that made me say, “Hmmmm, I really like this trope, I wonder if there are others like it.” I should trawl through my enormous horde of Harlequin Presents because I’m sure this storyline shows up there. Anyway, all recommendations welcome!
@kkw: one of my friends discovered after her mother died that not only had her mother (who had been married for over 50 years and had five children with my friend’s father) been married before, but they could not find any evidence that the first marriage had ever been dissolved. Since both of her parents had passed away by the time she discovered this information, she and her siblings just chalked it up to a funny family story and moved on.
Second Time Around by Katherine Allred. Not only has the ‘Oops we’re still married’ but also secret babies.
Like a meatier Harlequin Superromance with some very Harlequin-esque conventions (hero wasn’t celibate all the years they were apart and supposedly divorced, but heroine was chaste etc).
I’ve been immersed in vintage Harlequins and Mills & Boons lately—cover artist identification—and I just came across Dragon Man by Elizabeth Oldfield, #805 in the HP series from 1985. Plot wise it’s everything you want but with a strong asterisk. So much to like about it but the inclusion of a few ethnic and homophobic “jokes” really soured my reading joy.
It doesn’t quite match, but Lauren Layne’s The Prenup has a marriage of convenience, they never live together and with neither of the MCs knowing of a condition in the prenup that they have to live together for 3 months before divorcing.
If you’re up for something half-serious half-silly, Portia McIntosh’s NO EX BEFORE MARRIAGE has this trope. I listened to it recently because the audio was on sale on Chirpbooks (it’s still $1.99 for another 12 days). If you can go with the OTT parts it could be quite enjoyable–that’s just not my thing, though I did listen all the way and liked some parts of it quite a bit.
@RoseRead, @DiscoDollyDeb: yeah, I absolutely loved their dynamic (the Monique and Igor shtick reminds me of something my boyfriend and I would come up with). I think the strength of the series is in its heroines (the #1 reason I’ve been able to handwave away the whole billionaire romance thing despite, you know, it being in all the titles), but I did really like Benny too apart from some of his more dodgy antics near the beginning.
In addition to Nora Roberts’ Birthright (a favorite), there are a couple of weird takes on this by Wilkie Collins – available for free from Project Gutenberg and other sources. Man and Wife has two dodgy marriages, based on technicalities in law, and has an interesting and topical themes of the physical stresses from modern sport and of spousal abuse. Definitely worth a read. No Name is about women trying to cope with being bastardized by the revelation of the illegality of their parents’ marriage.
The Captains’ Vegas Vows by Caro Carson, read recently based on a rec from a podcast interstitial (fated mates podcast). They wake up in Vegas the morning after and she doesn’t remember marrying him (she’s also newly divorced). She is on her way to a posting at the same base as him in Texas, they’re ordered to share the same housing (his house).
Reread the request and realize my suggestion doesn’t quite fit as they don’t go separate ways/it is an immediate how do we fix this. Sorry!
@ Msb: Thanks for the reminder. I loved Man and Wife but haven’t thought about it in years — and there are 3 audiobook versions from librivox as well!
This legitimately happened at my husband’s grandpa’s funeral. His second wife (to whom he was barely married for a few months before calling it quits) turned up like a wicked fairy at the wake and announced that they never bothered getting divorced. I remember an aunt crying “But this doesn’t change the will, right? Right?” WRONG. So wrong.
People. Please sign your divorce papers.
Jenny Redford’s Tangled Hearts fits this brief. An actor & actress thought they were pretend married on set but uh, turns out that was a real officiant… An audit of her documents as she’s become a big star turns up the paperwork. He has not fared as well for a variety of reasons & they reconnect when she tracks him down to sign divorce papers. I enjoyed it.
THE IRRESPONSIBLE PUCKBOY by Eden Finley and Saxon James has a weird twist on this trope. Best friend hockey teammates, one gay and out and the other apparently straight, accidentally get married and don’t realize it until after the fact, when it becomes public and they have to do a PR « fake a real marriage or get traded » thing. The book is ridiculous, but in a good way. The whole premise is OTT and yet almost makes sense.
Shine not Burn by Elle Casey, the main characters meet in Vegas and get married, but loose contact afterwards. A couple of months later: When the female mc wants to marry her new boyfriend, she gets informed that she is already married, but she can’t even remember it. In order to get divorced she starts to search for her husband, but when she finds him he does not want to divorce.
(The book is available on KU with the audiobook.)
https://smartypantsromance.com/books/give-love-a-chai/
Kylie Scott’s first book in her rockstar series, I think it’s called Lick, has this theme. The hero and heroine marry in Vegas then she wakes up and doesn’t remember it. It’s very very good one of my favorites!!! He doesn’t want to get a divorce but since she can’t remember anything she does. I won’t say more about how she keeps them together but it’s clever and it works.
https://kyliescott.com/books/lick/
A few more vintage Harleys:
Unwanted Wife by Rachel Lindsay from 1978. Quite good with an interesting premise. Main couple married young. British hero was in the fake soviet bloc country in a diplomatic capacity but was forced out as a result of political upheaval, unwillingly leaving her behind. Totalitarian govt informs hero the marriage was nullified by state authorities though heroine was never told this. The book begins after she escapes years of hardship to find her husband has moved on.
No Place To Run – Jane Donnelly from 1988. Donnelly is my all-time favorite Harlequin writer because her heroes aren’t quite the usual vintage harlequin type. They’re primarily iceholes rather than ragey alphaholes-no sexual or physical violence from them. No Place To Run meets the request somewhat imperfectly. The couple met and “married” according to a local legend in a handfasting sort of way. She leaves, then wonders why he’s tracked her down: “I’ve come for my wife of course.”
I’m in the middle of Jo Walton’s Reading List: June 2022 on the Tor.com site and encountered this:
“Jules Wake Escape to the Riviera (2016)
This is the second romance novel I’ve read about a woman seeking out her ex so they can get a divorce from the marriage that was never properly ended only to find… well, just what you’d expect, really, that they love each other after all.”
Unhitched by Pippa Grant writing as Jamie Farrell fits the theme. Tarra finds out at the altar that her previous Vegas marriage was never annulled. So she hunts down Ben to get divorced and get her life back on track. Of course, that’s not how it goes.
The Cowgirl’s Chosen Love by Vivian Arend features this. A drunken marriage in Vegas, followed by a ‘complication’ which means they have to pretend they are happily married
This is a plot device in A Secret for a Secret by Helena Hunting. The secret douchy ex-husband of the heroine arrives on the scene letting her know they are still married. He is not the hero of an otherwise great book (book 3 in the All In series). I loved books 1, 3, and 4 of the series. Book 3 can be read as a stand alone.
Mating Rituals of the North American Wasp by Laura Lipton fits this trope, as well as quite a few others!
The heroine is a free spirit who owns a shop in NYC and the hero a WASP from CT. They meet, get drunk, and get married in Vegas and then plan to got their separate ways, but his eccentric aunt has other ideas. The aunt makes a deal that if they stay married for a year, they’ll inherit the family estate, which is crumbling but worth millions. She needs money for her struggling shop and he wants to be free of the albatross of fame obligations, so they agree. They “have nothing in common,” but as she spends her weekends in CT and helps him start fixing up the estate, they of course discover they aren’t as mismatched as expected.
I’ve read it a couple times and really enjoyed it, but it’s been a few years since my last reading.
@Liz Penny Reid has a shared universe?? That is delightful. Not that I’m a huge fan, but I like to see this outside of SFF.
@Tam Oh man– as someone whose family has also experienced fraught legal legacies (similarly, WRITE A WILL), I feel you, but also, your description is hilarious.
I worry that this is a spoiler, but I think THE FOREVER GIRL by Jill Shalvis fits this scenario… except the reader doesn’t know it for quite a while.
I also feel like I’ve read this a lot but can only think of one for sure — one of Erin Mccarthy’s race car books. The couple start off the series divorced and then when their book shows up, they’re not technically divorced.
@Anon – YES! You’re right – Hot Finish by Erin McCarthy had this plot, too.