This Rec League was sent in by Mari. Thanks, Mari!
I’m having difficulty finding romance reads for those of us ladies who enjoy romances featuring a mature storyline, with older heroines/heroes.
Red Feather recently shared a lovely May-December themed novel this month, and it was enjoyable, but if both the heroine and hero were older, that would be an ideal read. I think publishers forget that romance isn’t only for the young.
Life doesn’t end when our children are grown, or if our spouse passes away, We still want to live the rest of our life with someone to love and someone who loves us.
My husband and I have recently witnessed two of our friends fall in love again. They’re both over 65. They’re very happy together. It’s been lovely to watch.
Shana: My favorite romances with older adults are Courtney Milan’s hilarious Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure and A Tale of Two Florists by Brenna Bailey, which is sweet and comforting.
I just finished an erotic poly romance, The Oath by TM Richardson ( A ), where the characters are in their mid-forties, although they read as older to me. It’s about a widow whose late husband secretly asked his three best friends to date her after he was gone.
Sarah: There are a few that get rec’d often (and correctly!), like Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory, and Gray Hair Don’t Care by Karen Booth. ( A )
If you like erotica, Cherise Sinclair has written a few with older characters, and a plentiful helping of BDSM.
Kristen Ashley also writes a lot of 40+ leads – I remember when person after person discovered her books, they were vocally excited about the older characters.
I can’t believe this is 10 years old now – but Apples Should be Red by Penny Watson ( A | BN | K ) is a novella with older characters and it takes place around Thanksgiving.
And Teach Me by Olivia Dade has characters in their 40s and they’re both teachers at a high school.
In fantasy: The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen.
And if you’d like a queer kinky romance: Eight Kinky Nights by Xan West! ( A | K | AB )
Ok, one more – graphic novel Bingo Love by Tee Franklin.
Claudia: I really liked At Your Service, and the characters are older (in their 50s/late 40s) and unmarried, which I find it rarer to come by in books than widow/er and divorced characters I think because of the burden that society places on older unmarried/single people. Caveat that I didn’t like the rest of the series as much but the first book is great.
Sarah: Oh – The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies features heroines who are older
Claudia: YES! And I loved that one and I’m eagerly waiting the second book.
Oh I have one! Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen” is very much a cautious romance between two older people, who initially loved the same man at different moments in his life.
I think this review hits some salient points https://malwarwickonbooks.com/nontraditional-love-story/
(you don’t *have* to read the whole Vorkosigan saga to read this one, it’s pretty much a standalone. But the Vorkosigan saga has a lot to recommend itself)
* Role Playing by Cathy Yardley is a really cute grumpy/sunshine romance between middle-aged gamers!
* An Unorthodox Match by Naomi Ragen – FL is a 30something-year-old baal t’shuvah, ML is a widowed frum guy (can’t recall his age but he has a 15yo daughter)
* Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan – Romance between two 70ish-year-old women (of very different financial means)
Natasha Moore has a trilogy called Silver Fox that starts with Choose Me, and there’s Elizabeth Kelly’s trilogy Seasoned Romance trilogy that starts with Bet Your Heart. I liked them enough to give them 3-4 stars on Goodreads.
Does Penny Reid’s Happily Ever Ninja count? The characters are already married and in their forties. But the FMC is having trouble asking for what she needs and the MMC is being pig headed and reckless. Now that I’m reading my description, it doesn’t sound like a great book, but I swear it is. There is competency porn all through this book, in part because the characters are older and more skilled and experienced than they would have been 20 years ago when they met in college. This is probably my favorite in the KITC series.
The Switch by Beth O’Leary has two leading ladies, one of which is older but fierce and starts dating agai .
Cathy Yardley’s DO ME A FAVOR and ROLE PLAYING both have “mature MCs” (that’s my GR shelf for older couples.”) THE ROAD TOWARDS HOME by Corinne Demas is a delightful romance between two MCs in their 70s. THE GEEK WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS by Annabeth Albert has two male MCs in their 40s – that’s several decades younger than me, but I guess it counts as “older.”
Mary Balogh’s Wescott series featured a book with the other MCs widowed mother – I believe she and the MMC were in their 40s/50s (Someone to Care). There was also a book in that series about a spinster aunt in the extended family in her 50s(Someome to Remember). And apparently the next book in her current series is focused on an older couple as well.
Don’t The Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls feature mature protagonists? For that matter, Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan aren’t exactly spring chickens even when they first get together.
Also, Penny Watson’s A Taste of Heaven is a contemporary set on a competitive cooking program that also features mature adults. I like it better than Apples Should Be Red.
FWIW, I include anyone who is old enough to have adult children in the mature category.
I’ve read and liked most of these, it turns out, but definitely that Courtney Milan was what came to mind as the best romance I know with an older couple.
I agree that Lois McMaster Bujold is reliable for this. Possibly Jennifer Crusie? Maybe no one is more than middle aged, but her adults generally read like adults at least. I personally cannot recommend her books co-written with Bob what’shisname, but a lot of others enjoy them and I think those do tend to have older characters.
Apropos The Oath, it may just be me, but in light of the Pelicot abuse I am deeply uncomfortable with the concept of a husband secretly arranging partners for his wife.
Check out books by Karen Booth! The Forever duet: Bring Me Back and Back Forever. And the Never Too Late series which has three books so far: Gray Hair Don’t Care, Brooklyn Monroe Wants It All, and It’s a Widow Thing.
Marie Force also has several books with mature storylines.
Enjoy!
Adele Buck has a lovely novella called The Wedding Bait which features a woman in her 50s who hires an escort in his 50s to come with her to her daughter’s wedding. Fake relationship! There’s only one bed! I love this one so much.
THE DUKE OF OLYMPIA MEETS HIS MATCH, a novella by Juliana Grey, features a character who is one of those shadowy behind the scenes government types. He has subtly (mostly) manipulated the lives of the characters in previous books, including his grandson. On a mission aboard a transatlantic crossing he encounters the intriguing governess of a young heiress. Loved every page of this smart, charming romance.
Some of Lauren Esker’s shifter romances have middle-aged couples.
In “Day Care Dragon” he has adult children and her age is given as 44 in the sample.
In “Dad Bod Dragon” the description indicates that both are in their mid-40’s.
Awww-I was just coming in to say I had a novella with >50 characters and Barb beat me to it! Thanks, Barb!
I also have a longer novel with characters who are >40 – Handy For You – and my spring release, Fake Flame has a 41-year-old heroine.
I have two queer recs for those that love MM romances like I do: FOXED by Jay Hogan and BEAUTIFULLY UNEXPECTED by Lily Morton. Both authors are faves of mine and write amazing character development (which is my jam).
I see Cathy Yardley recc’d plenty, and you can count me in on that. But I also just finished Lips Like Sugar by Jess Hardy, which is the 2nd in a series that features older couples, and the men are former members of a famous rock band from the 90s (think Seattle grunge), which given my crush on Eddie Vedder, seriously speaks to me as a person. The couples are people their 50s, with all of the attendant familial attachments (the hero in Lips Like Sugar is a doting grandpa, the heroine has a snarky teen son), and physical issues (the hero hurts his back doing some physical labor he wasn’t conditioned for, the heroine is dealing with hellacious perimenopausal hot flashes). I’m going to go back and read the first in the series, Come As You Are, in the near future.
Not that they’re romance (although there are romantic storylines in the books), but if you want some older heroines fucking shit up and burning it down, you’ve got Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (and its sequel comes out in March, I’m reading it now, she said smugly) and The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi (which I just gave to my sister who is recovering from hip surgery with the advice that it’s a banger and she should read it absolutely now).
The Passion of the Purple Plumeria by Lauren Willig, where Miss Gwyn gets her romance with William Reid.
T. Kingfisher’s fantasy novels usually feature older (30s-40s) protagonists and love interests, and the humor and romantic elements are perfectly balanced. Will never not recommend!
I can pint out another Brenna Bailey, which I own but haven’t read yet: OF LOVE AND LIBRARIES, a fall-themed lesbian second chance story. It’s in the same series as the one recommended above, “Juniper Creek Golden Years”, which I’m guessing is all about older couples.
*Sigh*, “point” out, not “pint” out.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson doesn’t get shelved as romance but it does have as a main component a slowly developing romance between Major Pettigrew and Mrs Ali, both in their 60s or 70s. I haven’t read it in a while but I read it multiple times and remember it as being very delightful.
I too love Mrs Martin’s Incomparable Adventures. The Tess Bailey book I tried but I just couldn’t get into.
Mari may have seen this already but there’s a several-years-old Buzzfeed list about this topic too: https://www.buzzfeed.com/tabbykibugi/romance-novels-featuring-older-lovers
The Walls Between Hearts by LA Witt – m/m, contemporary (one is late 50s, the other is early 60s and getting ready to retire)
Lord Heliodor’s Retirement by Amy Rae Durreson – m/m, fantasy, both mid 50s
Silver Shifters series by Zoe Chant – m/f, paranormal, I believe most MCs are 50s and 60s
Ragrim Conflict series by Nessa Claugh – m/f, scifi, most MCs are around early 40s
The Captain’s Midwinter Bride by Liana De la Rosa – m/f, historical, around 40s with grown children
The Spy who Seduced her by Christi Caldwell – m/f, historical, also around 40s with adult children
Mrs. Pollifax books, although not romance, feature a woman (widow) in her 60s who has adventures with some romance towards the later books.
Two books immediately came to mind. The first is Romeo and Julie, published in the late 1990s/ early 2000s. I can’t find the author – all Amazon and Google want to show me is Shakespeare. I read a lot, not many books stick in memory, but I remember this story of two florists in the same town fondly. And I second @Sally’s recommendation of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. That book was a delight.
Celia Lake’s fantasy The Hare and the Oak features a mature couple in their 50s or 60s. Both have been widowed and fall in love while teaching a new landowner how to use her magic.
Bingo Love was very sweet.
Three of the books in my cat cafe romance series feature more mature characters, ages 35 through 52. The book titles are Tea and Temptation at the Cat Cafe, Christmas Cookies at the Cat Cafe, and Coffee and Confessions at the Cat Cafe. They are all sweet romances, generally low angst fluffy escapes. With cats, obviously.
Barb, I bought Wedding Bait and read it in one go. Delightful.
@LML JULIE & ROMEO is by Jeanne Ray. I love her books, especially EAT CAKE, which is a regular comfort read for me. She is Ann Patchett’s mother, so clearly there is a storytelling gene in the family!
I recently read One and Done by Frederick Smith, an m/m romance between two 40-something Black men who meet at a bar and then learn they’re working together on a high stakes project.
I thought the romance was a little underdeveloped but I really enjoyed hanging out with the characters and their friends and family. And I loved that both characters liked their lives and liked being more mature. They were not fighting being in their 40s
One caveat if you work (or have worked) in higher ed – I thought the stuff about renewing accreditation and searching for a university president seemed off and that kept taking me out of the story. YMMV.
Ari Baran’s HOME ICE ADVANTAGE is a wonderful m/m romance where both main characters are in their mid-40s. They grow a lot during the book and it’s so great to see what that looks like for more mature characters. Really well done in audiobook format – narrated by Cooper North who captures the two main characters, Ryan and Eric, beautifully. One of my favorites reads of this year.
@LisaM, oh, I’m glad I made my comment. Now, thanks to you, I have the title correct and discover that the author has one book I haven’t read yet.
Re Jeanne Ray: My favorite book by her is STEP, BALL, CHANGE. It opens with a scene where the main female protagonist gets two phone calls – one from her sister who is leaving her no-good husband after a long, not-so-happy marriage, and the other from her daughter announcing her engagement. The book is about family (children and siblings and spouses), but there are also several lovely romances, both old and new.
Rise and its followup, Redemption, by Karina Bliss is a rock-star romance with a twist, featuring a rather arrogant rocker in his 40’s who hires a prim academic who specializes in historical biographies to help him ghost-write his own autobiography.
Casey Dawes has a series called Promise Cove with 7 books that all features couples with ages anywhere from the late 30’s to 60’s. These are all closed door romances.
Freya Barker writes romantic suspense stories and most of her books feature couples in their late 30’s to 50’s.
LB Dunbar has a series called Sexy Silver Foxes that feature older couples and she also tends to write at least one or two books in each of her other series where the couple is older.
I also want to give a shout out to Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. It’s a wonderful mature romance even though that’s not the way it’s promoted.
If you like fantasy and competence porn both, then I’d recommend Kate Eiliott’s The Keeper’s Six. An older FMC (60ish?) puts her mercenary/adventure team back together to rescue her adult son from a dragon lord. Enjoyed this one so much and it’s not very long at just over 200 pages.
Two favorite suggestions:
Granddad’s Cup of Tea by Amy Rae Durreson – a short sweet M/M story about two widowers in their 70s finding each other.
Tanyth Fairport Adventures by Nathan Lowell – more adventure than romance, but there is a romance woven in.
And a seconding for Lord Heliodor’s Retirement by Amy Rae Durreson – m/m fantasy in a medieval world.
Today’s episode of the Fated Mates podcast (fatedmates.net) is about “Romance Over 40”.