Discovering Romance: The Magic of Romance Books Exploring Love Later in Life

They say life begins at forty, so are you reading later in life romance yet? Here, I talk about some of my faves proving that love later in life, can be some of the best love of all...

If there's one thing I've noticed about romance books, there tends to be a certain age range for the characters, or at least in the ones I read (contemporary romances). The heroines are aged anywhere from early 20s to perhaps early 30s. The  heroes seem to fall in a relatively narrow range of 29 to 37. I'm not talking about the stories where we have a 20 something year old woman and an immortal Fae prince / dragon shifter / vampire. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE these stories. I WRITE these stories (well, not the immortal vampire or Fae, but you never know… have I ever told you about the fan fiction I have in mind for my cat, Leila, which involves a vampire and a cat shifter? But I digress…)

I'm firmly rooted in my contemporary romances. I'll speak in more detail in another blog about why I choose the sort of age bracket I do for my own characters. One of those reasons is that the age range is set in the guidelines for Harlequin Presents / Mills & Boon Modern Romance to meet the series promise. But that's not the only reason, for me at least. As far as later in life romance books are concerned, since we're told the population is getting older I've often wondered why there don't seem to be as many romances written about people in their 40s and over, being screamed about from the rooftops and hitting hit the giddy heights of the bestseller lists.

Ageism, anyone? Traditionally there was publisher resistance. One author of later in life romance, Sandra Antonelli, said a publisher once told her, "No-one wants to read granny sex." Considering a significant cohort of romance readers are over 45s, you'd think there'd be a thriving market for them. Which is where indie publishing can come in.

Also called seasoned romance, the definition I've seen is that the romance needs to feature a character / characters who are older than 40 when they find their happily ever after. What I particularly love about these stories is that unlike romance between younger characters (where they are often really at the start of their romantic and life journey and still finding themselves as people, discovering as much about themselves as they are about their relationships) later in life romance tends to be  brimming with characters who've lived a lot of their lives, know themselves quite well, and learned a bit along the way too.

There's not so much of a drive have babies that you see in so many other contemporary romances. The issues for older couples are different. They might have already had their family, or chosen not to have one and focussed on their career instead. They'll have had previous long-term relationships, and perhaps even difficult divorces meaning there can be strong second chance themes (which I adore) where people are learning to trust again.

For a lot of heroines (particularly) they might simply be sick of everybody's sh*t and just wanting to live their own lives, undisturbed (hello, perimenopause and menopause). For them, letting someone into their lives means the love interest needs to be a whole lot of special. Given these are people who’ve lived a life and had past serious relationships, these romances can tackle issues such as blended families really well, which are what many modern families look like and should be reflected widely in romance too.  

In terms of the intimacy in later in life romances, these are people who've been a number of years around the sun and know what they like, what they don’t, and what they want.  All of us are going to get older, and these books are hopeful. They show that no matter the age, we’re deserving of someone who loves us for who we are, with sex an intimacy into later life.

Didn't someone say "life begins at forty"? I reckon it sure as heck does!

There may be some trust issues involved in these romances. I mean, who hasn't had trust issues, if they've had a number of broken relationships behind them. Not everyone is lucky enough to meet their true love, young, and stay together well into old age (my aunt and uncle did, but I know few others). In my view, that's what makes the happily ever after in later in life romance so delicious. The characters know what they want, find what they've been looking for, and allow themselves to trust again.

There are so many fantastic later in life / seasoned romance authors out there. If you want to go on a quest to read some, why not check out Later in Life Romance. There, you can find books under a number of categories, so go explore! For the record, here are some of my favourite later in life romance authors, whose books I’ve read and re-read often.

Sandra Antonelli

The first is Sandra Antonelli. She was so interested in dispelling the myths and "Hollywood stereotypes" of older women you see in fiction and film she did a doctorate on the topic.

I think I've read just about every book she's written. Sandra’s books are fun and funny. The plot lines are ingenious and the characters are complex and well rounded. They know what they want, and they refuse to sell themselves short.

Sandra hasn't written in a little while, but a tiny birdie tells me that she's got another book on the boil... Yay for us!

Some of my favorites of hers are the In Your Service series, a homage to James Bond with Major Kit, a spy, and his erstwhile female butler, Mae (who's famed for her delicious scrambled eggs and is lethal with a toilet brush-IYKYK).

Mae and Kit are a fabulous pair. Their first story starts with a blast and takes them on a journey through Italy, fighting villains. A volcano, a hand roasting in an oven and a fish named Shirley accentuate sinister machinations that involve Mae and a missing trust fund left to her by her beloved deceased husband. What could possibly go wrong?

You couldn't do better than read these books as this unlikely (yet weirdly, SO likely) pair find love, and cut a swathe of mayhem and chaos across Italy and beyond! Actually, I need to read them again...

Adele Buck

I’ve talked about Adele Buck before. Her stories are just gorgeous. Funny, emotional, and full of warm, believable characters. My absolute favourite is the novella, The Wedding Bait.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read this story. It’s an utter delight, packing a huge amount into fewer words.  Honestly, it feels like a full length book! If I'm in a reading slump, it's one of the first books I pick up.

Tove is divorced and about to face her jerk of an ex at their daughter’s wedding. Her ex-husband is bringing along his new wife, a model many years Tove’s junior. One of her friends suggests she take a date to the wedding... an escort. After a glass of wine or a few, Tove agrees.  

Patrick’s retired from the business but agrees to take on this last job as Tove’s bio interests him. This is a no strings weekend, if she wants it. Patrick lets Tove set the pace. The intimate scenes are glorious and packed with emotion.

Tove is happy enough being single with a highly successful business. Patrick is wealthy in his own right, but in the chaos of the wedding, both of them find something between them that they want to keep fighting for.  

Karen Booth

If you haven’t read Karen Booth’s Gray Hair Don’t Care then what have you been doing? I mean, if for nothing else, look at that gorgeous cover with the heroine rocking the grey!

Lela is 47 and newly divorced.  She dreads the idea of dating when she runs into Donovan and tries something different, sleeping with her old college crush. Only problems is, in a post-orgasm stupor she confesses to that crush from all those years ago, and Donovan does the runner whilst she’s asleep (Prince. Among. Men). On waking up Lela knows things have to change. Forget men, embrace her age. Embrace the grey.

Three years later, Donovan (a marketing genius but a relationship failure) is helping his daughter’s lifestyle company and is unprepared for the face of their new beauty brand, Lela, rocking her grey hair. To his chagrin, Lela's not buying what he’s selling anymore. Both of them are convinced romance was behind them, but the universe (sneaky gal that she is) has other plans…

My own later in life romance...

My love for this genre of romance stories is why, when Lissanne Jones asked me to contribute to the One Weekend Series, I immediately knew who my characters were going to be. I had the hero, Dr Lawson Fisher, living rent free in my head and hinting that his story needed to be written, since seeing the UK cover to Amanda Cinelli’s book, The Billionaire's Last-Minute Marriage.

Whilst her story isn’t a later in life romance, the cover does have the most delicious silver fox hero on the front. I loved it so much I asked Amanda to send me a high-definition version of the cover and I just knew one day I'd write a story of a hero who looked like that cover. I mean, CHECK HIM OUT. There’s a reason that picture still sits in a folder on my phone…

In my novella for the One Weekend series, One Weekend in Amalfi, Lawson and Olivia have both had their challenges. Lawson’s divorced and carries the emotional scars from that. Olivia was a single mother and whilst she’s at the top of her career her relationships have been a disaster. Neither are looking for love, but it finds them regardless over a sun-soaked weekend at a conference on the Amalfi Coast.  

It was wonderful to write a story about this pair. It got my creativity flowing again, bringing this story from my heart to life. Look, all of my books come from my heart. I adore every single one, but in this one I could do what I wanted (for better or for worse), and there was a real freedom in that. Writing a story about people a bit like me. A little bit older. Wiser? Maybe, maybe not.

One Weekend in Amalfi is out now, on KU and Amazon!

So if you haven't already, give later in life romance books a go. A new world might open up to you and if nothing else, remember, all of us are getting older, so why not read some glorious romances about love later in life?

So, what about you? Do you have a favourite Later in Life or Seasoned Romance? I'd love to hear from you about it here or on social media.

Well, that's it for me. If you want more information about my books you can check out my newsletter. New subscribers get a copy of a stand alone romance novella, His Cinderella Princess, and I often hold great give-aways you don't want to miss. But for now, stay safe and sparkle! Love, Kali.

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