Am I the only one who wishes there were more romance novels that start after the couple says their vows?
Yes, it is absolutely fun to witness the meet cute, to watch two strangers discover each other, get to know each other, fall helplessly in love, and commit to a life together. But isn’t it also fun to witness two people who have already committed discover each other, get to know each other, fall further in love (or fall in love again) and then renew their commitment to each other?
If you know of any books like this, please recommend them to me! Milla Holt has at least one (Through the Blaze–I’m reading this right now, and it’s wonderful) and Liwen Ho has the wonderfully titled Retying the Knot. What other good books have this theme?
My novel Shelter is my most popular book. Maggie leaves an abusive relationship and drives into a blizzard. With nothing to call her own and no one to call on, she ends up at a church homeless shelter where she meets Galen, a man so kind he will melt your heart. (Okay, I don’t know if he’ll melt yours, but he still melts mine, and I “met” him eight years ago.)
For reasons too wordy for this post, I wrote a sequel to Shelter, showing Maggie and Galen married with two sons, and I thought the Shelter story was complete.
But then my awesome readers (seriously, I love them so much!) asked for a third Shelter book, and I thought, wow, Maggie and Galen have been married for so long now. Surely they’re tired of each other? Surely they’re tired in general? And a story started percolating.
When we meet Maggie and Galen again in the first pages of Revival, they are not okay. Parenthood and ministry has burned them both out, and their marriage isn’t so much a marriage as a housing arrangement. I broke my own heart! But Galen (because he’s the kindest man ever!) notices that his wife is hurting and asks God for help.
And you know what happens next. When God is invited, God shows up.
God brings Maggie and Galen closer together and (spoiler alert) they end up stronger than ever. (Learn more about Revival here.)
One might think that writing this book would get this idea of married romance out of my system, but all it did was make me want to write more of them!
In my newer book A Good Man Is Hard to Lose, we meet the couple after they divorce! I love this story so much! (Is it wrong to say I love my own story? I promise I’m not feeling haughty as I say that!) Brent, our hero, meets Jesus after divorce, and this new relationship with Jesus makes him crave the relationship he once had with his wife—so he goes after it! I’m pretty sure it’s the most romantic book I’ve ever written. I even surprised myself. (Learn more about this book here!)
And one might think, after having written two books about romance after marriage, I would have it out of my system. But I don’t. Now I want to write a whole series!
So, please tell me the truth. Am I off my rocker? Should I go back to writing more traditional romances about young people finding love for the first time? Or are there other readers out there like me who love to see married people reconnecting and falling in love all over again?
Let’s give away a copy of Revival in celebration of marriage! If a U.S. reader wins, he or she can choose paperback or ebook. If a reader outside the U.S. wins, I’ll send him or her an ebook. Just comment to be entered in the drawing. I will choose one winner on or after July 18. 💚
Hi, family! My name is Robin Merrill, though I write under a few other pen names. I live in rural Maine with my family and an assortment of barnyard critters. I have written more than fifty books, many of them during my daughter's dance events or my son's cattle shows. When I'm not reading, writing, or driving the minivan, I can often be found frolicking with my small goat herd. I also love gardening, but I'm really bad at it. Visit me at robinmerrill.com.
You are not off your rocker at all, Robin! I love marriage restoration romance and I, too, wish there was more of it. I’m definitely contemplating writing a few more, and I think there is a need and audience for stories about God healing broken marriages.
Your Shelter trilogy sounds wonderful and I’m looking forward to reading it. Thanks so much for your kind words about my own foray into this type of story.
Emily Dana Botrous, one of our InspyRomance family, has The Miracle of Mistletoe, which I absolutely loved.
Brenda S. Anderson’s Broken Together is about a couple who’ve been living apart while the husband was in prison.
And Lila Diller’s “Love Is” four-book series follows a same couple through their courtship and into their married life.
Hi from SW Michigan Robin! I have always wanted to visit New England area, especially in fall. This retiree celebrated her Golden Anniversary last month. I have been reading more historical romance or cozy mysteries.
So, YES, YES, I would love to see more CCR stories written about romance after marriage. Even Hallmark in recent years have made movies about married couples (all generations) rekindle love. Romance does NOT stop with the traditional Hallmark kiss or the PROPOSAL YES! That is when REAL Romance Begins as stated in I Corinthians 13. How to keep the SPARK alive through 50 years of marriage – through career, children, sandwich years, into retirement and the final stage of life. As a retiree – NOW I have more free time to read. Therefore romance after marriage is a welcomed story.
Welcome to Inspy Romance. I have been following for a decade. As a new to me author, I will be exploring your works. Thanks. Best wishes. Enjoy the summer!
We all enjoy seeing the couple fall in love and get married, but the real test of time is during the marriage years after the wedding. I would love to see more books written about life after marriage. Their ups and downs, their struggles, how they turn to God for His guidance and help in their marriage, and how they fall back in love with each other.
I think you might reach a whole new group of readers, perhaps some who are struggling in their own marriages. We need pictures of what committed love is like, the “better” and “worse” of the relationship we vow to keep when we say our wedding vows. Surviving storms together can strengthen a marriage and renew the romance.
I love the romance after marriage trope so much that I have two coming out next year. In March, For Better or For Granted is about Scott and Genevieve Stewart, who are on the brink of divorce but their friends and family aren’t going to let that happen. And next fall, I have a novella coming out in a Christmas collection that’s about a separated couple who can’t find their way back so their nine-year-old plays matchmaker. ;)
You are definitely not off your rocker. I think it’s a good idea to change it up. If you only read about first falling in love, you might get bored of it. Also it doesn’t end there and marriages have there ups and downs but you have to work on them. It’s beautiful to see married people overcome challenges, reconnect, and fall in love again.
Hi! I read Shelter a long time ago, and liked it. I never realized there were sequels! I do like books that deal with life after marriage! I know Lacy Williams has one (can’t remember the title right now) that is really good about a young mom trying to handle several little kids and has no time left for her husband.
NO NO NO NO there are so many of us who would prefer to read a fiction story about a christian book with older couples and about how romance/love really happen after marriage. Lust, Like, etc happen before marriage while the “work” of getting to know our partner really happen after marriage. There is a reason why God said that man and woman shall cleave to each other during marriage. My husband and I dated for not quite a year. We learned to like each other a lot. I learned to respect him as a Godly man, he learned to like me immensely. When both of us prayed the whole time about this being the right person to marry, we both got back a huge “YES” We talked with a church counselor/friend and he really gave us a lot to think about. Now it became time for prayer together. We knew that some things we had in common but a lot we did not. So more time spending talking about specific things. We got married knowing that we would have to work on our marriage and work at loving/respecting each other. We have not been married almost 40 years. Yes we have many differences of opinions but we have also learned to talk to each other and to pray hard. Marriage is not something that should be going into lightly. It is a wonderful time when the work is put into it.
I like the idea of love after marriage, especially “older” couples. The world does need more pictures of how a couple survives the rigors of life and still love each other or fall in love again. I haven’t reqd any books in this trope, but I am going to look at some of the books mentioned in your post and the responses.
Thank you.
I love that idea! I really enjoy the falling in lice romances, but sometimes it can so nice to see a continuing romance between two people once they’re married. Plus, I think it could be an encouragement that the romance doesn’t have to die just because you’re married.
I also love this idea! I haven’t read any books like this that I can recall, but will look for yours and Milla’s, they sound great. I always really like it when you see glimpses of couples and their marriages in the later books in a series, but stories about the journeys within marriages sound great.
Oh, I’m so tickled that you commented! Thank you! I am loving your book, and thank you for the recommendations. So good to know I’m not the only one!
Hello! I’m so delighted to meet you here. I used to be a pilot on the Great Lakes so I have spent sooo much time in Michigan. It feels like home, and I love it there.
And yay! I’m so glad I’m not the only one wanting these kinds of stories! Congrats on your anniversary and your retirement. Wishing you many awesome books!
Right?! That sounds so romantic to me. Probably because of the phase of life I’m in right now, but I know there are lots of people in this phase of life with me! :)
Thank you for that encouragement! Sometimes I wonder if all of these super sweet romances might not be discouraging to those people who are struggling. I mean, I hope not; I hope it provides a nice escape, but I can see how it might be depressing to someone who isn’t in a good place with their spouse. So yes, let’s get some books out there that show surviving those storms!
Oh, this just got me so excited. What a great title! And I LOVE having kids meddle in my stories, lol. Such a cute plot device! Sometimes I have a dog help out too, lol.
Thank you for that encouragement! I worry that making all these stories end at the altar suggests the romance ends there, but I don’t think it has to!
Oh yes, little kids are sooo energy and time consuming. I loved that season of life, but wow, there wasn’t much space for anything else! Thank you for reading Shelter! Yes, those characters keep popping up in other books. I can’t seem to help myself, lol.
Oh wow, you really went about the whole thing with wisdom and maturity. Good for you! And congrats on the long marriage; that’s so awesome.
Thank you for the encouragement!
Oh awesome! I hope I’ve recruited you! lol
“The rigors of life” is such a good way to put it. It’s hard to have romance when things are rough, but that’s when we need it the most!
Exactly! Sometimes I get so attached to the characters, and I want to see more than just the epilogue (which is sometimes only the wedding, lol).
That’s a good point. Some series do a good job of giving us glimpses of the HEA, for sure.
I would like to read more books where the couple is married. There aren’t too many out there to read.
Hi Kathleen! Glad I’m not alone. :)
I would love more married couples romances. I always feel a bit let down at the end of the fall in love/get married books – the good ones where you connect with the characters and want to know how their lives go once the fairytale becomes real life.
The older I get (and the longer I’ve been married!), the more I love a good story about a married couple, whether it’s a second chance at happiness type story, a they’re just about divorced but come back together story, or a they’re happily married but solving an old family mystery story.
The idea of romance rekindled is an awesome story to tell, we’ve been there and it’s almost like starting over, but so much better.
You go for it Robin, we need those books too.
I would love to read more older couple romances, beings that I fit in that category now lol. Being retired, falling more in love, traveling around and getting to know your spouse more than you thought you knew them 😊. Love your books and get so lost in them 💕
You’re not crazy! I would love to see more romances that aren’t about the chase, but keeping the whole reason for the chase alive.
Oh my goodness, what a poetic way to put that! I’ll have to be careful not to steal that, lol. Sometimes I come up with things I think are brilliant, and then my daughter says, Mom, you heard that in a song last week. :’)
Aw, thanks, Vicki! You just sparked something in my imagination, for sure, because what is better than traveling with your romantic best friend?! *sigh*
Thank you, Sylvia! So good to hear it happens in real life! <3
Oh, now I want to solve an old family mystery WHILE falling in love all over again! bwahaha … I need to go write an outline …
So true! I miss them when the book is over and want to keep following along on their story!
I love this idea of books written about romance after marriage! I’ve not read many books that start there but can’t wait to dive into them now. My husband and I’ve been married for almost 54 years – we love travelling together and finding out more interesting and unique stuff about each other.
write whatever you want
Valerie M. Bodden has books about after people are married. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
Yes, please. We do need books about keeping your love and relationship alive after marriage. That takes work and commitment, so books with realistic challenges and methods of feeding your love and friendship could be uplifting and helpful. Frankly, I’m rather bored with the “falling” phase and would enjoy reading about the “sticking” phase!
I love books where marriages become the priority and vows are reaffirmed and love conquers all!
You sound very sane to me! I like this idea for stories! I prefer this to reading about twenty-somethings! I prefer older characters in the books I read!
I have read several “after the wedding stories”, though most involve reconciliation after a separation or divorce. Books that immediately come to mind: In addition to Retying the Knot, Liwen Y. Ho wrote Second Chance with the Hero about a couple who had divorced and how they come back together. She also has a book coming out this fall, Remembering the Rancher, about a couple coming back from the brink of a divorce. Susan May Warren wrote about married couples in The Shadow of your Smile, You Don’t Know Me, and Evergreen, all included in her Deep Haven series. Jessie Gussman wrote A Second Chance in the Show Me State about a separated couple and how their twins plot to get them back together (similar to Parent Trap.) I read a multi-author series in Love Inspired that included a reunion of the parents, leading to reconciliation–Reunited for the Holidays by Jillian Hart. Interestingly, in both this book and You Don’t Know Me, part of the plot is having one of the spouses in the Witness Protection program.
The most poignant story I’ve read in this sub-genre is Marion Ueckermann’s short story, “More Than This”, a touching tribute to a lifetime of loving marriage. This story is her contribution to Love’s Treasure, a limited-availability multi-author series. My understanding is that it is the last story she finished before succumbing to COVID in 2021.
It is very interesting what I have just read above.
I used to wonder about the same thing, then I realised that novels about married couples exist – just they fit less the romance cathegory and more the women fiction cathegory (or, depending on the plot, there might be other genres involved – from SF to mystery or thriller).
Oh wow, that’s a long time! I’m so happy for you! Congratulations! I imagine it would be great fun to travel like that.
Oh nice! She’s such a good writer.
That’s a good way to put it! Sticking can be romantic too! :)
Hi Rhonda! I’m glad to hear that!
Haha, good to hear it! Yes, it’s nice to spend time with characters who have earned some wisdom over the years.
Oh my goodness! Thank you for that. I am printing out this list!
Yes, that’s a good point. I do like reading women’s fiction too.
Robin,
I have loved every book in every series of yours Ive5 read! I’m sorry to say I’m not caught up, but every email I get inspires me to get them all!
I enjoy reading both as long as a find the characters interesting and enjoy the book itself!
Good point. It’s all about the story for me too.
Hi Karen!
No worries! I write pretty fast, so I can’t blame people for falling behind. I’m not caught up on the books I want to read either. So many books, so little time! lol
I love this topic!!! when we have been married “awhile”…it is good to think romance AFTER marriage…so many believe it all ends after marriage…I am really curious about this book!