Have you ever wanted to be someone you’re not?
I’m grateful for all I have, but on my fortieth birthday, I wanted to be twenty again, or even better, ten. Or thirty. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think forty is old. I think it’s young, and I hope you’ll agree with me. But I had to finally accept that most likely I’ll never have children. And I wanted to be a mom for as long I remember myself. I’m also one of the women who loved and lost. Can I find a soulmate for the second time?
I did my best to hand it over to the Lord and continued reading and writing romance. Then I noticed something. While I do enjoy reading and writing about the heroines in their late twenties, I wanted to spend time with book friends who are close to my age. I wanted to relate to them better and learn to accept what happened to me with gratitude and hope. And while there are wonderful Christian romances about older couples (loved Least Expected by Autumn Macarthur!), I didn’t find many of them. Then something happened…
While Autumn Macarthur, Marion Ueckermann and I were working on a totally different project, a new idea appeared and took hold. The idea about three childhood friends starting over and finding romance back in their hometown right before turning forty… The tagline, “When life begins at forty” took shape. So the tri-author series Chapel Cove Romances were born. What a fun project that is! Emails and messages flew between us as our characters (Reese, Kristina, and Nai) pop in each other’s books and the timeline is the same. Getting the characters and the timeline consistent across all three books created a big challenge.
Book 1, Remember Me by Marion Ueckermann, and Book 2, Love Me by yours truly, are already published. I can’t wait for Cherish Me by Autumn Macarthur to release on May 7th. We’re super excited about this series, and if you’d like to know about upcoming releases (we hope to have 12 books in Chapel Cove Romances!) we’d be grateful if you followed us on Amazon at this link. Each book is currently only $0.99 and available on Kindle Unlimited. We hope so much that readers will enjoy reading this series as much as we enjoyed writing it.
Love Me: The biggest disaster of her life or the beginning of something wonderful? 
Growing up, Kristina Vela never imagined she’d meet her fortieth birthday divorced by her cheating, manipulative husband, and without a house, degree, or career. Back in her hometown, Chapel Cove, to start anew, she’s given up on men. Then she meets grieving widower Greg Matthews and his adorable five-year-old daughter and helps them renovate a house. Just when Kristina feels she can love again, her ex gives her an ultimatum. Can she choose between her own happiness and Greg’s?
Former snowboarder Greg Matthews is moving to Chapel Cove so his daughter can be close to her grandparents. After his wife died, his heart closed to romance. As caring and compassionate Kristina helps him repair his house and his life, he might be falling for her. But if she decides to leave, will he survive a second heartbreak?
Do you like reading romances where the heroine is older than usual? (And in my book, not only Kristina is about to turn forty, she’s also nearly a decade older than the hero!) Do you, like us, think that there should be more books that celebrate romance at all ages?
Giveaway! One randomly chosen commenter to this post will receive $5 Amazon gift card and 1 ecopy of Love Me (Love Me to be gifted via BookFunnel). The giveaway is limited to people with www.amazon.com account. The giveaway is open until 6 p.m. CST April 17th, 2019. I look forward to your comments!
Alexa Verde writes uplifting, diverse books about faith, love, and hope. She has had 200 short stories, articles, and poems published in the five languages that she speaks. After traveling the world and living in both hemispheres, she calls a small town in south Texas home. The latter is an inspiration for the fictional setting of her series Rios Azules Christmas and Secrets of Rios Azules. Alexa has a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a master's in Russian. She's worn the hats of reporter, teacher, translator, model (even one day counts!), caretaker, and secretary, but thinks that the writer's hat suits her the best.
Since I am “older” too, I think it’s marvellous that the heroines are. Love comes at all times of life.
I just turned 50 – I don’t want to think that the chance for romance is over.
My widowed Aunt got re-married on her 80th birthday (to a younger man!)!
I actually love seeing a book where the heroine is older. Not everyone finds love when they are younger and there are people like me who certainly didn’t find it when I was younger. I think its great to see a book with older heroines, and I like it better when they haven’t really had a proper love beforehand. Yes there should be more books in this age and even for older heroines.
I love a book by Virginia Smith which has a secondary character cared for either the grandmother or great aunt. I really identified with this character as she was a carer and being manipulated by her. The heroine could see what was happening and why and was able to convinced this character she was entitled to find love. She was an older character would have been 40’s. It gave me hope that there could have been someone out there for me.
I am so loving this new series of yours!!
Hi Alexa! I agree with Leslie – I can’t imagine starting over. Always tease hubby that it would be too difficult to train a new one. As a retiree, I enjoy reading stories with older more mature characters. My favorite quote from your over forty romance Love Me: “God can turn the biggest disasters in our lives into the best opportunities if we open ourselves to the possibilities.” Last night I finished reading Liwen Ho’s new release Falling for the Younger Cowboy (Sage Valley Ranch Series), where the heroine is Chinese and a decade older than the hero. Looking forward to Autumn Macarthur’s romance in the Chapel Hill series. Best wishes.
I love romances about all ages! I’m looking forward to reading this series!
Hi Alexa, thanks for sharing more about your life and the path you are walking- prayers for God’s blessings and peace to you:)
I enjoyed Reese’s story and am looking forward to Kristina and Nai’s. So long as the story is good- I don’t mind if the characters are older.
Blessings:)
Hello, Mary Preston! I couldn’t agree more. Love comes at all times of life! And thank you so much for your kind words and commenting.
Hello, Leslie J. D’Angona! Happy Belated Birthday! And congratulations to your aunt! One can find love and marriage at eighty, too. Loved this story, and thank yiu so much for sharing!
Dear Ausjenny! Thank you so much for your wonderful and thoughtful comment. I’m so glad to hear you love seeing a book where the heroine is older. And so true, not everyone finds love when there are younger. There should be a chance at love and happiness at any age. The book by Virginia Smith you described sounds very interesting, and I hope that secondary heroine gets her own story with her happily ever after. And yes, definitely, there’s hope there’s someone out for you, too. Praying for you!
Paula Marie, happy to hear it!
Hi Renate! So glad to hear that you enjoy reading stories with older more mature heroines. Thank you for sharing about Liwen’s book; it sounds very interesting. I so hope readers will love Cherish Me by Autumn Macarthur. She’s an awesome writer. Many thanks for your wonderful support of our series!
Hi Toni! Happy to hear it. And I hope you’ll enjoy reading our new series!
Hi Wemble! Thank you so much for your kind words and prayers. You’re very kind. And I hope you’ll enjoy reading Kristina’s and Nai’s stories! Thank you very much for stopping by.
Yes, I love reading books where the characters are older. I can relate and like to read the story and see how the characters deal with their life events.
I love that the characters are older, and showing that love doesn’t look at age!!
Thank you for your willingness to be vulnerable. Yes I think books should span the years, age wise. I do like reading a book where the heroine is near my age (60) as much as I like reading about younger ladies who learn along the way. I dont think I have read a book where the hero is a decade younger. Hmm sounds interesting.
Yes, I like stories where the main characters are older (and hopefully more mature).
Hello Bernice Kennedy! Glad to hear it. And I totally agree. It made it easier for me to relate to the characters, as well. Thank you so much for commenting!
Hi Trudy! I loved the way you said it. That’s so true. Love doesn’t look at age! Thank you very much for stopping by!
Thank you for your kind words, Lori Smanski! And I thought it would be fun to make the hero nearly a decade younger than heroine. It happens often enough in real life, so why not in a romance book? If someone falls in love, I think age shouldn’t make a difference. Also, I wanted to say that Autumn Macarthur has wonderful romances where the heroine is close to your age. Thank you very much for stopping by!
Margaret Nelson, I’m glad to hear it! Thank you very much for commenting.
I just turned forty a few months ago, so I understand! I don’t think you ever get too old for romance. But marriage ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, either! ;) If something ever happens to my husband, I seriously doubt that I’ll ever get remarried. It could happen. But I doubt it. Starting all over again with learning roles and the differences in communicating, not to mention the extra dynamic of how often to have sex–it’s all hard, much harder than I ever remember being told! And it takes a lot of energy–you can’t let up and coast for very long before you’re rolling backward. Enjoy your singleness and don’t put your happiness into one day finding a man.
I must also comment that I don’t particularly like big age differences between the hero and heroine. I got burned a couple of times with boyfriends who were a little younger than me. Of course, that was before we were all completely matured, and I know it doesn’t matter as much once you hit adulthood. I’m actually 8 months older than my husband, but it doesn’t matter at all. (Except that I have to endure the big birthdays before him.) ;) But I’m always leery of the girl being way older than the guy–10 years would qualify for me. On the other hand, it’s not as big of a deal for the guy to be older than the girl, but even a decade is pushing it for me, though I’ve known couples in real life who have made it work. I’ve also known couples, however, where the age gap was too big, where the girl was only a few years older than his daughter. That’s not right. And then you start having health issues way too early in the relationship, like when my aunt (55) married a 75-year-old man who had a heart attack on their honeymoon! I may have to read it and give a try, but in general, the woman being older just doesn’t sit well with me.
Alexa , I love reading books about “us” older ones. I can relate to heroines in these book. I can’t wait to read these new reads !
Thank you so much for your thoughtfull comment and taking time to write it, Lila Diller! I can totally understand about you being leery when the woman is older than the guy, and I’m sorry about your experience that didn’t go well. I had the opposite experience: my former boyfriend, who was nearly a decade younger than I was (he didn’t have an issue with me being older whatsoever), happened to be one of the sweetest, kindest guys I ever met. Thank you very much for commenting and sharing your story!
Hello, Sheila! Happy to hear it that you love reading about “us” older ones. I hope you’ll enjoy our new series. Thank you so much for stopping by!
Age to me is just a number! Love knows no age!
As I have hit that 40 number I realize I get a little bored with the young 20’s naive and not-as-mature actions in romance novels some times. (I never thought that could happen!!) I would love to see stories like this – more relevant to my age and situations – where the characters have a bit of life under their belt. :) Thank you for approaching this!
Kelley Blair, yes! Loved both things that you said! And thank you very much for commenting. :)
This is a wonderful story, as is Marion’s book 1 in the series. It’s satisfying having stories about grown-up women, learning from past mistakes and being blessed with second chances. :)
Hello Susan! You just made my day. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. That’s exactly the reason behind this series, to have more books where it’s easier to relate to the heroine and the situations she encounters. Thank you so, so much for your wonderful comment!
Autumn, I couldn’t have said it better. Can’t wait for your story!
Alexa—This sounds like a great series–will be checking it out. :) I like the concept behind it. Intriguing and fun!
Lindi Peterson, yay! So glad you like concept behind our series! Thank you very much for you lovely comment.
I love to read and enjoy books where the heroine is older! Blessing on your life, Alexa, and thanks for your giveaway!
Jackie Smith, thank you so much for your wonderful comment! Thrilled to hear that you love and enjoy read books where the heroine is older. Blessings on your life, too. Best wishes in the giveaway!
I do enjoy reading books with older heroines. Since I am older I can relate better when they are older. But so since I am so young at heart it really doesn’t matter.
Linda Hogue, glad to hear you enjoy reading books with older heroines. But so true, the age doesn’t matter for the young at heart! Thank you for commenting.
I don’t mind any ages, as long as it’s Christian romance, and hopefully has a HEA since I happen to love those!
I love reading romance with older heroines as love can find us at any age. I remarried at 58 and I’m six years older than my husband.
Hello, Andrea! Oh yes, absolutely. Christian romance with HEA! Thank you so much for stopping by and for all your support.
Hello, Lelia (Lucy) Reynolds! Glad to hear you love reading romance with older heroines. I totally agree. Love can find us at any age. And your story is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing it!
Yes, romance of all ages is fun! Thanks for writing books that celebrate love at all stages of life!
Truly happy to do it! I agree that romance at all ages is fun! Thank you very much for your wonderful comment.
I love “mature” romances. I especially love “second chance at love” romances. Sometimes you make mistakes in your first venture at falling in love and you now have the chance to apply lessons learned. More important to me than a couple’s age is the couple’s chemistry, life story and courtship.
I love reading about older couples finding love.. They have so much life experience to pull and learn from.
Hello, Pam! Happy to hear you love reading about old couples finding love And it’s so true, they have life experience to draw from. Their perspective and outlook is different and more mature. Thank you so much for commenting!
Hello, Laurie! Loved everything you said. And so true, chemistry, love story, and courtship are much more important than the couple’s age. Second chance romance happens to be one of my favorite tropes!
Hi Alexa, She didn’t get her own book but in the next in the series she did get featured again. I know she was aunt Louisa and her mother with the heroines help let go of the reigns and she did get her HEA but it was a side story.
Barbour also had a novella with 4 stories (Called Autumn I think) but all Stories featured older couples in their autumn years. One was a married couple who rediscovered love. I remember one the couple were in there 80’s I think. It was refreshing
I just got to thinking Mum and Dad were the other way round Mum was 27 and dad 37 when they got married. Don’t know as many the other way round.
I enjoy reading about characters who are older. As long as they have an engaging story and are believable characters, I’m all for it!
Thank you for sharing a bit of your story. And yes, I do think there should be more books celebrating romance through all the ages, but especially forties. As you said, there aren’t that many books with MCs in this age range. Of course, I’m also intrigued by your story since I haven’t seen many authors take on the “older woman younger man” trope. Thank you for the chance, and congrats on your new book :)
I am 52 years old and love reading romances but, when the heroine is a lot younger than me, I catch myself thinking of the mistakes she’s making and wanting to give her advice. lol That being said, I really think it would be awesome for there to be books about older women finding love, whether it’s the first, second or even third time. Juliette Duncan has a series like this that is really good. I can’t remember the series name, but one of the books is A Time to Abide, and the third book of the series is due to come out within the next month. Reading about women closer to my age is definitely something I look forward to seeing more of. Even if it’s not really about them finding love, but even just about going through really tough times but coming out on the other side with God’s help.
I can’t wait to read this one, it sounds great!
I just turned 50, my life changed for the good when my husband and I got married 12 years ago. I had been married before. I lost my first husband at 21 and I was 5 months pregnant. My second husband was very abusive. But I got 2 beautiful daughters out of them marriages. So I started over at 38 and I thank God for my husband and my two beautiful daughters and my 2 grandbabies. God has blessed me with so much. So never give up! God can bless anyone as long as they have faith and keep believing!
I like reading about older romance. Their story usually runs much deeper.
I love that there’s a series about romance for middle-aged persons. And Love Me is excellent!
Sound good.
I love to read about “older” romances. My sister just started dating a man and she’s turning 61 next week. I hope it works out for her.
Yes, I would love to see more books with characters who are not young adults.
I am in my mid forties and it is really nice to see that books are written about this age group. As long as you love each other age really should have no factor in whether or not you fall in love.
Hi
I enjoy reading about older people, mostly because I can relate (I’m in my 70s), Thanks!!
I do like reading about ‘older’ couples in love stories. I was 41 and my husband 48 when we married!
I think that love is appreciated more as one ages. Young are likely to feel that more romances are always available if this one doesn’t work out.
I’m in my 40s and also appreciate reading stories with characters that are a little older than typical romances. Looking forward to starting this series!
Yay! Glad to hear it, Melynda. And I totally agree, engaging story and believable characters are important. Thank you very much for stopping by!
Priscila, awww, thank you so much for such a wonderful comment. As for the older woman and younger man angle, I really didn’t think much of it as my ex-boyfriend didn’t have an issue with me being nearly a decade older whatsoever. I always think it’s not about the guy’s age, or status, or appearance; it’s about his heart.
Lisa Lee, what a wonderful comment! Thank you so much. I think, too, that there should be more books about the heroines who are more mature and wiser and have experienced different difficulties in life. I think we’ll be seeing more of such books soon. Thank you so much for stopping by!
Amelia, thank you so much for your kind words about my new release!
Dorothy, what an amazing life story you have! You nearly made me cry. Thank you so much for sharing and for your encouragement. You’ve been through so much, and you have one of the most amazing attitudes ever! Praying for you.
Terri Echols, we’re glad to hear it. Thank you very much for commenting!
Lisa Stillman, thank you from the bottom of my heart! Thrilled to know you liked Love Me! Made my day. :)
Thank you for commenting, Teresa Martin!
Sherri, glad to hear you love to read about “older” romances. And yay for your sister! Praying for her.
Dianna, glad to hear it! Thank you very much for stopping by!
Deborah, loved your comment! And I agree, as long as we love each other, age should have no factor. Thank you very much for stopping by!
Thank you very much, Kate!
Patty, loved your story! Very encouraging for me. Thank you for sharing!
Gladys, that was very insightful. I didn’t think of it. Thank you for sharing!
Stacey, yay! I hope you’ll enjoy our new series. Thank you for commenting!
The giveaway is now closed. I loved reading all these comments! Many thanks to all who commented!