Is there such a thing as too old or too late to find new love?
I admit that before I turned forty almost a decade ago, I didn’t give much thought to this question. Though I was writing romance and love stories, my protagonists were my age or younger, because that was what I knew. The protagonists I read about or watched on film and television who were falling in love were of those similar ages too.
Then I turned the big four-oh, and then four-five. This year, I turn 50. What came with those ten years was a lot of living, loss, and too many lessons to count. And what I slowly discovered was that I wanted to explore the lives of older people through my characters. My recent release, Love Letters From the Trail, features a couple who are both 50. A romance between a widow and a man in remission from cancer, they explore what it means to enter in a serious, romantic relationship in the fall of their lives, taking into consideration their complicated past. At a time when they don’t feel the pressure of finding “the one,” they invariably do.
It also goes without saying that these days that I look for romance novels with characters approaching midlife. I want to see similar experiences mirrored back in a way that is hopeful. I love knowing that the HEA, or happy ever after, applies to people my age, and that starting over is still possible later in life. Below is a handful of titles that are sure to add more love to your TBR pile.
Role Playing by Cathy Yardley
Though just one of Cathy’s romance novels that feature couples later in life, Role Playing is about two gamers who meet online. With the heroine, Maggie, an introvert with a college-age son, and the hero Aiden a caregiver for his aging mother, their love story is peppered with their specific family situations. In this grumpy-sunshine, You’ve Got Mail-like romance, will Maggie and Aiden bridge the gap between their online and real lives?
The Wedding Bait by Adele Buck
A novella in The Golden Years series, centered around Tovi, a divorcee at the height of her career with a daughter getting married, and Patrick, the man who she hires to be her date to the wedding. This fake relationship and close proximity romance challenges both characters to step beyond their roles, and to learn to trust despite their past relationships, and is steamy to boot. Despite it being a shorter read, the HEA is satisfying for these two independent and stubborn people.
The Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
Perfect for those who love to read holiday books year-round, this fairy-tale rom-com is fit for royalty. Vivian’s tagging along with her daughter in England for a royal work trip, and Malcolm, who works for the Queen and gives Vivian a private tour, is smitten by her. But as the end of the trip nears, they both have to contend with their real life situations of living in different continents.
Gray Hair Don’t Care by Karen Booth
The first book in the Never Too Late series featuring older pairings, Gray Hair Don’t Care features the oldest, at forty-seven. In this second chance romance, Lela had decided to embrace her age and greys after a one-night stand with Donovan years ago only to see him once more as a model for his daughter’s lifestyle beauty brand. But will the years apart equate to wisdom and the ability to move forward despite their previous heartbreak?