Recommends for 40+ heroines

LFL · Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 627

If I'm not mistaken, the heroine of LaVyrle Spencer's Family Blessings is 45. I think the hero is 30.

Diana · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 1044 Location: Washington DC

Contact by Susan Grant. Heroine is mid forties and a kickass leader of men.

Second the rec for Hot Wheels and High Heels. Jane Graves who also writes as Jane Sullivan is an author I really like. IIRC several of her books have older heroines.
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Diana

Sissy · Joined: 03 Apr 2007 Posts: 55 Location: SW Louisiana

KarenS · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 861 Location: Florida

Check out the Older Couples on the Special Title Listings under Readers Choice. There is a nice selection of stories written about older couples that is broken down by decade.

One of my favorite stories is about a couple in their mid 40s written by Heather Graham Pozzesserre(sp). Down In New Orleans is a romantic suspense story about an artist and a police detective.

maggie b. · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 2252

Thanks, all! Some of these I have read but I will make up a list and hit the bookstore/library!

Maggie

veasleyd1 · Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Posts: 2064

Robyn Carr, Never Too Late.

However, I would note that this book, like many that feature older heroines, is realistic enough to depict her as having the amount of "baggage" that a person collects during four decades of life. Quite a few people dislike this and exile such books about older heroines to the "women's fiction" realm rather than considering them romance genre.

booksy49 · Joined: 06 Feb 2008 Posts: 37 Location: Newmarket, England

I want to say 'thank you' for some excellent suggestions here- although it has cost me money! I too prefer stories about more mature heroines - it makes living vicariously so much easier!

I had read many of the recommendations, but hadn't come across the Lucy Hatch series. I bought the first one and was less than 60 pages in before I ordered the second. I have finished that and am now eagerly waiting for numbers 3 & 4 to arrive. What a find - I do hope she is going to continue writing, although I see on her website that she is returning to outside work full time.

I would like to recommend Katie Fforde, who with Jennifer Crusie is one of the few authors I keep and reread. She is very popular here in England, but doesn't receive such good reviews on AAR. She has a more gentle pace than many American writers, and contrasts well. A number of her heroines are in their 30s eg Restoring Grace, Wild Designs and Living Dangerously (some of her titles are changed for the US market, so I hope those are correct). Even where her heroines are younger, they have a more mature feel to them. Another writer with older heroines is Trisha Ashley. Interestingly, both these writers often use gardening as a theme - maybe that's appropriate for an older heroine!

sssspro · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 531

Not sure if you read erotica or ebooks, but Ellora's Cave just started a whole series of books called Oh Yum!, which are all older women, younger men stories. I have happened to have read 2 so far and they aren't too bad. There has to be at least a dozen of them out so far.

veasleyd1 · Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Posts: 2064

Mysteries, but with an ongoing and rather satisfactory mature romance: the series about Maggie Skerritt, PI, by Charlotte Douglas. They're from Harlequin Next. One title is Storm Season.

veasleyd1 · Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Posts: 2064

Addendum.

Judith Lansdowne, Just in Time (traditional regency).

Also, Georgette Heyer's False Colours has a secondary, totally hilarious, not-precisely-a-romance between Evelyn and Kit's ditzy widowed mother and a very portly gentleman.

susanruss · Joined: 21 Nov 2007 Posts: 6

http://www.loose-id.com/detail.aspx?ID=285

Redemption 4: Helen’s Release

The heroine is 50 years old. Highly recommended!