Marriage-In-Trouble Romance Books = Snoozefest?
Am I the only person who finds romance novels where the heroine and the hero are already married to each other mind-numbingly boring?
I’m not talking about H&Hs who get married early on in the book either, I mean the ones that when you open up the first page, they’re already married, and probably having marital problems.
This post was prompted by a glowing review that I read over at Keishon’s. The book was Katherine Gilles Seidel’s When Love Isn’t Enough. This is a book that I read a million years ago, and still have somewhere within my book collection.
Although I don’t remember the exact story, I do recall feeling mighty pissed off all the way through the book, and I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with the bedroom door being closed, although that probably didn’t help.
I’m not sure why I have a problem with these types of romances, but I can’t remember any that I’ve read that were overly impressive.
I wonder if I hate them because I feel cheated out of the courtship phase?
Like the majority of romance readers, I like the journey, the falling in love, the conflict, and then the happy ever after. For me, these elements are really important, so I guess when they’re absent, that’s a deal breaker.
I also wonder if my aversion to these ‘marriage in trouble’ stories is because they dispel the myth of the romance HEA?
In the case of the two protags in Seidel’s book, they had serious issues, issues that in real life would have probably lead to at least one of them having an affair.
I don’t count series books such as Nora’s In Death books either, because as lovers of Eve and Roarke will know, we followed their relationship from the day they met.
Anyway, what say you? Do you like, or loathe books where the heroine and hero are already married to each other?
Posted by Karen Scott · 
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