Marriage-In-Trouble Romance Books = Snoozefest?
Monday, November 2, 2009Posted in: random musings, romance
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?
Venus Vaughn
November 2
9:17 am
I like any book that’s well written, but the already-married stories are facing a hurdle before I even pass the first chapter.
I do believe it’s exactly what you stated above: Like the majority of romance readers, I like the journey, the falling in love, the conflict, and then the happy ever after.
Combined with: they dispel the myth of the romance HEA
The already-married trope only seems to work if the author treats it more like a friends (or enemies) to lover book. The couple has to earn their HEA all over again. They have to woo and court. They have to grow individually as well as together. It helps if they live apart.
There’s also the issue that two characters in this situation come off as unsympathetic right off the bat. Every rational adult knows that marriage takes work. If the couple has come to a phase where they’re so broken up that there’s enough story in their getting back together that it would require a novel, then these folks are either stupid, lazy or ungrateful.
No one wants to watch a couple that could have it all throw it away. No one wants to be in the middle of unnecessary couple Dra*Ma. And no one wants to read about a couple that have been wasting their time because they couldn’t bother to support, talk or listen to each other. That’s usually all an already-married book comes down to. Selfish, or stupid characters who need a slap upside the head.
Angelia Sparrow
November 2
12:43 pm
Depends on the book, actually. If it’s all relationship drama, then no, boring, count me out.
If it’s a couple that’s drifting a little (or is totally at odds)as people will, and outside forces (up to and including the end of the world) make them have to work together and spend time together and they’re suddenly hot for each other again, that can be a lot of fun.
Since I don’t believe in HEA, only HFN and hopeful endings (I like the chance of a sequel), established relationship stories aren’t a deal-breaker.
Shiloh Walker
November 2
1:12 pm
It’s just going to depend on the story. I’ve read a couple I liked, but there have been many that don’t appeal to me.
Maya
November 2
2:02 pm
LOVE them and I’m guilty of writing a few π
Tumperkin
November 2
2:03 pm
I agree, assuming we’re talking about H/Hs who chose to marry in the first place. (Forced/ convenient marriages I love, can’t get enough of ’em).
The only time this might work for me is if the H/H are properly estranged and have been for a long time – even then, it will be tricky though I can think of a couple of categories that have just about pulled that off for me.
Las
November 2
2:22 pm
Like Tumperkin, it only works for me if the couple has been separated–and I mean they can’t have seen each other for years–or if it’s a forced/marriage of convenience thing. And, as with most things, it helps if the book is a historical. I just can’t suspend disbelief enough in contemporaries to not think, “If she doesn’t leave his ass she’s a MORON!”
Laurie
November 2
2:46 pm
My personal take on these books is that many of us don’t like them because it’s a painful topic and often hits a little too close to home. Marriage certainly doesn’t come with a guarantee of infinite happiness. Most of us read to escape the realities of life, including the trials that accompany marriage, children and work.
A wonderful book on the subject is Marie Force’s LINE OF SCRIMMAGE. The characters are days away from a final divorce hearing when the hero realizes that he doesn’t want the marriage to end. They’ve been separated for a year and heroine is engaged to someone else, but agrees to hero’s request for time together to see where things go. Once they finally start to discuss the circumstances and share the feelings that drove them to divorce court in the first place, they begin to wonder if there might be hope for their ten year marriage after all. It’s a beautifully written book and I would recommend it to anyone who loves “marriage in trouble” stories and even for those who don’t – it just might be the one that changes your mind!
Great topic, Karen!
Jody W.
November 2
3:41 pm
In a genre romance, that plot does not inspire me to pick up the book. In women’s fiction, the plot can be quite interesting, although it usually ends up with them separated at the end and much happier for it.
Anya Howard
November 2
3:59 pm
I’m not particularly a fan of marriage-on-the-rocks type of story, but if the plot is one where the hero challenges villain for his wife’s honor or person (a Rob Roy-type scenario) I could be interested.
Monday Morning Stepback: Drama for this Momma and the Acheron Effect «
November 2
6:05 pm
[…] Go see what Karen Scott is totally, completely wrong […]
Jessica
November 2
7:04 pm
LOL — forgot about the pingback! so you already know how I feel — I think these can be great romances.
I love Sherry Thomas’s books, and at least two of them feature estranged marrieds. I also just read a fascinating book by Charlotte Lamb, Dark Dominion (which you, Miss Tumperkin, love!) with an estranged married couple. No one would say any of those books are boring, I don’t think. Wish I could think of more I’ve read, but I would say in general, that while you do miss out on the courtship, there is enough angst and passionate makeup snogs to compensate.
Lori
November 2
7:58 pm
I think Laurie is right on the money there. Nobody wants to think that a marriage on the rocks could happen to them. It’s one reason why I hated Harlequin’s new Everlasting Love line. I don’t want to read about couples my age either having marital problems or dying. It’s too close. {{shudder}} I also agree w/her recommendation for Line of Scrimmage.
Las
November 2
8:28 pm
Jessica, Sherry Thomas’ Not Quite a Husband is the first book that came to mind when thinking of estranged romances that worked for me (historical and haven’t seen each other in years). It became an immediate favorite.
jmc
November 2
8:30 pm
I’ve read a few older Harlequin Presents that were about marriages in trouble. They were pretty good actually. As a general rule, though, I don’t read many marriage-in-trouble stories, because they tend toward women’s fiction rather than straight romance, and I prefer romance to WF unless the WF has been highly, highly recommended by a reader I trust.
Tumperkin
November 2
8:32 pm
Jessica – Dark Dominion is the exception that proves the rule and NQAH falls into my ‘estranged spouses’ carve-out so I’m home and dry.
Christine Rimmer
November 2
9:28 pm
Anyone remember that old SSE by Emilie Richards, The Trouble With Joe? That one really worked for me. And it not only had a marriage in trouble, it had a hero who couldn’t father children. Loved that book.
I think there are a lot of possible pitfalls to a book like that and it can be total buzz kill, but then again, it’s always all in the execution.
I probably wouldn’t pick up a romance with a marriage in trouble as a rule. Not without a strong recommendation by a few fellow-readers. And/or if I loved the author’s work.
maddie
November 2
11:04 pm
Charlotte Lamb, Dark Dominion is on my keeper shelf it had such a melancholy feel through out the book.
The fact the heroine was attracted to someone other than her husband was quite a shocker too.
Janet W
November 3
12:22 am
Without reading a single, solitary comment, Karen, you are so wrong. The run-up to the marriage … poof! Over, done with. The interesting stuff happens after the wedding. And historical marriages of convenience, oh, hold me back: they’re my meat and potatoes. I can’t even list all the wonderful examples but oh well, sadly, we must agree to disagree.
And next anniversary, 32 years … LOL, does that disqualify me from commenting?
Carol
November 3
1:31 am
Like Karen, I usually avoid these types of books, unless it’s a marriage of convenience, wherein, as someone said, the couple has to go through a real courtship and earn their HEA, or if they’re married but separated due to some reason or the other, and they’re thrown together due to circumstance, and they “re-learn” things about each other and decided they want a HEA with each other after all.
Chantal
November 3
2:16 am
I’m different. These are my favourite types of romance π
Jody W.
November 3
2:33 am
Oh, yeah, marriage of convenience historicals can be excellent. Hard to do in contemps.
orannia
November 3
7:11 am
Like you Karen, I need to feel the emotional journey, see the couple falling in love. So, for such a book to work for me, it’s like Venus said: The couple has to earn their HEA all over again.
And I too love marriage of convenience novels π
RachelT
November 3
5:22 pm
I really like these books – they have some of the same attraction for me as friends becoming lovers (which is under discussion at AAR). I like seeing the element of a couple having to work to make their relationship function well, not just falling into it.
I was hoping JanetW was going to list some of her favourites. I recently read The Marriage Bed by Laura Lee Guhrke, and in a very different time context,Love in a Small Town by Curtis Ann Matlock. I thought they were both better than Line of Scrimmage.
Rachel
Chantal
November 3
6:05 pm
The marriage Bed by LLG is one of my faves.
Christine Rimmer
November 3
6:57 pm
Oooo. Love in a Small Town, one of my all-time faves. Okay, I think I really like marriage-in-trouble books. I just didn’t realize it until now.
willaful
November 3
7:34 pm
I like ’em just fine, though I think I’ve mostly encountered them in categories.
Janet W
November 3
10:17 pm
@RachelT … I’m not at home but when I am, I’ll go through my shelves and post a list … I do think that Marriages of Convenience stories and Marriages in Trouble share many characteristics so I might lump them together a bit π
Probably not until next week: my email is campbell4690 [@] yahoo.com … if you’d like to send me a reminder π … it really is a trope I seek out.
Sandra Cormier
November 9
12:52 am
My first novel started with a troubled marriage, but I killed him off in the first chapter.
Keishon
May 12
1:57 pm
I love marriage in trouble books! I like drama and angst. Kathleen Eagle wrote a good one, Reason To Believe and others have mentioned some good titles as well. If done well, they are good reads. I don’t care for boring conflict like the next person. Plus, I do love Kathleen Gilles Siedel. Her stuff won’t appeal to many because that’s all she writes about is family drama and real life issues. The journey to the HEA is great but it’s the challenges the couples face after “I do” that is really captivating to me. Great topic!
edited to add: Just saw the date of this post from 2009. I wonder how did I miss it to begin with? Better late than never. See ya.