I love reading romance novels about characters my age or older: What experiences do we share? How do their lives differ from mine? What might I be able to look forward to as I near my 50s, 60s, and 70s? Later-in-life romance novels follow older characters looking for love. Since my Love on Belmont series is about an entire community, it also includes later-in-life romance books.
What Are Later-in-Life Romance Books?
This romance subgenre focuses on protagonists who are 40 or over. So if you like reading about people over 40 falling in love, this is your jam.
This subgenre can come in all levels of spice, from clean novels to sweet romance to spicy to erotica. In other words, it’s not about heat level but about character age. Looking for a novel about people in their older years? This is the subgenre to search for. Amazon.com has a subcategory for it, too.
Why Write Later-in-Life Romance Novels?
Unfortunately, this subgenre doesn’t exist on Amazon.ca, which suggests it isn’t that popular north of the border yet. To underline the lack of popularity, Booknet Canada reported earlier this year that interest in later-in-life romance books is decreasing. Furthermore, a 2022 report by K-Lytics that analyzed Amazon data reported that later-in-life romance books were fifth from the bottom of a list of 24 subgenres. Contemporary romance topped the chart, followed by mystery & suspense, romantic comedy, and paranormal.
From a financial perspective, it doesn’t make sense to write later-in-life romances.
However, I find so much more to explore when characters are older:
- Pauline (47) and Todd (43) meet because they’re both forced out of their physically demanding artistic careers (Tea Shop for Two).
- Tracy (48) and Ben (35) show a strong gap between their generations: Tracy has to care for her teenaged son, who has epilepsy, while juggling renewed interests from her estranged husband (51), and Ben has never been married, doesn’t have any children, and was recently fired from a company he’d spent 10 years at (Oh, What the Fudge).
- Claire (76) and Richard (79) find themselves at opposite poles when they realize they have different goals for their stage in life, putting their marriage of 50 years at risk (Teas of Joy).
Although most of these plots aren’t impossible in younger age groups, I have a lot more to work with, like career legacy and lifelong community impact.
Will All Love on Belmont Books Be in This Romance Subgenre?
Because this series involves a real community, the series will not focus on a single age group. For example, Tracy’s son, Austin, who’s 16 when the Love on Belmont novels begin, will have his own romance story when he’s old enough. So that readers don’t have to wait too long, that will happen when he’s in his early 20s. Moreover, Love on Belmont 4 will have two thirty-somethings as the main characters.
Which Love on Belmont Books are Later-in-Life Romances?
At time of writing, almost all of them. But to be specific, these are the titles:
- Trick or Tea (a short-story prequel)
- Oh, Christmas Tea (a short-story prequel)
- Tea Shop for Two
- Oh, What the Fudge
- Teas of Joy
Which Books, Then, Aren’t Later-in-Life Romances?
Only these two:
- Claire’s Tea Shop (the first short-story prequel)
- Love on Belmont 4: title still TBD
The fifth book may also be between thirty-somethings, but the idea is very, very vague in my mind at this point.
To start a new later-in-life author, give the Love on Belmont series a try and let me know how you like it. If you sign up to my mostly-monthly newsletter, you’ll get the three short stories for free as a thank you for joining my community.
What do you think about later-in-life romance novels? Yea or nay?
