Don’t Forget to Season It: Romance Stories for People in Their Fifties

          Illustration by Laurie Lail

Written by Laurie Lail

So, I just published a romantic comedy/self discovery novel on amazon called The Power of a Love Song, and the protagonist is in her fifties. This was completely organic because I’m in my fifties.

Now, when I started the manuscript, I was in college and had just turned fifty. I was in writing classes where most of my classmates were significantly younger than myself. Anyway, one day I’m having lunch with a group of young women, and I started talking about the manuscript, and explaining that the “leading lady” was fifty-five. These women had loved my short story about a young woman, who’d become pregnant, her lover wanted no part of it, and she had to figure out what she wanted to do, but as I talked about this story, they began to squint and squirm. Finally, it was brought to my attention, by a well-meaning young woman, that the main characters in romance novels, meaning the two who fall for each other, and more importantly, get it on, are usually no older than thirty-ish.

I explained that though my age choice was not the norm, love stories with people in their fifties have been written before, and they’ve sold. Since I am a woman in her fifties, I felt qualified to speak for my people and say that we are capable of not only enjoying romance and getting it on, but we can still have the fireworks we had at “thirty-ish.”

These young women had seen me in the throws of a hot flash. They had seen me looking for my reading glasses that were perched on my head. They had seen my flip-phone, and worst of all, there mothers were my age. They smiled politely, not buying a word of it.

Before publishing my story, I decided I better research this market. Now, in truth, I haven’t found too many protagonists older than their early forties. Now, of course there are the “looking back” romances where the protagonist is now in her fifties, sometimes even older, but the romantic story takes place in the protagonist’s “youth.”

So, are baby-boomers denying their own romantic capabilities by not demanding stories where fifty-somethings are finding love? Do romance novels were the lovers in there fifties have a place in this market?

As a matter of fact, yes. There is a market, baby-boomers know what they want, and the market is growing. It is called “seasoned romance.” As it turns out, one third of all romance readers are over 45.

Anyone in this age group knows that there are some differences in mature-romance, and so it is with seasoned romance stories. These readers certainly don’t mind sexy scenes thrown in, but they also want something deeper than many romance novels written for the young. There needs to be more of a “side story” with struggles, meaningful moments, and discoveries. Like those of us more experienced with life, stories in seasoned romance novels understand that love does not stand alone; it’s tangled up with beliefs, memories, dreams and conflicts. Its success is part of a journey.

Many books with seasoned protagonists are a part of a series that spell it out for the reader, such as the “Mid-Life Love” series by Whitney G., the “Never Too Late” series by Donna McDonald, the “Silver Night Romance Collection” by Allyson R. Abbott, and the “Late Bloomers” series by Betsy Talbot, but strangely, many of the photos used for some of the covers of these books are of people who look thirty-something tops. I’ll rant about that in another post.

If you are looking for some seasoned romance, here are few titles that might interest you, but there are many more out there, and more to come.

The Unexpected Waltz by Kim Wright

Whiskey and Serendipity by Josie Kirr

This Old Café By Marci Boudreaux

The Good Sister by Maggie Christensen 

Never a Dull Moment by Donna McDonald

Out of the Box Awakening By Jennifer Theriot

When Love Calls by Sharon C. Cooper (One of the few I stumbled across with an African American love story)

Dream Catcher by Maggie Christensen (Native American Protagonist)

Sex and the Widow Miles by Nan Reinhardt

Long walk, Short Pier by Linda Rettstatt

And of course, my book, The Power of a Love Song by Laurie Lail