Most of the romance novels I read feature couples in their twenties or thirties.

I have to say I prefer slightly older characters, characters who are mature enough to know what they want out of life.

But romances with characters over the age of forty are rare. Part of the reason (problem?) is that there has to be a reason why older characters are unattached and looking for love. There are only three possible ways this can happen:

1. One or more of the characters are single, and have never married or had any significant relationships in their past. That raises a question: Why? Why are they  still single? What circumstances or catastrophes have led to their singleness? There needs to be a reason … because otherwise we might (mis)judge the character.
2. The character is divorced, or has previous significant relationships akin to marriage. This raises a different question: What went wrong? Why did their previous relationship fail? Was it their fault, in part or in whole? Knowing the answer helps us know whether we’re going to like or dislike the character.
3. The character has been married before, but their spouse died. Well, that’s a fun plot, isn’t it? I know the novel starts well after they are over their grief, but it’s still in the background. And there is also the awkwardness of how many fictional Christian marriages end in an untimely death for one spouse because the author needs a widowed character …

I worry about the fictional marriages where the characters do get their happy-ever-after in their twenties, because reading Christian fiction tells me one of them is going to face a horrible death in the next ten years …

So while I don’t mind romance novels featuring older characters and I certainly have no problem with the over-forties finding love, I wouldn’t want to read too many of them … because every forty-something happy-ever-after is a twenty-something relationship that ended tragically.

What about you ? Do you like romance novels featuring older couples?