10 Best Romance Books About Married Couples

No Matter What
by Cara Bastone

Roz and Vin can’t look each other in the eyes anymore, let alone share a bed. It’s been a year since they survived a traumatic car accident and their marriage hasn’t been the same. But Roz has held out hope they can fix things…until she discovers Vin signed a new lease. So she does what any soon-to-be-divorced Manhattanite would do: sign up for figure drawing class.

Between Roz’s determined attempts to improve her artistic skills and her adventures with her best friend Raffi, she can almost ignore Vin’s impending move-out date and his footsteps in their previously unoccupied guest room. But it would all be a lot easier if Vin wasn’t Raffi’s older brother, and if she didn’t still find him incredibly, debilitatingly attractive and kind.

So kind, in fact, that Vin offers to let Roz draw him. What is she supposed to say? It’s probably better than her original plan of finding some random male model online, and she needs all the practice she can get. Plus, that’s sure to make a separation easier, right? Focus on every detail of your estranged spouse’s body while drawing them in the nude? But after the year they’ve spent avoiding each other, it feels good to see and be seen by one another again.

As Roz works to capture the wholeness of the person she fell in love with, will they both be able to draw upon the feelings they buried deep inside to finally heal together?

My book review of No Matter What.

Out of the Woods
by Hannah Bonam-Young

High school sweethearts Sarah and Caleb Linwood have always been a sure thing. For the past seventeen years, they have had each other’s backs through all of life’s ups and downs. But Sarah has begun to wonder . . . who is she without her other half?

When she decides to take on a project of her own, a fundraising gala in memory of her late mother, Sarah wants nothing more than to prove to herself—and to everyone else—that she doesn’t need Caleb’s help to succeed. She’s still her mother’s daughter after all, independent and capable. That is, until the event fails and Caleb uninvitedly steps in to save the day.

The rift that follows unearths a decade of grievances and doubts. Are they truly the same people they were when they got married at nineteen? Are they supposed to be?

In a desperate attempt to fix what they fear is breaking, Sarah and Caleb make the spontaneous decision to get out of their comfort zones and join a grueling hiking trip intended to guide couples through rough patches.

What follows is a life-affirming comedy of errors as two nature-averse people fight their way out of the woods in order to find their way back to their roots.

My book review of Out of the Woods.

Breathe With Me
by Becka Mack

Cara Hunter is a self-made woman. Driven and fearless, she’s never lost a battle. In fact, the only time she’s fallen to her knees was, well . . . for him.

Emmett Brodie might be one of hockey’s hottest players, but the moment he sees Cara, he’s reduced to a single word: hers. And he’ll stop at nothing to change her last name.

With a love as all-encompassing and fierce as theirs, they become the ultimate power couple and the backbone of their family. But when they decide it’s time to have a baby, they discover their journey to conceiving will be anything but easy. As they face off with infertility, a battle that strips them to their bones, they’ll see just how unshakable their foundation really is.

They thought they could survive anything together, but how do you survive when you’re barely breathing?

My book review of Breathe With Me.

Method
by Kate Stewart

Hollywood is a temptress, a trickster, a soul-stealing devil.

I married an A-list player, knowing I come second place to his craft. But Lucas and I are a golden couple, a modern-day fairy tale. I’ve never doubted what we built…until the sudden death of Lucas’s best friend has scandal rocking the Hills and shaking the foundation of our relationship.

I chose Lucas as my safe haven…he chose the role of a lifetime.

For the next three months, I’ll share my nights with a stranger, watching as he buries his pain, immersed in his role and living as someone else. We’ve done this before. I tell myself it’s just another movie, and he’ll return to me. I should’ve known this time would be different. To get my husband back, I’ll need the strength of ten men.

As it turns out, I’ll have to go through two.

Ever After Always
by Chloe Liese

Freya Bergman has spent a dozen years loving Aiden and never thought they’d find their marriage on the rocks. He’s her partner and best friend, the person she knows she can count on most. Until one day Freya realizes the man she married is nowhere to be found. Now Aiden is quiet and withdrawn, and as the months wear on, the growing distance between them becomes too much to bear.

Aiden would spend a dozen lifetimes making his wife happy. But the one thing that will make her happiest is the one thing he’s not sure he can give her: a baby. With the pressure of providing and planning for a family, his anxiety is at an all-time high. They’re drifting apart and he doesn’t know how to change the tide.  

As if weathering marriage counseling wasn’t enough, Freya and Aiden are thrown together for a Bergman family island getaway. Will this trip help them finally work through their trouble in paradise, or be the final wave that tows them under?

Love Her or Lose Her
by Tessa Bailey

Rosie and Dominic Vega are the perfect couple: high school sweethearts, best friends, madly in love. Well, they used to be anyway. Now Rosie’s lucky to get a caveman grunt from the ex-soldier every time she walks in the door. Dom is faithful and a great provider, but the man she fell in love with ten years ago is nowhere to be found.

When her girlfriends encourage Rosie to demand more out of life and pursue her dream of opening a restaurant, she decides to demand more out of love, too. Three words: marriage boot camp.

Never in a million years did Rosie believe her stoic, too-manly-to-emote husband would actually agree to relationship rehab with a weed-smoking hippie. Dom talking about feelings? Sitting on pillows? Communing with nature? Learning love languages? Nope. But to her surprise, he’s all in, and it forces her to admit her own role in their cracked foundation.

As they complete one ridiculous—yet surprisingly helpful—assignment after another, their remodeled relationship gets stronger than ever. Except just as they’re getting back on track, Rosie discovers Dom has a secret… and it could demolish everything.

Happily Ever Ninja
by Penny Reid

There are three things you need to know about Fiona Archer… I would tell you what they are, but then I’d have to kill you.

But I can tell you that Fiona’s husband, the always irrepressible and often cantankerous Greg Archer, is desperately in love with his wife. Yet as the years pass, Greg has begun to suspect that Fiona is a ninja. A ninja mom. A ninja wife. A ninja friend. After fourteen years of marriage, Greg is trying not to panic.

Because Fiona’s talent for blending in is starting to resemble fading away. However, when unexpected events mean Fiona must take center stage to keep her family safe, her response stuns everyone—Greg most of all. It seems like Greg’s wish has come true. Except… not.

Give Me More
by Sara Cate

I’m a scoundrel. Playboy. Man whore. Basically, I get around, and I’m not afraid to admit it.

So when my best friend opens up Salacious Players’ Club and asks me to head the construction, how could I say no? Now we’re on a cross-country road trip touring other kink clubs, and I couldn’t be happier.

Life is good. Then Hunter suddenly asks me to sleep with his wife…while he watches.

I’ll do anything for my best friend, but this is the one request I should say no to. Isabel is the woman of my dreams, but she’s his.

And the exact reason I should say no is the one reason I say yes. Because it’s not only Isabel I want.

These are the two most important people in my life, and if we go down this path, how will I ever be able to walk away? I’m not sure my best friend understands just how much I’m willing to do for him—and why.

Match Penalty
by Teagan Hunter

I have two goals this season:
1. Win the Cup with the Seattle Serpents.
2. Get my wife back.

I’ve always been the kind of guy who sticks to my vows. So when my wife asked for space, I let her walk away, hoping what we had built would be strong enough to withstand it.

When she shows up three years later in Seattle, smack dab in the middle of the best season the franchise has ever had, I’m torn between trying to figure out my marriage and not letting my teammates down.

I’ve never been one to shy away from a fight, and I refuse to start now. This time, though, it’s more than just a game on the line—it’s my marriage, and I refuse to call it quits.

After I Do
by Taylor Jenkins Reid

When Lauren and Ryan’s marriage reaches the breaking point, they come up with an unconventional plan. They decide to take a year off in the hopes of finding a way to fall in love again. One year apart, and only one rule: they cannot contact each other. Aside from that, anything goes.

Lauren embarks on a journey of self-discovery, quickly finding that her friends and family have their own ideas about the meaning of marriage. These influences, as well as her own healing process and the challenges of living apart from Ryan, begin to change Lauren’s ideas about monogamy and marriage. She starts to question: When you can have romance without loyalty and commitment without marriage, when love and lust are no longer tied together, what do you value? What are you willing to fight for?

This is a love story about what happens when the love fades. It’s about staying in love, seizing love, forsaking love, and committing to love with everything you’ve got. And above all, After I Do is the story of a couple caught up in an old game—and searching for a new road to happily ever after.