I’ve just finished writing my A-Z: Favourite Authors & Books – R (which is scheduled for 4 September) and when I was going back through my Goodreads trying to decide which book by Taylor Jenkins Reid was my all-time favourite, I rediscovered After I Do and although I ended up choosing Forever, Interrupted, it got me thinking about My Favourite Marriages on the Rocks.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Happily Ever Afters but sometimes you want the angst of watching a post-I Do couple who are so obviously meant to be together, struggle before ultimately finding their way back to each other.
As always, if you’ve got any recommendations for Fictional Marriages on the Rocks I might have missed out on, let me know.
All the best, Louise x
(1) Monsters & Angels (Cate & Kian #7) (2021)
I’m going to start with my very own fictional Marriage on the Rocks. TBH I could have chosen any of the Cate & Kian books because *Spoiler Alert* I like to put them through the wringer but I’ve chosen Monsters & Angels because it includes the biggest threat to their marriage.
WARNING: This book does contain certain triggers so reader discretion is advised.
Kian Warner has always been a Neanderthal who’s fiercely protective of the woman he calls his “angel” but he’s also keeping a terrible secret from her and the rest of the world.
In the final instalment of the Cate & Kian series, find out why Kian was drawn so strongly to Cate all those years ago despite the fact that she was a sweet, eighteen year old book-nerd and he was a playboy professional footballer. They’ve faced numerous challenges over the years but this could be their toughest yet.
“I want you to have this,” Kian handed her the envelope.
“What is it?” Cate asked, her bottom lip trembling.
Kian steeled himself, “they’re…” He could barely get the words out but that wasn’t a surprise. The same thing had happened earlier when he’d discussed it with his lawyer, Bram.
He closed his eyes, “they’re divorce papers, angel.”
Cate gasped. She threw the envelope on the floor. “You’re leaving me?”
Can Kian finally vanquish the monsters that have been plaguing him for most of his adult life? Will Cate be strong enough to fight for him and their marriage?
(2) The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club #1) by Lyssa Kay Adams (A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books – A) (2019)
The first rule of book club: You don’t talk about book club.
Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott’s marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him.
Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.
Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville’s top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it’ll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.
(3) One Week With Her Husband (Eden Manor #3) by Noelle Adams (A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books – A) (2016)
Three years ago, Cassandra’s marriage fell apart, and she separated from her husband, Silas. She moved away to start a new life, but now she’s back home, determined to end the marriage for good. She might still love him, but they can’t live together without hurting each other. Divorce is the only option left.
Silas is big, rough, and sexy, and he’s never liked to talk. He’s been living like a recluse since she left, shutting himself off from the world. He reluctantly agrees to an amicable divorce–if she’s willing to spend time with him every day for a week.
She doesn’t know he’s planning to change her mind by the time the week is over.
(4) Love Her or Lose Her (Hot & Hammered #2) by Tessa Bailey (A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books – B) (2020)
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 10 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 remodelled 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.
(5) Escape by Barbara Delinsky (2011)
Emily Aulenbach is thirty-two, a lawyer married to a lawyer, working in Manhattan. An idealist, she had once dreamed of representing victims of corporate abuse, but she spends her days in a cubicle talking on the phone with victims of tainted bottled water—and she is on the bottler’s side.
And it isn’t only work. It’s her sister, her friends, even her husband, James, with whom she doesn’t connect the way she used to. She doesn’t connect to much in her life, period, with the exception of three things—her computer, her BlackBerry, and her watch.
Acting on impulse, Emily leaves work early one day, goes home, packs her bag, and takes off. Groping toward the future, uncharacteristically following her gut rather than her mind, she heads north toward a New Hampshire town tucked between mountains. She knows this town. During her college years, she spent a watershed summer here. Painful as it is to return, she knows that if she is to right her life, she has to start here.
(6) Every Wrong Reason by Rachel Higginson (A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books – H) (2015)
Then comes marriage.
Then comes the… really nasty divorce.
Kate Carter thought she married her soul mate. She thought she had her happily ever after. But seven years into Kate’s marriage, she realizes that her husband Nick is not what she wanted. He’s selfish, he’s oblivious and he doesn’t love her anymore.
Maybe she doesn’t love him anymore either.
Divorce is the only option if either of them wants to find happiness.
Kate and Nick thought they knew what they wanted, but neither is prepared for the heartache that separating will bring them. The journey they embark on is not the freedom they wished for, but a painful look at the people they’ve become.
At the end of it, Kate has to decide if this is really the life she wants or if maybe there’s a way to salvage her broken heart.
(7) All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover (2018)
Quinn and Graham’s perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage.
The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart.
The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.
All Your Perfects is a profound novel about a damaged couple whose potential future hinges on promises made in the past. This is a heartbreaking page-turner that asks: Can a resounding love with a perfect beginning survive a lifetime between two imperfect people?
(8) Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love #4) by Nicole Jacquelyn (A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books – J) (2019)
Alex Evans is cool. Collected. Charismatic as hell. But when he meets Sarai Levy, all that chill goes right out the door. As a graduate student, Sarai’s far too busy with school to date. But she gives Alex a chance anyway, and after a few whirlwind months, they’re getting married. They’ve heard all the reasons why it’s too soon, but Alex and Sarai are madly in love and determined to make it work . . . until a devastating tragedy strikes and their perfect world comes crashing down.
Sarai, who always has a plan, suddenly has no blueprint for handling a staggering loss. As she pulls away from Alex and withdraws from her life, he’s struggling to be the man she needs. Their relationship is fraying at the seams, and if Alex and Sarai don’t find a way to trust each other with their most painful truths, their heartache could shatter their fairy tale romance.
(9) After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2014)
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?
Louise Hall 
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