What happens after the honeymoon?

Does during the honeymoon count? Dorothy L. Sayers' Busman's Honeymoon has romance and mystery.

Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James

Pretty much the entire Outlander series is after the honeymoon. A lot of people don't like the books, though, so take this addition to the list with a dose of salt.

Just about anything with a Marriage of Convenience plot takes place after the wedding. Mary Balogh's Survivors Club series is a good example of this. Mystery Romances like those of Deanna Raybourn and Tracy Grant often continue after the marriage.

There are a scary number of Pride and Prejudice "continuations" out there--publisher Sourcebooks has made a mini-industry out of it. It looks like Mr. and Mrs. Darcy often become amateur sleuths, sort of a Regency Nick and Nora.

Marissa D said:

There are a scary number of Pride and Prejudice "continuations" out there

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None scarier than Linda Berdoll's "Elizabeth and Darcy have lots and lots of poorly written sex" novels.

Laer Carroll said:

I love a good romance, but the typical romances all end with the commitment or wedding of the two MCs. I wonder sometimes, What happens after the honeymoon?

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Women's fiction.

Kidding! Mostly. As others have pointed out, there are some sequels that follow the relationship after the wedding, and others that include marriage as part of the plot (see the Marriage of Convenience trope). But most romances tend to focus on characters overcoming challenges as a means to falling in love. What happens after is the HEA/HFN.

StoryofWoe said:

Women's fiction.

Kidding!

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No kidding! Typical for WF. The book currently in my avatar starts with the wedding and honeymoon, and the rest of thenovel is "what comes after". not usually a hea! otherwise there'd be no story.

In terms of Romances, most plots with Marriages of Convience or Arranged marriages would have the marriage /honeymoon early on.

One of my favorite series that is "Chick Lit":Women's Fiction, the Shopaholic series, definitely goes through some of romantic stages, from dating, to being engaged, to getting married, to post honeymoon, to pregnancy, and to raising a small child.

I have read a few other Women's Fiction that has couples from romance to post-marriage (or post-courting), but their titles escape me at the moment.

Romances usually go through the courting stage and usually end at marriage (or end at just finally getting together as a committed couple).

I would look at those specific types of Romance plots or look at Women's Fictjon or General Fiction, if one wants to read post-marriage/post-commitment. I know some SFF and a few mystery series that have married couples as well.

(This is why I'm looking at other genres beyond Romance: I want to read beyond initial courting stages. I'm finding out that I'm not into certain popular Romance courting tropes and sexual content.)

I forgot to mention Loretta Chase's Dukes Prefer Blondes. The wedding comes about midpoint in the book. And Jo Goodman's In Want of a Wife, which is a mail-order bride situation.

I've read some romance series where the couple in an earlier book are support characters in a later one, so we at least get to visit with them during their post-nuptial happiness. Courtney Milan does this a lot.

Roxxsmom said:

I've read some romance series where the couple in an earlier book are support characters in a later one, so we at least get to visit with them during their post-nuptial happiness. Courtney Milan does this a lot.

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Off the top of my head, Marie Force's Gansett Island series does this--typical romance in that the couple falls in love, marries, and lives happily ever after, but then the stories continue a bit in each following book. The 'new' couple does the romance dance and the already-happily married others from previous stories are featured in mini-stories of their own alongside. Sometimes it's a lot to keep up with, but it does let readers stay with a beloved community. I enjoy them.