I feel like I'm aging out of a good chunk of romance. I just can't read another book about some breathtaking 22-year-old with rich parents and her whole life ahead of her, whose biggest issue is that it's time to get married and she doesn't wanna.

I've got a lot of books I love that fall into that category, but it's getting harder and harder for me to get into them as I get older.

I want characters with bigger problems than their future. I want characters who are wrestling with their present.

Characters who are raising kids, taking care of aging parents, dealing with their own mental and physical health issues. Folks who are in debt, who are struggling with their career, who are hanging on by a thread. People who are D O N E with love.

I want to see characters who find joy and happiness in a life that is sometimes ugly and unkind, and I want them to be able to find that joy not only when they're 25, but also 35, 45, 65.

I'm just tired. Tired, tired, tired of slim, beautiful, rich 20-somethings.

That's not a knock on the existence of books in that vein, but rather a wish for more books beyond it. A HEA doesn't have to mean a whole lifetime of promise and hope ahead. It just means love.

Also: I'm taking recs, so if you have them, send them my way.

Some recommendations I have of books I've read that fit this bill: Teach Me by Olivia Dade, Rafe by Rebekah Weatherspoon (the MCs are in their 20s but have grown up careers and problems), Grumpy Jake by Melissa Blue, and Fair, Bright, and Terrible by Elizabeth Kingston