Books like This Matter of Marriage by Debbie Macomber

The alarm on Hallie's biological clock is buzzing. She's hitting the big three-O and there's no prospect of marriage, no man in sight. Hallie, an organized, goal-setting kind of person, gives herself a year to meet Mr. Knight...In Shining Armor. But all her dates are disasters. (There's the cheapskate and the sex fiend and...well, never mind.) Too bad she can't just fall for her good-looking neighbor Steve Marris—who's definitely not her type. Anyway, Steve's busy trying to win back his ex-wife, Mary Lynn, who's busy getting married—but not to Steve. Life would be so much simpler if he could fall for someone else. Like... Hallie. They're friends, though—and sometimes friends become lovers. Sometimes friends become more. Hallie and Steve's paths cross, and just like that, they're on a collision course. Hallie and Steve's relationship is a tale of two halves: one half filled with moments of friendship and the other half filled with moments of romance, leading to an unexpected journey of discovery.

First publish date: July 18, 1997