If anyone here has followed my blog over the years they will notice that I took a break…from reading. And yet, I have read hundreds of books in the past few years, so let me clarify. I took a break from reading Christian fiction…which is odd when you write a Christian fiction blog.
Why?
First off, I have read Christian romance novels since I was about 12, but around the age of 26, I found myself…bored.
Though there are some notable exceptions (I still devour their books when they come out), I found a lot of Christian fiction to be lacking in diversity, silly, creating problems that would have been fixed with a conversation, Amish, filled with inflated reviews, perfect for old people…in other words, lame. As a young single woman in this current century, these books were just not working. I’m not saying Christian authors need to address every issue out there. Not at all. I am saying approach things realistically; were there race issues in that time? Address them. Are people attracted to each other? Acknowledge it. Does there have to be a secret for their to be a plot? No. Don’t sweep things away, face them on. That’s what makes things interesting. That’s why I love Laura Frantz, Tamera Alexander, Tammy Gray, Becky Wade, Dani Pettrey, Elizabeth Camden, Jill Williamson, etc., They don’t run from issues, they handle them. Most Christian fiction runs from issues. Hence Amish.
So aside from some of my favorite authors…I took a break. A long one. Hence why the number of reviews went down. I started reading bucket loads of YA (I love romance, but adult secular romance…is a bit too much).
And so while I would take the smallest foray into new Christian authors, I haven’t read very many in the past few years. I’ve been sticking with old, familiar friends I can count on.
But it came with a cost.
Secular books often lack hope, they can be vulgar, and more often than not contrary to my own beliefs. In other words, mentally exhausting. I just finished a book the other day that left me so depressed. This book has over 32,000 reviews on Amazon and it’s hailed as a real winner, but it was such a stressful read and not in a good way. I’m tired. I miss reading about people who know there’s more to life than this.
And so, I am hoping to rejoin the world of Christian fiction more fully; to introduce myself to authors I have ignored and hopefully find authors who can both hold my interest as a young woman and still leave me filling good. I haven’t completely given up all secular reading, but I’m definitely limiting it. With that said,
Any recommendations?
remaininhislove 