Hi all! Happy Friday! And June has begun. The wedding month. Or it used to be. Summertime is fun time, right? And it’s the perfect month to talk about LOVE.
Part three of my Faith, Hope, and Love Series. If you need to know anything about me it’s that I love love. I’ve always been about reading romance novels. I know I did a post a few years ago about the books I read as a child, then a teenager. Pam and Penny, Nancy Drew, Cherry Ames. Those girls always had the cutest and best boyfriends. I guess it got me started on my romance journey.
Rich in Love was the first book of the Richness in Faith Series. The book not only deals with romance love, it also has a mother/daughter love as well. There are always many aspects of love to be explored. We focus here on the romance stories, which I love. (Yes, pun intended!)
I’ve been a hopeless romantic for a long time. I remember watching a popular soap opera when I was a teen and the gal told the the guy something along the lines of ‘we have love, we don’t need anything else.’ Then said guy tells her love doesn’t put a roof over your head and other sorts of logical nonsense. Ha! I was with her.
All my ideas of love changed though, when I realized 1 John 4:10 explained love in the truest sense. We can love well when we know we are loved well. And we were loved more than well when God called us. The love God has shown changes everything about how we view love.
When Ann Thomas is summoned to Florida for the reading of the will for the father she never knew, her life is forever changed. She learns she has a half-sister, she has the chance to inherit millions, and her name is really Angelina. Brett Hamilton, CPA, is assigned to help Ann spend a lot of money in a short period of time. As soon as his ‘assignment’ with her is over, he’s headed to Peru to be a missionary, something he’s felt called to do his whole life. Ann still lives with the pain of having a mother who chose world missions over her. Can Ann risk giving her love to someone who might give it back, or should she ignore her growing feelings towards Brett to keep her heart safe?
While this is the first book in the series, it’s the last post in this series. I’d love to hear what books caught your attention to make you fall in love with romance novels. Readers love a great book recommendation. And I’ll choose a commenter at random to receive an e copy of my book, Rich in Love.
(And, also, how many times can I use the word love in this post? Not too many, that’s for sure!)
For me, it was a more gradual progression through romantic suspense that brought me to the world of inspirational romance. Irene Hannon’s Men of Valor series was the main one. From there, I came upon Laurie Larsen’s Sanctuary and we were off to the races. I found that the happy endings and the role of God in the lives of the characters were such a draw and at the same time, a balm to my spirit. A story where I can see someone (or ones) get life right speaks to me, like maybe God will get me through my own struggles, too.
No need to include me in the drawing since I already have (and have greatly enjoyed) Ann and Brett’s story in Rich in Love.
I’ve loved reading since before I was 4, which is when I got my first library card. So, my first romance novel happened when I was probably in junior high, which is when my oldest sister was in high school. I know the first romance book I read was a Harlequin that she’d checked out from the library, which was also before there was such a category as Christian Fiction! I honestly don’t know who the first CF book was by that I read, either Jane Peart or one of the other Zondervan authors, or Jeannette Oke, back in the early 80’s.
I can’t remember the one book that had me fall in love with romance.
I would think maybe the fairytale books.
The first thing that catches my eye in a romance book is the cover.
I can’t quite remember what started me on loving romance, but what got me hooked on CF was Francine Rivers’ books and Janette Oke. Today I really enjoy Roseanna M. White and Courtney Walsh’s books.
I didn’t like to read at school…yep
Fell in love after reading Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers!
Oh, I am not sure which book made me fall in love with romance. It has been so long ago that I cannot remember. Thank you for the opportunity. God bless you.
Lincoln! What a story on how you found romance. My tag line is happy endings are just the
beginning. And yes, the Lord is with us always. And thank you for the sweet words about Rich in Love.
Truly. Of course, Harlequin. I still have some really old ones. Classics! I always love meeting another lifetime reader.
Kim. Probably too many to count!!
Alicia, yes!! Cinderella and the likes. Everyone can be a princess. :)
Kelley. I love a good cover. Then it’s the back blurb and first line.
Megan. Redeeming Love should be in everyone’s home. Thank you for the author recommendations. ;)
Natalya. Better late than never. I’ve got to read that series. I’ve had so many people talk about how amazing it is.
Debra. So many great reads. :)
I’ve always been a hopeless romantic, probably due to my love of Disney movies as a kid. Think Snow White and Sleeping Beauty where a prince comes to the rescue and they live happily ever after :-) Of course I know now as a grown-up that it doesn’t quite happen that way…lol!
I started out years ago reading the regular Harlequin romance books, well before I knew there was such thing as Christian fiction & well before I was a Christian. I loved the idea of a happily-ever-after at the end of the book but after I gave my heart to Christ, I got tired of reading trash and went looking for “clean” books. When I picked up my first CF book ( I don’t remember what it was), it was like a light bulb went off and I said “so this is what a romance book should be like”! Shortly after that, I discovered the Love Inspired line, or Steeple Hill back then, and I was hooked. Now years later I am so thankful that there are SO many CF books & authors to choose from! As long as a story contains romance & is CF, I will read it :-)
I’ve always loved love & romance books since I was a kid. I first got one at the library & then they gave them away & it was a series of Teen Love by all different authors but over 50 books. I have ever book & it took me a lot of years. I now love Teen pregnancy Moms books & couples who are teens who have a child in there young age & go through the hard times but still love each other.
At the 9 years old, this was before I met Jane Eyre that same summer
When I read “The Horse and Boy” from the Chronicles of Narnia, third book in chronological order.
I loved adventure but in that book I just wanted Cor (Shasta) and Aravis to fall in love so bad!I screamed and jumped on the bed knowing that in the end they were getting married hahaha in the whole book they were only friends at most they blushed once out of shyness in a cute scene where she apologizes for her behavior, But let’s say that their “friendenemies” relationship convinced me that they should be together. It was then that I realized that I liked romance.
Later I read YA books with romance and I met Jane Austen in my adolescence, I did not know that Christian fiction existed or that if I wanted books without sexual content I should search for “clean romance” so I read secular authors whose books had sexual content (I did not I really liked those books, they weren’t what I wanted) around my 20s I found Christian fiction and read Julie Klassen’s “daughter of the tutor”. I don’t like Francine Rivers. I’m actually one of those rare people … but I love movies based on Janette Oke’s books.
Oh, I have some of Betty Neels books still, and one by Sue Peters. Autumn MacArthur told me that Essie Sommers was a minister’s wife and wrote Harlequins. I remember reading some of hers, too!