I guess it’s no surprise when I look back over all the books I’ve released in the past seven years to see some familiar themes. All of my books can be considered overtly Christian. (All except one co-written rom-com, Daring Mr Darcy, which sits as more clean than Christian, and doesn’t contain any real faith elements apart from going to church – does that even count in these days of clean vs sweet vs Christian books?). I think it’s fair to say the themes of all my books tend to be around things like ‘trust God’ and ‘forgiveness brings healing’ and ‘God loves you.’ And honestly, as a Christian, as a writer of inspirational romance, unapologetically Christian romance, that’s ultimately what I want my readers to know.
That God loves you. That God wants relationship with us. That God has good plans for us. That we can trust Him.
I think that’s part of why I write. It’s not just about the sheer number of stories I have burning inside my heart. More important than that, deeper than that, is the fact I am trusting God that my books will touch hearts, and that God would use my clumsy words to touch people on a spiritual level, not just a soul or fleshly space.
I think that’s part of the privilege of being an inspirational romance author. It’s not just about telling a nice story that leaves a reader with a smile on their dial. It can also involve challenges, many of which are things I’ve personally had to face or deal with. Like what do you do when someone misunderstands and writes you off? How do you show grace to those who exclude you? How do you trust God when it seems like He’s not listening? How do we treat those around us – with judgement or God’s grace?
I’m still a work in progress, but I’m trusting God that as I understand more and more about how wide and deep and real and strong His love is for me, that I’ll be able to demonstrate that to others. It’s part of why I wrote The Love Penalty, which sees a seeking soul feel misjudged and ostracised by Christians, until other Christians demonstrate God’s endless love which ultimately results in a life won into God’s kingdom. It’s a similar theme that’s found in my book Muskoka Promise, which shows how the power of friendship can overcome an offended heart and bring restoration & healing.
That’s who God is. He is faithful, waiting patiently with open arms for all those who are lost to come home, loving us when we’re like the prodigal son, and loving us even when we act more like the prodigal son’s older brother. God is all about wanting us to know His love, and share that love with others. Writing books that reflect God’s love is the greatest privilege, and writing Christian romance is an awesome opportunity to create stories that touch hearts on many different levels. Love is ultimately what life is about, so I think it’s fair to say love is the one theme that rules them all.
I want to thank Valerie and the team for the opportunity to blog these past few years at Inspy Romance. It’s been a joy getting to know so many readers from around the world. As an Aussie, I have a special affinity with those dealing who can sometimes feel on the ‘outer’ with the challenges of time zones or cultural differences. It’s been fab to get to know many of the other authors here, and I look forward to connecting with various ones in projects down the track.
And I’d love to stay connected with you, wonderful reader. I have a free novella for those who sign up for my newsletter here, plus I’ll have another free download available to my newsletter subscribers soon too, so please stay in touch. You can also follow me on Facebook (join my Facebook group Carolyn’s Books & Friends here), Instagram, and Pinterest, where you can get sneak peeks into the inspiration and background of current and future books.
Speaking of future books, I’ve got a few more releasing this year, including
- my second and third books in the Trinity Lakes series Tangled Up in Love and Only You Can Love Me
- my next book in the Muskoka Romance series, Muskoka Promise
- my first book in the Three Creek Ranch book, A Cameo for a Cowgirl, and
- my next Northwest Ice hockey book, Pointe, Shoots, and Scores (which is SO much fun!)
- (There’s actually at least two more, but they’re title-less at this stage, which is why you need to subscribe to my newsletter to find out!)
Again, HUGE thanks to all of you who have commented and followed and supported me over the years. Thank you for taking a risk on new authors, or trying new genres, or writing reviews (nice ones!), or writing to let an author to let them know how much you enjoyed their book.
In fact, let’s chat about exactly that. How have you shown your support for a Christian author? Do you subscribe to their newsletters? Follow on social media? Preorder books? Write reviews? Write to authors to let them know how much you love their book? Go to book signings? Something else?
Happy reading – and let God’s love guide us into the future!
Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of romance, Carolyn loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her Regency and contemporary novels are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Koorong, etc
I have met several new to me authors through Inspy Romance. I also saw some that I already read their books. I have really enjoyed belonging to this group. I write reviews for several authors – Christian, clean romance, and clean cozy mysteries.
I hope everyone has a blessed day.
Thanks for giving your time to blog here! I subscribe to author’s newsletters (on my way to sign up for yours) and sometimes leave stars for a book on Goodreads.
Oh, I’m stalking you, too!! lol!! I did just join your FB group, too. I’d already liked your author page. I subscribe to a lot of author newsletters, I write reviews for all of the books I read (unless they’d be less than a 3 star, then I email the author, and that’s really rare that I’d find less than a 3 star), I try to participate on their FB pages. I have pre-ordered books, though that’s more for traditionally published authors, as Amazon doesn’t let me pre-order from them. I have emailed authors before, too!! And, I’ve been to book signings!
Thank you so much for all your wonderful posts, I have enjoyed reading them all. I am following you on FB. Have a great day and a great weekend.
Thanks Bonnie for your support of Christian writers- we appreciate you!
Really appreciate you Jessica – and on behalf of Christian authors, thank you for taking the time to leave reviews. It truly does make a difference!
You’re the real deal, Trudy! Thank you for all your support for me, and for other Christian authors. I think readers can underestimate how important reviews can be, and I love your idea of emailing an author of you don’t love it, rather than write them off in a dismissive book review. Sometimes stuff happens, whether it’s a proofreading or formatting issue, or there are cultural differences that means expression (or spelling!) isn’t always what readers expect, so it’s much nicer for an author to get the chance to explain rather than read a one star review bc the spelling was ‘wrong’ etc
Looking forward to connecting more with you in Facebook spaces. In the meantime, happy reading to you!
God bless you Alicia – I’m glad you’ve enjoyed. Happy reading to you!
Thank you for all your posts here, I discovered your books through your blogs here and I’ve really enjoyed the ones I’ve read so far (who knew I would enjoy hockey stories so much as someone not really into sports who has never seen a hockey game lol!)
I sign up for author newsletters, and I always try to leave reviews since learning here how important they are. I’d love to go to a book signing some day if there’s one near me in the UK!
I just have to go off topic a bit here and gush over your hockey stories. I LOVE them! Well, the two and a half that I’ve read so far, anyway. 😃
I typically show my support by subscribing to newsletters, responding to questions in newsletters, writing reviews, and following/posting on social media.
God bless you Ruthie – and yes, hockey books can be addictive, can’t they? (I’m personally addicted to writing them) I hope we can meet in person when I’m next in the UK (who knows when that’ll be – but if you’re subscribed to my newsletter you probably will find out!)
Happy reading to you x
Ooh, yay!! Well I’m happy to say there’s plenty more of my hockey books awaiting you 😉 – and seeing you enjoyed them, I hope you’ve written reviews! I’m so glad to have met so many lovely readers from across the world, thanks to Inspy Romance. Happy reading to you!
Thank you Carolyn for all your blog posts throughout the years. Yes, I do all those for many Christian authors. God bless you.
How have I shown your support for a writer? It depends if they are national (Romanian) or international writers.
If national, there are no newsletters to subscribe to (here this is not in fashion), but I follow them on social media and I reblog their posts for more people to know about them, I buy books (sometimes preorder too, this barely starts to be in fashion, but I go to book signings and I buy the book there if I go.) For national writers I also write reviews on FB groups and on GoodReads and sometimes I write to the authors on social media.
For international writers, I subscribe to their newsletters, I follow them on social media, I share their posts for more to know, I read whatever book I can find free on BookFunnel and StoryOrigin (because I cannot buy them – we are EU members, but our currency is not yet EURO), I recommend it online and on GoodReads, and I write sometimes to them on social media or I reply to newsletters.
Carolyn, thank you for your books and the love of God evident in them. I love Australia and have enjoyed trips to the east and west coasts of Australia for about 5 weeks each to explore and enjoy the people and nature God created there. You have some very creatively designed animals! Such fun!
I usually sign up for emails from an author I enjoy (like you!) and communicate via email with them. Some I follow on social media.
I love using KU for ebooks. Have you considered using KU?
Happy Easter and best wishes!
God bless you Debra. Thanks for your support!
God bless you, Marina! Your support for authors from across the world is valued. Happy reading to you!
Hi Cyndi!
Yes, I have a few books in KU, including my Independence Islands books, and my Trinity Lakes books (which go into KU after a few weeks available wide).
And yay for Australia love – I can’t wait to publish more Australian- based books, which you’ll know about seeing as you’re subscribed to my newsletter!
Happy reading to you, and thanks for your support for Christian authors!
I sign up for newsletters, purchase ebooks or read them through KU, purchase physicals when I can (bit of an international struggle there), leave reviews, follow on a few socials…I wish I could go to book conventions and signings around the world, but so far I’ve only been to ones in my city. I’d definitely go if there were closer ones though! I love supporting authors <3
It seems to me you have handled many issues well youself if you are saying you experienced them. Your books always hit the spot with me for what I need, so you and I are both trusting and being guided.
For how to support authors, it’s different now my eyesight has deteriorated, before I subscribed to newsletters, followed on BookBub and Goodreads (prior to amazon taking over it was far superior imho), follow on social media [the latter two more so than newsletters now due to eyestrain] I can’t preorder books for amazon only authors because of their business rules. Reviews, previously yes, now I rate books until I can resolve eyesight issues. Previously beta read as again amazon business rules preclude reviewing without credit card payment. I rarely write to new to me authors to let them know how much you love their book and others only in the context of ongoing communications, just too shy to approach someone I don’t know, which is where IR introduced you all to me and though I lurked for quite a while I now feel comfortable leaving comments. Book signings are out as I am housebound from disability. Send mental messages to authors, yes indeed, can’t think of anything else. I have enjoyed your posts and getting to know the online you. Who knows maybe in the future it might be the real us somewhere in Sydney somewhen, we’ll see what we are guided to. I am late reading the post from illness so unsure if you will see this. Take care.