Why I Write Romance Without the Heat

I am an avid reader. I read just over one hundred books last year—some long, some short. I've been a reader for as long as I can remember. I love words. I love stories. And it's a rare day that goes by without me reading a novel or listening to an audiobook... or both.

That love of reading is something I learned from my mom. She was an avid reader too and devoured romance novels. One of her favorite series was Clan of the Cave Bear, and she also loved a good Louis L'Amour western. Books were simply part of life in our house.

As a child, I read stories like Caddie Woodlawn and Harriet the Spy. As a teenager, I wanted to read romance just like my mom. And eventually, she let me. I started out with clean romances made for teens, but was soon reading the same books as my mom. Looking back, many of those books weren't what I'd now consider clean. But at the time, I didn't think twice about it. My mom read them. They were normal. They were everywhere.

I loved authors like Julie Garwood and Nora Roberts. I even joined one of those old-school book clubs. The kind where you bought ten books for a dollar and then committed to buying a couple more every month. It felt like a Scholastic Book Fair for adults, and I was all in. Libraries, book clubs, paperbacks stacked everywhere... I consumed stories constantly.

But something shifted when I became a mother.

I began to pay closer attention to what I was taking into my mind and heart. That's when a verse I'd heard many times took on new weight: "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure... think about these things." (Philippians 4:8)

That verse didn't suddenly make me stop loving romance. It simply changed what kind of romance I wanted to spend time with.

I started looking for clean and Christian romance. I wanted stories that focused on emotional intimacy, commitment, and hope. At the time, those books weren't easy to find. But slowly, thankfully, that has changed.

What surprised me most was the result. I felt more content. More at peace. I didn't feel the need to skim, brace myself, or mentally edit as I read. "Kisses only" became my perosnal comfort zone, not just as a reader, but eventually as a writer too.

I write the kind of stories I want to recommend freely. Stories I'd hand to a teen girl without hesitation. Stories I'd share with a friend or a church book club without adding a disclaimer. In a world already overflowing with everything else, it's a gift to have stories you don't have to worry about.

Today, there are many talented clean and Christian romance authors writing beautiful, meaningful stories. This list is far from exhaustive, but here are a few whose work I admire: Clean & Wholesome Romance Authors

• Robin Merrill

• Willow White

• Karen Witemeyer

• Izzy James

• Becky Wade

• Denise Hunter

• Katherine Reay

• Becca Kinzer

• Mandi Blake

• Bethany Turner

• Courtney Walsh

• Francine Rivers

• Lynn Austin

• Lynette Bonner

• Pepper Basham

• Susan May Warren

• Valerie Bodden

Romance comes in many forms, and readers get to choose what they love. For me, both as a reader and a writer, I've found that stories rooted in restraint, depth, and hope are the ones that linger the longest.

Those are stories worth telling. And for me, they're worth writing.