Christian Romance: part of a well-balanced “book diet”?

A Balanced “Book Diet”

Reading is like eating: you need a variety of wholesome ingredients, a little sugar, and a little moderation across the board. Sometimes you need to chew on a steak (mull over a “deep” text), and sometimes you just need some brain candy. Most of the time, though, you need a well-balanced diet of books in between the two.

Christian Romance: Part of Your Book Diet?

So, where does Christian romance fit in this “book diet” of ours? Somewhere in that middle range, but edging towards the brain candy end. Let’s face it, folks: no one reads romance novels for their literary artistry. At best, they’re “clean” in terms of sexual content. Far too many young women (and I was in this category as a teen for sure!) read a steady diet of Christian romance, soaking up the emotional intensity, dreaming of their own future love, and skewing their view of reality in general. Many Christian romance titles are evangelism-disguised-as-literature and as trite as they come (literarily speaking). Others are simply pictures of unhealthy emotional tension. Not the end of the world once in a while, but not a healthy diet on their own. Let’s help our young women balance their Christian romance reads with a broad variety of edifying books. I’d recommend books like Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss for those who enjoy “romantic” fare. Or, if you enjoy mysteries, a series like Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody books might be worth checking out (set in Egypt, it portrays a delightfully eccentric courtship and marriage between archaeologists Amelia and her husband). Perhaps your young lady would enjoy the classics which often feature courtship and marriage more realistically than the lighter “Christian romance” fare today (everything from Jane Austen to Vanity Fair to Anna Karenina to the Brontes).

At any rate, it’s worth thinking through real life issues with your daughter: why do we “date” exclusively in high school? Or, why do we wait so long to get married these days? And is the courtship model the best? Talk with your daughter about romance in general and these issues in particular. You might also want to casually bring up some of the following questions with your daughter, especially if she’s feasting on romantic reads only:

Good Casual Discussion Questions for Romantic Reads:

1. What did you like about this book? What was it about? (listen!)
2. How does this book help you to view the opposite sex?
3. Do the people in this book treat each other as made in the image of God (v. mere objects-of-interest-for-self-gratification)?
4. Are the relationships in this book honoring to the Lord?  (i.e. are they chaste? emotionally and/or physically)
5. In a sense, we have an emotional bank account for our husbands: we don’t want to borrow from it unnecessarily before we meet that man! Is this book helping you guard your heart or teaching you to long for romantic desires to be fulfilled before their proper time?
6. Does the book deal honestly with our sin natures, grace and the nature of sanctification?

A New Christian Romance

Prodigal: a different kind of love story by Rektok Ross (Ic13, 2012).

For those who have a well-balanced book diet and are looking for a light Christian romance that isn’t too “cheesy” or evangelism-disguised-as-Christian-romance, then you might be interested in Rektok’s Prodigal. Rektok makes a valiant attempt at writing a Christian romance that isn’t merely boy meets girl, boy (or girl) introduces girl (or boy) to Jesus, boy and girl live happily ever after, chastely and demurely but with such depth of feeling!

No, in Prodigal, the boy and girl who meet up have a rocky relationship at times, the girl comes to a grudging awareness of and trust in God, and both boy and girl go through some healing in their own lives with their own families (as well as significant tragedy). Definitely more depth here than in most teen Christian romances. Rektok throws in some elements that are a little too good to be true, but in general the conversations between characters, the characters themselves, and the plot are a vast improvement over the usual fare in this genre. The ending is a bit too fairy tale for me (oh, the jaded perspective of my adult self; my teen self would have loved it), but all in all, this is a good read.

One thing I particularly appreciated in this book is the way Rektok’s characters treat one another. There is the typical ogling of the opposite sex and BFF conversations about crushes that occur in high schools across the country. Yet, the characters in Prodigal seem to make a genuine effort to treat each other as people, as individuals–not mere objects-of-interest-for-self-gratification.

The main character, Lexy, is starting her senior year in a new school in a new state. She must make friends, cope with some family issues, and figure out how to recoup the experience she loses by switching schools (she’d been slated to be the school newspaper editor at her old school). These are handled realistically, if predictably at times. The sexual content is minimal: some kissing (slight) and a confession of virginity. I appreciated how authentic these scenes seemed to be, and I think the level in this book is much more realistic than in most of the Christian romances I’ve read.

Literary Rating: 3.5 (out of 5); Worldview Rating: 4.5 (out of 5). Recommended for young adults.

While none of us here at Redeemed Reader reads a steady diet of romance novels these days, we’ve addressed various aspects of romance before here on Redeemed Reader. Check out Emily’s interview with Gina Dalfonzo and Rea Berg for a great discussion on “Virtuous Romance” as well as Janie’s look at paranormal romance. For other romantic reads, see Hayley’s recent review of Hattie Ever After, or the Living Books Library’s list of “Wholehearted” romance reads (many of which are classics). Additionally, you may be interested in our sexual integrity resources (see the widget below).