Does all clean romance have religious undertones?
This is a valid question, because let’s be honest- a lot of the wholesome romance that’s out there is also Christian. Plus, a lot of readers who are searching for clean romance are also religious.
But the short answer to this question is: NO! Not all clean romance is religious.
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What is a clean romance?
Let’s start by defining what a clean romance is -a romance novel that does not contain:
- sexually explicit content
- swearing
- heavy innuendo
- graphic violence
I wrote an entire blog post on how I define clean books on this blog, which you can read here.
Basically, readers who are looking for a clean romance are wanting to read a book with a PG movie vibe. They want enough tension to make that happily ever after truly satisfying, all while keeping it free of content that would make grandma blush.
What is a religious romance?
In short, I would consider religious romance to be a love story that contains elements of faith. You might see a character who doesn’t believe in God at the beginning of the story, but by the end he does. (I call that the ‘coming to Christ’ arc).
You might see characters who already have strong faith and reference it often throughout the story (often demonstrated in moments like attending church, on-page prayer, or openly discussing their faith with other characters).
Or an author might choose to simply reference God or Scripture throughout the book. How religion presents itself in a book is really up to the author.
Some readers prefer a Christian romance. They enjoy reading about characters who share their values.
Personally, I enjoy Christian romance, but I don’t think it’s necessary to include theology in a work of fiction. For me, I’m comfortable simply reading a clean romance, even if there are not over religious themes.
Does all clean romance include religious themes?
Now to answer the question of the day: doesn’t all clean romance include religious themes?
No!
There’s actually a lot of clean or closed door authors who don’t include sexually explicit content or swearing in their romance books, but don’t include religious themes of any kind.
To be fair, I think many clean authors posses religious values themselves, which I would guess is the driving force for them to write clean romance in the first place. But they don’t include faith in their books.
And there are likely many reasons for this. Some authors simply don’t want to include religious themes, maybe others are hoping to appeal to a wider audience beyond Christians.
What I enjoy about clean books without Christian themes is that I get a clean, swoony love story without something that feels preachy.
Where can I find clean romance that isn’t religious?
That’s a great question!
Two of my favorite, go to authors for clean romance that isn’t religious are Jacqueline Winters and Melissa Ferguson.
Both write sweet romance with a little bit of humor, their books are squeaky clean and do not contain overtly religious themes.
Jacqueline Winters’ books are all available on Amazon, I recommend starting Moose Be Love. It’s set in a small town in Alaska and includes a blueberry eating, matchmaking moose! It’s adorable and swoony and basically the poster child for PG, feel-good romance. (please note, three of her earliest titles contain spice, they all have the word ‘Scandalous’ in the title and she tell readers they have spice in the description of the blog)
Melissa Ferguson’s books are all stand alone, so you can start with any of them. My favorite book from her is Meet Me In The Margins, which is currently in the Kindle Unlimited program! The publisher that releases her books is a Christian publisher, but she doesn’t include themes of faith in her books.
What do you think about clean romance and religion?
What do you think about clean romance including themes of faith? Do you prefer your clean romance with faith, or without? Let me know in the comments below!
