Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


With sales of Christian fiction skyrocketing, it was only a matter of time before commercial publishers found religion. But romance publishers? It’s hard to believe, but Harlequin Enterprises has renounced sex and embraced God in its new Love Inspired line of “inspirational romances.”

“People have found an oxymoron in the combination of Harlequin and Christian fiction,” admits Anne Canadeo, editor of the new line. Asked why there are no sex scenes in the Love Inspired books—not even between married characters—Canadeo explains, “The emphasis is on emotional exchange. You have a relationship between a traditional male and female character, and God is a part of that relationship.”

The company has enlisted prominent religious authors for the series, including Carole Gift Page, who has written for the Christian market for 27 years. “I saw this as a chance to communicate what I really believe to a much wider audience,” she says. Page weighed the drawbacks of having her books tucked among steamier romances, but says, “In the Scriptures, when Jesus wanted to reach the people, he didn’t stay with the scribes and Pharisees, he went to where the people were.”

Harlequin has also signed up its veteran romance novelists, such as Arlene James and Penny Richards. But while the prose in the Love Inspired books is similar to that found in Harlequin’s Silhouette romance novels, the plot climaxes are distinctly different:

From Penny Richards’
Unanswered Prayers
(Love Inspired):

As Howard stared into [Evie’s] limpid blue gaze, he felt like a drowning man… . He drew her into his arms and covered her mouth with his. Her lips were softer than an angel’s whisper… . Suddenly she wrenched free and pushed him away… . “You broke your promise… . You said there would be no sex until I was ready.”

“You’re right,” he said with a heavy sigh.

From Richards’
The Ranger and the Schoolmarm
(Silhouette):

Georgia wore nothing but a wisp of gown made of white lace and satin… . [Zach’s] eyes feasted on her… . Finally, when he thought she was ready, when he couldn’t wait any longer, his hips began to move in the ancient, arcane dance of love.

From Arlene James’
The Perfect Wedding
(Love Inspired):

Yet just as his embrace grew more demanding he realized he had gone too far. She stiffened and broke apart the kiss… . “I haven’t ever felt this way before,” she said softly. “But I think I should tell you I won’t sleep with you unless we get married. My faith won’t allow me to settle for anything less.”

From James’
The Knight, the Waitress, and the Toddler
(Silhouette):

Pushing him down onto his back, she rose… and, affording him a delightful view of her luscious breasts, employed both hands… . His hands were at work, as well, stroking and pressing and shaping… . She gasped, exquisitely responsive… . He knew it was coming and rejoiced.

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who wonā€™t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its futureā€”you.

And we need readers to show up for us big timeā€”again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who wonā€™t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its futureā€”you.

And we need readers to show up for us big timeā€”again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate