Category: Bookish Question

What's your view on sex or rape scenes in Christian fiction?

Bookish Question #246 | What’s Your View on Sex or Rape Scenes in Christian Fiction?

I’m not a fan of rape as a plot point in any fiction, Christian or otherwise.

It’s become an overused way of showing a female character’s tragic backstory (and it’s always a female character). I’m especially not a fan of on-the-page rape scenes as they generally come across as voyeuristic and violent, as though they are there for the cheap thrill rather than to move the plot along.

People who have experienced sexual violence don’t need the reminder, and people who haven’t don’t need to have the details spelled out in order to understand that the character is going to be negatively affected.

I’m even less interested in Christian fiction that will show rape (which is nonconsensual and unlawful) but won’t show consensual sex in marriage. I’m not saying I want to read explicit sex scenes in Christian fiction (I don’t), but I do see it as hypocritical if sex is only described when it’s the unlawful, undesireable kind.

What about you? What’s your view on sex and rape in Christian fiction?

Who is your favourite character in Christian fiction?

Bookish Question #245 | Who is your favourite character in Christian fiction?

This is a tough question.

I’ve read hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Christian novels, and while several characters spring to mind, they aren’t necessarily “favourite” characters. They are memorable characters, and there is a difference.

  • For example, Angel in Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is a memorable character. But she’s not always likeable, so can’t be called a favourite.
  • Mrs Clara Kip in The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs Kip by Sara Brunsvold is another memorable character. But while she is the character in the title and the person with many life lessons to share, she’s the mentor figure. Not the main character. Shouldn’t the favourite be the main character?
  • Some characters are memorable and interesting for reasons they have no control over. An example of this is Libby in When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer, who literally lives two lives separated by more than a century.
  • And some characters are memorable for their circumstances, like Marissa Moreau in Shadows of Hope by Georgiana Daniels, a crisis pregnancy counsellor who can’t get pregnant, and discovers her new client/friend is her husband’s mistress.

But if we’re going to talk about my favourite character, it probably has to be a character that features in a series I’ve read over and over: the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke. It’s an oldie, but a goodie. The series centres around Marty and Clark and their children. There was a later spinoff series that featured one of their grandchildren, Virginia.

My favourite character is Drew, who married Marty and Clark’s youngest daughter, and who is Virginia’s father.

Drew is an inspiring example of a Christian man, husband, and father. He’s a bitter young man when we first meet him, but over the years he matures into a strong man of God, a man who wants to care for and protect those around him with the skills he has. He’s also a man who overcomes trials that could have broken him, but he chooses to be the survivor and victor, not the victim. And that’s why he’s my favourite.

What about you? Who is your favourite character in Christian fiction?

What's your view on billionaire romances?

Bookish Question #244 | What’s your view on billionaire romances?

Good question. I have mixed feelings.

On one hand, I’m not a fan of billionaire romances, especially in Christian fiction, because of the underlying unstated assumption that money will fix any problem.

On the other hand, I’ve read too many books where the plot centres around money troubles (often caused by medical issues), and it’s refreshing to read a novel where money troubles aren’t part of the plot.

When I do read a billionaire romance, I’m a little fussy when it comes to how they have made their money.

I’m not interested in family money or in people who have made their millions and billions by treating others badly (if you’re a billionaire, you can afford to pay more than minimum wage).

I prefer stories where the person has made their money honestly and without subjugating others, which is why I prefer sportspeople or (even better) tech billionaires. Tech billionaires are also good because it’s more believable that they make their money relatively quickly.

I’m currently reading and enjoying Elizabeth Maddrey’s Billionaire Next Door series about a group of friends who all won big on the stockmarket.

What I would like to see is a story about a female billionaire … do you have any recommendations?

What about you? What’s your view on billionaire romances?

What’s your view on novels with cliffhanger endings?

Bookish Question #243 | What’s your view on novels with cliffhanger endings?

What’s my view on novels with cliffhanger endings?

This is an easy question.

I loathe cliffhanger endings. They feel like cheating, as though the author

I especially loathe cliffhanger endings in novels that are billed as romance. Tip: romances have to have a happy-ever-after ending, and a cliffhanger doesn’t meet that criteria.

My view is that a novel is like a movie: it has a start, a middle, and an end, and they all happen between the first and last pages. A cliffhanger ending feels like the author has cut the novel in two so they can sell more copies because they’ve hooked the reader.

Yes, a novel that’s part of a series can have a few loose ends that will be picked up in the next novel in the series, but each novel in the series should be complete.

In romance, this will mean that the hero and heroine get their happy ever after ending, but the novel might have an over-arching plot question that isn’t answered, or it might introduce the hero and heroine of the next book in the series.

That’s okay.

What isn’t okay is leaving the hero and heroine on opposite sides of Berlin as the Wall goes up (#TrueStory) or having them break up in the final chapter only to reunite and marry in the gap between the first and second books in the series (also #TrueStory).

So no, I don’t like cliffhanger endings. Do you?

Do you prefer romance novels with “just like you” characters, or billionaires or royalty?

Bookish Question #242 | Do you prefer romance novels with “just like you” characters, or billionaires or royalty?

Do you prefer romance novels with “just like you” characters, or stories with billionaires or royalty or superstars of some kind?

I tend to prefer characters I can relate to, which tend to be the “just like me” characters.

I don’t mind the occasional sports star or rock star or actor. They add interest, and glimpse into a different world … especially if they’re paired with a more relatable character.

I’m not normally a big fan of royalty romance, but I did enjoy In Search of a Prince by Toni Shiloh (a Christian twist on The Princess Diaries, set in a fictional African island kingdom). I have the sequel, To Win a Prince, on my to-read pile.

But there are exceptions.

For example, I enjoy Regency Romance (and Victorian and Georgian romance), and stories in those time periods often feature the affluent members of the upper classes, if not actual royalty. Many of these characters are rich—not billionaires, but certainly the equivalent in their times.

For example, I have read and enjoyed several series set in the Restoration era, such as the Empire State series by Elizabeth Camden (starting with A Dangerous Legacy). But I’m not as much of a fan of billionaire romance, although there are exceptions.

So I guess I don’t mind reading about royalty or rich people in historical romance. But I definitely prefer the main characters in contemporary romance to be “just like me” characters.

What about you? Do you prefer romances novels with “just-like-you” characters, or fairy tale stories with billionaires and royalty?

How do you feel about spoilers in book descriptions or reviews?

Bookish Question #241 | How do you feel about spoilers in book descriptions or reviews?

I’m not a fan of spoilers in book descriptions or reviews.

Having said that, I can see they might sometimes be needed in a review.

Book Descriptions

In general, I think the book description should introduce the main characters and the central plot. That’s it. The book description shouldn’t give spoilers about what’s going to happen later in the book. In my view, anything that’s mentioned in the book description should occur in the opening chapters.

(Otherwise, I find myself skimming as I wait for the promised events.)

Book Reviews

Book reviews are a little different. While I don’t want to read (or write) spoilers in book reviews, there are times when they are unavoidable.

A good review will share the basic plot, but should also share something of the reviewer’s emotional response to the book. That can be hard to do without giving spoilers …

One difficulty comes in defining what is actually a spoiler. Some novels contain content that some readers would prefer to know about in advance so they can make an informed decision as to whether they want to read the book or not. Other readers dislike content warnings or trigger warnings as they can be spoilers.

For example, I recently read and reviewed a historical romance where the heroine was married against her will, and the husband consumated the marriage. We call that rape now, but the act was not considered rape in the laws of the time. All the same, a modern reader may well want to be aware of the fact … but it’s two spoilers (saying she was married, and saying the marriage was consumated).

Some novels include references to historical events. If a reviewer mentions that, say, the Titanic sank or the Germans lost World War One, is revealing that a spoiler or is it general knowledge?

My knowledge of history is centred around the history of English-speaking and European countries. A Japanese or Indian reader would have a very different knowledge of history. What about lesser-known historical facts, or historical facts that are common knowledge in other countries but unknown to the reader? Is it a spoiler simply because I didn’t already know about it?

Goodreads allows reviewers to tag some or all of their review as containing spoilers, and hides that part of the review. This is a nice compromise. Those people who want to know the spoiler can read the full review, and those who don’t want the spoiler don’t have to read it.

What about you? What’s your view on spoilers in book descriptions or reviews?

What Christian fiction has another pet as a character?

Bookish Question #240 | What Christian fiction has another pet as a character?

We’ve previously looked at:

This week it’s time to look at other pets. What Christian fiction has another pet as a character?

I read this question, and thought I’d already answered it. But I was thinking of another post: What is your favourite fictional pet and why?

Anyway, my answer to this week’s question is closely related to my answer to the favourite fictional pet question. Here the main series I can think of with non-traditional pets is Heather Day Gilbert’s Exotic Pet Sitter series:

Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass (click here to read my review)
Belinda Blake and the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (click here to read my review)
Belinda Blake and the Birds of a Feather (click here to read my review)

I have also read a lot of Christian fiction that features horses, although they are generally treated as work animals rather than pets. In case you’re wondering, pets are allowed in the house. Work animals are not.

My list is pretty short.

What Christian fiction has another pet as a character?

How many books do you buy in a month?

Bookish Question #239 | How many books do you buy in a month?

I don’t keep track of how many books I buy. However, I do keep track of how many books I read and how many I review via Goodreads.

I review one book a week, although they are almost all free review copies rather than books I’ve bought myself. I read another one to two books a week, which are a mix of new books and books I’ve had on my Kindle for a while.

I am trying to work my way through my to-read pile, but do seem to buy more books than I read. On that basis, I estimate that I buy eight or nine books a month. It can be hard to tell, as I do also pre-order books from Amazon, and pre-orders can be months in advance (so long that I sometimes forget I’ve already ordered the book. Fortunately, Amazon tells me).

I checked my Amazon account (as I buy all my ebooks from Amazon).

Amazon tells me I bought 57 free and paid-for Kindle books in the first seven months of 2022, which is an average of eight per month. Around half of those were free downloads.  Of the ten books I bought in July, five were free and two were pre-orders.

I haven’t been doing a great job of getting through my to-read pile this year, but I have read most of these books shortly after downloading them … or, in the case of some of the books (paid and unpaid), I’ve started and discarded them.

So I buy around eight books a month, get another four review copies, and read around twelve books per month. That means my to-read pile isn’t growing, so I consider that a win 😉

What about you? How many books do you buy in a month?

Do you know any Christian fiction with a cat as a major character?

Bookish Question #238 | Do you know any Christian fiction with a cat as a major character?

I’ve read a lot of Christian fiction with dogs or horses, and some with more unusual pets. Novels will often have cats as pets, but there is only one Christian novel I can think of where I would describe the cat as a major character.

Melissa Koslin’s debut novel, Never Miss, features a Maine Coon cat called Mac who often acts more like a dog. Mac it a big cat and has an attitude to match. Mac and his owner, Kadance, help Lyndon Vaile stay alive long enough to figure out who wants him dead … and why.

I do enjoy a good romantic suspense novel, and Never Miss was a solid debut that has the added advantage of a cat.

What about you? Do you know of any Christian fiction with a cat as a major character?

You can read the introduction to Never Miss below:

Do fictional characters have to be likeable?

Bookish Question #237 | Do fictional characters have to be likeable?

Do you think fictional characters have to be likeable?

The main character? Yes.

Other characters? Mostly.

I don’t want to read a novel where I don’t like the main character or characters because I want to send time with characters I like … not characters I don’t like. In a romance, I want to like both the hero and the heroine, because I want to be happy when they end up together.

There are novels I’ve given up on because I didn’t like the main character. In fact, not liking the main character is one of the few reasons I’ll stop reading a novel.

I also want to like the other major characters. If a character isn’t likeable, I want there to be a good reason why they’re not likeable. Perhaps they are the foil for one of the main characters. Perhaps they’re the character who is going to be redeemed by the end of the novel. Perhaps they’re the evildoer (I prefer not to like the antagonist, especially in suspense).

I like most people I meet in real life, so I prefer to read fiction with likeable people as well.

What about you? Do you think fictional characters have to be likeable?