We're staying in a denominational holiday house for our holidays. There's a bookshelf full of suitable reading material for manse families. I'm enjoying a series of Jeanette Oke prairie romances.
Elizabeth is a beautiful, godly, 21 year old teacher. She's from a rich city family and has decided that marriage is not for her. She feels a strange discontent with her perfect life and when her half brother suggests she move 'West' to teach, she takes that as God's leading. While building her new life out West, she draws great comfort from her devotional reading of Nehemiah. She meets Wynn, a handsome, competent Christian man, who has decided that he must be single to fulfil the role God has given him as a mounted policeman. After several misunderstandings, they fall in love and on the last page of the book, decide to marry.
It's quality stuff. I'm up to the sequel When Comes The Spring. So far we've explored issues of wifely submission and race relations. Deep and edifying stuff.
Oh my! Do you need a bucket? Sounds like vomitous, if not amusing, stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy sister was (still is?) really into these. So there was lots of these in our house. I started reading them one 'swat-vac' and found them really easy to read. So I limited myself to only reading them during my study breaks in 'swat-vac' weeks. I would have read at least four of her series.
ReplyDeleteIf you like the style/content of her books, you may also like Bonnie Leon. She's American, but a couple of her series are set in Australia 'The Queensland Chronicles' and the 'Sydney Cove' series. (Do they have any of hers on the shelves there?)
I've read the whole series. Yes, I am ashamed of myself. But I do come from a manse family so I suppose it was complusory.
ReplyDeleteI read one Janette Oke novel that my sister gave me for a birthday present a long time ago. Couldn't stomach any more than that.
ReplyDeleteA few months ago, I saw a movie version of one of her books on Channel 7's midday movie. I went to sleep in it and woke up just in time to see the happily ever after ending. I think if you read one of those books, the rest are fairly predictable??
I think what gets me the most about "Christian romantic fiction" is that EVERY loose end is tied up. EVERY single person finds a mate. Even that woman who only briefly helped out during the fire at the old mill. She falls in love with the cranky old train driver who lost his wife down a well seventeen years ago and has been grieving ever since. Once he finally "gives it to the Lord", he realizes she's been there all along and they live happily ever after raising the lost boy who's been living rough in the back train compartment. Oh WOW! I could do this for a living!
ReplyDeleteSo I take it it's raining cats and dogs?
ReplyDelete@Deb...go for it, I think you'd be great!
ReplyDeleteIt's just Mills & Boon for Christians, isn't it? The clean-living version...
"I think if you read one of those books, the rest are fairly predictable??"
ReplyDeleteI think that could be said of many authors (a lot of them quite popular). eg. John Grisham, Colin Forbes, Patricia Cornwell, Alexander McCall Smith...
It seems that if you like a particular genre or writing style, you will read multiple versions of the same thing.
@Deb L
I guess your annoyance with every loose end being tied up, may be why some people really like them. Some personality types like having all the loose ends tied up/resolved...the story doesn't feel finished to them until they are. (my Dad's one of those people)
Good point Mel...my apologies. What I said in the above comments was probably a bit harsh. I guess I found the one I read a bit too easy or simplistic maybe at the time... and I do agree there are times when you like to see resolution at the end of a story :)
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