Dream World

Christian romance novels continue to flood the market. Historical, Amish, contemporary, fantasy, sci-fi, why are we so obsessed? And why do Christian authors keep churning them out? While a beach read is fine for a getaway weekend, is it good for daily reading? Is it good for our daughters? I worry that we are telling them to dream about a man who doesn’t exist. Sure, there are some real gentlemen out there. But these men who so readily read a female’s emotions that she has tried so valiantly to hide? Or these relationships that rarely peck a kiss until after the wedding? Dream world.
I used to think that as long as my girls were reading, it didn’t matter too much what they read. At least they were reading. But if they are only reading Christian romance, I’m afraid we are setting them up to fail. And shouldn’t we also be trying to reach non-Christian girls? I’m not advocating graphic sex scenes, but not every Christian girl is chaste, not even those from historical times. How else would we have the term, “Shotgun wedding”?
Christian romance is a top publishing genre. But instead of looking at profit margins, are we looking at the cultural effect? Or are these books being read by women dissatisfied with their own Christian marriages? Are they hiding in a romance world that doesn’t exist rather than working on the problems in their real world? We can do better. Let’s give each other and our daughters the tools to make better relationships rather than more dream worlds to hide in.