Is Christian Romance Allowed To Be Steamy?

Becoming a Christian is the best and worst thing that has ever happened to Sarah Hollenbeck. Best because, well, that's obvious. Worst because, up to this point, she's made her very comfortable living as a well-known, bestselling author of steamy romance novels that would leave the members of her new church blushing. Now Sarah is trying to reconcile her past with the future she's chosen. She's still under contract with her publisher and on the hook with her enormous fan base for the kind of book she's not sure she can write anymore. She's beginning to think that the church might frown on her tithing on royalties from a "scandalous" book. And the fact that she's falling in love with her pastor doesn't make things any easier.


With a powerful voice, penetrating insight, and plenty of wit, Bethany Turner explodes onto the scene with a debut that isn't afraid to deal with the thorny realities of living the Christian life.

Available on Amazon

Meet the Author:

Bethany Turner is the director of administration for Rock Springs Church in Southwest Colorado. A former VP/operations manager of a commercial bank and a three-time cancer survivor (all before she turned 35), Bethany knows that when God has plans for your life, it doesn't matter what anyone else has to say. Because of that, she's chosen to follow his call to write. She lives with her husband and their two sons in Colorado, where she writes for a new generation of readers who crave fiction that tackles the thorny issues of life with humor and insight.

Get to know her better on her author page



My Take: 
I am thinking I may be one of the weird ones, who although I enjoyed the book, didn't necessarily fall in love with it right off. The author has a great sense of humor and the story was interesting and definitely unique! There were many laugh out loud scenes. However, the book kind of felt like it was all about sex, ironically though, there is really no sex in the book. I think this was kind of the author's point, since the book is about a Sarah, who started out writing erotic novels, became a Christian, and then decided to instead become a Christian fiction writer. However, after reading various novels, she felt they weren't true to the realistic feelings going on between the couples. Her goal - to write a clean fiction book that was very steamy and yet contained no sexual content.

I liked Sarah as a person, but kind of felt like she was solely focused on one thing - "Ahem"... maybe because her first marriage was lacking??? Piper was probably my favorite of all the characters and I would enjoy reading more about her. She was down to earth, practical, honest, and a wonderful friend. Of course, Ben, was the story's "hero", almost to-good-to-be true guy, loyal, Bible-nerd pastor, who has had his share of heartache, but came out on the other side even stronger.  Sarah and Ben seemingly cannot get enough of each other, even at the first hello. At times it was like... enough already! Either go for it, or quit talking about it! Maybe that's just me .... 

There were also few of those characters you love to hate. For me, it was Laura and Patrick. The story ends with a bit of a twist, that adds dimension to the plot.

I enjoyed Sarah's growth in her Christian walk. It was interesting how she seemed to "know" how a Christian should behave, as soon as, and even before she became one; although it was funny to read her "light-bulb" moments, when something clicked. Sarah was a good example of  - watching how we walk as believers, because the world is watching us, and often they know how we should walk better than we do.

I would recommend this book to mature readers who like humorous fiction, a bit on the edgy side. 

I received this book from author/publisher to read free. I was not required to review it positively and all opinions are my own.