Boy, I’m not sure I’ve ever written as many drafts of a blog post as this one! Ha! Who knew talking about Lutheran romance would give me so many angles to write about? But I’ve decided to cut it short. (Too many drafts too close to the deadline! ;)) Maybe I can write about it again, more generally, later.
What I loved and learned from Sarah Baughman’s latest, A Flame in the Darkness, is that it may be easiest for me to digest and sympathize with Lutheran romance set within vocation and vocational situations. That means much more than office romance! It’s day to day interactions and miscommunications. It’s overlapping events that can hardly be understood let alone explained to the person you care about, but it’s also a holistic love, a committed love, a sacrificial and courageous love!
Love was an undergirding factor that helped the characters be more themselves rather than less, more courageous—yet more faithful—than often depicted. And vocations of daughter, sister, brother, caregiver, etc. were directly addressed within the implications and developments of the Lutheran romance. So many lessons for people to learn!
Ugh, I wish I weren’t running out of time to write this post!
Even as someone who isn’t primarily a romance reader, I really enjoyed the romance in A Flame in the Darkness. I was set at ease. No jaw clenching ensued! No scrunched up facial expressions as I feared what might be ahead! Woo hoo! It was sincere and perhaps more to the point well-written. It was touching without being primarily touching, which I appreciate, especially in a book like this. This is a family-friendly book with some real life lessons about real love in real life with a real flesh-and-blood friend.
I simply continue to be enthusiastic about the book. 🙂
A semi-final reminder that A Flame in the Darkness releases June 12th and the GoodReads giveaway entry page is here.
PS. One of my drafts even talked about Anna Karinina! So many thoughts and literary pieces to consider! Ah, the more cerebral aspects of the romance genre!
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These are such good thoughts! I think romance is tricky. I myself really enjoy stories of people falling in love. The nervous, not-quite-sure feelings of new affection are fun for me to read (or write) about. But you’re right that there needs to be more than just the falling in love.
When I first started plotting the novel, I was going for a fluffier romance. But as the characters became more real in my mind, so did their struggles and heartache. Kind of like when you’re transitioning from acquaintance to friend to close friend. You learn more about one another – joys, struggles, triumphs, and heartaches. And you can’t have the closeness – of friends or of characters – without the deeper knowledge.
Thanks again, Mary, for your wonderfully insightful words!!