Reading Tai-Bo

This week I read Stolen Women by Kimberly Rae. I saw the first page on the Hartline Literary Agency Blog and just had to read more. I have been reading a long time and I read a lot. I probably read 2/3 non-Christian and 1/3 Christian titles. I enjoy the quality of books on the secular market. But I also enjoy a light hearted sweet Christian romance once in awhile. And I have to say…this book is everything a Christian novel should be.

So many times I have to skim through bits of a Christian novel because the author insists on preaching. No one reads a novel to be preached at. We read to experience life. Experience a story that is huge and dangerous and romantic and horrible and wonderful through the protagonist of the book. The protagonist of this book experienced life in another country and was changed irrevocably because of it. The plot elements didn’t spoon feed a moral down the character’s throat. Events and mistakes and danger maneuvered her until she learned and grew through living. So often I am frustrated by the lack of fun and unusual settings in Christian fiction. This novel was set in the red-light district in India. I loved that. The plot was fun and twisty and I enjoyed seeing the protagonist making horrible mistakes and not doing everything “just right”. The love story was fun and sweet and it was just an enjoyable read all around. The one thing that did annoy me was that the story started halfway through and then backed up to fill the reader in for half of the book. That was frustrating, but all of the other great things made up for it. You can tell I loved it because I actually got a picture of the cover for you…not sure when that has ever happened. Maybe it was the India setting, I really enjoyed getting to go by book to India.

What did I learn from my reading this week?

That despite my pre-conceived expectations for a certain genre, sometimes an author will surprise you, and those books are wonderful to find.