I am a reader. I read anything associated with Laura Ingalls Wilder that I can get my hands on. I reread old Nancy Drew books. I read Christian romance novels because I like the idea of a couple falling in love and it remaining PG13.
However, Christian Romance Novels, or CRN as they will from now on be called because it's my blog and the other is to long to type, are flawed. I'm not sure why these problems are so common in the genre, but I must comment on it. Let me tell you about two I started today.
In the first one, we meet a disc jockey. He's moved to Christian radio from baseball after some shoulder surgery. He knows many people don't believe a professional athlete can be a Christian. People who have evidently never heard of Josh Hamilton, Jon Kitna, Anthony Munoz, wasn't David Robinson and Sean Casey?, Dave Johnson from the Dan and Dave commercials (I just dated myself but I loved his now out of print autobiography). Seriously, I know pro athletes have a lot of temptation, but I've never heard of anyone saying they disqualified someone because they were a professional athlete. But I digress, there's a bigger reason why people say he couldn't be a Christian - he shaves his head! What. the. ??!!. Where did that decree come from? Samson and Delilah? In my experience, it means the guy doesn't want to admit he's losing his hair, so he shaves it all off. Really, have you ever run across someone who says, "Oh him? He's not a Christian. I've never talked to him, but he shaves his head." So I'm wondering what the plot is going to be like since the author's experience is so narrow.
Now let's move on to book 2. In book 2, our heroine wants to become a missionary in Iraq where her brother, a soldier, just died. Let's ignore the headlines of the past week, and put aside my thoughts about people who should know they are risking other's lives not just their own. His best friend comes to discourage her as it was her dying brother's last request that she not go. He flew to South Carolina from Iraq. He's been injured at sometime and has the look of the walking wounded. He grabs his car to go talk to her still in a sand covered uniform. She argues with him and insists that he attend the talk of a missionary from Syria that she was about to go hear. Wait. This soldier has been on American soil for aproximately 2 hours, and he's going to go listen to a lecture? Shouldn't he have to be debriefed? Maybe call home? Have a chance to shower, sleep, and wear non sand covered clothes? She wasn't on her way to the airport. No explanation is given, and I can't help but think that the author hasn't done any research past watching Katie Couric for a couple of nights. Seriously, start the book while he's on the plane and thinking what he has to do after his obligations. Or let her realize most people who have been up for 48 hours straight need a nap more than a lecture. It just seems to me that some realities could be addressed.
Oh well, I guess neither are as bad that had soldier in the title and the guy turned out to be in the navy. I was pretty sure that the Soldiers in the Army and Sailors in the Navy, didn't like being confused for one another.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
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