Inspirational Romance…A True Call to Action by Kristin Wallace

This month I get to be a “special guest blogger”, I suppose, as Romancing the Genres spotlights inspirational romance…I write inspirational as well as mainstream contemporary romance, though even those tend to be “sweet”. I often describe them as “1 ½ Shades of Grey” and that seems to work (I get a good chuckle out of most people when I say that, too.)

Although I do have a strong Christian faith, I never thought I would write inspirational. I had an impression (perhaps an unfair one) of Christian romance as overly sappy or preachy. The covers I saw always featured some girl who looked like an extra from Little House on the Prairie, and she invariably had this serene stare. That just wasn’t the kind of book I wrote or read. My books had snark and humor and sassy heroines.

Then I had this idea for a book. At first all I knew about the story was that my heroine never wanted to get married (in fact she hated weddings), but she somehow winds up running a wedding planning business. I then spent a long time trying to figure out “…the rest of the story” as the great Paul Harvey used to say.

Who is this woman?

Why is she so cynical about marriage?

Why is she running this wedding planning business?

And most importantly…who could be the love interest?

It knew he had to be someone she’d run into a lot while she was planning weddings. Then one day I stumbled upon the answer…a minister! Then an amazing thing happened. The story practically came together in an instant. Suddenly, I knew exactly who my heroine was; I knew her past, why she would take on the business. I knew his past, too. Along with the plot came an entire fictional Southern town called Covington Falls.

And with the idea to have the hero be a minister, I realized the story could be an inspirational romance. It could be funny and sweet and snarky, but still had a positive faith message. I could write an inspirational story I would want to read and that hopefully others would, too…even if they weren’t religious. That book became my first published novel, MARRY ME.

The creation of my fictional town led to a series, Covington Falls Chronicles. I ended up writing four books. Each focuses on a different couple, but previous characters do pop up as secondary ones in later books.

I’m very proud of all four books. I think they manage to be both funny and emotional, while carrying a faith message that is uplifting, healing and focuses on the fact that God always has a plan for your life. I think (and hope) it’s a message that resonates with readers of all spectrums. I’ve had some readers say they would move to Covington Falls if it existed, lol

I hope to write more Covington Falls books some day, but until then I hope you can check out these wonderful, funny, inspiring books. Visit my website Kristin Wallace Author for book descriptions and buy links. Or if you’re a Kindle reader you can find all of them on my Amazon Author Page.  

Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Bestselling Author of inspirational and contemporary romance filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”.