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Topic: Suggestions for not so steamy romances

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Subject: Suggestions for not so steamy romances
Date Posted: 10/1/2008 7:08 PM ET
Member Since: 12/21/2007
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I want to spend some of my credits on my mom and get her some books. She enjoys romance novels however she doesn't like steamy romances at all. Currently she's reading Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series and she likes that a lot. She's also read Shop on Blossom Street, etc.  I'm not necessarily looking at series books for her. She liked the sort of romance that was in Jan Karon's Mitford series too. Oh and she likes Janette Oke romances.

Anyone have any suggestions for some authors she might enjoy? I don't necessarily think she cares if it's historical or not.  She might like books with older women as the heroines.

Thanks for any help you can give me. My tastes in romance are very different than hers--I like hot, steamy scenes!

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Date Posted: 10/1/2008 9:11 PM ET
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Off the top of my head, I really enjoyed Lisa Wingate and Tamera Alexander's books.  I loved Lisa's Tending Roses series; I think Talk of the Town is stand-alone, and she's recently started a new series called the Blue Hills with the book called A Month of Summer.  Her books are contemporaries.  Tamera's are historicals; her Fountain Creek trilogy is a good one.  She's got a new series, Timber Ridge Reflections.

I'll have to give more thought to less steamy...

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Date Posted: 10/1/2008 9:17 PM ET
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Tamera Alexander, Terri Blackstock, Dee Henderson, Wanda Brunstetter, Lori Copeland, and definitely Lynn Kurland.

The novels by Alexander, Copeland and Kurland are all historicals.  The ones by Blackstock and Henderson tend to be contemporary.

Sherri

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Date Posted: 10/1/2008 9:17 PM ET
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there have been a few threads about this topic or very similar but they're probably several pages down by now..if I see them I'll bump them up for you.

Off the top of my head(since I like the hot steamy stuff!) I can think of a few that have been non-steamy or less steamy other than Debbie Macomber(I don't think any of hers have been steamy so you're probably safe with that author and luckily she's been very proficient)

Curtiss Ann Matlock - open highways and driving  lessons? I think are the 2 earlier titles then a trilogy takes place in the same small town(Oklahoma I think is the state but not sure) that take place several years later but you see some of the characters from those first 2 mentioned - cold tea on a hot day, at the corner of  love and heartache, and recipes for easy living. I liked these 3 the best though the other 2 were ok as well.

Robyn Carr's Grace Valley series is very good..reminded me a bit of Mitford but with more drama going on. Deep in the Valley, Just over the Mountain, and down by the river are the 3..the series continues with the Virgin River series but those are much more spicier whereas the Grace Valley ones I listed really aren't so much. They sound like they'd be (which fooled me!) but they were pretty good.

Destiny  Unleashed by Sherryl Woods is one I just read for ad iscussion group and nothing descriptive at least not too much in that one and is aobut a woman in her early 50s I think it is who put her life on hold and came back to the US to raise her 3 nephews and r un the family business after her brother and sil died..she and the m an she  loved didn't reconcile and now 20 years later I think it is they're hashing things out finally and trying to start over but her oldest nephew keeps trying to pull them apart,e tc. was a very good story.

if she likes the harlequin type books and doesn't mind Christian-based I recommend the Love Inspired Homecoming Heroes series that's started and continues for several more books I believe. different authors and stories take place in a small town in the Texas hill country and deal with the military/war. there's on ongoing story of alittle boy a local charity brings over for a needed heart surgery and the 3 I've read so far have done a nice job tying that story together.

Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith isn't  romance per se but it takes place in the 30's I believe about a young couple marrying with him in law school and her barely legal to marry and is very detailed about prices on items and things they go through. I really enjoyed it.(she wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn-another fave of mine!)

The Miss Julia series(nonromance) by Ann Ross is very good.

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Date Posted: 10/1/2008 9:23 PM ET
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If she likes shorter books, Silhouette Special Editions (about 250 pages) and Harlequin Romances (about 150 pages) and Harlequin Superromances (about 250 pages) are usually pretty mild reading.

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Date Posted: 10/2/2008 10:35 AM ET
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Deborah Smith, Catherine Anderson, LaVyrle Spencer.

 

Hmmm... this is hard to think about - lately I've been on a "as steamy as I can find" kick.  LOL

Michelle

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Date Posted: 10/2/2008 10:58 AM ET
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I hear that Jude Deveraux has some good ones that are more G to PG rated, but I really have no idea if they're any good or not.  I don't read anything less steamy than PG-13 myself, so I haven't read any of her books.  Lynn Kurland is good and pretty clean.  They're just too clean for me:P

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Date Posted: 10/2/2008 1:56 PM ET
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I don't remember The Countess by Catherine Coulter having any sex.  I've read a couple Edith Layton books and they had minimal sex in them. 

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Date Posted: 10/3/2008 10:47 AM ET
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Dorothy Garlock's books have very little sex but alot of good story and characters.  I have read all of her books and have never been disappointed in her stories.

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Date Posted: 10/3/2008 11:18 AM ET
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ooh I just bought a Dorothy Garlock book..my first I think...caught my eye because it was 1) at eye level 2) had my cousin's name in the title ' Marietta! so figured what the heck I'd try her. I usually like some sex in my stories but I'll know not to expect it with this one so I can read it when I'm in the mood for something tamer!

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Date Posted: 10/3/2008 2:17 PM ET
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I really like Georgette Heyer - she wrote way back when so her books are (of course) tame.

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Date Posted: 10/7/2008 9:58 PM ET
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If she likes Janette Oke, Like I do, she might really like Cathy Marie Hake.  Her books are also, considered inspirational romance. But she adds humore to hers.  I particularly like her Chance series: California Chances, Kentucky Chances, and California Brides.  I also like her newest series: Fancy Pants, Forevermore, and Whirlwind.   Letter Perfect and Bittersweet were not my favorites. 

Susan Wiggs, Lakeshore chronicles have some sex, but not much, and the focus really is the multiple storylines.  I loved them, and my preference are PG rated books.  (although, I read others, I just prefer PG!)

 

Good Luck!