It's a Carnival!!

Who doesn't love carnivals???

Amy over at My Friend Amy is hosting a weekly carnival every Saturday for lovers of Christian fiction. And today is the first one!!!

Go on over to Amy's to see how to join in and also to check out everyone's answers!! (...after you leave a comment on my post, of course! ;o) )

This week the question is:

Why do you read and review Christian fiction? Do you exclusively read Christian fiction or do you also read general market books?

Part 1...

Actually, for me it all happened out of the blue. A year ago I had never read Christian fiction. Not. One. Book. And I only vaguely knew it even existed. Then I thought it'd probably be cheesy anyway (or worse...preachy!).

But let me back up for just a second...I used to LOVE reading and I read a lot. Then college happened (too many text books and classes to pass), then marriage and kids happened (too many parenting books and tons of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See"...I have them memorized!).

My sis-in-law sent me home with The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers and I finally read it over Christmas last year...my first Christian fiction and I LOVED it. Not at all what I expected!

Last year I started a blog and just posted about things happening with us so that our friends and family could keep up (we had moved 1300 miles away). So a few months ago, on one of my many turn frustration to humor posts I get a comment from a publicist asking if I was interested in reviewing Christian books.

What? What's that? People do that?

I had no clue.

So I said sure!!

And that one thing has fueled in me a love of Christian fiction and the desire to get the word out to others about it. I find it very refreshing to get absorbed in a good, clean story. No profanity. No sexual content. No graphic violence. There's enough of that in the world.

When I read, I get pulled in. I relate to characters and I feel like I'm right there with them. And with Christian fiction I can relax and allow myself to do just that. I know I won't get broadsided with something offensive.

Now, don't mistake a "good, clean story" with "boring," which is what I thought. Most Christian fiction is far from that. I've read plenty edge-of-your-seat books that are not preachy but get their point across. Something I was pleasantly surprised with in reading Christian fiction is the lessons I learn from it. Not in a "cram it down your thoat" sort of way, but in a gentle "oh, I needed to hear that, too" sort of way.

So, because I've fallen in love with Christian fiction I am excited to let others know what's out there. I think there's a stigma attached to Christian fiction that says it's boring, cheesy, or preachy (like I thought), but it's FAR from that. There are some amazing authors out there and I want others to discover them too.

Ok, part 2...

Lately I'd only been reading Christian fiction, trying to keep up with my reviews. But I have started reading some general market books now too. There are a lot of really great general market books that are very moving and not offensive, but I don't know that until I read it. So when I read general market I never know if I'm going to get slapped on the next page.

I feel like there aren't just a whole lot of Christians who review general market (that I know of, anyway...if you're one of them, please leave me a comment!). I'd like to start reviewing some general market books as well so that I can let other Christians know what to expect...things that are important to Christians. I don't want to turn down a book because it "might" be offensive. Because it "might" turn out to be one of my favorites just as easily. I can always put an offensive book down and move on...and let you know why I put it down.