A year and a half ago I posted the following. It has consistently gotten more hits than anything else I’ve ever run. I think that’s pretty interesting. Apparently, Christian sex is a hot topic. So what do you think? Are Christians too quiet about God’s gift of intimacy between husband and wife? Should we talk it up more? In my experience, readers are certainly interested . . .
Oct. 24, 2011 – I just finished Courting Morrow Little–Laura Frantz’s second novel. I loved it almost as much as The Frontiersman’s Daughter, which I wrote about here. While I liked Lael Click’s character and story a smidgen more than I did Morrow Little’s, the second book did outpace the first in one area. Romance. Hot, married, Christian romance. And by romance I mean S-E-X.
How about this from page 314 of Courting Morrow Little?
“He took his time, his mouth moving along the damp wisps of her hairline to her ear. Breathless, she freed his hair of its leather tie till it spilled like a black waterfall onto the thin fabric of her nightshift. Oh, but she’d forgotten how sweet he could be . . . how unerringly gentle, even gallant. She felt like a bride again and shut her eyes, remembering how he’d held her that very first time, beside all that rushing water. Only now, with time against them, it was sweeter still.”
This is a passionate scene between two people who are deeply in love, who long for one another, who are . . . married. I won’t tell you which two–you’ll have to read the book. And frankly, the fact that they’re married makes this scene even sexier in my opinion.
All Frantz gives us is kissing and unbound hair and a thin nightshift. There’s nothing scandalous, nothing titillating. Nothing like the romance novels I used to sneak when I was in high school. And I vastly prefer Frantz’s love scenes to those much more explicit ones.
Is there sex in Christian fiction? Absolutely. Just like there’s sex in Christian marriages. Hot, lusty, fabulous sex between two people who have pledged their lives to one another before God. It’s not crude, it’s not lewd–it’s just lovely.
I highly recommend Courting Morrow Little. And I highly recommend sex as God intended it–between husbands and wives.
James 1:17 – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
TWEET IT: My most popular blog post ever–SEX in Christian fiction. Click to tweet.
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I love this post enough to share it on Facebook, but I can’t. Why? Because 3 of my 4 kids would see me posting about hot married sex. Annnnnnnd umm, not gonna post it! What I learned about writing steamy scenes, I learned from Laura.
Oh, that made me giggle. Yeah, kids is a whole other thing!
Ha–Sarah, you and Becky were on the same wavelength today (the Married…with Fiction post). Intimacy in marriage isn’t something to be ashamed of–it’s a reflection of our intimacy with Christ. Something we don’t share. Love your post today, and all for married relationships being portrayed in fiction!!! I have to read Laura’s book.
Oh, do read all of them! Her books are gorgeous.
Ah this post caught me and trapped me and made my smile. nothing left to do but leave a comment! 🙂 I adore Laura’s way of writing and how she can weave a romance in a very powerful way. I was just telling my husband about Love’s Reckoning (we were in the car so my hubs couldn’t escape) 😀 but just HOW romantic it is in the subtlest of ways. Such beautiful writing. I have not read CML but I have it on my kindle and it has been calling my name for the longest time! It’s calling just a WEE bit louder now!!
You’re going to love it. And as for writing beautiful love stories, you’re none too shabby yourself!
Unless it’s absolutely vital for the plot, I’d prefer that sex be left out – and I never write about it.
One main reason – the characters need their privacy. If they’re believable to be worth reading – and writing about, they’re ‘real’ enough to deserve that which we would want for ourselves, at least in erms of dignified treatment.
It’s like with friends – I’m glad they have an intimate relationship, but I don’t want to know a thing about it.
That’s certainly a valid way of looking at it, but I think you’d find most Christian romance writers treat intimacy in a very dignified way. Also, among women at least, I know we sometimes have delightfully frank conversations about sex. In the right context, it can be completely appropriate and even enlightening.
ANdrew, spoken like a true male. “LALALALALA say nothing mushy LALALALALA”.