Poll

Try Nadine Brandes!

The Riverbend Friends series is fantastic if you haven’t read it. It follows four teenage girls as they struggle through high school. I adore the series.

Check out Enclave Publishing! They publish exclusively speculative fiction with Christian themes/parallels. It's all clean, and I've found so many 4 or 5-star reads from them! I would also suggest The Cinderella Plot by Pepper Basham and Calculated by Nova McBee.

The Nightingale trilogy by J.J. Fischer is FANTASTIC!!! One of my favorite series of all time. The author is a psychologist, and I feel like that makes the emotional aspect of the series just as good as the adventure is.
I’ve also heard a ton of good things about the Ravenwood Saga by Morgan L. Busse.
I also really enjoyed Heart of Red, Blood of Blue by Rebecca Belliston. The faith content wasn’t my favorite, but it is considered “Christian fantasy” 🤷‍♀️

CS Lewis is a great option if you’re wanting to read more Christian based books! He wrote narnia which is always a fun read but I personally love The Screw Tape letters and Mere Christianity by him best!

I LOVE THE RAVENWOOD SAGA. Favorite series of all time. Heart of Red, Blood of Blue was SO good too!

What Keira said!! Enclave has published some of my favorite books!!

There's this book trilogy by D. Marie and it's AMAZING!! The first book is called Journey to the Glass Hill. There's romance, struggles with Christian faith, forgiveness. It's really underrated, but so good imo!

These are some books! I’ve read all of them, and they’re all five stars of mine! They all have very pretty covers as well, because I know sometimes Christian books covers can scare people away lol.
I categorized them for you so you could see what genres they were as well. One thing to note is that I did add some that are just clean books, written by people that are Christian. Some of them have like a God figure in the story it’s just not explicitly stated that it’s God or Jesus :)

Fantasy:
Truth cursed
Oathbound
Nightweaver
Blood and flame saga
Sons of day and night
Saints and monsters
Fawkes
The scarlet star
Winter souls series
Cities of smoke and starlight
Embergold
What comes of attending the commoners ball
Mortal queens
Dream by the shadows

Sci fi:
Star lore legacy
Suspended in the stars

Romance:
My favorite color is your something blue
My favorite color is the golden hour

Middle grade:
Best family ever
Anne of green gables

Girl, I've got you:
Anything by Ashley Willingham. Her retellings are pretty romance centered, but they are good. Her War of Crowns trilogy is really good, though, with political intrigue, a slowburn romance plot, heavy Christian themes, etc.
I've been reading the Ravenwood Saga by Morgan L. Busse, it's pretty good. Book 2 has one brief fade-to-black scene but the characters are married at least lol.
Alli Earnest's Gate Chronicles are not explicitly Christian but she is one, so they are clean. They are sci-fi/fantasy, and I'm totally in love with the MMC lol. This one was never very fluffy lol.
House by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker is super good, but it is sorta dark and def a Christian psychological thriller. Dekker's "Bride Collector" is great but also very dark and a bit more explicit in terms of serial killers, r*pe being mentioned, etc; the Christian side in this one wasn't my favorite, but it was still good. His book "Kiss" was also good.
Wormwood Abbey by Christina Baehr is cozy Christian fiction with dragons. It was cute and a lot of fun because I didn't have to worry about content.
Okay, there's my current list. If you have questions, let me know lol.

Melanie Dickerson had good books
Tim Shoemaker is awesome start with code of Silence

Anything T.I. Lowe

Shades of Starlight by B.L, Dean!!!

Melanie Dickerson is good!! 💕

The Scarlet Star series by Jennifer Kropf is SO GOOD
It’s like Beauty and the Beast combined with Esther and a strong FMC

Medieval/Fantasy:
Knights of Arrethtrae series by Chuck Black
MARKED series by Given Hoffman
Ilyon Chronicles series by Jaye L. Knight (I only read the first 3 books, had to stop because I was WAY too obsessed, but they were pretty good)
Thieves of Arkrindon series by Jaiden Phillips
Tales of Veridon series by yours truly :)
A Noble Comfort by Katja Labonte (SOOOOO GOOD!)
A Noble Companion by Rachel Kovaciny (it's got like a Spanish California setting, which is really cool!)

Scifi
Starlore series by Chuck Black (listening to the first book on audio)
Energematrice6: The Epimyth series by Jared Michaud

Thriller(ish?):
The Eighth Ransom by Given Hoffman

Historical:
Ancient Rome
The Fire and the Trial series by Savannah Jane McCrary
Thunder of Time by yours truly :)
American Revolution/1700s
For Liberty and Conscience series by Jayna Baas
The Treasure Beyond by yours truly (PIRATES!)
Old West
King of Hearts by yours truly :)
WWII
Trains and Tulips by Savannah Jane McCrary (can't recommend highly enough!!)
We Gave Our Tomorrows by yours truly :)
(Savannah and I are actually running a blog party May 1-9 to celebrate both books, including giveaways!)

Classic:
Lamplighter Publishing has reprinted a lot of books written from the 1700s-early 1900s. They also have audio dramas of some which are really good!
Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott
Ben-Hur by General Lew Wallace

Middle Grade:
Sugar Creek Gang series by Paul Hutchens

I'll let you know if I come up with more!
Also really none of these are romantic, A Noble Companion has some sweet romance but it's not the main plot, and Ilyon Chronicles has an engaged couple and some ships (as far as I read), but that's pretty much it 💪 (I'm an unromantic girlie lol 😛)

Lynn h Blackburn writes really awesome romantic suspense stories!

Francine Rivers and T.I. Lowe write amazing christian romance

escape from the everglades by Tim Shoemaker

Lidnsay Franklins, story peddler 🫶 Is so good! AND the RAVENWOOD SAGA...

okay try anything courtney walsh. shes a christian author and her romance novels are so good and they dont have any spice and the cringiness is not so excessive i especially love the holidays with hart trilogy!

So it IS a romance, but There You'll Find Me is SOOOO good!!!! You should definitely read that one!!

Sooo I know romance isn’t your favorite but Pepper Basham is so good specifically her Skymar series! And then for a thriller i read one book by Lynette Eason called Double Take and it was pretty good actually!

Okok soo it's not a fiction but Passion and Purity is suchhhh a FIRE read and it changed my life so fs that one and C.S Lewis is really good too if you're looking for something such intellectual :3

The Choosing (Seer trilogy) by Rachelle Dekker is such a great Christian dystopian! It definitely did not feel cringey/fluffy, and it had great themes with a romance as a side plot (but not major)

Nadine Brandes is also great!

So is Morgan L. Busse! She does great accurate medieval fantasies that feel really realistic!

Not all these are explicitly Christian, but they're all clean fantasies!! So no spice or language, but there may be a closed-door or fade-to-black. (Some of these are on my TBR but I know they're clean)

Mark of the Raven and just the entire trilogy and anything else by the author
Fifth Fjord (kinda dark & a little steamy, but really good)
Wishtress (and again, anything by the author)
Heart of Red, Blood of Blue (SOOOO GOOOD!!! it is kinda dark tho)
On Wings of Ash and Dust
Flameheart (it's so good. It's like Narnia meets Shadowhunters)
Halo My Heart: A Portal Romantasy
Wishing Stars (OMG THIS IS MY MOST FAVORITE SERIES EVERRRRR. Just be prepared to cry your eyes out. Highly recommend)
A War of Crowns
Crown of Secrets (this series was okay, but you might like it, idk XD)
Flame Theory (and anything by this author looks good. Everyone loves her)
Wings of Wren (this comes out really soon and it's one of my favorite books)
When the Day Comes
This Rotting Heart
Dragon Thief
On the Edge of the Forgotten Sea
Frost Light
The Huntress
Guardian
Quarter Labyrinth
Mortal Queens

You have permission to stalk my TBR and favorite's shelf if you'd like 😂 I have a lot of books saved. Not everything on TBR may be clean, but most of it is

ANYTHING Tolkien or Lewis!!

Thank you all SO MUCH!!! I’ll for sure be checking all these out :)

LOTR, The Hobbit, Narnia, Till We Have Faces, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Green Ember, anything from the Cornerstone series, anything by Melanke Dickerson, The Girl Who Could See, and anything from Enclave Publishing (especially Kara Swanson lolol)

All of Frank Peretti books are really good Christian thrillers! Nicole Deese also has AMAZING ROMANCE

THE BOY WHO FELL FROM THE STARS BY TED AND RACHEL DEKKER ITS SUCH A GOO TRILOGY

Not sure if you've read any of my books, but they are romance, just very different from the cheesiness that is usually expected in romance. I focus a lot more on the relationships rather than the physical attractions. I do like romance, but some of my favorite more depthy authors are Heather Wood (historical Christian), Jennifer Q. Hunt (also Historical), D.E. Stevenson (classics but also some Christian themes sometimes and really thoughtful), Abigail Wilson (historical romance and mystery), Heather Norman Smith (Christian fiction). Hope that helps!

Jamie Ogle’s books!

Girl, I have *such* a hard time finding literature written by Christians that isn't extremely cringey/cheesy, poorly written, or has (obviously this is all just in my opinion) bad theology. It's one of the many reasons I value Jane Eyre and books by C.S. Lewis so much.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell is really lovely in its portrayal of faith and relationship with God.

Obviously, you already know about my books, but I do really think you'd love We Were Gods. The Light Beyond the Sky has some really beautiful/intense themes. The last two Firedark books are quite loaded (not sure if you know that all of those books are KU atm?), and a number of my others...

Anyway. Sorry to not be more of a help! I'm forever seeking more good books in this category.

But yes, North and South is just beautiful. Really thoughtful, moving story, and perhaps the best written characters I've ever read.

the Viking Quest series by Lois Walfrid Johnson is about a teenage girl in Ireland who gets captured during a Viking raid. There is SOME romance but its mostly a side plot. She is a Christian and that's a big part of the story

the Jennie McGrady series by Patricia H. Rushford is a mystery series with some romance, dives into deep topics and the main character is Christian

and although many people have already mentoned it, the Out of Time series by Nadine Brandes. It has some romance but it's a pretty good dystopian/sci-fi

I enjoy historical Christian fiction and Christian suspense. If you’re interested please let me know. Also, The Timeless series by Gabrielle Meyer is my all time favorite ever. I’m 67.

You've probably already read these, but I'm commenting them anyway XD:

Anne of Green Gables

Little Women

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Lord of the Rings

Melanie Dickerson/Melanie Cellier (I think I've heard that they're both Christian authors who write fairytale retellings/historical fiction)

the Secrets of Blue Hill Library by Emily Thomas

•The Elizabeth Gail series (so it’s kinda.... I don’t know what the right word is, it’s just not amazing, it’s kinda old, and there’s typos, but it’s Christian)
•The Left Behind series (I think you might actually really like these, I didn’t love them, but I know a ton of people that do, and it’s basically about the Rapture)

Ok ok so you HAVE to read The Wilderking Trilogy!!!! The first book is called The Bark Of The Bog Owl, and ik its an odd name but it is about David from David & Goliath from when he is a shepherd to when he becomes king and it is SOOOOO GOOD! Like, some people might think "Well it about david so its boring but at first I didn't realize it was from the bible until smt happened and then it all clicked and I was like "YAAY!!!" It is kinda like Narnia but more interesting and a little more modern style writing, tho the book is more midevil ish but not really. Sorry that's a really bug run on sentence lol.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I don't want romance or the cringe. I'll have to think on it -- maybe some memories of fitting books will surface.

Narnia
The Baxter Family Children series
Sian Ann Bessy is also a Christian author if you want to check her out
Ether Hatch, Joanna Barker, and Jessica Day George are also Christian authors if you want to check them out as well!!

Heirs of Neverland!

#1. The Tree by Denise Mallet.

It's an adventure story set in a Christian fantasy world. The story is really good. (There are some darker elements in it, but they're handled fairly well. It's not gratuitously dark.)

#2. Sword and Serpent by Taylor Marshall.

It's an adventure story about early Christians being persecuted in the Roman Empire.

Camilla (Skyelights unite) wrote: "Narnia
The Baxter Family Children series
Sian Ann Bessy is also a Christian author if you want to check her out
Ether Hatch, Joanna Barker, and Jessica Day George are also Christian authors if you ..."

I didn't know Jessica Day George was Christian! I love her books!

Wishtress
The Wonderland Trials
Vivid

Frank Paretti if you‘re in the mood for a good creep out.

I really recommend anything by Lynn Austin