Just a reminder about the purpose of this group

[Danielle]

Welcome to the group, Rea. You'll find lots of clean fiction options here!

Danielle Thorne

[Joyce, Group Creator]

Hi Rea,

All readers have different sensitivity levels when it comes to sex in the books they read. The sexy books have lots of places to be promoted on Goodreads. Actually, Christian books do, too. I have nothing against Christian books (I'm Christian myself), but I don't really enjoy getting a "message" in my recreational reading. I just want to kick back and enjoy the story. Clean, secular romances have very few places of their own on Goodreads. That's why we started this group. So when you're on the hunt for a clean, secular romance, this is the place to come! :-)

[Debra]

Does this group have a button that can be added to our websites? I've been looking but don't find one. Thanks!

[Jaimey, Co-Mod]

Debra wrote: "Does this group have a button that can be added to our websites? I've been looking but don't find one. Thanks!"

If you go to the main page for this group, you'll see a tiny link under the group pic that says edit membership. Click that and you'll see the group widget, which you can adjust to best fit your blog or website.

Is that what you meant? :O)

[Debra]

Jaimey wrote: "Debra wrote: "Does this group have a button that can be added to our websites? I've been looking but don't find one. Thanks!"

If you go to the main page for this group, you'll see a tiny link unde..."

Jaimey wrote: "Debra wrote: "Does this group have a button that can be added to our websites? I've been looking but don't find one. Thanks!"

If you go to the main page for this group, you'll see a tiny link unde..."

Yes, that did it! Thanks. Decided not to use it since it contains a partial book list.

[Shirley]

I have to agree with Jennifer Shirk about Avalon Books. Avalon is a library publisher who publishes clean, secular Romance, Historical, Mystery, and Western books.

[Valerie]

I'm thrilled to find this group! I've been a fan of Lynn Kurland's books for over a decade and have re-read all of her books (even the one that just came out in May) multiple times.

I don't necessarily mind sex in the storyline occasionally, but I do prefer the clean romances and it's so hard to find the ones that are not Christian or Inspirational.

I've tried using NoveList and other sites for the author read-alikes, but the problem is they base their read-alike lists on the fact that she writes the paranormal romance and time travel romance, NOT on the fact that her romances are clean. So therefore, you get lists with like Christine Feehan who is about as far from clean as you can get without crossing the line into erotica fiction!

So I'm thrilled to find this group! Thanks for creating it! Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding some of the authors in my library and in the state-wide interlibrary loan system we have. I'm hesitant to buy the books before I've at least read one book by that author. But, I'm happy to at least have the suggestions!

[Sandie]

Valerie,
Paperback Swap is a good way to go. You post books you are willing to swap, then request ones you want. All you pay is shipping to send your books out. It saves a ton and theres great selection. Go to paperbackswap.com

[Joyce, Group Creator]

Welcome to Clean Romances, Valerie! You've found a large and supportive group of like-minded readers here. :-) I completely understand your reluctance to buy unknown authors. Sandie has an excellent suggestion with paperbackswap.com.

[Danielle]

Valerie,
Welcome, great post. As an author who believes in writing clean fiction, but is not into Inspirational, it's great to know there are readers out there interested in all of the other genres, who just want to keep it PG.

Hope you find lots of good reads on Clean Reads!

Danielle Thorne
www.daniellethorne.com

[Rebecca]

As for not finding us at the library, a bunch of us are Astraea Press authors, which is a pretty new, e-book publishing house. Our publisher is working on getting us into the e-book library system--it just takes some time for that to happen! So hopefully, you'll be able to find our books in your e-book library system soon.

[Louise]

Cheri wrote: "So how do we do that? I’ve been told as I’ve submitted my book to agents who take romance that while they liked my book, it wasn’t “industry standard”. They pretty much said it wasn’t dark enough o..."

Hi Cheri - have you considered the UK publisher DC Thompson? They publish my clean romances, which then go into large print. Give them a try. Good luck! Louise

[Louise]

Hi Cheri - you don't need an agent. Check out my free e-book offer & you will see that they love clean fiction. (Offer is open to everyone by the way). Just send in 3 chapters and a synopsis & your email address, and they will let you know if they like the books. Around 30k for My Weekly, 55k for The People's Friend. If they accept, the stories come out in magazine type format, but you can then see if the large print firms are interested and I've a few titles taken by Italian magazines, so it is worth it - oh, and you keep the e-rights as well.
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[Susan]

Interesting niche for this group... I know of one wonderful novel that might fit the bill--your call. It's NEVER THE BRIDE by Cheryl McKay & Rene Gutteridge. It has that whole "Bruce Almighty" thing going on, with mainstream, non-preachy appeal even though God is a character. You might want to check it out. It's a big favorite of mine and it's on its way to becoming a mainstream movie.

[Joyce, Group Creator]

Susan wrote: "Interesting niche for this group... I know of one wonderful novel that might fit the bill--your call. It's NEVER THE BRIDE by Cheryl McKay & Rene Gutteridge. It has that whole "Bruce Almighty" thin..."

Thank you, Susan. If anyone else has or does read NEVER THE BRIDE, please chime in here and let me now what you think. Would it fit on our bookshelf or not?

Susan, since we're unsure, you're welcome to recommend NEVER THE BRIDE in our List of Clean Romances on Goodreads thread and see if you can get a discussion going. http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

[Donna]

I'm excited to find your group! Thanks for letting me join. The books I love to read, and the book I'm in the process of writing is exactly what your group is about - clean romance. Hurray! Glad to hear there are others who like those kinds of books, too.

[Joyce, Group Creator]

So glad to have you with us, Donna. You'll find a lot of support for your reading AND writing here. :-)

[Donna]

Joyce wrote: "So glad to have you with us, Donna. You'll find a lot of support for your reading AND writing here. :-)"

Thank you, Joyce. I'm looking forward to exploring what is going on in this group more!

[Diane]

Is there a place where I can post links to some of my books? I just got the rights back to most of my Signet backlist and am bringing them out on Kindle (and some print versions as well). Sorry if this is not an appropriate place to post this question-!

Diane Farr
"...will remind readers why sweet is sometimes better." - Publisher's Weekly

[Joyce, Group Creator]

Diane, the best thing to do is to put your books on our group bookshelf. Be sure to assign them to a sub-genre shelf (contemporary, historical, etc) so they can easily be located by readers looking for your sub-genre. Also, when you add your books, if you'll assign a "finished reading" date to them later than the ones currently on the shelf, the covers will be bumped to the top of the visual shelf. At least until somebody adds a book read after that date.

Also you can start a thread with links under the Author Promotions & Excerpts topic.

Hope this helps. :-)

Joyce

[Diane]

Thank you, Joyce! I'll get on it this evening. :)

[Cindy]

I'm happy to hear that Diane Farr's books are coming out as e-books. I'm quite sure I already own all of her work, but I know there are many people out there who will love to discover her - she's definitely one of my favorite authors!

[Collette]

I am absolutely thrilled to have found this group! I write clean romance and am so excited that there is a group that supports that. Thank you very much for allowing me to join. I really look forward to learning and interacting with you all.

[Joyce, Group Creator]

We're so glad to have you with us, Collette!

[Margaret]

I am so glad to find this group!! This is just the kind of novels I write, but have a hard time finding a home for. (I write the type of romance that makes my boyfriend roll his eyes, but that I can also let my daughter read.) Thanks for this page, I have already looked at some of the books others have suggested and I’m sure I will enjoy reading them. I have posted my book, Taking the Fall, if anyone is interested.

[Collette]

I said the same thing, Margaret! It's a nice feeling, isn't it? :) Welcome!

[Margaret]

Collette wrote: "I said the same thing, Margaret! It's a nice feeling, isn't it? :) Welcome!"

Thanks Collette. I just checked out your books. (Looks like you’ve had a busy year. Congrats!) They look terrific! I’ll have to pick one up sometime soon. I’m excited for “If we dare to dream.” It sounds very good. I wish you much success.

[Jaimey, Co-Mod]

Welcome to the group, Margaret! :O)

[Joyce, Group Creator]

Welcome, Margaret! We're so glad to have you join us!

[Christine]

Cheri wrote: "I must say I agree with Joyce here. I think there is a major hole in the market for mainstream sweet/clean romance.

Religion varies so much, and while I have enjoyed Christian romance in the pas..."

I agree with Cheri! While I enjoy Christian fiction because they tend to be clean and sweet, they do often espouse theological ideas that I do not agree with and those can really make an enjoyable book awkward for me! Best of luck with your road to publication.

Thanks for creating a group for books like this!

[Amy]

Hi,
I am new to this group. I am a new author in the process of writing my first romance novel, which is a 'Clean Romance.' I was worried that there may not be a market for it, but now I am excited because I see a lot of people feel the same way I do!

To me, the word 'Romance' means the emphasis on the courtship (the most exhilarating and addicting part). Sure the intimacy is exciting too, as long as it's kept private. It may be weird, but during the erotic scenes of some of the popular romances, I feel like the character's right to intimacy is being violated as if I am a voyeur. Therefore, in a 'Clean Romance' the story holds the relationship sacred and intimate. If it is written well, the development of the 'romance' as well as the characters, should be enough to hold the reader's attention.

And that is why I enjoy reading (and writing) a 'Clean Romance.'

Thanks for forming this group!

Amy Richland

[Joyce, Group Creator]

We're excited that you've joined us, Amy! You are definitely not alone in your love for clean romances. Good luck with your novel. The world needs more clean romance!

[Jennifer]

Hi, Amy. Congrats on you writing!

I think the market of clean romances is growing. There was an article a few months ago in RT Magazine about how sweet romances are gaining popularity and now Harlequin even added another sweet line called Harlequin Heartwarming.

So we're obviously not alone, which makes me happy to see. :)

[Jessica]

well when I think about the clean romance novels that don't have sex scenes or bad langauge in it but then I
love Romance novels that has a hero or somebody doing somtheing nice for someone else than themselves now that is service.

[Darcy]

Amy, I didn't realize that about Harlequin. That's encouraging! :)

Joy Dent w/a Darcy Flynn

[Zee]

Hi everyone!

Just joined today - really interested by the 'clean' factor of romance here :)

Btw, I'm Zee, and a romance author. My works range from clean to steamy, but rest assured I'm not pimping them here. *grin*

Just a q - when you mention 'clean' romance here, does closed-door love scenes count as clean, or do you all prefer books where there isn't even a mention of a love scene?

Thanks, & I'm looking forward to meeting ye all and making friends

[Darcy]

Hi Zee,

I'm fairly new to the group, too. I've been lurking mostly to see how this group works.:) I'm a new author and still haven't figured out if we're allowed to talk about our book or not.:)

So welcome! I look forward to getting to know you, as well!

Darcy

[Zee]

Hi Darcy

Thanks for the welcome. I'm definitely sticking along, but I'd love if someone answered that q :)

[Joyce, Group Creator]

Welcome, Zee and Darcy! We're so glad you've joined us!

Zee, keep the bedroom door firmly closed for this group. :-) And the lead up to the closed door shouldn't be too graphic. We had some books on our shelves where the hero and heroine did everything just short of having sex, presented in a very explicit way, but because they "stopped short", the author thought the books were clean. Naturally, that's a judgment call, but our readers were uncomfortable with it, so we removed those books from our shelves.

Darcy, yes, you may talk about your books here. By all means!

And both of you, feel free to add your books to our group bookshelf, as long as they fit the parameters described in our Group Description. :-)

[Darcy]

Thank you Joyce! :)

[Zee]

Thanks Joyce!

I think one of my books will fit right in here then - I was going for the 'clean' feel too, basically something I could give my teen niece to read without feeling any need to blush or go for the 'talk' :)

It's this one, btw , an old-fashioned, sweet romance between an uptight forensic pathologist who lands herself a tween girl all of a sudden, and their relationship with the handsome (but younger!) country doctor who lives next door :)

[Joyce, Group Creator]

Sounds good, Zee. :-)

[Darcy]

Joyce,

My sweet romance, Keeper Of My Heart, comes out Wednesday February the 8th. How do I add it to the bookshelf? Do I just add it to the bookshelf when it comes out? I noticed the bookshelf asks for an isbn number. Do e-books have isbn numbers? My book will be an e-book first and later on a paperback.

Thanks,
Darcy

[Joyce, Group Creator]

HI Darcy,

How excited you must be about your new book! Congratulations! Yes, first wait until if appears on Goodreads. No, don't worry about an isbn number. Once it appears on Goodreads, all you have to do is:

(1) go to our Clean Romances group
(2) scroll down to the bookshelf
(3) click on "Add more books" (just below the bookshelf). That will take you to a search box that will allow you to search for your book by author or title. (Again, you don't need the isbn to add the book).
(4) Type your book in the search box (and hit search ;-) )
(5) You'll get a box to the right of the book cover that says "add to group." Click on that and, voila!, your books is added to our shelf. :-)

A couple of notes. If once your book is added, you click on "edit" underneath your book cover and put the "finished reading" date to the current date, it'll bump your book cover to the top of the shelf. You can also click on "choose shelves" and assign it to the subgenres where it would fit best, so that group members interested in that/those subgenres will be able to find it more quickly. :-)

I hope this makes sense. Let me know if you have any problems and I'll try to walk you through it some more.

[Darcy]

Thanks Joyce! That doesn't sound too hard! lol

Darcy

[Zee]

Joyce wrote: "Sounds good, Zee. :-)"

Thanks Joyce :)

[Ginger]

Hello Ladies!

Finally a place where I feel I fit in! My name is Ginger Myrick, and I am new to the writing scene. I released my first novel, El Rey: A Novel of Renaissance Iberia, in Nov. 2011, and I still have trouble classifying it. It is an historical fiction with a romance at the core, so I suppose that makes it historical romance. The only problem is what that tag has come to signify. I cringe everytime I use the word in association with my book. It is a sweet, classic period romance that takes place in 16th century Portugal and Spain. Hope some of you will check it out. Thank-you all.

[Joyce, Group Creator]

It sounds wonderful, Ginger! We have many wonderful clean historical romance authors and readers here, so you are in very good company and are very welcome here!

[Ginger]

Just got done looking through the group discussion list, and I have to say that Joyce, Jaimey, and Kiki have done a fabulous job of organizing our little home. Again, thank-you. Your efforts are VERY much appreciated!

[Joyce, Group Creator]

I freely admit, I'm surrounded by geniuses. Jaimey and Kiki...my right and left hands in this group!