Title: A Passion Most Pure
Author: Julie Lessman
Release Date: January 1st, 2008
Christian | Fiction | Historical | Romance
Purchase Link: Amazon
Blurb: She's found the love of her life.
Unfortunately, he loves her sister.
As World War I rages across the Atlantic in 1916, a smaller war is brewing in Boston. Faith O'Connor finds herself drawn to an Irish rogue who is anything but right for her. Collin McGuire is brash, cocky, and from the wrong side of the tracks, not to mention forbidden by her father. And then there's the small matter that he is secretly courting her younger sister. But when Collin's affections shift, it threatens to tear her proper Boston family apart.
A Passion Most Pure will carry your heart from the sophisticated streets of Boston to the green hills of Ireland as men go off to war and women long for their return. Full of passion, romance, rivalry, and betrayal, it will captivate you from the first page.
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My Thoughts
A Passion Most Pure lives up to its name - it's a beautiful picture of God's relentless passion for us and the purity of His love, and how God-honoring romance and marriage reflects Christ and our relationship with Him.
With Julie Lessman's beautiful prose and bold honesty, she crafts a love story like no other - the love story of a woman, the God she loves, and the two men who love her. Her characters are so real and vibrant, her writing so smooth and engaging, and the premise of her novel unlike any other. Lessman truly revolutionized Christian romance, not just for the market but for me as well!
A Word From the Author
God taught me that true romantic passion—the kind that really satisfies—can only be found when He is part of the equation. As Maya Angelou once said, “A woman’s heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him first to find her.” This is a theme I wanted to convey in A Passion Most Pure because this debut novel was my love letter to a God whose love took me from the dark into His glorious light.
Meet the Author
Julie Lessman is an award-winning author whose tagline of “Passion With a Purpose” underscores her intense passion for both God and romance. A lover of all things Irish, she enjoys writing close-knit Irish family sagas that evolve into 3-D love stories: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together.
Author of The Daughters of Boston, Winds of Change, and Heart of San Francisco series, Julie Lessman was named American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year and has garnered 18 Romance Writers of America and other awards. Voted #1 Romance Author of the year in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Readers Choice Awards, Julie was also named on Booklist’s 2010 Top 10 Inspirational Fiction and Borders Best Fiction list.
Julie’s first contemporary novel, Isle of Hope, was voted on Family Fiction magazine’s “Best of 2015” list, and Surprised by Love appeared on Family Fiction magazine’s list of “Top Ten Novels of 2014.” Her independent novel A Light in the Window is an International Digital Awards winner, a 2013 Readers' Crown Award winner, and a 2013 Book Buyers Best Award winner.
Julie has also written a self-help workbook for writers entitled Romance-ology 101: Writing Romantic Tension for the Sweet and Inspirational Markets. You can contact Julie through her website and read excerpts from each of her books at www.julielessman.com.
What are your thoughts on "edgy inspirational"? Is the edge unnecessary, or does it help portray reality? How can you balance Godly values with the effects of sin in fiction? Can passion be pure? How should romance and passion be written in Christian fiction? How does romantic passion reflect God's love for us and our intimate relationship with Christ?
Yours in spirit and script,
Grace
Romans 1:16
Ooh, sounds like an intriguing story...
Oo yes, I hope I can read this soon!! "Edgy inspirational" is definitely a genre I think should exist and though I'm sure that edgy element of it can easily become over the top or unnecessary, it still does help portray reality in a way other Christian fiction doesn't, if that makes sense. Like for all things, there needs to be a balance so you don't condone the dark stuff that comes with edgy inspirational, but like you once wrote a post about, that's where portrayal vs inclusion comes in! 😁