My Favorite Historical Romance Author
Or how I found my first Laura Frantz book at the library and fell in love with inspirational historical romance novels (again).
In middle and high school, I read a lot of angsty teenage romance books a la Meg Cabot and Sarah Dessen. I watched The Princess Diaries and then became hooked on the book series (perhaps an out-of-order way to approach things, but an order I’ve reverted back to many times since for a variety of different book/TV show/movie combos).
While I like to think that those were the first books that got me into reading romance, they were, in fact, a mere stepping stone to the type of romance I discovered a bit later in life after my mother introduced me to some of her favorite romance books.
As I mentioned previously, my mother loved reading inspirational or Christian romances like the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oak or Lori Copeland’s Western romances. Those are just some examples of the many books that still sit perched on the massive bookshelf in my parents’ bedroom — a bookshelf that I stole from starting with the aforementioned Love Comes Softly series over a decade ago.
Suffice it to say that reading these series started my own sort of love affair — with books. Yes, I’m a nerd who just said I’m in love with books, but at this point in my life I’m no longer ashamed of it.
So it might not be any surprise to learn that my favorite sweet romance novelist falls into the inspirational/Christian category. It’s a category — not quite a genre, I suppose, but an important distinction, nonetheless, that I still revert to reading often. These days, my inspirational historical romances are a palette cleanser after I read a twisty psychological thriller for my book club or finish a romantasy series that required far too much of my imagination (yes, that’s a word and a subgenre — and something I plan to write more about later).
But all that to say, inspirational romance is still something I come back to again and again, and again. I’ve even tried my hand at writing a contemporary one (perhaps more on that to come as well).
After reading all of this, it’s probably no surprise, then, to learn that my favorite author falls into the inspirational fiction category. Indeed, one of my most-read authors of all time (I have every single one of her books on my shelf right now) writes inspirational romance — and some of my absolute favorite books.
Romance Lovers Anonymous, I’d like to introduce you to my favorite historical romance author, Laura Frantz.
Never count out the library
Before I wax poetic about my love for Laura Frantz’s books, I want to tell you a little story about how I stumbled upon her books because I did, indeed, stumble upon them.
It was a dark and stormy night… Just kidding. It was a stickily hot summer day, actually, not yet a year after I had moved into my first apartment. I’ve always hated summer (please don’t take that personally. Unless you are summer personified — in that case, take it very personally. I’m already over summer 2024 and it’s not even July! Boo hoo.) and on this particularly random summer day in 2018, I was bored. Summer often leaves me feeling bored, uninspired, disinterested — pick a negative or lackluster emotion and I likely have felt it during the summer months. But on this particular day, I decided to do something about it.
So I drove over to the nearest branch of my local library and decided to peruse. Inside the air-conditioned stacks under the “Adult Fiction” sign, I walked and read the spines of paperbacks, my head turned awkwardly to the side to decipher each title. I simply looked for anything that caught my eye — some pretty script, an author I recognized from something or someone who had recommended them, an intriguing color or design that leaped out at me.
Soon enough, I found myself taking a book off of the shelf, the script and color standing out for some unknown, though perhaps fateful, reason. I had found one of Laura Frantz’s books, which taught me that covers actually do matter.
I do, indeed, judge books by their covers (please don’t judge me too harshly on this revelation)
And Laura Frantz’s Love’s Reckoning cover with its golden sky and serious-looking historical maiden caught my eye along with the other two books in The Ballantyne Legacy series. While this book does fall right in line with the typical inspirational historical romance covers you’ll find lining the shelves at any Christian bookstore, it’s definitely a bit prettier than many. And Laura Frantz’s newer books are even more gorgeous.
So yes, the reason I found my favorite author was largely to do with judging her books by their covers. Sue me — I love a pretty cover!
My favorite Laura Frantz books
While the covers and a hot summer day may be what originally attracted me to Laura Frantz’s historical romance books, her writing and characters are what made me become a long-term fan! Frantz has a way of drawing me into her characters’ lives and writes some especially tantalizing slow-burn romances — my absolute favorite. As an added bonus, while there’s definitely lots of romantic tension and incredible descriptions of both the hero and heroine, her books aren’t particularly steamy.
The Ballantyne Legacy series is actually Laura Frantz’s only series — most of her books are standalone novels, though many of them occur in similar settings and time periods. Here are a few of my favorites if you’d like to start reading but want to start with a standalone novel instead of the Ballantyne trilogy:
The Mistress of Tall Acre (this one includes one of my favorite romance tropes — a marriage of convenience.)
Who is your favorite sweet romance author? (Bonus points if it’s someone at least a little bit obscure and involves some historical drama)
I’d love to get recommendations about other authors to add to my to-read list. That list is long, but I can always add a few more books! Speaking of which, after reminiscing about Meg Cabot, it turns out there are a few more of her books I want to read in the future, too…
