Every morning my lifelong friend, Michelle, awakens to the light just before dawn. She takes her coffee out onto her reading porch overlooking the herb and flower garden she and her husband lovingly planted. Beyond the garden she can see placid waters of Philips Lake.
Michelle sips her coffee, watches the sun rise turning the lake waters pink and lovely, and says a thank you prayer. She opens her Bible and her daily devotional. She reads her Bible then writes in her prayer journal. This is a habit she has practiced for twenty five years, and one that was passed down to her from her grandmother and mother, and probably women of faith for many generations before.
After writing in her journal and praying, Michelle takes time for her passion: novel reading. She picks up the latest Love Inspired novel. On some mornings she travels back in time with a Love Inspired Historical, on other mornings, she reads an edge-of-her-seat suspense. On many mornings, she reads the sweetly uplifting contemporaries marketed as simply Love Inspired.
Michelle reads the Love Inspired Line—and recommends them to her daughter–because Love Inspired novels tell the stories of men and women of faith who struggle with real issues and do their best to walk the sometimes difficult walk of faith. These are Bible reading, church going, praying characters.
So why is it that when I told a friend of mine at church that I write for Harlequin’s inspirational line he said,
“Isn’t that an oxymoron?”
As if writing for an imprint of Harlequin can mean only one thing: sizzling sex.
I wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. I’m a writer, not a speaker, and while my husband would have been quick to respond with something witty and true, I had nothing.
Here is what I know. The writers I know who write for the Love Inspired line are women of faith who write books to uplift and inspire.
When I asked some of the top writers of the line why they write for love inspired, here is what they said.
Award winning writer, Margaret Daly, author of over 92 books, says this about writing for Love Inspired:
Love Inspired books are about people of faith facing trials and tribulations with the strength of their faith behind them. It’s about the struggles to believe in the middle of bad times and come out stronger.
I love showing how people use their faith to solve problems and deal with difficult situations with grace.
My heroines sometimes face life and death situations but always depend on God as their refuge and strength.
Writer Linda Ford, 
author of over twenty-five books for Love Inspired, whose own faith journey includes raising fourteen children—four of whom she gave birth to—says this about writing for Love Inspired
Love Inspired Historicals are faith-based historical stories published under the HQ umbrella. They are a good, clean read without sex or bad language and the stories promote Christian values.
I like writing these stories because they give me the chance to show faith in action, to show how love triumphs and gives a happy ever after. My client reads them and says he wishes life could work out like that. I point out that we are in the midst of our story and life will work out for us. We will be part of the best happy ever after there could be.
I tend to write 2 very different kinds of heroines. The first type would be like Sybil in Winning Over the Wrangler (Mar. 2014 release). She is sweet, a little bit shy and unaware of how strong and bold she can be until she is challenged by the hero and what he brings into her life. The second kind of heroine is like Mercy in my May 2014 release, Falling For the Rancher Father. She is bold, brave, and often goes against societal rules. The first heroine needs awakening. But Mercy needs taming. I think both kinds of heroine are suitable to LIH romances because I think there is a little of both in most of us and through reading about these heroines, we can be empowered to be better, more whole heroines in our own life story.
Debra Clopton, whose novel Operation: Married by Christmas has been optioned for an ABC Family Movie, starring Leeann Rimes, 
epitomizes the teaching of Jesus that we “go into the world” to take the message of his redeeming love, not simply to the tabernacles.
According to Debra, Harlequin does a wonderful job with the Love Inspired Line. They have extremely strict guidelines for the line, more restricted than most “Christian Lines”. They require a Christian Worldview that enables us to write to a broad audience.
Love Inspired was my target publisher to write for because I wanted my books in Walmart sitting up there on the shelves with the sexy books, not hidden in the Christian bookstores and in the Christian sections of Barns and Noble. I wanted my books to have a shot at being picked up from someone who might not normally read a Christian book. While there are a few topics that are too controversial to write about, for the most part I’m free to write my books about anything I choose. My books are heartfelt, with humor, and seriousness combined. I’ve written about the heartache of widowhood and second chances, I’ve written about having a drug addicted family member, I’ve written about brokenheartedness, redemption, starting over new and the struggle to leave a tainted past behind. Any subject that the Lord lays on my heart I’ve been able to tackle. I love it! And all in a book that can be read in as little as a day if someone chose to.
I am known for my spunky characters who sometimes don’t say the right thing. I write strong women because I hope to encourage women who don’t stand up for themselves to do so. This is what the Lord has laid on my heart to do. I love the reader mail I receive.
And writer Pat Macdonald 
(writing as Patricia Davids) agrees that we are to go into the world and be the “voice in the wilderness” for those who are hurting:
I never limit myself to pitching the Love Inspired line to women of faith. I want a much broader audience. I want the woman or girl who doesn’t think of herself as religious to pick up my book and find a spark, one that triggers an interest, and maybe she’ll begin a search in her own life for what my characters have. My goal is to entertain and inspire. Love Inspired books are sold in Wal-Marts and grocery stores, they aren’t limited to Christian bookstores. If we are only preaching to the choir, what’s the point?
Okay, I admit some members of the choir need to hear the message, too, but you see what I mean.
I write for LI because it’s a good fit for my voice. I don’t write sexy well, it isn’t my style. I write sweet well and faith well because that’s who I am.
I don’t have perfect heroines or heroes. My characters are ordinary people dealing with challenges, loss, and shortcomings. They have doubts. My heroines are recovering alcoholics, unwed mothers, abused women and women facing life-altering choices. My editor will tell you that she has to rein me in and keep me from being too “gritty.”
But in spite of the problems my heroines face, or because of them, their faith grows. Because I write love stories, my heroes help their women become stronger and vice versa.
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The Love Inspired line of books is stocked by retailers such as Walmart and Kmart, among others, all over the country and, in some cases, all over the world.
The books are reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, USA Today, Romantic Times and are marketed in both print and digital formats.
They sell well as evidenced by the fact that each line has doubled the number of titles it releases every month in the last five years.
While the shelf life for the print books is short—only four weeks, unless they sell out before—the digital books are there until, well, until digital books stop being there.
The LI line began in 2000. It added the Love Inspired Suspense line in 2005 and the Love Inspired Historical line in 2008.
The Writer’s Guidelines for the authors of Love Inspired books are very specific: books must be faith based, but without proselytizing. The books must be based on love stories that are driven by emotional not physical desire.
In other words, the books are completely “G” rated. No drinking, no cussing and no fornicating.
Love Inspired heroines must make tough life choices. They are women to be admired who fight their way through difficult situations, and are rewarded with love. Thus the title of the line, Love Inspired. But not just the love of a man.
The “love” in the “Love Inspired” title line is not just about male-female love. It’s also about a loving God, an ever present help in times of trouble, a God of peace, a God who is personal and dependable when people themselves sometimes aren’t.
And that’s at the heart of the line. Our heroines are women of faith who know what it is to struggle, who know what it is to doubt, who know what it is to fear. But our heroines also know what it is to trust a God who is real, who not just forgives but forgets our mistakes, and whose love is everlasting.
More Writers and Why they Write for Love Inspired
Sandra Orchard 
says she writes Love Inspired Suspense novels because they are fast-paced, keep-you-guessing stories, with a generous dash of sweet romance between Christian characters trying to live out their faith. Or as my readers describe them…nice to read books with no sex, swear words or graphic violence. I love writing for Love Inspired Suspense, because they publish affordable books that readers can finish in an evening or two. I also love that they are available (in the month of release) in stores like Walmart and grocery stores, where friends, family and others who would never go to a Christian bookstore to buy a book might pick it up and read it and hopefully be inspired to think more deeply about their own beliefs and values and faith, and how they live it out in their day-to-day choices.
My favorite heroine was Kim Corbett from Shades of Truth. She works at a Christian-run youth detention center called Hope Manor, a center she’s struggling to save from being closed that it might continue to provide guidance and light to those whose young lives are already pretty messed up. Kim’s character was inspired by the experiences shared by a woman who works at a facility much like Hope Manor.
Christina Rich 
writes for the line because the books inspire and encourage women to overcome obstacles in their lives through faith in God. I discovered Love Inspired before I became published and I knew I wanted to write for them. Writing for them became my dream because they provided good, clean fiction with a romance thread affordable for the single income family.
I tend to fall in love with each of my hero and heroines, but since my debut, The Guardian’s Promise, comes out in March Sh’mira has a special place in my heart. Although set in 835 BC, Sh’mira is the perfect LI hero because she deals with many of the things women today deal with; self-worth, trust and forgiveness.
Author Lori Beatty
says Love Inspired books are like Hallmark movies. The stories are about the relationship between the characters who each have a faith journey that must be resolved before the true love can happen. I explain that the characters face many of the challenges most Christians do and the content is clean and uplifting.
I like writing stories that speak to other believers. I like sharing my own faith discoveries through my characters in hopes that they will encourage readers. I like being part of the long history of Harlequin and Love Inspired. I love the other writers who are always there to give advice and support.
My character Laura Durrant from Restoring His Heart my June 2013 release, is a restorationist and carpenter who owns her own company. She is smart strong, and determined, but like many of us she has baggage she hasn’t dealt with and strongholds she needs to tear down. When she’s thrown together with an unlikely hero she learns valuable lessons about herself and judging others – the way we all do at times.
Love Inspired books are available through Amazon, Harlequin.com, BarnesandNobel.com, Walmart.com and Booksamillion.com.