Author Kate Rothwell popped up in the comments of a previous blog post to tell me that Carla Kelly (a fan favorite around the online romance community), has what looks like a western coming out in February 2011. Looking at the cover art for Borrowed Light was the first thing that tipped me off. The very brief cover blurb over at Amazon? Yeah, that clinched it. Inspirational ahoy!Description:
Julia Darling never expected to cook for some cowboys in Wyoming, but when she breaks off her engagement in Salt Lake City, it s the perfect opportunity for her to escape. Determined to stick the job out, Julia faces her biggest challenge yet letting go of borrowed light to find her own testimony. Set in the early 1900s, this is one romantic adventure you ll never forget!But actually, this discovery is even more interesting than just another mainstream writer going inspy. As a librarian, I buy inspirationals for work. Enough of them, that I'm pretty savvy when it comes to publishers. And this publisher is Cedar Fort, Inc. Yeah, never heard of 'em. Turns out they specialize in LDS titles. In other words, Mormon.
This got me wondering if Borrowed Light Carla Kelly was the same Carla Kelly from Romancelandia. Digging around online? Yeah, 100% convinced it is. First, a brief bio I turned up indicated that Kelly is a BYU (Brigham Young University) graduate. Then there's her author page over at the eHarlequin site that features this tasty tidbit:
Carla recently sold a novel that reflects her years in southeast Wyoming and her Mormon background to a Utah publishing company. She anticipates more books in this vein, partly because she has always been a bit squeamish about bodice ripping, and she's always up for new ventures.As a librarian, I find this whole development rather interesting. One of the common gripes I hear about the inspirational market, in general, is that it's so...well...Protestant Christian. Like Catholics, Mormons and Jews don't want to read the occasional faith-based fiction novel about their own religions? So yeah, I'm very intrigued by this upcoming endeavor by Kelly.
The question is, will her secular romance fans follow her into this brave new frontier? I'll admit, I'm curious enough that I just might give it a whirl....
