I just read an excellent book today called The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison. It is loosely based on the story of Beauty and the Beast with the roles reversed. The title is somewhat deceptive as the story is told from the perspective of the Prince. It reminds me of the style of writing of Shannon Hale. It is a love story, but not a traditional one and it stays very much PG throughout.

Here is a review by Orson Scott Card:

Perhaps it's redundant for me to add a positive comment about a book that I read in advance of publication, so that there's already a positive quote from me on the cover.

But since the review by Ms. Drew, already posted here, takes me to task for my "error" in praising an "inexperienced" writer, I took the liberty of replying at length in a comment attached to her review.

Let me say here, too, that after thirty years as a writer, critic, reviewer, editor, and writing teacher, I have seen few writers as creative and innovative as Mette Ivie Harrison. Instead of fitting her stories into a pre-existing template, she confronts the challenges of the tale she wants to tell and finds ingenious and surprising solutions.

The result, though, is nontraditional structure that, as Ms. Drew demonstrates, will displease some readers. That simply can't be helped. If every writer had to meet Ms. Drew's expectations, I would be bitterly disappointed; so let's admit the world of literature is large enough to include books for her and books for me.

The essence of speculative fiction is to give readers experiences they haven't had a thousand times before. Mette Ivie Harrison does this with emotionally effective, intellectually fascinating, and aesthetically pleasing stories. She is already one of the best, and I can't wait to see what she writes next.

- Orson Scott Card

Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
This is not entirely "clean" meaning there is a scene or two in the 800+ pages but so very tame and brief in comparison to the common romances of today.

I have recomended this book before but I will post it here as well. I loved the book Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. This book is a part of the Sevenwaters trilogy. The second book Son of the Shadows is very good as well. I didn't paticularly like the third book Child of Prophecy because it was written from the "villians" point of view. I loved Sorcha and her family and didn't want to hear about plots to destroy them. The book was good in the end it was just difficult for me to get there. Here is a description from B&N for Daughter of the Forest:

A beautiful retelling of the Celtic "Swans" myth, Daughter of the Forest is a mixture of history and fantasy, myth and magic, legend and love... To reclaim the lives of her brothers, Sorcha leaves the only safe place she has ever known and embarks on a journey filled with pain, loss and terror. When she is kidnapped by enemy forces and taken to a foreign land, it seems that there will be no way for Sorcha to break the spell that condemns all that she loves. But magic knows no boundaries, and Sorcha will have to choose between the life she has always known and a love that comes only once.

These books are great and you won't be dissapointed.

I have also read the Mark of the Lion series and it was fantastic. I highly recommend that series as well.

Oh I love Card's Enchantment!!

Also, I just found out that the author of this book "Upon Eagle's Light" is in my ward, and I didn't even know she was a writer!

It is supposed to be a clean romance as well. I wonder how good it is?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/160154 ... 1601541325

That is great!!! I will have to check it out. Thanks

I have to agree with these... I know that some readers have a hard time getting into Jane Austen, but if you can find a summary of the story or watch the movie versions first, that may help you. These are very romantic and very funny. Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is very romantic, too, but darker.

I also have to second the Jan Karon recommendation! I love her books. The romance is one of many main themes, and it is definitely a slow, real-life story; these aren't edge-of-your-seat, must-keep-reading-without-food-or-sleep like Stephenie's books, but they are so, so good.

Robin McKinley, our book-of-the-month authoress, has been my favorite author since I was 12; all of her stuff has lovely, clean romance in it. She has written several fairy tale novelizations and several original fairy-tale-ish stories, and I highly recommend them. (The only one to watch out for is Deerskin - the rest of her fairy-tale books are PG, if that, but Deerskin is R, and much darker subject material. I skipped lots.) Her work is known for strong heroine figures. I should also say that I actually haven't yet read her Sunshine (a vampire story) or Dragonhaven... must catch up!

I just found Garden Spells and Sugar Queen by Sara Addison Allen. PG rated romance, and still good magical story lines

I just read this one too and really enjoyed it!
I let a friend borrow it, and she lent me the Blue Girl because Wicked Lovely reminded her of it, and she'd noticed that in the extras section in the back of Wicked Lovely the author (Melissa Marr)had the Blue Girl in her "reading list" as a book she just really liked.
I am only 4 or 5 chapters in, but so far I'm liking The Blue Girl, too.

Anything by Catherine Gaskin
Anything by Rosamund Pilcher

The Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon.. They are fantastic.

I also read a lot of the Norah Roberts Trilogies.. They are clean and a candy read (easy)

I don't think I would classify these as clean! I've only read the first one and enjoyed it, but got bored halfway through the second, however I would rate the first "R" - at least.

LOL - Rated R - I was thinking NC-17...

The second book was a filler book and so was the last one..
My favorite book was # 3... When Brianna came and so on..

Nope - defintely not CLEAN romance books!!


I just read some by Deanne Gist. She has 3 - I've read the first 2. They are not a series. I enjoyed them & the "love" scenes are all "fade to black" types, but they were enjoyable, quick little reads.

OK, I actually read a couple of books this week that would fall into the CLEAN romance category The Measure of a Lady and A Bride Most Begrudgingly by Deeanne Gist. I guess I would categorize them as "Christian Chic Lit". They are easy reads (each took only a day) and they stay firmly in the PG rating.

One series that I really love is the "Enchanted Inc." by Shanna Swendson. She is a really good and funny author and there are 4 book to the series now and the fifth is up in the air... there is also the book "last bite" by Nacy Verde Barr that is fairly clean (like pg 13. )