I have absolutely no desire to read these. They just sound too mushy. However, I agree with you that Mormon books come off sounding fake and contrived and just plain unrealistic. I like that these one are at least honest.

Soooooo did you see that ending coming????

LOL--the only difference between real life and fiction is that fiction has to be believable. :) Who would believe that a real-life couple would sound so gushy?

Which is why the real-life conversations of couples are usually un-printable.

Jenny - You should try the first book in the series, TAKEN BY STORM, because it's actually a very edgy and realistic LDS novel. I didn't like the second or third books nearly as much, although they all have an honesty that I really appreciate.

Laura - I actually read a spoiler for the book somewhere, so the ending wasn't a surprise. If I hadn't read the spoiler, I don't know if I would have been surprised or not.

Robin - Ha ha. Too true.

Who is this published by? Because I wrote a book about morality and hormones and all that. Deseret Book LOVED it, said it was so well written and realistic. The Assistant to the Product manager took it to their committee and they chatted about it for six weeks in a row before giving it the big fat axe. I don't think it's that Mormon writer's are *afraid* to write books like this. It's that books like this *will not* be published by an LDS publisher.

I'll stop now, because I could go on for pages (hours.)

Susan - Good point. That line should probably read LDS *publishers* not LDS *authors*. And, truly, I get why LDS publishers can't or don't want to touch honest teen novels like these, I really do. However, I think they're doing LDS teens a disservice by not addressing the issues teens are really dealing with every day. LDS fiction - even that published by Deseret Book - IS getting better, more realistic, but just not quite enough, IMHO.

Oh, and the first book in this series was published by Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin. It wasn't, however, interested in publishing the last two books so Angela did it herself via CreateSpace.

Susan, I'm dying laughing at your husband's reaction to M&L's cheesy scenes. Cheesiness is a definite pitfall when you try to write romantic stuff. I'm revising a new novel, SLIPPED, and was gagging at cheesiness. I hacked it out. Sometimes what you write in a creative fervor sounds so wonderful, but then when you go back to it, you blush. Mushy? But the mush is balanced with the tragedies that Michael and Leesie have to cope with.

Re publishers, I didn't ever try to sell this novel (or TAKEN BY STORM) to an LDS publisher. I wrote STORM as my MFA thesis at Vermont College, so it was always intended for a national audience. I don't know any other novel published by a major national publisher that star a faithful Mormon girl trying to live her religion written by an active Latter Day Saint. There are novels, like BURNED, and numerous polygamy books written to expose how awful Mormons are. Those sell millions and win big awards. TAKEN BY STORM was subtly buried. It got a starred review from Publisher's Weekly but was torn to pieces by Kirkus and School Library Journal.

Angela - Yeah, he's a funny guy :) A very sentimental one, too. Mushiness is one of the reasons I don't read romance very often because, really, how do you write romance without it? I'm sure that's a huge struggle when you write it. Also, what one person calls cheese another might call achingly romantic, you know?

And, I don't understand the national media either. Why are they only interested in the sleazy parts of a history/culture? I don't understand why there can't be more leading ladies like Leesie. There are an awful lot of "good girls" out there - Mormons or not - who need a role model like her.