By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

Chocolate and flowers abound in February because it’s the love month. Romance is in the air, and greeting-card companies, candy manufacturers, and florists attribute much of their sales to Valentine’s Day.

I certainly don’t begrudge their success, but I’m not a fan of what Valentine’s Day has become – an obligatory day of expensive expectation. Who wants expressions of love if they are required?

As an inspirational Western romance writer, I should be hat-over-boots in love with anything remotely connected to matters of the heart, right? Well, I am. That’s the whole point.

I enjoy writing inspirational romance because of the specific, literary definitions of those two words:

Inspirational (or Christian) is used in a genre’s description to assure readers that God’s principles of fidelity and purity permeate the story. That doesn’t mean every character is a sinless specimen of the human race. We had only one of those.

Romance promises a happily-ever-after ending. It separates itself from a simple love story such as the classic Romeo and Juliet and 1970’s Love Story because neither of those tales have a happy ending.

Believe it or not, the highest selling fiction genre is romance because readers want:

• Escape
• Entertainment
• Encouragement

Readers of inspirational romance end up with all of these plus Inspiration

For me, inspirational romance puts a face on Romans 8:28 that tells us all things work together for good for those who love God. Even the bad stuff. It foreshadows what awaits us as believers, which is a great big Happily Ever After with our Lord.

However, many people think they have the happy-ending equation figured out in their interpersonal relationships, and they spend their lives (and several trial runs) trying to make their equation work:

        Perfect + Perfect = Happy

Even Cupid’s arrow wouldn’t hit the mark with this philosophy.

In a good romance, the hero and heroine are not perfect people. They are flawed and they spend the majority of the story discovering that they love each other in spite of those flaws.

There is no “perfect” man anywhere who is not flawed. Husband, boyfriend, son, father, brother—every single one of them carries wounds.

Women fall in the same category, regardless of how much makeup is applied.

All of us are all wounded, scarred, or limping.

A couple thousand years ago, the only Perfect Person to walk the planet stepped out of unapproachable light with His arms opened wide and headed straight for us. Jesus loves us beyond what we can imagine, and He knows we couldn’t make it without Him.

That is sacrificial love.

If you are looking for a perfect someone, focus on Jesus. He will help you find the flawed person who is perfect for you and your flaws.

If you already have a special someone who is anything but perfect, Jesus will help you love that person in spite of his or her flaws—and yours.

Because it’s the flaws and how we deal with them that make a good romance.

“Love is the way back into Eden. It is the way back to life.” 
                          ― Francine Rivers, author of Redeeming Love

For God so loved the world that He gave …
John 3:16

No paper beau could match the tenderness of Josiah’s touch. No fanciful dream could outshine the light of his love. And no thunder of heaven or hoof could outpace the beating of her overflowing heart—strong and hard and free. ~The Wrangler’s Woman

Inspirational Western Romance – where the hero is heroic.

FREE book and Newsletter!

Facebook | Pinterest

#lovingthecowboy

(c) 2025 Davalynn Spencer, all rights reserved.

#WesternRomance #ChristianFiction #FreeBook #HistoricalRomance #CowboyRomance