You Can't Ignore the Power of the Amish Romance

Over the weekend on NPR, Scott Simon did this interview with Shelley Shepard Gray about her steamy Amish romances. My husband did a double take. "What?" he asked me.

"Yeah, that's about right," I said.

"No seriously," he pleaded, "It's a joke right?"

I forget, working at the library, that I know the current leisure reading trends before the vast majority of the population. In this case, I have been watching people checking out the Amish romances for at least the last 3 years with a steady build up of interest over that time.

It all started with Beverly Lewis and has moved into Gray. I cannot keep any books with Amish character on the shelf. And now that Scott Simon has jumped on the band wagon, I may need multiple copies.

This has been an interesting trend to observe. Overall, the interest in Christian Fiction has waned at my library, while non-religious inspirational fiction has exploded. But the Amish romance has bucked this trend, steadily increasing and building to its current rock star status. Try one, you might be surprised.