From the TBR Pile: Blog Tour: Guest Post from Anna Belfrage, the Author of A Flame Through Eternity

Author:Anna Belfrage
Publisher: Troubador Publishing
Publication date: November 2019

According to Helle Madsen, being the protagonist of a time-spanning epic love story has some things going for it, primarily Jason Morris. Because seriously, meeting up with your fated lover after 3 000 years apart is not bad–at all. Unfortunately, where Jason goes, there goes Sam Woolf, yet another very, very ancient acquaintance–with the fundamental difference that Sam is not into Happily Ever After. He’s into destruction, more specifically of Jason and Helle.

Helle may believe in second-chance love, but she sure doesn’t believe in reincarnation. Okay, she didn’t believe in stuff like that until she met Jason Morris a year or so ago. By now, she has accepted that sometimes impossible things are quite, quite possible–like an ancient princess being reborn as an ambitious financial analyst.

Finding Jason was like finding the part of her that had always been missing–a perfect match. But handling Sam Woolf, the reborn version of their ancient nemesis is something of a trial. No sooner do you have him well and surely beat, but up he bounces again. Sheesh, will it take an oak stake to permanently rid their lives of him?

Sam Woolf is a powerful adversary. Too powerful, even. Jason and Helle will need help from unexpected quarters to finally bring this tangled, ancient love-and-hate triangle to some sort of conclusion. Question is, will they survive the experience?

Enjoy this guest post from author Anne Belfrage:

Dot, dot, dot – not my cup of tea!

Some things get to me. One of those things is the label “clean” which is used to refer to books that lack any sexual content. Why? Because per definition, the antonym to clean is dirty, ergo all books that do have sexual content are soiled and tawdry. I also find it interesting that there is a perceived need to label books as “clean” – sex-free – but should such novels contain violence, even brutal death, that’s okay. Readers, apparently, are more disturbed by explicit depictions of love-making than they are of murders. Isn’t that strange?

My books have sex in them – my protagonists are consenting adults in loving relationships, and in my experience such relationships tend to include sex. It’s a bit sad if they don’t. Do I perceive my books as dirty? Absolutely not. In my latest release, my leading couple would not have survived all that life throws in their way had they not had each other, and yes, they take great comfort and pleasure in each other.

Personally, I am not a major fan of these so called “clean reads”.
He kissed her passionately, took her by the hand and led her to the waiting bed. “Tonight you shall be mine” he said.
Turn the page and they’re having breakfast – a classic dot, dot, dot moment. Me, I feel short-changed. Someone slammed the bedroom door in my face just as things got interesting.

I do, however, fully respect that some people don’t want more detail than this. My gripe is with the label as such. I also find it somewhat amusing when “clean” is suddenly equated with “Christian”. What, so Christian people don’t have sex? Poor them… (Plus, I must hasten to add, I have several lovely Christian people among my friends who would never presume to judge – or are all that thrilled by the idea of “clean” books.)

Personally, I don’t think God objects to people having sex. I’m thinking there’s a lot of stuff out there that He finds far less palatable – such as all the violence perpetrated in His name.

“Wait, wait”, some people will say, “the clean label is really useful to ensure teenagers don’t read too much of the really hot and steamy stuff.” I’m not sure how to break this to all those concerned parents, but teenagers generally read what they want to read anyway – or watch explicit videos on youtube, or discover things for themselves when all those hormones brewing in their bodies take over. IMO, teenagers don’t need to be protected from sex. They need to be taught to set a high value on their bodies and on intimacy, so as to ensure they never do anything they don’t want to do.

I recently read a book in which there was a lot of violence. People died left, right and centre, and some of these killing machines wore crucifixes and prayed before dispatching some more baddies to hell. It was a good, complex read, and there was even some lovemaking – albeit more of the dot dot dot kind. This book could, potentially, be labelled as borderline “clean” – despite all that death. Makes my head spin. I for one would prefer to have my teenager reading Diana Gabaldon’s fantastic if explicit sex scenes to having her read about people having their heads shot off. But that may just be me.

I fully appreciate that some people DON’T want to read about sex. At all. Just as I don’t want to read about zombies. At all. But can we please change the label to something that, per definition, isn’t derogatory to all the other books? How about “non-explicit”? Or why not “dot dot dot”? And as for me, I will continue devouring books in which love – all aspects of love – are depicted. Dirty? Not at all – in fact, it’s very, very beautiful!

About the author:

Anna has recently released the third in her Romantic Suspense series, A Flame Through Eternity. Nope, this is definitely not a “clean” read, but then, as Anna would tell you, what can you expect when she’s writing about an epic love story spanning three millennia?

When she isn’t writing contemporary suspense with a time travelling twist, Anna is usually visiting her favourite historical periods, namely the 17^th century and the 14^th century. And yes, she is quite convinced people made love back then as well!

Find out more about Anna on www.annabelfrage.com.

Or pop by her Amazon page and browse through her books, http://Author.to/ABG

Connect with Anna

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Instagram tour:

Monday, February 10th: @thereadingchemist

Monday, February 10th: @mixed_matched_socks

Wednesday, February 12th: @livingmybestbooklife

Friday, February 14th: @books_with_bethany

Saturday, February 15th: @sincerelykarenjo

Sunday, February 16th: @sarahandherbookshelves

Tuesday, February 18th: @nurse_bookie