This is an overview of the writings of Robin Jones Gunn, a Christian romance author. This article is written by Jessica Hernandez, a student at Biola University.
Robin Jones Gunn, a Christian romance author, is known as an award-winning, best-selling author of over 50 books. Many women read romance novels because they are hungry for romance in their lives. By reading Robin Jones Gunn’s books, women receive their fill of romance. Because the stories are easy to relate to, the readers are left with the hope that they can have romance in their own lives. Many other romance novels leave readers feeling like romance is way out of their reach. Robin Jones Gunn’s books leave the reader feeling refreshed and ready to conquer their own crazy lives. The light humor in each of her books helps make the readers’ troubles lighter and joys deeper. Her books give guidance and wisdom to the readers and direct them to God’s love. She shows the readers that we are God’s first love and that our hearts won’t be settled until He becomes our first love. This gives the readers hope; and if they accept God’s love, they’ll also receive a new life.
Robin Jones Gunn doesn’t write stories that she wants to tell; she writes stories that people want to read. This makes the stories more interesting to the readers. In an interview Christianbook.com did with Robin Jones Gunn, she explained that she started writing teen novels after the girls in her youth group persuaded her to write a story about girls like themselves. She stated, “One thing that these girls kept saying was, ‘We want an Anne of Green Gables who lives in our generation.’ And that’s what really seemed to happen. Christy became the girl that you empathize with and you can relate to, yet she is so average.” This is how it all started. In her first series, Robin Jones Gunn takes many teenage girls with her through the life of Christy Miller. Christy Miller is an insecure teenage girl. Readers watch as she grows into a confident Christian adult and falls in love with Todd Spencer. Through her books, readers gain a best friend. They go along on the ups and the downs of each character and enjoy each adventure.
Robin Jones Gunn has written fourteen children’s books; two teen girls series consisting of twelve books each; two teen girls books; two adult series, one consisting of three books and the other consisting of eight books; and two non-fiction adult books. Although she hasn’t written as many books as other authors, like Gilbert Morris, a Christian romance author who’s written over eighty novels, the books that she has written are more developed. Because Robin Jones Gunn doesn’t rush through her books, she spends more time focused on writing each one of her books. Many times authors write so many books that they end up very similar and sound thrown together.
In her books, Robin Jones Gunn describes the scenery and surroundings very subtly. Throughout each of her books, she adds little details, like in book nine of The Christy Miller Series, Robin Jones Gunn writes, “…red-headed Katie Weldon asked her best friend, Christy Miller, as they ascended the outdoor steps of the apartment building.” She describes the setting in between the conversation and slowly gives more detail as the conversation progresses. She doesn’t bore her readers by going into too much detail, yet she gives enough detail for a reader to see the things in the book. Many romance authors, like Janette Oke, think that describing the beautiful scenery makes the story more romantic; but Robin Jones Gunn writes her stories with an everyday romance that comes through the characters interaction. This allows the story to be more realistic and to stay moving.
