I received the following email from a reader named Dee awhile ago:

I read First Mates and really enjoyed it. I wondered why there aren’t more Love Inspired novels with African-American characters?

My response:

Dee, as to why there aren’t more LI novels with AA characters – I can’t really comment about that since I don’t know the reason! However, your question prompted me to do a Google search and I found this discussion thread on the e-harlequin community. The first part of the question in that link talks about small-town settings, but, the second part talks about Love Inspired novels with African-American characters.

If you’d like to read some other Love Inspired novels with African-American characters, there are some that were published years ago. Here’s the list, and I’ve also included my novel, First Mates, in the lineup, too. Harlequin recently digitized most of their backlist, so, you can get these old titles on Kindle or Nook.

First Mates by Cecelia Dowdy

A cruise around the Caribbean offered just what Rainy Jackson needed to get over her faithless ex-fiancé — sun, swimming and solitude. As the heat sank into her bones, she began to feel interest in the world again… and in handsome fellow passenger Winston Michaels.
Winston had also hoped for time alone to reflect. But finding a friend in faith in the lovely Rainy helped him deal with his twin sister’ s death without relying on unhealthy means of deadening the pain. And Winston’ s outlook brightened further when dates back home in Miami brought him and Rainy even closer. Would Rainy be the one to share Winston’ s life voyage?

Sweet Harmony by Felicia Mason
R & B singer Marcus Ambrose needed a break from grueling work and travel, and participating in a small-town music and film festival in Oregon was the perfect excuse for a little rest and relaxation. But he never expected to fall head over heels for the town’ s beautiful psychologist, who wasn’ t at all impressed with his celebrity status.
Dr. Kara Spencer seemed immune to Marcus’ s attempts to woo her. Strong and independent, Kara wanted a man who believed in God, community and family, not flash and dash. How could he convince her that he used his music to inspire as well as entertain? That he couldn’ t live another day without her by his side?

Gabriel’s Discovery by Felicia Mason

Susan Carter has her hands full raising twins and running the Galilee Women’ s Shelter— she doesn’ t need darkly handsome pastor Gabriel Dawson complicating her life. But she can’ t avoid him, not after she opens his eyes to the plight of the battered women in his parish, whose drug-addicted men are connected to the Venezuelan cartel La Mano Oscura and the Diablo crime syndicate. Spending time with Gabriel, when he’ s her auctioned “ date” and again with her daughters, shows Susan both the gentleness and protectiveness of the former marine. And once Susan’ s daughters decide that they want Gabriel as their new daddy, what else is there for a man of God to do… but become a family man?

Steeple Hill had a women’s fiction line that is no longer in existence. There were some books published in this line by
African-American authors, namely, Marilynn Griffith, Jacquelin Thomas, and Felicia Mason. Also, there was an African-Amercian anthology published by Steeple Hill entitled How Sweet The Sound. I didn’t bother listing these since you’d asked specifically about Love Inspired titles. The books mentioned in this paragraph are not Love Inspired titles, but, they are published by Steeple Hill.

Also, Harlequin used to have an African-American inspirational line entitled New Spirit. I believe it was under the Kimani line? However, there were only a few books published under this line and as far as I know, this line no longer exists.

Hope this blog post helps you glean some more reading material for your Kindle or Nook!

Have any of you read these titles? If so, did you like them? Also, can you think of any Love Inspired titles with African-American characters that I may have missed? Happy reading!

~Cecelia Dowdy~