Salt Lake City ? Most romance novels are filled with details of how the heroes and heroines consummate their love.

Then there’s the Mormon romance novel, in which descriptions of the characters’ sex lives are limited to little more than the first kiss — that could happen after they’re engaged to be married.

The novels, with chaste men and women brought together by their faith, are gaining in popularity as Mormon readers search for fiction that reflects their values.

“Commitment is what’s strong in our market,” said Robby Nichols, vice president of marketing for Covenant Communications, a publisher of Mormon books. “There is no swearing, no graphic anything and we steer as far from innuendo as we can.”

Author Anita Stansfield helped open the market for other Mormon romance writers in 1994, with her novel “First Love and Forever,” about a woman whose former boyfriend reappears as she struggles in her marriage to an insensitive man.

Stansfield has since sold more than 600,000 books and is now working on her 23rd novel.

“I realized that there was a big hole in the LDS market for women’s fiction and I felt like I could do better,” Stansfield said. “I couldn’t find anything to read that satisfied me.”

Her novels follow the structure of traditional romances — a central love story with a happy ending — but her books are built around the lifestyle of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The main relationship typically involves a wayward man who becomes Mormon to marry the woman he loves, or Mormon couples who come together after a death, divorce or estrangement.

Characters marry in Mormon Temples and participate in “family home evening,” the Monday nights the church designates for families to spend time together. They also discuss Mormon theology.

Stansfield said the people who buy her books do not want long, detailed love scenes, which she called an “insult to our intelligence because we all know how it works.”

“The women I talked to … they want the romance, but they don’t want to read all the pornographic details,” Stansfield said.

Yet, Stansfield said she sometimes includes references to physical intimacy if it fits the plot. One of her novels, “A Promise of Forever,” is about a woman recovering from breast cancer and her relationship with her husband, including their love life. But the bedroom scenes focused more on the woman’s feelings than her interaction with her husband.

The Romance Writers of America, based in Houston, does not compile statistics on sales of books with spiritual themes, but the genre “has definitely grown in the last three to five years,” said Nicole Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the association.

The quality of books by religious authors has improved and publishers have recognized that they can make a profit on them, publishing executives say. Leading romance publisher Harlequin has its own line of spiritual paperbacks called “Love Inspired,” billed as storytelling for women with “strong family values and high moral standards.”

For Covenant, the romance novel category has been growing faster than other books the Mormon publisher sells, with 16 titles published last year, Nichols said.

However, even Mormon writers sometimes have to tone down their stories. Deseret Book, recently refused to carry “The Last Promise,” a book by Mormon author Richard Paul Evans, about a woman who, caught in an abusive relationship with her husband, turns to another man for emotional support and, eventually, romance.

The affair between the woman and her male friend is never consummated. But Sheri Dew, president of Deseret Book, said the decision not to sell the book was made in light of a study the chain commissioned which found customers dislike books that violate “their core values,” Dew said.

Stansfield, whose books are published by Covenant, had to delete a sentence from her novel, “When Hearts Meet,” that described a couple’s wedding night. It read, “He laughed and kicked the door closed.”

Stansfield disagreed with the edit and said making those cuts are difficult because she considers herself a moral writer trying to uphold a standard for her readers.

But Keith Hunter, vice president of marketing and sales for Deseret, said sometimes changes are needed to fit the bookstore’s mandate and customer tastes.

“Our customers are looking for books that build faith,” Hunter said. “They are looking for things that strengthen individuals and families. Things that are a disconnect are things that glorify immorality or that present the consequences of negative choices in a positive way. We sell values-based literature.”

On the Net:

Covenant Communications: http://www.covenant-lds.com/

Mormon church: http://www.lds.org/