Pillow Talk:
The intimate conversations that occur before, during, or after sex.
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| Romantic Bed & Breakfast by Visit Finger Lakes, C.C. by 2.0 |
Grab your pillow. Today we're talking about sex. Specifically the kind of sex that occurs in most romance books.
When you pick up a romance book, hopefully with the intention of reading it cover to cover rather than skimming for the steamy parts, you typically know what to expect, right?
The first chapter or two is dedicated to introducing you to the two hapless characters, who just happen to be unlucky in love. We see the characters in their normal everyday environment. For example, the fireman is doing what he loves best . . . saving people from the hot tongues of flame. The lawyer is delivering his final argument in what is sure to be a certain win for his firm. The clumsy waitress trips and spills coffee everywhere. You get the idea.
Next comes the cute meet, the moment when the hero and heroine first lock eyes, falling into immediate lust. Not love, yet. Love comes after lust.
The two would-be lovers spend the remainder of the book alternating between being thrown together by events beyond their control, and pissing each other off. Their fate is obvious to everyone but them, and they continue to deny their feelings, lying through their teeth.
At some point in time, the two main characters give in to their attraction. But how far they go, depends on the type of book you've chosen to read.
Inspirational or Christian romance books tend to have a no sex before marriage clause. The characters can have desires, so long as they don't act on them. There is a slow build up of emotions that culminate in the promise of marriage. Often these books are labeled "sweet".
Closed door sex is just that. The sex occurs, but behind doors only. The writer ends the scene just as things start steaming up the windows.
Warm to Hot level books have more of an open door policy and the reader gets an invitation to be a voyeur. There are usually one or three sex scenes per book, depending on how how the rating is. Euphemisms are typically used here.
Spicy books leave no detail to the imagination. All bets, and clothes, are off. Anything goes. Authors trade in their euphemisms for graphic details. Longer and more frequent sex scenes connect the storyline.
Here are more heat scales you might want to check out before making your next romance purchase:
My first novel had no sex in the storyline at all. Well, that's not entirely true. There was a sex scene initially, but it got chopped before it ever made it to my editor. *Still liked the scene, though* As it stands now, Assassin P.I. has two sex scenes that would garner the book a hot rating, at least in my opinion.
So how hot do you like your romance books to be? Sweet, spicy, or somewhere in between? Do you prefer euphemisms to describe body parts or do you crave all the juicy, graphic details?
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