I ran a poll to see how hot readers like their romances. The options included:
– Soft-Caress (Implied intimacy only)
– Nothing shown behind closed doors (Foreplay only)
– Read about the lead in, but then use imagination for the big finish
– Emotion over moves (Emotional details, few touches, but nothing explicit)
– Sex (All details, start to finish)
– Scorching (All details plus. Think Fifty Shades of Gray).
With the popularity of “Fifty Shades” and books like it, I thought the “Scorching” option would do well. But interestingly, there wasn’t a single vote. The vast majority of participants (87.5 percent) voted for “Sex: All details, start to finish. (Caressing, kissing, insert tab A into slot B)”, which suggests they like it hot, but not bondage or submission hot. The only other option chosen was “Emotion over moves: Emotional details, few touches, but nothing explicit. (Caressing, kissing)”, which received 12.5 percent of the vote. None of the other three options received votes.
Interestingly, those are my top two options, as well. I like it hot, but I’m not in games, bondage, submission, spanking and all that. I like the details, but I find that my favorite love scenes are heavy on emotion and sensation over details. I’m not into the “alpha male as teacher” type stuff. I’m not knocking it, I’m just not into it.
Of course, my poll isn’t scientifically significant. Pollsters probably have read and enjoyed my books and therefore have the same taste as I do, so they voted as I would have. But I will admit that I was surprised that there wasn’t a single vote for “Scorching” considering how popular those books have become recently.
If you like it hot, but not scorching, I hope you’ll check out my books, which include passion and intrigue, with a little bit of humor.
