Song of the day- Who Dat Girl by Flo Rida featuring Akon
I've been thinking about this post for quite some time now, and just haven't had the time to sit down and type it out.
The publishing world is a vast and wondrous place, full of a variety of stories and tales to tickle your fancy and fuel your escape from this reality to another. If you're anything like me, you're a romance junkie. Along with escape into another world, you enjoy the emotional roller coaster ride that comes along with a whirlwind romance.
Will they get together, or won't they? Is he going to kiss her? Gah! Just kiss her already! Good grief! She's into you! Go for it already! Sweep her off her feet!
I'll admit, those phrases are just a few of the many that travel through my head as I read. Much like my three girls, I'm a cheerleader for the characters I'm reading. I root them on, cheer when they take a step forward, and cringe when they suffer a misstep. And when my favorite characters finally come together, well...I'f the scene was written well, I've usually got a sappy smile plastered all over my face.
This brings me to the question at hand: which do you prefer, full out love scenes with heavy descriptions, or are you content with stories where the door is kept closed, leaving everything to your imagination? Let me preface this by saying that there is no right or wrong here. We're dealing with opinions here and personal preference, and my hope is that this will garner some good discussion, either here or with you and your friends at home.
Speaking for myself, I enjoy a good love scene. Growing up, reading many of my mother's hand me down romance novels, I was subjected to a lot of purple prose (quivering members, heaving bosoms, blushing femininity) you get the drift. And while I always cheered when the hero and heroine finally pulled their heads out of their asses and got together, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the love scenes.
Fast forward a great many years to the burgeoning success of the Twilight Saga. This series is probably one of my all time favorites, simply because I believe it does a great job conveying the feelings/drama etc that come along with new/first love. And while I reveled in the tension and emotion flowing up off the page, I, along with many others I'm guessing, was a bit disappointed with Bella and Edward's honeymoon scene. Yes, the series is YA, which made the fade to black scene appropriate, BUT, I won't lie. I still wanted to know what Eddie was like between the sheets.
Craving all things vampire, I stumbled into J.R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood world, and found exactly what I was looking for as far as heat level and description in a love scene. Her heroes are smokin' hot and so is their lovin'. No purple prose, no fade to black, and while descriptive, they aren't overly graphic (at least IMO, lol!) and in your face with frank/blunt language like erotica. (Let me also say I'm not putting down/bashing erotica in any way. I've read a few pieces and while what I've read was very well written with good plotting, as a whole, it's not my cup of tea.)
Does this mean I don't or won't enjoy a sweet love story? Heck no! There is a time and a place for everything. Some love stories call for gentle chaste kisses and some, well...some call for down and dirty nitty gritty. And aren't we lucky there's something out there for everyone?
What do you prefer? Weigh in with a comment!
Happy reading, peeps!
9 comments:
This is a great question, Lisa. I just wrote a review of Hidden Threat by Sherri Hayes yesterday where I was actually yelling at the male MC "Kiss her already!" so we think alike. And I too was a bit disappointed by the Breaking Dawn honeymoon although I understood it.
I used to be a firm "fade to black" kind of woman but now I can proudly say that romance novels have corrupted me. I really don't want TOO much detail, but I want to read about the characters' feelings and reactions in intimate scenes, as these can really further their relationship.
I'm with you and go full out love scenes for adult books! If I want YA, I'll read YA, and I do plenty. But, nothing takes the place of a good Black Dagger Brotherhood type book when I reach for an adult. ;)
I like both depending on what I'm reading. Shades of Atlantis had a fade to black. I know it bugged one friend who read the book.LOL. It's YA and I didn't feel it fit to go into the bedroom. Having said that, there is a missing scene. Only one other person has read it. :-)
I have written sex scenes, I would describe them as more erotic than explicit, no quivering members but plenty of emphasis on scent, sound, taste and touch. I guess you could said I like a pale purple prose when it comes to sex scenes. I want it to be hot without reading like a medical manual on bodily function. Fade to black works for me if I'm expecting it from a book.
Thanks for your comments, girls!
My tastes have definitely evolved over the years. I had to laugh at your comment, Carol. Loved the reference to love scenes that read like medical manuals. Hahaha!
Great post, Lisa! To be honest, there are very few sex scenes that ever completely satisfy my tastes. I'm really picky.
I'm not a huge fan of fade to black and I'm also not a fan of erotica style description or heaving bosoms; though out of those two I would prefer fade to black. A balance of the two is best, but rare to find.
The reason I would rather it fade to black is because it's so easy to write a not-so-good love scene that ruins the character's relationships. I can name countless books where I was actually less in awe of the character's relationship after they've done the dirty deed. Which I should be even more in love with their love! Lol! If it's not done just right, it kills the whole romance for me. Fade to black usually isn't very satisfying, but at least it doesn't ruin anything.
That being said, JR is a good one for sex scenes. Sometimes I think her scenes are too heavy on the physical sex part and not enough emphasis on emotion, but for the most part, she brings a good balance. I like the way Charlainne Harris handles sex in the SVS novels as well. Sookie and Eric get it on hot, but it is highly emotion based as well.
Wow! That comment ended up being WAY longer than I meant it to be lol.
-Kaitlyn
http://nocturnalreadings.blogspot.com
I agree with you that it depends on the story - some call for detail, some don't. I did get sucked into the Twilight saga for a while, but I don't consider myself a fan -- I was only in it for the sex. To me that was the author's strong point -- making the reader want it ("it" being Edward ;)). But alas, she was an epic tease and didn't follow through.
I get that the details had to be limited, but she fell WAY short of what she could've done to both remain YA and satisfy the reader. And in my opinion broken headboards and references to all night vampire sex fests are not YA appropriate, details or no. So again, she failed to make her sexual content appropriate to the story.
Thought provoking post - thanks!
I can't choose sides.
I'm totally fine with fade to black moments. In fact, I didn't even think about the fade to black moment in BD until I met people in the fandom on Twitter and they were all ragey about it. It's the romance that grabs me, not necessarily the sex.
That does not mean that I'm opposed to sex scenes. If they're in a book and they're well written, I enjoy them. I will admit to rolling my eyes at some poorly written scenes that I've read. (some of the "sex talk" in the BDB series had me not only rolling my eyes, but also telling the book how lame they sound--though I do really enjoy the BDB books).
Last thought: If there is a lot of sex in a book and it's all written in detail, I'll totally start skimming.
Great insight, ladies! I really enjoy reading your opinions and thoughts on the subject.
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