Heat Levels In My Books

Understanding the Heat Levels in my books: I make no apologies for the sex in my books or the language I use. The rating system and a description of what/why I write here is the best way I can help you decide if you’ll like a book. I added flame icons on the menu to help refine your search.

Levels 1 and 2  — No sex scenes or one light petting session without the actual completion of the act. I don’t write this tame.
Level 2 — One tame sex scene.
Level 3 — One or two steamy sex scenes
Level 4 — Two or more hot sex scenes
Level 5 — Multiple sex scenes ranging from hot and raw to visceral, up-against-the-wall sex. My books average a Level 4.

How and What I Write

I write open-door straight, male/female romantic sex with some fellatio and cunnilingus scenes. Regardless of your steam preferences, I wish to emphasize that my sex scenes are sensual, emotional, and romantic. I use minimal physical descriptions and focus on the emotions the characters are experiencing during the sex scene. The amount of sex in a book is dependent on the characters, not because I think I need to add sex as a selling point. If I did, I’d write under a different name. Some books have a lot of sex, others don’t. It’s truly a matter of the characters who wind up in charge. I’ve tried hard to control them and write them in specific ways, but they wind up in charge and do what the fuck they want to on a page.

Language Use

Per the paragraph above, you can see I use the word fuck. I love the word. My heroes use the word FUCK to demonstrate anger and frustration. It depends on the hero and what’s happening in the story as to how often it’s used. Fuck has been used by men since before the time of Shakespeare, but only until recently, it was never used in a lady’s presence. Despite some readers’ wishful thinking, men of all levels of society use it within their male bastions of socializing. It doesn’t matter whether he was Mr. Darcy, Edward Rochester, or other favorite classic heroes, even those men would have used the word fuck among their male friends in a club or elsewhere. They most likely would have used it while with the women they bedded in brothels too. Sorry to disappoint you.

It is highly unlikely you will ever see the word sh*t or sh*te in my historicals (I don’t say “never,” because there could always be that one moment…). The word is far more offensive to me as it brings to mind images of raw sewage, pit toilets, and the worst, of the worst—stopped-up toilets. I don’t want images of those things popping into my head when I’m reading (and it does when authors I read use the word). That’s NOT romantic in my book. At least with the word fuck, the worst you’ll think of is sex, or maybe that saying fuck a duck.

In my paranormals (urban fantasy older sibling to romantasy), which are ancient Roman elements of special powers set in the modern-day world, I have used the Latin word, cak, which  translates to sh*t. However, that word usage is used on a limited basis in the books, and it also doesn’t have the yucky sound to me that sh*t does.

I prefer to use the word fuck because it sounds raw, visceral, and the guttural sound of it makes it perfect for harsh emotions. I also use it in some cases to emphasize the juxtaposition of certain traits of a character. Cleo, my favorite of all the heroine’s I’ve ever written, in Inferno’s Kiss, is an excellent example of this. She’s drop dead gorgeous enough to be a fashion model, but has the crass voice and behavior of a rake and alpha male. I use other words too that are pretty tame to illustrate frustration, but fuck is my favorite word in writing AND in my daily language. But in my opinion, the word for excrement doesn’t sound harsh or raw when it’s used and therefore the word cannot begin to emphasize a deep frustration. So, you have been warned. *grin*

Dark Romance and Romantasy

Younger readers who are fans of these two genres might be interested to know that dark romance and romantasy (basically paranormal set in the world of the Fae) have been around for years. Karen Marie Moning is a trailblazer of romance set in the world of the fae with DarkFever published in 2006. 

Ellora’s Cave (the now defunct, but the first successful digital only publisher) had books with these kind of themes in 2001 and later. You might want to dig a little deeper to find authors who wrote these kind of books. In many cases, they’ll give you a stories with tighter writing, better characterizations and plots without lots of backstory. Many of those authors are now indie authors. So ask older readers for some recommendations.

BDSM

I have two BDSM books (His Mistress and His To Command). In truth, in almost every romance there is a small aspect of the BDSM genre in terms of a dominant character and a submissive character. If you’ve read Fifty Shades of Grey and loved it, great. A lot of readers did. However, please understand that series DOES NOT even remotely resemble what true BDSM is.

In fact, the BDSM community was deeply outraged by the lack of research the author did for her trilogy, and subsequently, the media frenzy that made the lifestyle sound obscene. BDSM has nothing to do with sex. It’s about a character’s need to surrender to someone more powerful and capable of taking on some of their burdens. If you want to read BDSM, I recommend you read Joey Hill. I loved, loved the Nature of Desire series, Ice Queen is a particular favorite. Joey was also my mentor when I wrote His Mistress.

What I Don’t Write

I do not write ménage, anal sex (although there might be a time in the future, saying never gets me into trouble), LBGQT, reverse harem, or dark romance (as a sexual assault survivor, I’ve no interest in reading taboo subject matter or fantasy rape).

I write what I enjoy reading. Since those topics don’t generally interest me, I’ve no desire to write books with those topics. That doesn’t mean I won’t ever include them in a future book, though. I truly do write what the characters tell me to write.

While I might not write about those subjects, I don’t clutch my pearls if someone else enjoys writing or reading books with that kind of content. I do not believe in censorship or forcing people to believe as I do about anything in life. So if you love genres I don’t write in, I’ll support your right to love and read those genres everyday of the week. That’s a hill I’ll die on.

To further illustrate my understanding of diversity of reader tastes, many of my avid readers of historicals won’t even consider reading my paranormal or time travel series. I understand this, because different strokes for different folks. You do you, and I’ll do me. It’s that simple.