DETAILS

Title: Explicit romance

Categories:

Romance

Location: Kristin Hardy, Slippery When Wet; Harlequin Blaze (2003) Julie Kenner, Silent Desires; Harlequin Blaze (2003) Heather Mac Allister, Tempted In Texas; Harlequin Temptation (2002) Linda Conrad, The Gentrys: Cal; Silhoue

Pagination: 0

Illustrations: - frequent and detailled sex scenes - but, conventional heterosexual sex, nothing too kinky or unusual - very independent self-assured heroines who direct their own sexuality

Document Type: Graffiti

Notes:

Romance novels can often be classified on the basis of their sexual content, ranging from the very tame to the very explicit, bordering on erotica. Explicit romances can be identified by the Blaze and Temptations imprints from Harlequin, and the Desire imprint by Silhouette, which are very important from a marketing standpoint. As well, single titles released by other publishers can be very explicit. Explicit romances tend more towards the mutual sexual desires of both the hero and the heroine in contemporary novels, and less towards the scenes of ravishment found in older romances of the 'sweet-and-savage' type. Of course, plots of this type linger on in historical romance. It is important to note that in romance novels, even explicit ones, sex scenes are secondary to the developing love story and character motivations. They are there to further the plot, as well as titillate the reader. Sex for the sake of arousal or sexual exploration is more the realm of erotica. See also: Erotica (Ed. Note: All the images in this genre were scanned from books held in the CRC Humanities Computing Studio collection.)