Genella: Great analogy!

Hi Laurie! I also think Laura Kinsale has written about how a strong hero appeals to our male side and represents the masculinity in us all. Interesting to think about.

Kimber: I do love to watch the love scenes change over the course of the relationship, as the couple gets to know each other better. I have to admit to being a fan of Larissa Ione, even with that intense sex scene in the very first chapter of her first Demonica book. The characters’ love-making change over time.

Jennifer: I can see how the sex and violence could feel too intense. There are cringe-worthy scenes, but I’m still hooked!

Gerd: I think sex scenes advance the plot the way sex advances a relationship…

I don’t need to know the sexual practices of characters in minute detail, and am rather not, but I usually don’t mind those scenes if they are handled tastefully or with charm and are kept short enough that I can flip over them with jumping half of the book.
It’s just that I have a feeling that it all comes down to “having sex” in novels these days, and there’s seldom a emotional pull behind it but only animal drive.

Give me some old fashioned chaste fading out any day.

And probably should have said ruin the romance for me, not ruin the book per se.

I love my erotic romance and never thought I would say this, but also wish those a bit comfortable with it, would sometimes use the scenes a little less. A bit tired of having the HH jump in bed within the first couple of pages, when knowing each other for a day to a week.

As for True Blood: I don’t know anyone who actually doesn’t like that show.

[Raises hand] Here! The gore outweighs any enjoyment of the story for me. I gave up at the end of the first season after watching most of it with my hand over my eyes. Again, too much of something is never a good thing.

If the sex scenes are the same on page one as they are on page 300, the character arc is a flatline.

For many of today’s women, sex is important, but just having it isn’t the be-all/end-all in a relationship, nor does it guarantee a happily-ever-after. There needs to be more. I think that’s why erotic paranormals and erotic historicals are so popular. There’s a lot of inherent conflict in those relationships–both internal and external–even if they have had sex. Sex is dangerous (or scandalous) again.

At a conference once, I heard Deb Werksman from Sourcebooks say a good romance makes you wish you were the heroine and that your husband was the hero (or something to that effect). Since one of my first “crushes” was Chris Sarandon as the vampire in Fright Night and I dreamed of being “Amy,” I’m thrilled with all the vampire romance on the screen and between the covers of a sexy book. It’s like I’m reliving my adolescence again, but in a very grown up way.

G.