With this month being Romance Awareness Month, I wanted to touch on something that I didn’t realize was an issue until I became a librarian. I’m a YA librarian, but since I’m 1 of 2 people at my branch that actually read, and the ONLY one who actually reads romance, I have to do the reader’s advisory for those asking. And one thing people always ask when they ask for a romance book is “How spicy is it? Like how much of ‘the sex’ is in it?” (Yes, that was a real question lmao)
That got me thinking…. How do I explain this to someone without scaring them off or weirding them out? And then all of this came out when I was reading a romance novel and I couldn’t think of how to explain the smexy times lol So I made this little flier that follows very closely to what Novelist says:
For the most part I mostly read Mildly Sensuous. But sometimes I’ll come across a 4 or 5 and give them a shot. Here are some of my favorites from each level!
- The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson
- The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory (there’s mostly heavy kissing and then when it gets to the sex, you know it happens but its not really depicted.)
- Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
- You Had me at Hola by Alexis Daria and Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
- Jaci Burton’s Play by Play Series
What about you? Do you like romance? Do you have your own scale? Is it the same or different from mine? What about your scale for teens? Let me know in the comments!
That series from Burton definitely toes that line between erotic romance and erotica.
Yeah, I kind of view them as the same thing. But at least with these there is SOME story along with what’s happening lol
I still don’t understand how you have colleagues who don’t read. I am team Steamy. Sometimes Explicit.
lolol You are not the only one. My husband said the same thing lol He was very confused. But she says its because she’s the “community connection” type branch manager. Everyone else says its because they don’t have time lol