'Spicy' romance novels - everyone but me?

[TaylorsLeftShoe]

Shamelessly posting in AIBU for traffic!

This morning on the school run I caught some of the mums talking about 'hockey books', I bumbled in confused because hockey is not an option for our dcs (v early primary) but apparently they were talking about these 'spicy' books they all read.

They hadn't told me as they thought I was too prim (!) but apparently they're all into them, basically it seems like chick lit but with lots of sex and 'spicy' scenes.

Is everyone reading this apart from me?? I'd never even heard of them until today and feel a bit left out.

Never thought I was prim, now wondering if I have been all along 😂

Depends on what they class as spicy. If they're talking about 50 shades then they're wrong and you're not missing out, my devout Catholic Nanna could have written better. Anne Rice writing under her alias however ... I would genuinely say is spicy.

I like a good spicy book, not so much the hockey ones, more the billionaire bad boy 😂

Oh god, maybe it is just me then 😂

Is there an actual plot or is it just the characters getting together?

Any idea where I should start?!

Absolutely not for me either, if that makes me prim, I'll take it 😂

No, I want to read about murder.

Modern day Mills and Boon, but with fewer dashing airmen and sailors.

I think the hockey ones are quite popular in Canada, where it’s a much more mainstream sport. Quite a bit of man-on-man action in some, which probably isn’t very Mills and Boon.

ETA: they crop up with odd frequency in this Reddit sub: www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/

There's thr ACOTAR series by Sarah J Maas that's spicy.

First one starts like a fairytale, and is not that spicy, but the later ones seem to be more so.

You can also look for "reverse harem" if that is what you're into. There's a lot of books which are basically spice now, it's very trendy

Sarah Morgan is good for mostly chick lit with a bit of sex. They have very definite plotlines and are quite enjoyable as occasional reads. I read one yesterday and then lured DP to bed for the afternoon (off work for the Easter holidays and no DC for a week!). They are not my typical types of read (I have an English degree and can be a bit wonky and pretentious...) and definitely don't stand up to analysis, but are fun and gently racey.

Yeah, murder, zombies and anything post-apoc for me thanks. No kissing.

I've read some of the hockey books, loads of shagging.

Oh not for me ,really doesn't float my boat.
op you're not the only one.

My biggest argument against these books is 99% of them are fucking dreadfully written. Glorified teenage fanfiction. Especially 50 shades, which did in fact originate as Twilight fan fiction.

Everyone is on about ACOTAR right now so I have the first book a go. Really pushed myself but couldn’t for the life of me get passed the Wattpad “kidnapped by Harry Styles” vibe it was giving. Dreadful.

A good spicy novel is nothing to be sniffed at though.

I'm so glad it's not just me.

Everyone is on about ACOTAR right now so I have the first book a go. Really pushed myself but couldn’t for the life of me get passed the Wattpad “kidnapped by Harry Styles” vibe it was giving. Dreadful.

The first book isn't great. I really didn't get the hype.
The second book is MUCH better, I'm just about to start the third. I'm hooked.

Turns out I only like 'spicy' books if they involve mythical creatures 😂😂

I enjoyed The Fourth Wing too.

I would highly recommend the author Chuck Tingle. Satire horror erotica. The book titles alone are priceless.

In my mid teens I was all over my mum's Judith Krantz books and even read some from cover to cover rather than just flicking through for the sex scenes!

But now I find most sex scenes either laughable, cheesy, unnecessary for the plot or fairly repulsive. I prefer the written equivalent of the camera panning away from the bed to the window, where there is an attractive firework display outside.

Don’t mind spice but can’t stand badly written as per pps. I read 50 Shades years ago and found it as unreadable as Twilight (non-spicy comparison) as this style of book is very amateurish to me. The spiciest I’ve read which just about meets my criteria of being readable is Bridgerton. Otherwise prefer books to be written by a skilled writer 😂

It’s as unreadable as twilight because it was originally twilight fanfiction. She was actually aspiring to Twilight, making it somehow even more insufferable and laughable.

Nah, it’s not just you. I’ve never read one.

The fact that everyone uses the word spicy to describe them just makes me hate them even more 🤮

I am convinced this is an emporers new clothes situ and everyone knows they are shit but feels compelled to read them because vapid people on tiktok are banging on about it

Definitely not just you who isn’t reading them. I love reading but have so little time to do so what with work and DC. I wouldn’t waste that precious time on poorly written books when there are thousands of great novels I haven’t read yet.

I have to read very well written books and if there is a descriptive sex scene in it anywhere I will go off reading it. Same with TV drama. I can't be doing with it. I don't see the point in it at all. I'm not interested in sex for myself let alone other people.

If you have Kindle Unlimited then you get presented with loads of them - sporty ones, musician ones, rich boss and mafia ones! The trend now is to label with keywords. So the subtitle will be "An enemies to lovers hockey romance with a HAE (happy ever after) ending". They're like the McDonald's Happy Meal of books.

I really dislike erotic literature. Eugh, I don't want to read someone else's sexual fantasy or the fantasy that they think that I might be turned on by!

If the sex is part of the story then I'm ok with it, but anything that is deliberately trying to titillate me with some kind of raunchy sexual romance type of thing is a definite turn off.

Can't stand them. I'm the least "prim and proper" person ever and have read some excellent smut fanfiction in my time but these books getting published now are SO badly written.