Is it me or are romance novels getting spicier? I'm not talking about erotica, or romantica (which I write myself under the name Anh Leod), just your everyday books with romance on the spine. In fact, I'm not even talking contemporary, but historical romance.
   We all know erotica was doing so well at small press/e-publishing that the major publishers started erotica lines of their own, and in some cases, an erotica line above and beyond the erotica line they already had. But did we all want every romance to break new barriers? Did we all want every romance novel to have a spicy premise?
   Lately, it seems when I read a historical suddenly the 18-20 year old heroine is behaving in ways she never used to. Seducing and doin' it with nary a thought about the consequences appropriate to her era. I'm especially jarred out of the story when these scenes are thrown in out of the blue. Even if they are well written I start questioning character motivation.
   Maybe historical romances are just getting more realistic? I read a recent study that showed the virgin-before-marriage stats weren't really that different before and after the so-called sexual revolution. I believe it too, from my mother's stories of her classmates' doings in 1950s Iowa! Maybe teenagers always behaved in headstrong fashion, even when they were at risk of ruining their reputations.
   But I still miss the less-spicy historical, when the tension was delicious and it all developed more slowly. Plus with less sex there was more room for other things in the book - setting, history, character development, plot...

 

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