HOT OR SWEET,,,

…How do you like it? Of course, I’m talking about romance novels. What else would I be talking about? Do you like to read sweet stories where the lovemaking takes place behind closed doors? Or do you prefer hot books with lots of explicit lovemaking, or maybe really naughty books--ménage, BDSM, and anything else your imagination can conjure? With the plethora of romance sub-genres and sub-sub genres, there’s something for everyone. In my totally unempirical research, I believe erotic romance and erotica dominate the market. Erotic romance continues to push the envelope with ever more daring storylines. While I enjoy erotic romance, I don’t take it as a steady diet, but it’s a nice treat now and then. I recently read a very, very hot erotic romance novella while I was exercising on the bike at the gym. As the story got hotter, I pedaled faster and faster. It’s a wonder the bike didn’t come off the stand and break through the window. I got quite a workout that day. If the story had been a full-length novel I would have been at the gym until they closed. I could not stop reading. Now, that’s hot. Um--reading erotica as a weight loss and fitness program. Might work. My usual preference is sensual with varying degrees of hotness--to read and to write. There are times I get tired of writing love scenes or even reading them. With all the choices out there, I can always find something to suit my mood. I wrote my novella, “Loving Or Nothing,” as a semi-sweet story because I wanted a break from writing love scenes, and some storylines cry out for sweet. The really heavy lovemaking in “Loving Or Nothing” happens behind closed doors. I enjoyed writing that story. It was refreshing. It finaled in a contest and has sold well, so I guess readers like it too. I read recently that sweet romances are making a comeback. Harlequin started a new line called Heartwarming that will publish romances very like their Love Inspired line but without the spirituality. I know Inspirational romances are as hot as erotic, but I don’t believe sweet romances in general are making a comeback. I think readers still want the hot stuff. But maybe I’m wrong. There are times I want to read a hot novel and times not so much. After writing my semi-sweet “Loving Or Nothing,” I was ready for some hot. I wrote “Storm of Desire,” my steamiest story yet. I loved writing that and I fell in love with hunky, sexy Aiden Rourke, my hero, and in my opinion, every woman’s dream--incredibly sexy, but loving and kind too. So now you know my romance tastes run the gamut from sweet to hot to sizzling. This inquiring mind wants to know--Do you read only one type romance exclusively--sweet, sexy, erotic? Or are your tastes more eclectic?