I mean, we all like the occasional something-something in our literature. There’s a reason romance is the #1 selling genre worldwide. It’s gripping, it’s enticing, and it hits us right in the chest. I love a book that tugs on my heartstrings, but I also like a book that shares its couple’s physical payoffs.
I’m not always in the mood for the five-pepper-emoji, hide-this-from-your-children, I-didn’t-think-THAT-was-physically-possible books. When I write high fantasy, such as with my upcoming novel The Shattered King, I love to ride the line between sweet and spicy. We have adult characters with an adult story. Adult things happen, but not gratuitously. For The Shattered King series, I get to play out a nice emotional slow burn in book one and hit that guilt-free spice in book two.
If you’re feeling an inkling for that same “medium” spice in your books, I’ve got five titles that will let you have your cake and eat it, too. These stories pack the full home run, so to speak, and it’s done in a clear and tasteful way … without fading to black.
Warprize (Chronicles of the Warlands, Book 1) by Elizabeth Vaughan
I love a good Healer x Noble book. So much so, I wrote one of my own.
You also love a good Healer x Noble book, because even if you think you don’t, Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughan is going to change your mind.
When Lara’s incompetent king-brother trades her to his enemies to enact a cease-fire between their peoples, Lara finds herself enmeshed in a culture completely opposite to her own. Among the Firelanders, however, she finds new freedoms and renewed purpose, which guide her through her slow-burn romance with the Firelander ruler.
Elizabeth Vaughan has mastered the art of discussing sex without being crude, while juxtaposing two opposing views on intimacy. The spice in this book gets pleasantly warm, and you never once feel robbed of catharsis.
Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, Book 1) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Oh boy. I love using this book to discuss sex scenes.
The first book of The Sharing Knife series gets pretty intense with its spice … and then you realize you haven’t actually read anything graphic.
Wait, what?
Bujold is a master of detailing what’s happening AROUND the thing that’s happening without detailing the thing. No fluids, no gratuitous body parts, no crude language, but you know exactly what’s going on. It’s sheer genius.
Jilted farm girl meets experienced sorcerer-soldier, both with broken hearts in their past. The hunt for malice-ridden “mudmen” brings them together, and, of course, romance ensues.
I love an age-gap romance, and Beguilement certainly is one, but I’ll warn you that it’s bigger than you think…
The Smallest Part by Amy Harmon
Time to take a break from fantasy recs to go straight-up contemporary.
Amy Harmon is one of my favorite authors. She’s utterly amazing at writing emotion in her books. The Smallest Part is no different. Imagine three friends growing up together, a boy and two girls, Mercedes and Cora. Both fall in love with the boy, but Mercedes lets Cora have him because Cora needs just one good thing in her life. So to make Cora happy, Mercedes sacrifices her heart.
Literally just reading the blurb for this book will give you chills. The emotions alone make everything in this book, intimacy included, so, so good, but the physical is there, too. Sex happens, and it’s gripping because of all the emotion and history going into it, but it never crosses a line. It’s simply real.
Shadow of Flame (Dragonsworn Trilogy, Book 2) by Caitlyn McFarland
I know, it’s a book 2. What are you doing, Charlie? But the Dragonsworn series is a great collection with intimacy suitable for even modest readers. The series starts with Soul of Smoke, but sexy times don’t happen until book two, Shadow of Flame.
McFarland does an impeccable job of drumming up emotion over physicality in these books. Everything feels earned, both by the readers and the characters themselves. Not only that, but you get to follow more than one couple simultaneously, so there’s never a dull moment, regardless of where you’re reading in the series.
Kai Monahan is out hiking with her best friend one day when she, whoops, stumbles upon a dragon-clan fight in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. These dragons can turn into men — men who utilize one of my all-time favorite tropes, fated mates. And guess what! Kai’s about to be bound to one of them…
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy, Book 1) by N.K. Jemisin
We’re ending our list on the spiciest of the bunch, though I would still consider The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin far tamer than many red-pepper-emoji books out there.
I love this book. I don’t re-read books often; I prefer stories that are new and novel (pun intended). But I’ve reread this story multiple times. It’s everything I want in a book: fantasy, mystery, strong side characters, and of course, a strong and delicious romantic subplot.
Yeine, a chieftain in a small border land of the empire, is suddenly brought to the capital as a potential heir for all of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms … but something isn’t right, and it’s not just the creature her cousin-rival has on a chain. You know, the one who will kill her the moment the sun sets.
Nahadoth was the brooding shadow lord before brooding shadow lords were popular, but even if you feel burned out on that trope, you will love this book.
