On spicy books, cartoon covers, and the disappearance of erotic romance...
I want to talk about spicy books because to be frank, what the fuck is a spicy book?
I know people like to dunk on Booktok on other platforms (I used to), but being on the app has exposed depths I didn’t know existed and book recs I might not have discovered. But this specific quirk still confuses me, because what is “spice?”
Is it spicy to start a book with a man desperately jacking off to thoughts of his best friend’s mother in an airplane lavatory? (Amen. I mean yes.)
Is it spicy for the ghost to inhabit her new friend so they can make love to the man who inherited the ghost’s home? (Yes, and it was fun to write.)
Is it spicy to read a bisexual man eagerly preparing himself to be pegged by his new lover? (Hallelu.)
I’ve seen lots of people attempt to answer the question with a categorization of heat levels, like the one developed by Romance Class, which can absolutely be helpful. But I’m not going to take that route because, to be honest, I don’t care about levels. As exemplified by the list above, I’m all over the place with the kind and intensity of sex on the page (or not) that I like and I wouldn’t be objective. I also think this is a much bigger conversation, so let’s start with covers!
There’s a perpetual conversation (debate, battle, whatever) about the recent-ish trend of illustrated covers and whether or not they correctly reflect the content of the books. The easy answer is that it depends. Some illustrated covers do a fantastic job of letting the reader know that there will be plenty of sex on the page, whereas others don’t. But I think the more nuanced playing field is actually to get away from the individual covers and ask about the lack of variety. To ask why so many authors and publishers are shying away from reflecting the sensual relationship they’ve eagerly written and released. To ask why so many readers won’t read a book “without spice” but might balk at a cover that reflects that.
A thing I’ve been thinking about recently, as I spend time on Tik Tok specifically, has been the erasure of erotic romance as a useful category for book recommendations. In books with illustrated covers and those without, few readers seem to engage with erotic romance as a legitimate subgenre of romance, choosing instead to categorize them as erotica, which has long been a problem. Most of my books live right on the edge of erotic romance and erotica, so I’m probably not the best example of the distinctions… or am I?
During Book Bonanza, my assistant Beth tweeted a picture of the special edition cover of Office Hours and… the internet had a response. I wasn’t on Twitter by that point (like couldn’t even log in) so all I heard about the hubbub was second- and third-hand, thankfully, but what I remember most about that debacle was outrage at the “explicit” nature of that cover. I remember internet users hand-wringing about someone on a hypothetical train, being observed hypothetically reading my real book. (gasp) I remember so many quote retweets full of outrage at possibly seeing it on shelves at their local bookstore, which wasn’t an option then and isn’t an option now. Some people called it soft-core porn (I love ethical porn so… thanks!). I remember people aghast at what would happen if children read it, etc. You get the gist of the puritanical hysteria.
Since I wasn’t on Twitter, I saw just a fraction of this, so I got to focus on meeting the readers who sought me out for that cover, the ones who loved the book with its original cover (hot man in a suit!). I got to talk to Beth, a long-time reader who made a shirt inspired by The Family and also made an overwhelming experience fun. I got to enjoy the fruits of a lot of labor. But when I left Dallas, the debate was still raging.
With time to think about it, and almost a year since I can’t get over the outrage about, frankly, nothing. Not to expose my own Heat Level 4 leanings, but Alejandro and Deja have lots of fun in that book, and a little finger fucking on her desk was tame. A sensual introduction, if you will. However, I did see someone accuse me of condoning workplace harassment with that cover, which was rich considering how careful I try to be with clear and enthusiastic consent in my books and the steps Deja and Alejandro took to make sure HR knew about their relationship. It’s also funny considering the conversation Toni and Mike have in book two, Sabbatical, about people who ran with Deja and Alejandro’s example to their peril.
I got to miss that conversation, but other readers were shamed for having read the book and/or enjoyed the cover. Other readers who enjoy reading erotic romance (which this book is) got an up close and personal reminder that for some readers, sex is still shameful. I can’t get over the romance readers, of many ages, who seemed ashamed at the idea that people would know they’re reading books with sex. But I also can’t get over the readers who think books with sex are only about the sex. To be fair, sometimes that is all there is, and I love those books too! But that specific book is about Black women’s overwork and frustration at their job, a topic near and dear to my heart - a thing I write about frequently. I couldn’t get over that pearl-clutching reception to a book that is overwhelmingly about learning how to care for yourself and letting other people care for you (including, but not limited to, said hot man in a suit).
And that response is why I’m here. Had I been on Twitter last summer, I might have lost days/weeks defending that cover, but I wasn’t on Twitter, so I just sold the book to all who wanted it. (RIP to Jaleesa’s Tik Tok about the cover. “Shout out to fingering,” gone but never forgotten.) And when I was done shipping books for the year, I moved on. I wrote other books. I went on vacation. I cuddled my cats. I experimented with nail extensions. I slept.
I also started thinking about a special edition cover for Sabbatical, something readers have asked for since the book was released.
And here it is!
Preorder your signed paperback!
I love this cover and the art hellhoneyy created for it. And for people who might feel tempted to freak out again at a cover that hints at sex on the page, I made sure the stepback left no room for doubt. Because I love erotic romance and erotica. My books and I aren’t ashamed of sex and I write for readers who feel similarly. (NSFW)
I warned you!
I’m not the first person to ask readers and writers to think about their relationship to sex on the page or lack of it. Not all romance books have sex. Not all readers want to read sex. Not all sex or sensual scenes are written the same (if you want to see a variety, check out some of my favorites listed above) and, most importantly, not all of us have the same relationship to reading/writing/talking about sex.
Not all of us are saddled with that shame.
In the seemingly never ending battle about illustrated covers, heat levels, and spice, I’d like to throw in a reminder that erotic romances exist and I’m going to keep writing them.