Burning Books–AAR Looks at the Hottest Books We’ve Reviewed
Whatever else has changed in romance, one thing is clear. Books are more explicit than they used to be. Over the years, AAR has given a Burning designation to 361 books. Of those, 15 got Fs, 65 got Ds, 99 got Cs, 151 got Bs, and 31 got As or DIKs.
Our first review of a Burning book, Dara Joy’s Knight of a Trillion Stars, was published in January of 1998. The most recent Burning review is of Breeder by Cara Bristol which we reviewed in July of 2017.Of the DIK Burning reads, nine are from our current decade, 17 are from the 2000s, and five are from the 90s. The overall list of Burning books pulls from many genres and authors–there’s even a Lisa Kleypas on it!
Looking over the 361 books–I got the list by using our PowerSearch feature–I don’t recognize most of the titles. Most of those I do, I doubt we’d rate as burning today. (Has Jill Shalvis ever written a Burning book?) Shannon McKenna? Maybe although the sex in her books is pretty mainstream even as it’s hot.
At the end of the day, a reviewer makes the call. If a book feels Burning to her, we enter it as Burning. What do you think? Here’s a link to all the Burning DIKs at Amazon–look them over and let us know: Would you call these the sexiest or hottest books reviewed by AAR? Do Burning books work for you or are they just too much?
The Schone and Emma Holly are both SO GOOD.
As someone who reads erotica and romantierotica regularly, I love our burning selection a bunch.
Years ago when I first started reading romance I read a lot of romantic suspense which always baffled me when they were running for their lives but had time for some steamy sex even though thugs were just steps away. I grew tired of that and pretty much read mostly regency for years. One book that sticks in my mind was Elizabeth Lowell’s Die in Plain Sight, Wow that book had one of the steamiest scenes I ever read, sex in an art studio with paint smeared everywhere!
The burning historicals that stick in my mind are Stephanie Laurens’ Cynster series, one in particular Scandal’s Bride was absurd, the sex went on for about twenty-five pages and was laughable. I hated those Cynster asshats!
Maybe it;s my age but when I think of Erotica I think Anais Nin or Colette or even Henry Miller. There is a lack of poetry in stuff written today that seems [to me] more explicit than erotic.
As far as Burning, like anything in romance books it all depends on whose the writer!
Sadly, my experience of Laurens is that the sex scenes are interminable and the prose so purple as to be almost black! Those were some of her more recent titles, admittedly… but then I suppose she’s not one to fix a winning formula.
If you haven’t read “Devil’s Bride” you should read it just for giggles. It’s unbelievable! The hero is the biggest asshat in the history of regency romance, he;s a “teacher” of passion and a Duke too boot!
Oh… I don’t know. I think Laurens has some fabulous books with some excellent sex. Devil’s Bride wouldn’t be my favorite despite its DIK rating but I kinda love A Secret Love and The Lady Chosen.
He cannot possibly be a bigger ass than Clayton Westmoreland.
LOL! I had to look him up. I am not a McNaught fan, in the one book I read the so-called hero spent most of the book hating the heroine and trying to ruin her, too stressful for me, I want to read about falling in love not wagering war.
I found that book literally unreadable. I just don’t get it.
That’s 100 percent why I’ve never been able to get into Laurens; ALL Of her heroes are asshats!
One of my favorite erotica books is Beth Kery’s Sweet Restraint. I think I’d still rate it as Burning.
I love Beth Kery’s books – I started reading her under her other pen name Bethany Kane with her One Night of Passion series – she’s like Anne Calhoun for me, a reliable erotic romance author.
Cool. I didn’t realize she’d written under a different name.
When I came back to reading romance (almost exclusively) about 10 years ago, I used the power search quite a bit. I binged the listings of Burning, usually B and above, for awhile, after reading the Shades of Grey trilogy and found a few authors and titles that I really enjoyed. Lisa Marie Rice was a favorite. However, now- I think most are closer to hot. I don’t read near as many erotica type books anymore but I definitely have enjoyed a few over the years, especially some of the series including those by Cherise Sinclair, Joey W. Hill and Lorelei James.
I find my views pretty much in line with the above posts. Sex-centered writing and frank language that dominates the text are primary characteristics of a burning rating. Character development is central for me in a book and so texts that allow sexual encounters to occupy too much time typically leave me feeling bored. I have only read Kleypas’s Suddenly You and am a little surprised it earned a “burning” rating.
I definitely think what was called Burning 10 or 20 years ago, might be ‘warm’ or at most ‘hot’ now. But again, it depends on what the reviewer has read and what they compare their ratings too. Liberating Lacey by Anne Calhoun was the first erotic romance I read – I’d still rate it as ‘hot’ because there is some role play (handcuffs etc). But Jill Shalvis or Julie James or Lisa Kleypas would get a warm from me.
I think it has to do with a scene near the end of the book involving oral sex and food.
Yes, but even that’s pretty tame by today’s standards, no? I just listened to the newly released audiobook version of Suddenly You and I gave it the equivalent of a warm rating.
Yes, that’s my recollection of Suddenly You. It did not stand out to me as a particularly steamy Kleypas book, but overall her writing tends to veer on the very warm side of the scale but still warm, nonetheless.
I don’t have a single standard definition of “burning,” but a book I’m reading USUALLY goes there if it has
– a sex scene with more than two people
– toys beyond vibrators
– anal sex for a female character
But all these things have to be combined with explicit language and an overall sex-centered tone in the work.
Emma Holly has held up well as “romantica” off of this list. I find both her sex scenes and her romance plots believable.
Now, see, I’d rate that as “hot”. Horses for courses, as they say…
Caroline and I have the same standards.
I’d go with Hot for the anal and sex toys and burning for the multiple partners, unless it’s a menage title.!
I admit that I don’t read a lot of erotica – not because I’m a prude, but mostly because I like an actual plot in what I read! But I suspect those would be the only books to get a burning rating from me these days. That said, when I think about the stuff that’s fairly mainstream in romance novels now, I find it hard to think of anything I’d rate above warm. Erotic romance, would perhaps get a hot rating. I do agree with Elaine that too much sex gets boring pretty quickly if the characters and storyline aren’t worth reading, too.
Interesting topic. I noted that 179 of the 361 on “Burning” rating were of a grade C or below (lots of Ds) and 182 were of a B or above grade. I wondered how other types of books compared to this as I felt rather a lot of these were in the “dud” category. On a personal basis, I did enjoy Lisa Marie Rice’s books probably because there was a great story and the H/h seemed to demonstrate a believable relationship. Robin Schone petered out for me and although I read the ones on the DIK list, I never bothered going any further with her. Actually I did get a kick and laugh out of the 50 Shades trilogy. Questionable quality of writing but I ended the 3rd book thinking they really did love each other. However, at the end of the day, I’d rather have my books emphasise love, friendship, loyalty, consideration and a really great story. The Outlander series met those requirements, along with some great sex which was often oblique than straight in your face. Too much sex, sex, sex gets boring and loses its magic.
I’m fine with the “burning” books as long as the burn is part of the hero and heroine’s growth toward a physical AND emotional connection. What I don’t like is books that spend all the time with the hero talking about how hard he is and the heroine talking about how wet she is. Ugh! Please let the hot sex be an element of how compatible the main characters are and not the entire raison d’etre of their relationship.
Of the books you have listed above, I think Cara McKenna’s WILLING VICTIM & BRUTAL GAME (two separate books, but you have to read both to get the full arc of the characters) is the absolute hottest—because the sex (much of it of a consensual non-consent rape role-play) is shown as part of the hero & heroine’s bonding experiences.