Buying Habits

There has been some interesting commentary just the last week or so about eBooks/eReaders and if they will or will not be the final nail in the coffin of book sales. Jane of Dear Author makes some great points in the debate.

Which lead me to wonder: Do you, as a reader of eBooks, purchase less or more in this particular format, and do you succumb to impulse buys the same way you might do in a bricks and mortar store?

Hot Topic: Fetishes

Today's Topic:

Fetishes

What trips your trigger? What would you like to see more, or less of in romantic fiction?

Hot Topic: Book Length

Today's Topic:

Book Length

With so many authors writer shorter and shorter works of fiction, which story length do you prefer?

Hot Topic: Female Orgasms

Today's Topic:

Female Orgasms

Do you think most women prefer clitoral or vaginal orgasms, and why? Do you even know the difference?

Hot Topic: Incest in romance

Today's Topic:

Incest-themed romance novels...

If everyone hates them so much, why are they always on bestseller lists?

Hot Topic - Heroines with more to love

If you've read any of my books you'll know that I'm a fan of the plus sized heroine. That means size 14 and above, not the Hollywood ideal that a size 10 is plus sized.

I wrote my stories with these heroines for a specific reason -- I'm writing what I want to read. Real women - no I'm not saying fat is 'real', just that a sz 14 is more realistic for the average woman than a size 4 or 6 - meeting real men who fall in love with them just as they are. Outside of Chicklit - where, face it, they usually get 'skinny' to get their ideal guy - it's damn hard to find women of size battling the bad guys, solving the crimes and saving the day. I like to write stories about women doing exactly that. (Well, saving the day maybe, suspense and crime drama storylines seem to be eluding me at the moment).

Why am I rambling on about heroines with more to love? The ladies over at Smart Bitches, of course! They had an interesting topic up over the weekend: The Plus Size Heroine - the one who's well adjusted. A topic near and dear to my heart.

Frankly, no woman is ever happy about her shape. If there's not too much, there's not enough. If the weight is right, the proportions are not. It webbles, it wobbles, and horror of all horrors... it all falls down! It's universal - fat, thin or in between. Seriously.

As a plus sized woman I don't want to read the 'I'm so fat, and he's my gorgeous gym instructor and he will only love me when I'm thin' story line. I also don't want to read the story that is 'my life is so bad because I'm fat' or the 'I'm fat so I don't deserve any better' either.

I want to read stories with kickarse heroines who save the day, who worry about all the same things every woman worries about and finds a lover who thinks a bit of junk in the trunk (or hood in my case) is just what he needs keeping him warm on a cold winters night. NOT A STORY ABOUT A FAT WOMAN.

There is a difference. A really fricking huge one (no pun intended). Confidence.

People don't like to read about size 4 Mary Sue whining her little head off about not being pretty enough, and they sure don't like reading about Mary Sue's size 18 sister Debbie Sue whining about not being skinny enough. But they do love reading stories about women who have confidence, who get on with doing what they have to to succeed/live to fight another day/beat the bad guy/save the world -- so why not have that woman be a size 18, or 16, or 20? Make your heroines as diverse as the world live in, embrace all the different sizes and colors of women the world over. Variety is the spice of life!

Romance novels are a fantasy, an escape, it's said. Well my fantasy includes a size 18/20 woman, in some kick arse, sexy as hell 3 inch heels beating the fuck out of a bad guys goolies (with the aforesaid heels), before reapplying her lipstick and making out with the hunky geek neighbour who's in absolute awe of the beautiful Amazon next door - not one of the Olsen twins on a 'fat day'.

What do you all think about Heroines - and Heroes for that matter - that don't meet the societal norms of what everyone should look like? Love em, hate em, don't really care?

PS... how much do I love Loose Id that they have a separate Full Figured Heroine Category!!

Hot Topic: Happy for now?

Today's Topic:

The happy for now ending...

A growing number of romance novels have been released with a happy for now ending instead of the tried and true happily ever after most readers have come to expect from the genre. Do you think this type of ending acceptable?

Hot Topic: M/M vs. F/F

Today's Topic:

M/M vs. F/F

There seems to be a flood of authors writing M/M romance these days, and yet there are still quite a few epublishers who won't accept F/F love stories. Why do you think that is?

Hot Topic: Spit or Swallow

Today's Topic:

Spit or Swallow?

When was the last time you read an intimate scene in an erotic romance novel when the woman/man spit instead of swallowed? Personally, I can't remember the last time. Why do you think that is?

Hot Topic: Tattoos

Today's Topic:

Tattoos

This weeks hot topic is tattoos because I just spent all evening (Sunday) watching my husband get one. I'm a little wishy-washy on tattoos depending on what they are, but if they're done right I think they're hot. What do you think? Are tattoos sexy, or trashy?

Hot Topic: Threesomes

Today's Topic:

Threesomes

Love 'em or hate 'em, threesome themes are prolific in the world of romance. Some menage scenes are temporary, one night stands, and some are the makings of a happily-ever-after. Which do you prefer, the brief fling or the forever angle? If neither, why?

Hot Topic: Safe Sex

Today's Topic:

Safe Sex

Is safe sex a requirement in romance, or optional?

Hot Topic: Cry Babies

Today's Topic:

Cry Babies

This week's hot topic came to me during my weekend reading, while I was rolling my eyes and seriously considering deleting a book I was only thirty pages into. It drives me insane when a strong character, be it male or female, does an abrupt 180 and turns into a snivelling, whining cry baby. I can love angst and inner turmoil as much as the next person, but when the crocodile tears come pouring down a character's face for no good reason, it's the beginning of the end for me.

What do you think? Are there too many character's boo-hooing in romance?

Hot Topic: Adultery

Today's Topic:

Adultery

More than one erotica novel has been centered around the taboo act of adultery. Men and women alike fantasize about what it would be like to stray, whether or not they would actually go through with it. At this time, most publishing houses automatically reject a romance manuscript containing adultery, but what do you think? Does adultery have a place in erotic romance, or is it the one taboo that will remain forbidden to authors?

Hot Topic: Words that disrupt reading

Today's Topic:
Words that disrupt reading

There are a lot of words that throw me right out of my headspace while I'm reading. A couple I see quite often and dislike are: ejaculate and rectum. At least those are the two that pop to mind right this minute. Neither are bad words, but they aren't exactly sexy either. ;)

What are some of your most hated words, or phrases in romance?

Hot Topic: How explicit do you like it?

Today's topic:
Fictional Sex Scenes

When it comes to your reading material, how explicit do you like the intimate scenes? I'll admit, I'm a dirty girl. I want it to be so realistic I can smell the sweat. :) As the people who read my work can attest, I have a very hard time writing a short sex scene. All five senses need to sparked, and then some.

So what do you think? Should the details be kept to a bare minimum, or be revealed in all their naked glory?

Hot Topic: Hair or Bare?

Today's topic:
Body Hair

In romance novels, the range of a male character’s body hair can span from bare to hirsute. However, I’ve noticed that a lot of female character’s are denuded of body hair from head to toe. I have yet to read a romance novel where the woman has a jungle between her thighs.

Personally, I’ve always liked hair on men. There’s nothing I find quite as sexy as a hot man with a hairy chest. As far as women go, it doesn’t really matter to me, but I think trimmed is better than naked. To me, the female anatomy just looks strange with no hair. Of course, the other end of the spectrum is a different matter. Anyone seen an adult film from the eighties? Shudder. That’s some scary stuff. ;)

Which do your prefer, hair or bare?

Hot Topic: What's better, cut or uncut?

Today's topic:
Foreskin

After doing a little research for one of my books, I was surprised to learn that circumcision isn’t popular in a lot of countries. Here, in the USA, it seems like the majority of men are snipped at birth with little thought about it.

Since I don’t have a penis, nor have I had the pleasure of seeing an uncut one up close and personal, I can’t say which form of the male appendage is better. My husband and I have talked at length about whether or not we would have our children cut, if we ever choose to have any, and are no closer to answer now than we were to begin with. There are ups and down to each side of the coin.

Do you have a preference, and if so, why?

Hot Topic - A Piercing thought...

Today's topic:
Body Piercing

Does body piercing do it for you, or does it leave you feeling a little punctured?
Piercing, in one form or another, has been around for centuries. It's ritualistic, tribal, beautifying, exciting, erotic, horrific... the list can go on and on. Does a pierced hero or heroine turn you off, or turn you on?

Hot Topic - Kids and Pets

Kids and Pets and erotic romance - can they work together?

One thing I've noticed is that kids don't show up a lot when it comes to erotic romance - apparently single mothers are great for sweet romance (oh, the juicy angst!), but not so much for the sexy stuff. Pets - not the shapeshifting ones - tend to be a little sparse as well, although they show up more often than kids.

Now there is a whole genre of 'baby drama' when it comes to category romance - whether it the secret baby, the abandoned baby, or the one-last-shag-before-I-kick-you-to-the-curb-what-do-you-mean-you're-pregnant baby - but it doesn't seem to translate over into its erotic romance cousin. I wonder why not?

Is the 'hot sex because we are trying for a baby' too close to home? Along with the trying to have an active sex life while avoiding being walked in on by the kids? (oh, I have such an embarrassing story about that - Anne)

Tell us what you think - and if you've got any great recommends for sexy erotic romance reads where the hero/heroine have kids or very charismatic pets, do tell!