Sex Scenes. The bane of my existence. I think actually sitting down to write one was what stopped me from finishing a book to begin with. I knew what I wanted to have happen, but finding the words to describe it  . . . yeah, that was the issue.

You have to understand, I started reading romance during the seventies where the prose were incredibly purple, the heroine was always stupid and a virgin and the “hero” was older (very much older) and the “love” scene very much resembled a rape. Ahhhhh, the good old days. NOT!!

So, to say that I have tons of examples of the worst of sex scenes is to put it mildly. Bless my mama, she had no clue to the content of what I was reading. I think I read my first “romance” novel at 11. In fact, I had just turned 11. The first book I read was called Savage Eden and then I followed it up with The Passionate Savage. Now I look back, they were not good, but from these books I decided that I could do better. So, something came from it. Now saying all that:

Worst Sex Scenes

There are a few things that make sex scenes bad, for me. First, if there’s no real context. For instance, they meet and ten pages later they’re going at it and declaring their love. Ummm, no, sex DOES NOT equal love. Next, if the sex scenes uses phrases such as “dell of love” or “sword of love” . . . NOPE! Also, if the couple is tossed up to pinnacles or sucked into vortexes  another NOPE! Another nope is no real connection between the couple. Like they’re having sex and it could be with anyone. Finally, the worst is when an author uses BDSM, but knows nothing about it or the lifestyle. For Goddess sake, do some damn research.

Best Sex Scenes

I love sex scenes that are fun and funny. For instance, Shelly Laurenston is awesome at making the scenes intense as well as hilarious. The best scenes add to the story. Sex Scenes, done well, make a reader understand why the couple is together or, why they should be together. They also allow the hero/heroine, and the reader,  to see vulnerability, usually in the male, when no one else does. The best scenes are also hot, hot, hot!

I think Nalini Singh does it really well. I especially love her scenes between Dimitri and Honor in Archangel’s Blade. Woweee!! And then there’s one of my new favorite books Rewritten by the amazing Bronwyn Green. Wowzer!! Angus is so fucking hot. The sex scenes between him and Eliza are amazing. Beyond that though, you can feel how connected these two people are.

And, there you have it. My takes on what makes the best and the worst sex scenes. Now go and check out what Jessica and Bronwyn have to say on the subject.