DownNDirty

[juliamenez]

When reading any sex scenes, I prefer writing styles like this rather than when the author acts like a shy teenager who is afraid to outright say words like "sex" and associated body parts.

[[Valerie Allen]]

While, like most single and married women, I'm no different when it comes to romance. Therefore, what I like about the book is how Alex loved and cared for Angela. On the other hand, I agree, there are two major things I do not like. I don't like the unrealistic sense of supernatural ghosts crossing over from past to present and the explicit, over the top sex scenes.

[crediblereading2]

I think it depends on what is depicted as Romance. It could be that in the mind of the author, romance should involve very raunchy sex scenes. It is up to the reader to read the book.

[garima597]

The word 'cock' is used twice in this book and it is used by Scordato. The author here tried to show the crude nature of Scordato by using such language.

[Ginnamassa19]

Hmm...I think I'm in the rare boat of "there are words I think should be used to describe the body parts, and other words that should be said out loud."
Basically, the medical terms should be used for third person narrative, and the vulgar terms should be used in dialogue.

The one thing I can't stand though is when the author tries to substitute everyday words for the body parts...things like sausages and love sticks.
Once I even read a sci-fi book where it took me two whole pages to realize the characters were having sex because I thought the guy was literally just "polishing his sword"...as you do.

I laughed out loud at this comment. I once read a book where a penis was described as a "velvet steel shaft", and another one where a vagina was referred to as "love petals", so yeah, I definitely feel your pain. XD

[RebeccasReading]

I personally dislike sex scenes in books if they are overly explicit. I know they are a core part of romance novels, but I don't like that genre. I just find those types of scenes to be a distraction if the story is more than a simple romance novel. Most of the time, they are written in a way that sounds very silly and over the top. It's very difficult to create a realistic sex scene that contributes something significant to the plot. I think most authors would be better off skipping it and sticking to a simple description of the sex.

[Anthony Martial Tata]

I enjoyed the discussion on romance. Moreover, I think the book had a fair storyline.

[Nma26]

Different strokes for different people.That was the author's choice of language for the book.I've read worse.

[PABS]

I was recently listening to an audiobook while I commuted to work. There was a sex scene and the author used the word penis. It was actually kind of strange to hear the medically accurate term in the middle of a steamy scene. I think it can be really hard to authors to avoid cliche terms during scenes like that.

Your comment reminded me of an interview of a romance writer that I read years ago. This writer was agonizing for days over how to refer to the member of her male lead. She really struggled with which synonym to use, even muttering to herself as she did the laundry (or some other household chore), "It's a penis!"

[Jessica Reehl]

This post has given me a lot to think about. I'm not a fan of either "c" word when describing genitals. But, many good points were made and, as a writer, I'm just not sure now what choice would be best to the reader. I guess when I'm in the middle of reading a sex scene I don't really pay much attention to the words chosen so I hadn't thought too much about this before.

[Nelsy Mtsweni]

The first time I came through that term when reading a romance book left me shocked... and surprised also. I would rather have had the author use other name other than that to refer to male's private part, but I do not know which I would recommend.

[thaservices1]

I don't mind "crude" words when depicting sex scenes however I agree the word "cock" just didn't fit in this case.

And while I don't mind those words, and in some cases they can make a scene "steamier", there has been a lot of romance literature which abstain from crude, medical or childish terminology completely. Words that come to mind are "member" and "manhood".

Bottom line for me is so long as the wording flows with the represented writing of the entire story line, anything goes.

Thank you! That was my complaint, not the use of the word in general, but that it was a deviation from the rest of the scene. If she had referred to all the cocks in the story as cocks it would not have phased me at all. It was the fact that other than in this one scene, she only uses the word cock when talking about the 'bad guys'.

[ross_offscript]

For one, I don't believe that the romance genre translates to "hot sex scenes". Romance is about love, l'amour as the French would say. But I agree, the word "cock" is just so raw and improper language for the educated class.

I agree with you Zain A Blade! I think that romance does not always require "hot sex scenes." I have watched many movies and read many books that I would still consider romantic without such scenes. I believe that the story just requires: (1) great character development of the loving relationship between two people and (2) their actions for each other as a result of their love.

[pixiequeer]

I think this book has equal parts of many different genres, as no genre in particular stood out to me. With that being said, in regards to romance, I look at this book like I look at Romeo and Juliet; that kind of love and that kind of relationship is a bit unrealistic, and therefore so are the sex scenes.

While I love my partner more than I've ever loved anyone and he's made me feel some magical ways, the way these scenes are written still seems unrealistic.

I will also say I did not like the use of the word cock, as I prefer more proper terminology. Cock and dick have always made me feel dirty, and not in a good erotic way either. I'm just more traditional, I guess.

Erotica typically isn't my genre of choice, but usually if I read one I at least get aroused. This book did not even touch the surface of arousal for me, but that's just my opinion. I mostly paid no mind to the sex scenes. They just really didn't grab my attention.

[ross_offscript]

Word choice is everything, and where one term might feel right at home in a sex scene from a book taking place in a specific historical period or from a certain genre, when the same is used in a completely different context, it can pull the reader right out of their immersion. I'm kind of with you on the author's style here, some of it feels more suited to a contemporary steamy romance - which is not how I think of this book.

Hi Starshipsaga! I agree with you about word choice; but I believe that the description of the scene with well-arranged sentences is more important. Although Belle Ami did use "cock" and "penis," I actually think that the author still successfully managed to arouse all of one's senses in not only the romantic scenes but the eating and wine-tasting paragraphs, too.