Some Like it Hot

Some like it hot in their books and I confess I am one of them. Years ago I read the bodice rippers; the books by Rosemary Rogers with Steve and Ginny, Kathleen Woodiwiss etc. Then I got away from romance for a few years and when I went back, I tried these books again and found them quite honestly, dreadful. I found the 'heros' borderline abusive to their women and in some cases they crossed the line. I didn't like the women any better. I decided then that I would stick to romance books with no sex. I read Patricia Veryan, Marion Chesney, Slyvia Thorpe and others in that would be labeld "kisses". Unfortunately or fortunately as the case may be, I read faster that those mild romance books were being written and slowly started reading books that contained mild or very tame sex scenes. And I found myself liking them; quite a bit actually. I began to to widen the box and read books with more explicit sex scenes. Books by Linda Howard and Nora Roberts. It was a completely different experience than the old boddice rippers I used to read. Both the hero and heroine were equal partners. Ther heroes weren't forcing themselves on the heroines any longer. There was love and respect now involved, something that was missing in those early books. I've now completely changed my reading habits from those first days when I returned to romance and I'm much more likely to pass on the "kisses" books and go for the "hot" or "burning" books. Maybe it's my age. I don't read the sex scenes for the titilation any more. I read them as part of a passionate relationship between two people who love each other.
The odd thing is though, often I skim rather quickly through the sex scenes. It's something I can't quite figure out about myself. If it's a well written book, the hotter the better, but I often don't really read it.