Here’s our guide to help you understand what you want to look at to find the best next-read to add to your TBR pile.
Spice Level
This is the category that defines the level of spice you can expect from the book. From Sweet to Explicit.
- Sweet – No sex in the book. Romance is happening but it’s clean and wholesome.
- Sensual – This is your fade-to-black category. You know the characters are having sex, but it happens during the page turn.
- Open Door – We know and see the characters are having sex but it’s more of the New Adult variety. Not graphic but presented and shown.
- Spicy – Longer sex scenes shared in more graphic detail, but often w/euphemism terms (i.e. manhood); this would be your rated R on TV. Consider this “in the room” with up close and personal descriptions.
- Explicit – Graphic and erotic descriptions (includes slang anatomical terms such as cock or pussy) and if televised this would be a stronger TV-MA rating.
*Looking for kink info? Look in Trigger/Content Warnings for things like Spanking, BDSM, etc. Look in Tropes/Subjects for things like Praise, Werewolves, etc.
*Looking for frequency of sex scenes in the book? That’s your steam level. Low steam 0-2. Medium steam 3-5. High steam 5+.
Steam Levels
- No Steam (0 Sex Scenes)
- Low Steam (1-2 Sex Scenes)
- Medium Steam (3-5 Sex Scenes)
- High Steam (6+)
*Looking for kink info? Look in Trigger/Content Warnings for things like Spanking, BDSM, etc. Look in Tropes/Subjects for things like Praise, Werewolves, etc.
*Looking for level of detail describing the sex scenes in the book? That’s your spice level from Sweet (Clean) to Explicit.
