Romance rating list
A list of almost 2500 Romance authors arranged alphabetically with sensuality ratings of the contents of their books including an explanation of the ratings system is found in a folder in the Sampler room on top of the book case where the Romance books are shelved. We have prepared this information as a reader’s advisory for the benefit or the patrons of the Library. The explanation of the ratings system is below:
Useful Information for Romance Readers
Over the years there have been a number of complaints about the sexual content of romance books in the Sampler Collection. In the past there have been few ways to control this. With the advent of the Internet there are now two websites that review romance novels and also rate them for their sexual content. These websites are:
All About Romance http://www.likesbooks.com/
The Romance Reader http://www.theromancereader.com/
The two websites above have similar schemes to rate the books for what they call sensuality ratings. All About Romance gives the following guidelines:
|
Kisses |
Nothing more than kisses. |
|
Subtle |
No explicit sensuality. Kissing, perhaps touching, but physical romance is described in general terms. The emphasis is on how lovemaking made the characters feel emotionally, and not on graphic depiction. If lovemaking occurs, it is alluded to rather than described, so that the reader’s imagination becomes paramount. |
|
Warm |
Moderately explicit sensuality. While our lovers do make love, and the reader is there with them, physical details are described, but are not graphically depicted. Much is left to the reader’s imagination. Emotions and feelings are most important. While there is sexual tension, there may not be more than one or two love scenes in the whole book. |
|
Hot |
Very explicit sensuality. There is an expanded focus throughout the book on sexual feelings and desires. The love scenes are longer, and there are at least 2 or 3 of them. The characters often think about their sexual feelings and desires, and making love is graphically depicted. Both the emotions of the hero and heroine and the phsyical feelings of both are important during love scenes. |
|
Burning |
Extremely explicit sensuality. Sexual feelings and desires are strongly focused on and some books in this category have sex as the primary focus. The details are thoroughly graphic, and may include what some readers might consider kinky. |
The Romance Reader’s scale has similarities:
Sensuality Ratings
G – Love scenes, but little or no sex.
PG – Non-descriptive sex, nothing graphic.
PG-13 – More descriptive, but nothing wild or kinky.
R – Lovemaking, and plenty of it – described in lots of detail.
NC-17 – Ouch! Don’t burn yourself. This book is hot, hot, hot!
Many romance authors write with similar styles and therefore have similar levels of sexual content in their novels. Based on the scales above, numbers 1 to 5 were assigned to the sensuality ratings given to the books on the two websites with 1 being assigned to the mildest level and 5 to the most graphic level. The levels for each book reviewed on the two sites were averaged for each author and lists compiled. In this binder you will find one list arranged alphabetically by author and another arranged in order by level.
This has been done for two purposes:
- We will use the average levels to avoid purchasing books by authors whose sensuality levels are high.
- You can use these lists to choose authors who exhibit writing styles more comfortable to your tastes.
There are certainly authors who write books that vary all over the spectrum of the ratings scales and there are varying opinions of the reviewers who rate the books. Feel free to visit the websites and read reviews of specific books you have questions about. In this way you can also find out what the reviewers think of the quality of a book in other ways—a subject which we have not addressed.
The lists have the results from both websites compiled separately as well as combined. As we compiled the lists it seemed that the levels given in All About Romance tended to be slightly higher than the levels given in The Romance Reader. This is confirmed in the totals which give an overall average of 2.56 among all authors with the Romance Reader giving its authors an average of 2.47 and All About Romance giving its authors an average of 2.61. These are slight decreases in averages from the last update. (from the 6/01/2006 revision)
The most recent revision (1/10/2008) shows a significant rise in sensuality ratings with All About Romance hitting 2.957 and The Romance Reader hitting 2.581 for an overall average of 2.771. It appears that authors are writing more explicit books with a significant increase in the number of ‘burning” or “NC-17” titles.
We will try to update the lists 1-2 times per year. Suggestions and comments can be put in our Sampler Room suggestion box. The current update was completed 1/10/2008.