The one thing all romance novels have in common is the developing emotional connection between the main characters, but the details of their physical relationship differ from book to book. Heat levels or intimacy ratings of romance books are often very subjective and can depend on the reviewer, reader, or a writer’s own preferences.

Heat level, like tropes, the setting and character archetypes, is one way readers choose books. You usually find a hint of those things in the back cover blurb. A good blurb lets the reader know the amount of sexiness to expect while the characters explore their emotional relationship. In this post I’m talking about my take on Tender vs Warm romances.

I’ve talked about my take on Steamy and Spicy here.

Tender vs Warm

*I use tender and warm as descriptors for my heat level ratings. Lots of time you will see clean and wholesome used. I don’t use those because, to me, that implies sex is somehow the opposite and is dirty or unwholesome.

Tender

I’d love some recommendations for tender romances as I don’t have many to make.

Warm

Author Genevieve Graham comes to mind as an example.

I would place my own books in the steamy category. To me, steamy romances fall somewhere between PG-13 romances, where sex might be implied but not described, and spicy romances, where the main characters physical relationship is as important to the story as their emotional bond. So know that if you read one of my books there will be a couple of sex scenes woven into the story. As a reader, if the intimacy matches the tone and mood of the story, I’m happy.

Until next time…

I’m always looking for book recommendations. I would love to hear other examples of tender or warm romances?