Smut 101: 12 Steamy, Viral Romance Novels for Your Book Club
It's officially hot book summer! Looking to heat up your summer reading list? Keep reading to discover our top picks for the sexiest book club reads and BookTok sensations that will leave you wanting more. If you're a seasoned smut reader, consider joining one of our public book clubs specializing in spicy page-turners, contemporary love affairs, and historical bodice-rippers. Don't forget to hydrate - you're going to need it!
All Fours: A Novel by Miranda July + Book Club Discussion Guide
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"A frank novel about a midlife awakening, which is funnier and more boldly human than you ever quite expect....the bravery of All Fours is nothing short of riveting." --Vogue
"All Fours possessed me. I picked it up and neglected my life until the last page, and then I started begging every woman I know to read it as soon as possible." --The Cut
"July's novel is hot and weird and captivating and one of the most entertaining, deranged, and moving depictions of lust and romantic mania I've ever read." --New York Magazine
A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, checks into a nondescript motel, and immerses herself in an entirely different journey.
Miranda July's second novel confirms the brilliance of her unique approach to fiction. With July's wry voice, perfect comic timing, unabashed curiosity about human intimacy, and palpable delight in pushing boundaries, All Fours tells the story of one woman's quest for a new kind of freedom. Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic, and domestic life of a forty-five-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectation while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman. Once again, July hijacks the familiar and turns it into something new and thrillingly, profoundly alive.
Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan + Book Club Discussion Guide
Award-winning and bestselling "powerhouse" author Kennedy Ryan is at her absolute best in this compelling, scorching novel about hope and healing, and what it truly means to love for a lifetime (USA Today).
Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn't solve or save everything. It couldn't save their marriage. Yasmen wasn't prepared for how her life fell apart, but she's is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they're always drawn back to each other, and now they're beginning to wonder if they're truly ready to let go of everything they once had.Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another...and then more. It's hot. It's illicit. It's all good--until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez + Book Club Discussion Guide
Instant #1 New York Times bestseller and a Good Morning America Book Club Pick!
This witty, slow-burn rom-com is the "ideal beach read." --Elle
Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other's out, and they'll both go on to find the love of their lives. It's a bonkers idea... and it just might work.
Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.
It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue + Book Club Discussion Guide
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - A USA TODAY BESTSELLER - A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three - "O'Donoghue deepens the familiar coming-of-age premise with riveting moral complications." --People
Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it's love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.
When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred's glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
"Erotic and absorbing...Written with startling power."--The New York Times Book Review
Nan King, an oyster girl, is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty's dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing and dancing double act. At the same time, behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - "You will absolutely devour this book. It's filled with delightful banter, hot romance, and a love story that's worthy of the big screen."--Kate Spencer, author of In a New York Minute and host of Forever35
Then. Twenty-something writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing high-profile book deals, all she does is churn out puff pieces. Then she's hired to write a profile of movie star Gabe Parker: her number one celebrity crush and the latest James Bond. All Chani wants to do is keep her cool and nail the piece. But what comes next proves to be life changing in ways she never saw coming, as the interview turns into a whirlwind weekend that has the tabloids buzzing--and Chani getting closer to Gabe than she had planned.
Now. Ten years later, after a brutal divorce and a healthy dose of therapy, Chani is back in Los Angeles as a successful writer with the career of her dreams. Except that no matter what new essay collection or online editorial she's promoting, someone always asks about The Profile. It always comes back to Gabe. So when his PR team requests that they reunite for a second interview, she wants to say no. She wants to pretend that she's forgotten about the time they spent together. But the truth is that Chani wants to know if those seventy-two hours were as memorable to Gabe as they were to her. And so . . . she says yes.Alternating between their first meeting and their reunion a decade later, this deliciously irresistible novel will have you hanging on until the last word.
The Love Position by Evie Alexander
After making a ground-breaking discovery, archaeologist Sophia Hunter-Savage has her work stolen and her heart broken. She needs a safe place to lick her wounds, so retreats to her family home in the village of Foxbrooke. Taking up yoga is the first step on the path to healing, and when she meets the teacher, Isaac, things start to look up.
Yoga instructor Isaac Hayward has finally found meaning and purpose in his life by helping others. When Sophia arrives at his class struggling with anxiety, his protective instincts kick in, but the undeniable chemistry sets off alarm bells. He’s taken a vow of chastity and relationships are strictly off-limits.
Not wanting to be tempted off the spiritual path, Isaac runs away to an ashram seeking a return to inner peace. But when Sophia unexpectedly turns up, neither can deny the forbidden attraction.
Can their love last the distance, or is this one position they can’t hold for long?
The Love Position is a forbidden love, one bed, steamy, standalone romantic comedy with a shy academic bringing the hottest yoga teacher in the world to his knees… No cheating or cliffhanger, but all the lols, all the feels, and a perfect happy ending guaranteed in this fabulously funny romcom!
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. A TikTok sensation! Sparks fly when a competitive figure skater and hockey team captain are forced to share a rink.
Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team. Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.
Nate's focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team--including Anastasia, who clearly can't stand him. But when Anastasia's skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot. Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn't worried...because she could never like a hockey player, right?
Will They or Won't They by Ava Wilder
Onscreen, they're in love. Offscreen, they can't stand each other. From the author of How to Fake It in Hollywood comes "a sexy lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romance that smolders then bursts into flames" (Abby Jimenez, New York Times bestselling author of Part of Your World).
Lilah Hunter and Shane McCarthy are madly in love--at least, their characters are. As the stars of the hit paranormal TV show Intangible, Lilah and Shane spent years pining for each other onscreen . . . until Lilah ditched the show at the end of season five in hopes of becoming a movie star. With no such luck, she's back to film the much-hyped ninth and final season, in which Lilah and Shane's characters will get together at last.
But coming back means facing one of the biggest reasons she left: Shane. Ever since their secret behind-the-scenes fling imploded at the end of season one, the two of them have despised each other.
Now reunited on set for the first time in years--with the world's eyes on them and their post-show careers on the line--they'll have to grit their teeth and play nice. But under pressure to give Intangible's fans the happy ending they've been waiting for, Lilah and Shane are forced to get closer than ever. And if they're not careful, they might just get blindsided by one final twist: a real-life happy ending of their own.
Heart Breaker by Elle Kennedy
A spicy standalone novel from New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy!
In tight quarters, anything can happen...Fresh off a six-month deployment, Navy SEAL Cash McCoy is determined to end his celibacy streak with a night of down and dirty fun. Instead, he gets an interrupted hook-up with a hot blonde who vanishes without a way for him to contact her.
When he's asked to keep an eye on-and hands off-his commanding officer's sister for a few weeks and guard her from a psycho-stalker ex, Cash accepts the assignment as a distraction...and gets the surprise of his life.
Jen Scott knows she needs protection, although she's not looking forward to being babysat by some straight-laced yes-man her overprotective brother can boss around. But finding out her new roomie is none other than the sexy stranger who was seconds away from shaking her world apart? That changes everything.
Orders be damned, Cash is the one man capable of helping her explore her wilder side. She's even willing to break her own rule-never date military men-to get the gorgeous SEAL into her bed. Until Cash makes it clear he wants much more than she bargained for. Not just her body, but the one thing Jen promised herself she'd never give to a man in uniform: her heart.
Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake
A clever and steamy queer romantic comedy about taking chances and accepting love--with all its complications--from the author of Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail.
Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls--nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, it's a different woman every night, but that's just fine with her.
When Delilah's estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid's stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there's some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.
Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise...at first. Though they've known each other for years, they don't really know each other--so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they're forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations--including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé--Claire isn't sure she has the strength to resist Delilah's charms. Even worse, she's starting to think she doesn't want to...
Kinky History by Esmé Louise James
A provocative journey through human sexual history, packed with fun factoids and forgotten stories, from the historian and storyteller behind Kinky History, @esme.louisee on TikTok
Contrary to popular belief, our predecessors had all sorts of obscene hobbies long before Christian Grey hit the scene. In this enlightening romp, learn about the first instances of homosexuality on record from the ancient world and the diverse history of nonbinary gender; encounter a thousand years' worth of hilarious and horrifying contraceptive methods; consider the positive and negative effects of the widespread availability of pornography in the digital age--and how our relationship to it changed during the pandemic; take a sneaky riffle through centuries of bedside drawers; and discover the dirty little secrets of luminaries such as Julius Caesar, James Joyce, Albert Einstein, and Virginia Woolf.
Esmé Louise James also identifies the key tipping points that directly inform current beliefs around sex to place the past in conversation with the present. By educating ourselves about the weird, wonderful, and varied spectrum of human sexuality and experience, we can normalize and destigmatize sex, write people of marginalized sexual identities back into the pages of history, and build toward a more liberated future.
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