I was recently reading an author’s newsletter and was surprised to find that she took exception to her romances being called “sweet” by a couple of reviewers. I was a bit taken aback when I read on – she stated that a couple of readers were confused as they seem to take the word sweet to mean clean – no sex. I am guessing they were not happy to find out there was a lot of sex on the pages. As a reviewer, I often use “sweet” in the description of the books I read but now I feel I should explain what I mean by that word. Yes, often “sweet” means a clean read with no sex or little sex that is not written in a graphic format. As a long-time reader of various genres of romance that still holds true, but I find that to me there is more to “sweet” than what most understand. I think of “sweet” as the couple getting to know each other, doing things together, before hopping in bed. If a book is considered erotica or erotic then usually there is little sweet to be had, at least not in the mind of…
