Hot and Heavy: Books to Get You in the Mood
The big V Day is upon us. While we’re still churning through the pandemic and social distancing is too much of a real thing - it’s really the perfect excuse to get comfortable with a steamy book or two.
If you’re unsure where to start, we’ve compiled a list of erotically-charged fiction to help you on your way.
You’re welcome.
The Collection by Nina Leger
Winner of the Prix Anais Nin, The Collection (2017) tells the story of Jeanne, a woman in the pursuit of pleasure in the streets of Paris. In anonymous hotel rooms, she undresses man after man, forgetting faces, names, pleasures, thoughts, and all physical attributes but the only one that matters. In her mind, a collection of memories is building - image by image, lover by lover. Slow and seductive, The Collection is a unique take on pleasure from a distinctly feminist standpoint.
The Pisces by Melissa Broder
From the author of So Sad Today (2016) comes The Pisces (2018), a no-holds-barred novel about one woman’s pursuit of love and sexual understanding - with a merman. Lucy has been writing her dissertation for nine years when she and her boyfriend break up in a dramatic flameout. Her sister insists Lucy dog-sit for the summer, but Lucy can find little relief from her anxiety. Everything changes when she becomes entranced by an attractive swimmer she meets while sitting alone on the beach one night. When Lucy learns the truth about his identity, their relationship, and Lucy’s understanding of what love should look like, take an unexpected turn. The Pisces is a story about falling in obsessive - and erotic - love; and did we mention it was with a merman?
A Sport and A Pastime by James Salter
A Sport and A Partime (1967) has been a favourite of readers worldwide for almost forty years. In her Guardian review, Sarah Hall notes that it “asks how we make sense of romance and tell the truth about sexual love.” Set in provincial France in the 1960s, this is an intense and carnal story - part reality, part fantasy - of a love affair between Yale dropout Philip Dean and a young French girl Anne-Marie. Go and look up some reader reviews - you won’t need much else to convince you this one’s enough to get you hot under the collar.
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
It’s the early nineties, and Paul Polydoris is working the bar at the only gay club in a university town. He’s studying queer theory, making zines, hanging out with his best friend, and having a lot of sex. But Paul also has a secret: he’s a shapeshifter. He can transform his body at will and goes on a series of adventures that take him all over America. As it says in the blurb, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl (2019) “is a rich journey through deep queer archives of struggle and pleasure.”
Open Me by Lisa Locascio
Roxana has always dreamed of going to Paris. After high school graduation, she finally plans to travel there on a study abroad program but a logistical mix-up brings her to Copenhagen instead. Here, she’s picked up at the airport by Søren, a twenty-eight-year-old guide. The two are instantly drawn to one another, and their relationship becomes romantic. When he asks her to accompany him to a small coastal town for the rest of the summer, she doesn’t hesitate to accept. There, Roxana’s world both shrinks and expands as she experiences the thrill of fantasy, ritual, and the pleasures of her body: a realm of erotic and domestic bliss. As their relationship deepens and sours, and Roxana is drawn to the local outsider, Zlatan, whom she learns is a Muslim refugee from the Bosnian War. The cycle of awakenings sparked by these two relationships challenge and open Roxana in ways she never imagined.
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
If you're tired of the overdone romantic tropes, give The Kiss Quotient (2018) a try. It tells the story of Stella, an econometrician on the Autism spectrum, and Michael, a Vietnamese-Swedish-American male escort as her unexpected romantic tutor. Stella hires Michael on a purely professional basis to help her with her dating life and understanding intimacy with others. Obviously, it doesn't go according to plan.
Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
We’d be remiss if we didn’t include the queen of erotic fiction in this list and if you’re unfamiliar with Nin’s writing, Delta of Venus (2000) is as good a starting point as any. Across fifteen short stories, Nin conjures up a cascade of raw, erotic and sometimes violent encounters. She explores an area that was previously the domain of male writers and brings to it her own unique perceptions.
Luster by Raven Leilani
Luster (2020) took the literary world by storm last year, and definitely not without merit. Edie is stumbling her way through her twenties until she meets Eric on a dating site, a digital archivist with a family in New Jersey, including a wife who has agreed to an open marriage - with rules. Edie finds herself unemployed and is invited into Eric’s home - though not by him. She becomes a hesitant ally to his wife and a de facto role model to his adopted daughter: Edie may be the only Black woman young Akila knows. Sexually charged and utterly absorbing, Luster is a portrait of a young woman trying to make sense of her life in a tumultuous era.
Elaine Mead is a freelance writer and book reviewer, currently residing in Hobart, Tasmania. She is passionate about the ways we can use literature to learn from our experiences to become more authentic versions of ourselves and obsessed with showing you photos of her Dachshund puppy. You can find her online under @wordswithelaine.
