Is it time to cancel the term “bodice ripper,” for its connotations of aggressive, potentially non-consensual sex? Some readers think so. But, thankfully, not all bodice rippers fall under that brand anymore.  

Today, bodice rippers are broadly recognized as “sexually explicit romantic novels with a historical setting,” according to Book Riot—and they’re just one category of a once clandestine publishing genre that is now booming: romance. 

Romance is a wide-ranging genre, but it includes a single, fundamental element: the HEA, or “happily-ever-after.” If a book doesn’t have that, it’s not a romance—even if the plot features romance. 

I’ve been reading romance since high school, when I would hide my bodice rippers in a box under my bed that I thought my mother knew nothing about. I worked my way through the enormous collection at Amy’s Books, the beloved (now closed) used bookstore in my small Pennsylvania town. Back then, Mary Balogh wrote my favorite “bodice rippers,” with her spitfire heroines and good sex scenes. 

Because romances tend to be enjoyable, quick reads, they make excellent beach books. So here are Rewire News Group’s top recommendations for some steamy summer reading. Most picks are mine, but you’ll see I’m not the only romance fan at RNG.

Romances with strong and tender BIPOC leads

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

This is the final book in the Brown Sisters trilogy. This series is so refreshing because it features enjoyable, diverse characters with multiple identities navigating life, love, and friendship across London: chronic illness for Chloe, bisexuality for Dani, and autism for Eve. Read this series in whatever order you like—all three books are marvelous, laugh-out-loud funny and poignant, with plenty of spice. 

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera

Adriana Herrera’s protagonists tend to be Afro-Latina and Caribbean women. This is the second in her Las Leonas (The Lionesses) series. It’s set in Paris, where Manuela del Carmen Caceres Galvan collides with Cora Kempf Bristol at the 1889 Paris Exposition. Manuela is trying to sell her paintings........

© Rewire.News