I've been on a voyage of vanilla reads and I'm learning all kinds of things about myself. It turns out that one; even when I'm not having kinky sex, I'm having kinky sex. Two; if this is the kind of sex the general population of the world is having, I'm a dirty whore. And three; I'm really judgmental.
Let me explain.
I'm the kind of person that exists in her own bubble. I knew people were having kinkless sex, but I don't think that
really sunk in.
Like, I knew other people had different kinks than me, but I didn't fully embrace the fact that many people don't have
any kinks.
At all.
They just want pretty, flowery, Twilight twinkle vampire, non-blood sucking, sex.
I know that's a total generalization, but you all knew exactly what I was referring to. So, not far off the mark.
I grew up reading Historical Romance. I know, vanilla...but I don't think those reads really counted for me as how sex goes, because they're in a historical setting. <shrug> It's the same with sci-fi romance. It's the wholly-removed-from-present-day factor that allowed me to regard vanilla sex as irrelevant. And it's those same qualities that make it easy for vanilla people to embrace weird mating elements in sci-fi and paranormal.
When I began reading contemporary books, I rarely if ever read straight romance, outside of comedy. It was all erotic, with some level of dirty kink, or a heavy plot with throw away sex scenes that I didn't take seriously. New Adult and Young Adult sex scenes don't even count as sex in my mind. It's like one step above making out. They're just discovering sex. So if there's dirty talk, I'm impressed and happy for them.
Now that I'm on a Contemporary Romance binge the sex can not be ignored. Nor can the fact that I've spent almost every sex scenes feeling sorry for everyone involved and being really judgmental in general.
It's just so drastically different from the sex I have.
I mean, sure, sometimes plain old pushed up against the wall, soul gazing missionary is nice...but every time?
These are HEA stories. That means these people plan on having the same sex for the next fifty years of their lives. It's with these thoughts my inner judgy-judgerton was just having a field day. I wondered things like; is this why the divorce rate is so high? Is this why people get bored with their partners?
That's when I realized that I'm a bitch, and that it's just as okay for vanilla people to not crave kink as much is it's okay for me to revel in it.
I've been on a sex positive kick, and part of being sex positive is owning that everyone deserves to enjoy sex their way, without some middle aged (whorish) woman calling them boring.
On that note, I have been having a love affair with
Meghan March's
Beneath books. The sex doesn't go as far into dirty kink land as I would prefer, but it's edgy enough that my inner judgy-judgerton wasn't complaining.
Out of all my vanilla reads, these are my favorite, and I would easily recommend them in a heartbeat. The heroines are intelligent, capable, and strong willed to a fault. The heroes glory in their heroines fierce independence while staying dominant, loving, alpha men. Plus, they're pretty aggressive in the sack. I've whittled down my month's book budget splurging on these bad boys, and have been reading them late into the night.
***This is a series, but they're all individual couples with their own story. I read them all out of order so I really don't think it matters which one you read first.***
He loves me, and he doesn’t even know my real name.
The limelight that follows him could expose everything I’m hiding.
But even knowing the risks, I can’t force myself to stay away.
I’m going to break his heart, but mine will shatter right along with it.
Will we lose it all when I reveal what’s beneath this mask?
290 pages
I’ve always known she was too good for me, but that never stopped me from wanting her.
And then I finally had her for one night.
A night I don’t remember.
I figured I’d blown my shot.
But now she’s walked back into my life, and this time, I have the upper hand. I want my second chance.
Will she be able to see the man beneath this ink?
373 pages (and arguably my fav)
I was raised on the streets, so I know things are rarely as simple as
they appear—especially this rich girl showing up at my pawnshop
demanding a job.
She’s the most tempting thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ll be damned if I can make her leave.
Shit just got complicated … but when it comes to her, I want complicated.
We’re both fighting our own demons, and our only chance at a future is to let go of the past.
But will we be strong enough to break free from beneath these chains?
358 pages
Meghan March also has a menage,
Flash Bang series I just started if you're in the mood for a two-for-one.
For more
Meghan March click here.
Happy reading and sexy time.
With or without the soul gazing and butt plugs!
Slater
Everything I believed was a lie. Everything except for her, the one person I blamed for it all.
MacKayla Simone was beautiful. She was sexy as hell. She was also the setup.
One night.
Sex that rocked my world.
Rocked it to its very foundations because the next thing I knew, she and I made the headlines of every paper, every news channel across the country, and it cost me everything.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. That came when I learned who was behind the setup. That was when I understood what it meant to be destroyed absolutely.
I don’t know why I went after MacKayla. She’d been a pawn just like me. But it was all I could do, all I had left. Hell, it was the one thing keeping me from tumbling into the abyss and never coming back into the light.
Find her. Find the girl who’d f*cked me. Find her, and make her pay.
MacKayla
I didn’t know who Slater Vaughn was, but if I had, it wouldn’t have mattered. Not when my sister was in trouble. I would have done what I did anyway. You can judge me. You can call me a whore. But I would have done it anyway.
One night, they’d said. Make him want you, let him have you. Easiest money in the world for just one night of my life.
Only it wasn’t one night because that night obliterated Slater Vaughn, and he came after me. He told me I owed him, and truthfully, I did. Hell, maybe those years in hiding, I’d been waiting for him to find me. To punish me. To make me pay.
Maybe I sought his forgiveness all along.
But now that he had me, how far would he take this game? Slater Vaughn was a broken man. He had nothing left to lose. What was to keep him from taking me with him into his darkness?
