Fade to black or In your face? Which do you prefer?

Happy Sunday, peeps!

Song of the day- Who Dat Girl by Flo Rida featuring Akon

I've been thinking about this post for quite some time now, and just haven't had the time to sit down and type it out.

The publishing world is a vast and wondrous place, full of a variety of stories and tales to tickle your fancy and fuel your escape from this reality to another. If you're anything like me, you're a romance junkie. Along with escape into another world, you enjoy the emotional roller coaster ride that comes along with a whirlwind romance.

 Will they get together, or won't they? Is he going to kiss her? Gah! Just kiss her already! Good grief! She's into you! Go for it already! Sweep her off her feet!

I'll admit, those phrases are just a few of the many that travel through my head as I read. Much like my three girls, I'm a cheerleader for the characters I'm reading. I root them on, cheer when they take a step forward, and cringe when they suffer a misstep. And when my favorite characters finally come together, well...I'f the scene was written well, I've usually got a sappy smile plastered all over my face.

This brings me to the question at hand: which do you prefer, full out love scenes with heavy descriptions, or are you content with stories where the door is kept closed, leaving everything to your imagination? Let me preface this by saying that there is no right or wrong here. We're dealing with opinions here and personal preference, and my hope is that this will garner some good discussion, either here or with you and your friends at home.

Speaking for myself, I enjoy a good love scene. Growing up, reading many of my mother's hand me down romance novels, I was subjected to a lot of purple prose (quivering members, heaving bosoms, blushing femininity) you get the drift. And while I always cheered when the hero and heroine finally pulled their heads out of their asses and got together, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the love scenes.

Fast forward a great many years to the burgeoning success of the Twilight Saga. This series is probably one of my all time favorites, simply because I believe it does a great job conveying the feelings/drama etc that come along with new/first love. And while I reveled in the tension and emotion flowing up off the page, I, along with many others I'm guessing, was a bit disappointed with Bella and Edward's honeymoon scene. Yes, the series is YA, which made the fade to black scene appropriate, BUT, I won't lie. I still wanted to know what Eddie was like between the sheets.

Craving all things vampire, I stumbled into J.R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood world, and found exactly what I was looking for as far as heat level and description in a love scene. Her heroes are smokin' hot and so is their lovin'. No purple prose, no fade to black, and while descriptive, they aren't overly graphic (at least IMO, lol!) and in your face with frank/blunt language like erotica. (Let me also say I'm not putting down/bashing erotica in any way. I've read a few pieces and while what I've read was very well written with good plotting, as a whole, it's not my cup of tea.)

Does this mean I don't or won't enjoy a sweet love story? Heck no! There is a time and a place for everything. Some love stories call for gentle chaste kisses and some, well...some call for down and dirty nitty gritty. And aren't we lucky there's something out there for everyone?

What do you prefer? Weigh in with a comment!

Happy reading, peeps!