Erotic fiction has been around for a very long time.  One of the most erotic pieces of poetry is the Song of Songs in the Bible.  The late 18^th century brought us the French aristocrat, Marquis de Sade whose name gave us the sexual kink of “sadism”.  In the early 20^th century, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Tropic of Cancer helped reform obscenity laws in the United States.  In the 1970’s there was a dramatic increase in erotic fiction with Fear of Flying, and My Secret Garden.  The 1980’s brought us Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty Trilogy.  Many new publishers were founded to keep up with the demand of erotic fiction.

Erotic romance gained more ground with the introduction of ebooks.  By the mid 2000’s when traditional romance publishers saw the interest in this genre, they launched imprints dedicated to the print publication of erotic romance.

There has always been a strong core of erotic romance readers, but with the introduction of the Fifty Shades trilogy, erotic romance became more main stream.  However, it is often confused with erotica.   Generally speaking, erotic romance ends with “happily ever after” and erotica does not.  Erotic romance has more of a story line, exploring love and emotions and centering on two main characters.  It’s all about the romance with the sexual journey second.  It differs from mainstream romance because it is more sexually graphic.  Erotica is all about sex and little else.  It can entail some romance, but the focus is the sex.

The Cheshire Library has been seeing more and more requests for books like Fifty Shades, or erotic romance.  In an effort to fulfill our patrons’ requests, we have placed orders for similar books.  The second most popular author of this genre is Sylvia Day.  She self-published Bared To You and when Berkley Books heard how popular it was, they immediately published it in paper.  It was followed by Reflected In You and the third book in the trilogy, Entwined With You, will be released in June.

Megan Hart is another author that is very popular.  We own several of her titles.

1. Tempted 
2. Switch
3. Deeper
4. The Space Between Us

There are three other trilogies that are “like Fifty Shades” and they have received excellent reviews.  They are:

The Submissive Trilogy by Tara Sue Me

1. The Submissive
2. The Dominant (due out in August)
3. The Training (due out in October

The Stark Trilogy by Julie Kenner

1. Release Me
2. Claim Me
3. Complete Me (due out in July)

Breathless Trilogy by Maya Banks

1. Rush
2. Fever
3. Burn (due out in August)

You may place holds on these items.  Let us know how you like them and if you’re interested in the library acquiring other titles.