Hot between the covers as publishers embrace raunch ratings.
The explicitness of trysts in romance novels is prompting mainstream publishers to introduce ”heat” ratings to forewarn – or entice – readers.
Mills & Boon has long had Sweet, Sexy and Blaze lines to guide readers and bloggers have used their own rating system for books, but now Penguin Australia’s romance e-book imprint has introduced to its website a heat-o-meter rating titles from sweet to spicy and hot.
”The last thing we want to do is to disappoint – or offend – readers and heat ratings tell readers exactly what they’re getting, up-front, when they buy a Destiny Romance,” says Penguin’s commissioning editor Carol George.
