The Sexiest Books of All Time Will Have You Blushing With Every Turn of the Page
Sexiness in books is preconceived to be limited to romance novels, but it's more than that. It's a universal concept that takes on many connotations about having power and agency and challenging old norms about sex. Whether it's Lolita and Anna Karenina for class or picking up Zane's book for pleasure (pun intended), these stories center on a woman's narrative or celebrate sexuality in a liberating way that's not exclusive to romance. Books that were considered too scandalous and taboo for society are now being praised for their revolutionary schools of thought, particularly now because we are at a juncture in society where we're having open discourses about sex and pushing marginalized voices to the forefront. The impressive books on this list have been doing that way before it registered in our collective consciousness.
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Hailed as the "Queen of Erotica," Zane aka Kristina Laferne Roberts's debut novel Addicted oozes raw sexuality and is as addicting as the title. Zoe has a happy life, but when she begins to feel sexually unsatisfied with her life, she finds herself acting out her most forbidden fantasies with multiple lovers.
I love a good forbidden story, and Lady Chatterley's Lover drives it home. A woman's sexual dissatisfaction with her marriage leads her into a passionate, stomach-tingling affair with the gamekeeper. From the graphic sex scenes to the lusty nature of the novel, it's a trailblazing work of literature of its time.
Sexy vampires will always be trendy, in our opinion. Dark Lover, the first book in a multiple-book series by J.R. Ward, introduces the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a group of warrior vampires who protect others from those who hunt them. When Darius, a fellow "Brother" is killed, Wrath, the leader of the Brotherhood, is tasked with taking care of his daughter and making sure she's able to transition into a full-fledged vampire. But the older she gets, the more the sexual tension between them grows until it implodes in the pages.
The sexual chemistry skyrockets between two races of Psy and Changeling in this paranormal series, and it's even more tantalizing when readers discover that their races are enemies on the brink of war. Slave to Sensation, the first book in the Psy-Changeling series, is infused with passion. BookPage calls it "sexy, crisp, hard-edged, and intelligent."
Story of O is a risque novel that was originally published in French in 1954 that explores dominance and female submission through the eyes of O. It navigates the BDSM culture more liberally than Fifty Shades as O readily caters to her lover's pleasure and pushes herself outside her comfort zone.
In Hate to Want You, sparks are flying for Livvy and Nicholas, childhood sweethearts whose families hate each other. In an effort to hide their relationship, they have a secret rendezvous one night every year until circumstances force them apart. One reviewer on Amazon writes, "The sex scenes are ridiculously hot!"
College hockey has never been hotter. In Him, Jamie and Wes lost touch after one night of sex turns things awkward, but they run into each other when their respective hockey teams face off at a national championship. Jamie's attraction to Wes has him rethinking who he is, and their sexual exploration of each other is scorching enough to melt the ice on the rink.
Lolita was one of the most controversial and scandalous books to come out of the 20th century and continues to be a popular read. Amazon's review calls it "erogeonous" and "undoubtedly, brazenly erotic."
Delta of Venus is a collection of stories on seduction and intimacy, filled with private trysts. In one story, Nin writes, "When she closed her eyes, she felt he had many hands, which touched her everywhere, and many mouths, which passed so swiftly over her, and with a wolflike sharpness, his teeth sank into her fleshiest parts."
Now an Academy Award-winning movie, Call Me by Your Name looks at the burgeoning relationship between a 17-year-old and his father's graduate student. One Amazon reviewer says it contains "breathless suspense leading up to their first encounter together" and calls the sensual element "burning" and "frenzied."
Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, who go by the pseudonym Christina Lauren, have A LOT of sexy books under their belt, but Beautiful Stranger really takes the cake. The hero and heroine meet at a nightclub and begin a friends with benefits relationship in which they have sex in places where they can be caught at any moment and really push their boundaries for passion. Let's just say there's a particularly steamy scene at a certain New York library.
When Anastasia Steele stumbles into Christian Grey's office, the last thing she expected was the sexual journey he was going to take her on . . . in and out of his red playroom. The Fifty Shades of Grey series has amassed legions of fans throughout the world and inspired many couples to introduce the BDSM culture into their lives, or at least a lite version of it. Think fun bondage play.
Sexual chemistry runs amok in Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me series. Juliette Ferrars can literally bring a person to their knees with just a touch. She's imprisoned by the government for the danger she brings to society, but when she meets two men — Adam and Warner — who crave her and can touch her, she's in for a sexual awakening. In a section of the book, Juliette says that Adam's gaze is "like a white-hot poker pressed against my skin." This love triangle gets even hotter and more complex as Juliette, Adam, and Warner have to team up to save their loved ones.
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, the first book in The Sleeping Beauty series, is sexcapades galore. It's a modern, kinkier twist on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale in which Beauty is woken up by the the Prince by sexual means and then taken to the Queen's castle to become a submissive. Unbeknownst to them, Beauty is not one to be blindly obedient.
When Claire Randall went to Scotland on a second honeymoon with her husband, she didn't expect to travel 200 years back in time and fall in love with dashing Scottish Highlander Jamie Fraser. Their sultry wedding night scene is one of the best sex scenes on AND off the screen (it's also a show on Starz), and it's so delicious that readers have been known to reread it over and over again. As the Outlander series progresses, Jamie and Claire's intimacy reaches new heights.
Based on the life of art critic Catherine Millet, The Sexual Life of Catherine M. is a memoir that looks into her sexual proclivities, delving into all the orgies she's been involved in and her open marriage. Edmund White said it's "one of the most explicit books about sex ever written by a woman."
Sylvia Day's Bared to You series will rock your world . . . literally. When Eva Tramell moves to New York, she runs into business tycoon Gideon Cross, who's as virile and sexual as he is protective. Gideon and Eva's all-night marathons and robust sex life are described in such explicit detail, readers will have to pause between takes to recalibrate.
Sarah J. Maas's Court of Thorns and Roses brings together a huntress and an immortal faerie who get off on the wrong foot in a magical Beauty and the Beast twist. Maas adds steaminess to this world of magic with gusto, and Kirkus says, "[T]he sexual tension and deadly action are well-supported by Maas's expertly drawn, multidimensional characters and their nuanced interpersonal dynamics . . . Sexy and romantic."
A love affair with a merman is not ideal by any means, but in The Pisces, Melissa Broder offers a visceral, lusty portrayal of the lengths people will go to for love and passion. Sweetbitter author Stephanie Danler describes it as "bold, virtuosic, addictive, erotic."
The Lover is a forbidden story of a 15-year-old French girl and a 27-year-old Chinese-Vietnamese businessman whose relationship is doomed from the start because of racial and cultural differences in French colonial Vietnam. It's particularly salacious because it's an autobiographical novel that chronicles Marguerite Duras's real-life affair. Their physical and emotional acts of intimacy against their forbidden backdrop make their relationship even more tantalizing. As one Amazon reviewer puts it: "It's a mind-numbing journey of passionate embrace of somewhat love, and lust."
Judy Blume's novel Forever has served as an introduction to teenage sexuality for many young adults since its release in 1975. Katherine and Michael are each others' first love, but when they're separated for the Summer, these two overly excited teens begin to realize first love isn't the same as only love. Blume describes their intimate acts in saucy detail, giving voice to all their hormonal urges, and going as far as to name Michael's private part "Ralph."
It appears from Gossip Girl that everyone just sleeps with each other in Manhattan. Whether it's Serena and Nate or Blair and Nate, everyone is flying by the seat of their pants, finding themselves embroiled in cattiness, love triangles, and daily drama, and Gossip Girl is there to catch it all.
If you're into HBO's True Blood, you'll be obsessed with the books by Charlaine Harris that inspired it. In the Sookie Stackhouse series, the first book Dead Until Dark introduces the psychic cocktail waitress and her vampire of a boyfriend. Things get hot and heavy REAL fast (lots of blood-sucking vampires, after all).
