Is erotica just about the sex, or can it *ahem* delve deeper?

I've just posted my erotic romance over on WriteOn (because I have never had any success at all uploading anything here - and not for want of trying!). When it was up on Authonomy last year, I got a lot of comments that were very positive - including one that said, "I should be paying to read this!"

The story is about Lacy LaVallee, a twenty-three year old woman who has never had sex. But, she's had the advantage of learning about sex and sexual techniques from her father's mistress, Laurentina (thus the title, Laurentina's Lessons). She spots Willis McGowan, 'a complete jerk' according to one woman who knows them both but refuses to provide the introduction, around the office.

Willis takes it on himself to introduce himself to her, after learning something about her from his boss.

She turns him down when he asks her for drinks, and then immediately regrets the decision.

He seems to lose interest, but arranges for a friend to ask her to a party where he can decide whether she's 'game' for one of his sex parties.

Their relationship develops from one of pure sex into something a bit more. She will not be bought off by flowers when he's rude to her - she tells him she threw them in the trash because she will not be treated like some cheap 'putain'.

It becomes a battle for power. He's used to being in control, but Lacy is unlike any woman he's ever met. Every time he tries to come out on top, she turns the tables, using Laurentina's lessons to help her maintain the balance of power.

Then Willis makes a mistake, a very bad one, and Lacy exacts revenge - leaving him in a compromising position, but having the decency to call a friend of his to help him out. While she's plotting her next move, her father shows up. He wants to take her back to Geneva, now that she's a 'true woman', and use her to his own ends.

The story evolves from cautionary friendship, to a pure sexual relationship, to a complex quadrangle with political and financial implications.

Yes, Philippa, erotica can be romantic! For me there has to be some sort of attraction between the characters. While it might start with the "oh, he/ she is hot" kinda thought, but it has to go deeper than that. If it doesn't it is just pure porn and to me that doesn't allow for the characters themselves to develop in the stories and it might as well be a series of sex scene after sex scene.

In the stories I've written so far there is a connection and an attraction evident from the start, that leads to a slow burning romance that is evidenced throughout by the observer/ reader, but is perhaps only realized by both the main characters toward the latter part of the stories.

I personally love the sound of the book you describe and look forward to reading it!

--edited by RebekahSFiore on 12/3/2015, 2:49 PM--