I couldn't get into Masques and quit after about the first 75 pages, which is too bad, since I love Briggs. But it didn't grab me.
They are not GREAT sex scenes, but for me, Valley of Horses by Jean Aurl holds a soft place in my heart, because even though I kinds snorfle at them now, they were the first explicit sex scenes I ever read, and they introduced me to oral sex, multiple positions and the idea of the female orgasm.
Although it took me quite few years to successfully visualize that the Clan style of "presenting" was simply doggy-style. It was obvious to an adult, but reading it as a 13 yo, I just couldn't get what it would look like. Was she bending backwards with her knees spread? That sounded painful and awkward!
My first ever sex scene was in Erica Jong's Fear of Flying. I found it on the bookshelf where I was babysitting when I was 12. Really sad when it disappeared the next time I went back. I hadn't gotten to finish it.
sj, I think I did. I don't remember. I just think this most recent release was a little more awkward than the second one.
Edit: No, I'm wrong. When I was about 10, I read a Readers' Digest Condensed version of some book about Vietnam that had a GI having pretty explicit sex with a Vietnamese girl in it. Mom and Dad used to subscribe to the series.
While it reads a bit purple these days, one of my favorite love scenes ever was Father Ralph and Maggie's first time in The Thorn Birds. Back then, it was like the most romantic thing evar. (Of course, the fact that Father Ralph was portrayed on screen by Richard Chamberlain didn't hurt either.)
Looking back at it now, I understand that McCullough did such a magnificent job of drawing out the tension and inevitable fall from grace of a priest/man who so desperately wanted to be the perfect priest and finally has to acknowledge he's just a man with ordinary desires and even in that, the desire has to be this transcendent thing. She really made a very arrogant character if not sympathetic, then understandable. I also thought she did a great job delineating the various stages depicted throughout the novel so that I never got pinged by any potential ick: the Meggie/Father Ralph relationship as child/family priest was very different and distinct from the Meggie/Ralph relationship as adults.
One of my current favorite love/sex scenes is between Sebastian and Hero in WHERE SERPENTS SLEEP by C.S. Harris. Lot of layers in a relatively short and not terribly explicit scene.
Yeah, by the end of Thorn Birds, Meggie had the power in that relationship.
I admit to having read Auel's Children of the Earth series primarily for the sex scenes. Mom had Valley of the Horses on audio book and i recall her turning it off very hastily during a car trip when i was a tween. So then of course i had to find the book at the library to read it and know why she didn't want me hearing it!
sj, I think I did. I don't remember. I just think this most recent release was a little more awkward than the second one.
Deena, I agree, although I found the first book read quicker than the second one despite a few clunky sentences in the first.
Although it took me quite few years to successfully visualize that the Clan style of "presenting" was simply doggy-style. It was obvious to an adult, but reading it as a 13 yo, I just couldn't get what it would look like. Was she bending backwards with her knees spread? That sounded painful and awkward!
Hahaahh! I'm glad I'm not the only one who was super confused by that as a kid.
I agree, sj. The first book was quicker, or, I think the tension was greater or something. It was more compelling, but then, the heroine was in more danger. The second one was more of a mystery.
etfix typo
I agree, sj. The first book was quicker, or, I think the tension was greater or something. It was more compelling, but then, the heroine was in more danger. The second one was more of a mystery.
Yes, that exactly. I do adore Aralorn and Wolf though.
I join the ranks of the super confused.
