Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Lynn Kurland is really good for the “fade to black” type of scene.  She has a lot of time-travel romance and most are full of the witty banter.  I recommend starting with “A Dance Through Time.”

And thanks capsha for making me feel old: “looking45”

Patricia Veryan wrote some very good historical novels set from mid 18th century through the Regency period.  Look for her pseudonym Gwyneth Moore. 

Roberta Gellis wrote a Regency set in Cornwall Sing WItch, SIng Death that did not include any sex.

You might try Julie Klassen. I didn’t realize her books qualified as Inspies until I had finished THE SILENT GOVERNESS and noticed the publisher. It is more gothic than witty banter, but I was surprised at how good it is.

Ah me. How I wish that more authors would “fade to black” instead of writing scenes that make me choke with laughter when no laughter was intended.

Seconding Lynn Kurland, and I believe LaVyrle Spencer writes really clean stuff? What about Francine Rivers? I believe hers have an inspirational message but still well-written and entertaining. I’m trying to recall if Sara Donati had love scenes in her books (they’re more family epic like Gabaldon)—if she did, they were very mild and fade to black. Michelle Rowen’s paranormals are very clean as well.

In YA, if you like fairy tales, Shannon Hale is an excellent choice (actually I think anything by Shannon Hale is really clean).

I’d recommend some of my ‘keepers’ that I will never send to the used book sale: Bride of the MacHugh and My Lord Monleigh by Jan Cox Speas. With interesting heros and sensible-but-messed-up-priorites heroines, they were my first experiences of an ‘intelligent’ romance. Since they were written in the fifties, sex present but not graphic, yet beautifully described. Someone mentioned Mara Daughter of the Nile by Eloise McGraw in another post. Excellent 1950’s YA with all the romance you could ask for. Yes, Sheftu was my first as well. Also take a look at the SciFi trilogy by Doris Egan under the combined title The Complete Ivory at Amazon. Love those books and she’s a writer for House by the way.

Jean Ferris’ Into the Wind, Song of the Sea, and Weather the Storm are great.

I think Jennifer Crusie’s Bet Me is 99% witty banter and 1% sex.  The only questionable scene comes at the very end—I can’t recall how explicit it is, only that it involves a couch, a trench coat belt, and Krispie Kremes. 

Also try Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia Grey series.  I’ve only read Silent in the Grave and Silent in the Sanctuary so far, but they are strong on wit and light on sex.

Thought I would also throw this out—Angela Thirkell a British writer whose novels were mainly published before WWII are currently having a resurgence in interest.  Her books tend to be light and funny and have a bit of satire and romance included. 

D. E. Stevenson is another author who wrote contemporary (to her) stories that I’ve really liked.  They tend to be a bit more angsty than Thirkell, but she also had a nice way with humor.  Unfortunately, they are also more out of print and more expensive as a result.

Now that I think about Crusie’s book, there may be more sex in it than I thought…I forgot about the secondary characters David and Cynthie.  Time for a re-read I guess.

The Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Reybourn is not explicit, but is in no way sweet and innocent, either.  Seriously hot sexual tension and adult subject matter.  First-person mystery-romance.  Her other book “The Dead Travel Fast” is a fine gothic, and also not particularly explicit.

The Pink Carnation series by Laura Willig flips back and forth between present-day chick-lit and historical romance.  The first three books have a sex scene between the historical characters, but the fourth and fifth stop before the deed is done.  I’m only as far as number five, can’t tell you about the latest. 

Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate is paranormal steampunk fun, and while there is sex, it’s rather comically presented.

Bet me doesn’t have much explicit sex between David and Cynthie - but that one sex scene at the end is a doozy!

For contemporary, try Kristan Higgins

Thanks for posting this!  I’ve now got a great list of books to try out!

I seem to recall several of Elizabeth Rolls books ending with fade-to-black, and I have a number of them on my ‘keeper’ shelf.  A Compromised Lady, Unruly Chaperon…good times!

For contemporaries, Kristan Higgins books have sex in them, but they are not at all explicit…mostly fade-to-black.

2 words—Traditional Regencies.  These tend to either fade to black or end with a kiss. Belgrave House has been reissuing a lot of the old traditionals in e-book.  Jo Beverley’s earlier, traditional Regencies are also being re-issued in print—and they’re good. I think _Emily and the Dark Angel_ is just out.

I support 100% what StacieH4 said!  Deanna Raybourn is AMAZING, and all the sex is left to the imagination.  Also, Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer’s magic and Victorian travel novels are incredibly enjoyable.

I would agree to look at the traditional Regencies. My mom loves romances, but won’t read “pornographic” ones, so here’s some of her faves.
JoAnn Ferguson (Zebra Regencies)
Carla Kelly
Most of the old Zebra and Signet Regency lines
Patricia Veryan
Lauren Willig
Marian Chesney (I agree with her on these, they’re fantastic! Especially her Regencies.)
Clare Darcy

It’s hard to find new books being written that aren’t explicit. Most of Amanda Quick’s are fairly clean. I would say you’re going to be limited to Historicals, especially Regency, and Inspirationals. Out of the Inspirationals, I would agree that Francine Rivers is pretty good, so is Dee Henderson, some of Lori Copeland and Ted Dekker, if you like suspense/horror.

HOORAY! I have always been a fan of this kind of romance—the kind that implies steamy sex scenes, rather than the ones that describe every. Single. Thrust. I find myself cringing through those, and having a comical internal monologue (a la SBTB) through the whole thing.

Hot sex scenes are so much hotter when left to the imagination. And books are so much better when they are about the characters, not the sex.

Try anything from Avalon Books. http://www.avalonbooks.com/index.html  They do not have explicit sex in any of their books. Usually I find them in libraries, but you can order directly from their site.

These are actually the first romances I read…my aunt had given me some old ones from the 70s. I highly recommend.

I would second the recommendation for Mara: Daughter of the Nile. GREAT book! And it has witty banter and a wonderful romance.

A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold, which is SF with strong romantic elements, features a wonderful courtship plot which Bujold explicitly modeled after Georgette Heyer’s regencies. Also, the Vorkosigan series is excellent.

Jane Aiken Hodge is about the same vintage of Heyer’s later books. My mom introduced me to her. I remember reading “Greek Wedding” and “The Runaway Bride” and one other which I couldn’t find on amazon. I think Hodge’s works are pretty good for a sex-free Regency romance binge. They’re mostly out of print but you can find them used online.

Another one from roughly the same historical era of writing is The Golden Panther, which is about a gentleman pirate/privateer in Jamaica (?). I quite liked this when I read it years ago, but then I’m a sucker for pirates.

Also, if you read eBooks, I humbly suggest my own book which just came out. The Beauty’s Beast by E.D. Walker, from Noble Romance. It’s a Sweet Romance about a cursed werewolf knight, inspired by Marie de France’s Bisclavret and employing elements of the beauty and the beast fairy tale as well. I have some (hopefully) witty banter.

Ack, forgot the author on one of my recs:
The Golden Panther by Sylvia Thorpe.

Cindy Holbrook is excellent.  Lots of witty banter, no sex on the page.  Unfortunately, she’s out of print at this point, but you can get used copies on Amazon, or sometimes at the local UBS.  A Rake’s Reform and Lord Sayer’s Ghost are my two favorites, but I enjoyed all of her longer books.  (The shorter books just aren’t as good, IMO.)

KRISTAN HIGGINS!!! (Sorry for shouting.)

Also on board w/ anything by Raybourn.  Such beautiful prose, with, yes, a lot of sexual tension, but not much more than swoon-worthy kisses.

Also, Susanna Kearsley.  Love, love, love…

She might like Kasey Michaels, who has written both Regencies and contemporaries that are big on witty repartee. Michaels writes sex scenes, but they tend to be heavy on the metaphors and light on the details. I wonder if she might also like the Stephanie Plum books? The heroine has a great wry voice, and while she does provide rather risque hints as to what occurs between herself and Morelli (or Ranger as the case may be) she does usually fade to black before the deed is accomplished.

my favorite all time stand alone romance would fit the bill here, L. M Montgomery, of the “Anne of Green Gables” fame wrote “The Blue Castle” about a woman who wakes up to the total awfulness of her life when she finds out she is dying.  She ultimately proposes to a man she barely knows that she secretly is in love with and leaves her wretched home with her mother and aunt to move to his cabin on the lake.  It was republished a few years ago.

LaVyrle Spencer, The Gamble : great, lots of tension and no sex til fade to black ending

If you are willing to try alternate worlds:

Lois McMaster Bujold: Curse of Chalion,  Paladin of Souls, Sharing Knife series

CJ Cherryh: The Paladin

Patricia McKillip: Alphabet of Thorn, Changeling Sea

Judith Tarr: Alamut, Throne of Isis

Ursula LeGuin: The Left Hand of Darkness

Amelia Peabody FTW! I adore those books and am in a massive rereading of all of them as we speak. :D One of the many things I love about them is indeed the lack of overt sex—I am another person who very much prefers a fade to black, or in the case of the Amelia books, sly little remarks like “after a refreshing interval…” ;)

And if Amelia closes a scene by crying, “Oh, Emerson!”, that is TOTALLY code for “sex is on”. But! The delightful interplay between the leads is also very much a factor here. Amelia and Emerson are one of my very favorite examples of a couple with a relationship lively enough to sustain an entire series.

Also: just about anything written by Elizabeth Peters will have a similar discretion about it, and so will her books written under the name of Barbara Michaels. I love all that woman’s books, really. They were instrumental in setting my adult reading tastes as well as an influence on my own writing!

Last but not least I must put in a plug for Susanna Kearsley and in particular, The Shadowy Horses. Quite similar to Peters/Michaels in style and discretion. :)

You would have to buy used, but Joan Smith’s Imprudent Lady is one of my favorites.  She is very read alike to Georgette Heyer.

I second Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate. Soulless is one of my new favorites. Very entertaining.

Also, I’m fairly certain the sex is light in the Bride Quartet by Nora Roberts. If I remember correctly, there is more of an emphasis on the emotional aspects of sex. Those are a lot of fun to read, and the last one comes out in November.

And I wouldn’t categorize it as a romance, but I just read Until the Real Thing Comes Along, by Elizabeth Berg and one of the themes is reconciling the ideals and expectations of love with the realities of love. But it was witty, heartfelt, and genuine. And there was no sex described.

As for YA, I also second Sorcery and Cecelia, by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede. It’s probably one of the most adorable stories ever written. And I read The Magician’s Ward way back in the day and really liked that one, too.
Another good YA series is Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr. It’s a paranormal series where the heroine can see faeries.

Although not strictly romance I have been enjoying the dialogue and action in some urban fantasys lately. Much more plot than sex, but there is violence in urban fantasy. Killing bad guys with swords can get messy for example. Marjorie Liu’s Maxine Kiss series which has a sweeping romantic thread throughout the books. Also a good YA series is Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Love the character development and themes of loyalty, love and heartbreak.

Speaking as a romance lover who is over half century old I like the open bedroom door and more realistic attitude to sex between adults in love, or lust to love! I am thrilled that there is such a selection of mild to erotic romance, sensual to erotica, on the market today. And there is quality writing in all that range! Of course there’s dreck out there as well, but that is true in all fiction and non fiction. I could go on a remember when…but I already feel that half century sinking into my bones. LOL I’d better go read something spicy to stir me the F up! ;-)

Good heavens far65? TY cyberspace gods for poking these not so old yet bones! Still gonna read something spicy. LOL

Barbara Metzger- Rake’s Ransom, My Lady Innkeeper, A Loyal Companion, Father Christmas, The Primrose Path, Miss Lockharte’s Letters, The Christmas Carrolls, and Snowdrops and Scandalbroth. That’s all I’ve read of hers.

Elizabeth Rolls—The Unruly Chaperon, The Unexpected Bride. 

Stephanie Laurens. Her OLDER novels. early 90’s.The Reasons for Marriage, Impetuous Innocent, Fair Juno, Four in Hand.

Loretta Chase’s early work also rocks—Viscount Vagabond, and Knaves Wager—both very good and keepers. Sometimes hard to find possibly expensive. Same goes for Metzger.

OMG!  “Mara:  Daughter of the Nile” is a book I read way back when (possibly in the 50s when it came out) and of which I have very fond memories.  Last year I found a copy in the library’s Friends of the Library room that I bought.  I haven’t reread it, however, since I was afraid to be disappointed after all these years.  But based on the above recommendations, I will put at the top of my TBR pile.

And, on the main topic, while I appreciate the very sexy scenes, I admit to sometimes skimming them these days, especially if the other action and dialogue is so interesting I want to get right back to it.  Skimming past what you are less interested in (such as long, boring descriptions of rooms and gowns) is a good way to read more widely.

I’ve read and enjoyed four Edith Layton Regencies from the 80’s that do not include sex scenes.

It was a review on this site that tipped me off to her in the first place: The Duke’s Wager by Edith Layton.

I’ve read The Duke’s Wager, Lord of Dishonor, The Disdainful Marquis, and The Abandoned Bride—I got used copies of editions that included two novels each.

You might want to try Katie Fforde (cousin to Jasper). She’s British and writes charming novels with great characters. I just finished “Stately Pursuits,” which was about restoring a crumbling estate in a small, busybody town. (People in her books are often restoring furniture, houses, and gardens.)

I like modern British chick lit, but I never really relate to any of the characters. Fforde’s characters are a bit more down to Earth but still really clever and fun. Plus, there’s always a brooding, misunderstood hero lurking around waiting to be charmed out of his broodiness (but not so much his pants).

Anna Dean’s mystery series, beginning with “A Moment of Silence” is delightful and subtly and increasingly romantic. Beautiful, witty writing and a very sympathetic heroine- imagine one of Jane Austen’s creations turned sleuth.

All of Patricia Briggs’s books fade to black instead of giving detailed sex scenes.

While I do enjoy a peek through the bedroom door, I enjoy any type of romance that is well written, with wonderful characters and a plot that makes sense.  I have noticed a few of my favourites mentioned already; Deanna Raybourn and Kristin Higgins. 

I am trying to think back, and I do believe that Julie James wrote 2 books that were witty and wonderful and funny with very little overly descriptive sex.  Her latest may be a bit…more, but all three books are wonderful.

Two of my most favourite characters ever, Jaz Parks and Vayl (written by Jennifer Rardin) totally got it on, but we were not privy to it (more is the pity) so I can totally recommend those books if you dig paranormals.

p.s.  nearly69.  No, wait…!  Do I win a prize for getting such an apropos captcha?

Jean Ferris a million times yes, I love those books. Sadly, they are a little harder to find.

second - third? - Patricia Veryan. She was never as well known as she ought to be, and I love all her books. (hm. Time for a re-read.)

also I dearly love the Amelia Peabody books. Amelia can be a difficult character to deal with, but I love her anyway.

Oh, and what about Robin McKinley’s Hero and the Crown, the Blue Sword and the best retelling of Beauty and the Beast out there (Beauty)? Patricia McKillip is indeed a good recommendation. Some of her most haunting love stories are The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, Sorceress and the Cygnet and The Cygnet and the Firebird. As for Bujold, go back to the stories about Miles’ Mom for the best romance: Shards of Honor and Barrayar.

Jayne Ann Krentz, in all her personae, writes delightfully witty conversation, and her sex scenes would be easy enough to skip over if the reader prefers to omit them.  I think that if I disliked reading descriptions of sex, I would prefer to do that than to miss out completely on good novels by writers who do include some bedroom scenes.
Books originally published before about 1960, or by authors who were already being published before then, are safely sexless, of course.  How about Mary Stewart?  Very romantic, though eventful and exciting, rather than dreamy, let alone laugh-out-loud funny, as Heyer so often is.  Try Stewart’s Nine Coaches Waiting or This Rough Magic.

Thanks for the recommendations, I will check them out!

I highly recommend, Shades of Milk and Honey.  It was a sweet novel that really captured the flavor of Jane Austen with a twist.

I just read The Perfect Poison by Amanda Quick and I thought it was a fun read.

Oh what a GREAT post. I’m of the same ilk—I love my genre romances, especially Regency, but find that I usually skip past the sex scenes. I’m just not interested.

While she isn’t completely sex scene free, I’ve found that Avon Historical Romance author Julia Quinn does have less sex in her books than the average romance novelist. Just one of the many reasons I love her so much!

I love sex scenes, so I am a bad person to ask. But after saying that I do like the following:

Julia Quinn’s What Happens In London.  There is I believe only one sex scene and though it is hot, is not like I just watched porn.  Its more happy sex and easy to skip.  And I love the batter between the couple.

I also like Kate Noble: Revealed,  one scene that I think is easy to skip. 

That is funny, they have similar plots, but the batter is great, and the sex scenes aren’t gross.

Wait a minute. My hands down favorite book of all (more that LOTR *gasp*) Bet Me: Jennifer Crusie: there is a lot of talk about sex but actually sex scene is limited to one and it is also not a scene where they are trying to rape each other.  There is a second scene but that fades to black.  It is a great book.

I just went through my library, and I realized I am a pervert, LoL. But these three have love making that is happy, loving and yet very satisfying.  You don’t feel like you just watched the discovery channel.

I would definitely recommend all of Carla Kelly’s books.

An old favorite of mine is Roberta Gellis - very interesting reading and implied but really not a lot of sex in the books. Her Roselynde series is wonderful. Also I am enjoying Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death series.

I will give another shout-out to Susanna Kearsley, whose books are simply marvelous (and frequently difficult to get in the states, unfortunately).  But they seem to be available in Canada and Portland isn’t that far…  There is some overlap with minor references to other books she’s written, but in general, you can just start with whatever book comes to hand.  If Susanna wrote it, I will find a copy come fire, water, or flying to another country in order to purchase it (e.g. Splendor’s Falls & the Winter Sea) :)

I recommend Cheryl St. John. I do believe that some of her books have sex but it’s not very descriptive, more along the lines of cluing you in to what is about to happen and then backing off. Some of her newer stuff has even been published as inspirational romance. That’s not really my cup o’ tea, so I can’t comment on how good they are, but her stuff for Harlequin Historical is some of my favorite.

I have had the same question as ninjapenguin, after reading and enjoying most of Heyer’s regency books. (Although I ended up feeling slightly tired of world weary rakes with droopy eyelids..) 

But I must recommend one author I came across, Jude Morgan. He’s written two books in the regency-genre that I know of, Indiscretion and An Accomplished Woman. Both are wonderfully written with lots of witty banter, and there are no sex scenes.

Morgan is British and I don’t know how well-known he is outside of Britain. He has written several historical novels, although not romances I think.

He has written a historical novel about Byron, Shelley and Keats (Passion), and one about the Brontë-sisters (a taste of sorrow). I’ve only read Passion and the style is very different from Indiscretion and An Accomplished Woman, I think he tries out different writing styles.

But Indiscretion and An Accomplished Woman are absolutely worth a try!

I totally second the recommendation of Morgan.  His romances are very good and very reminiscent of Austen/Heyer—he’s got the voice right.

I must add the the accolades for Deanna Raybourn. I love Lady Julia and Nicholas dearly.

If you like mysteries, try the Mary Russell series by Laurie R King. It’s a Holmes series—his apprentice following his “retirement” is a young woman named Mary Russell. It develops into romance, but it’s subtle and does not overwhelm the mystery shenanigans. The series is by far the best Holmes not written by ACDoyle that I’ve come across.

And if you like fantasy/horror, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Saint-Germain series is quite good. He’s a vampire, and so he cannot have sex—but he can bite women, and they certainly seem to enjoy it. Lots of great historical details; my only quibble is that he seems to (more often than not) face off against evil Christians who can’t stand that he’s making women enjoy themselves. YMMV.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day: The book is wonderful. Set in the jazz age, it is a Cinderella story where all the bad stuff has happened before the story stars. It’s just one long happily ever after. While the romance for the heroine doesn’t happen until near the end, the characters around her are pairing up and splitting up and it’s so refreshing to have more than two important female characters, all of whom respect each other and help each other.

For contemporary romance, I’d recommend Julie James—her books are short on explicit sex scenes, but long on the almost unbearable sexual tension.

For fans of Susanna Kearsley, The Winter Sea is being released in the U.S. at the end of this year by Sourcebooks!

I second the recs for Kristan Higgins, Robin McKinley, and Julie James. I’d also nominate Lisa Kleypas for witty dialogue.

For YA, I’d recommend Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I thought there was a great romance in that one, and it does fade to black.

I’ve just finished reading Shanna Swndson’s series starting with Enchanted Inc.  Not Regency at all but based in modern times.

I swallowed the wole lot in almost one gulp (just had to wait a day after borrowing the first for the others to arrive in the post) They’re nicely romantic, with quirky humour and a nice alternate reality.  I’ve lent them to my Mum who did the same as me and read them in one go, she also read them back to back and is now reading the author on her livejournal to be sure I don’t miss the next book when it comes out. 

I think I’ll have a fight on over who reads it first :)

I’ll nominate Deanna Raybourne, Lauren Willig, and Ariana Franklin, as well, although for me, Ariana Franklin is more mystery than romance, but I like her depiction of Henry II.

No one’s mentioned Pamela Morsi, though. I haven’t read any of her recent books, but her older ones are very light to non existant on sex. In addition, she has some very unusual heros (in one, I forget the name, the hero has a mild retardation. You wouldn’t think you could make an awesome hero out of that, but Morsi TOTALLY did. That woman has some mad storytelling skillz).

Heyer (and Bujold) fans who like romantic sf would love the Liaden series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.  I’d suggest starting with LOCAL CUSTOM (a Secret Baby story done *right*) or PILOT"S CHOICE if you want more romance, and the AGENT OF CHANGE series (starting with that title) if you want more space opera-ish action, but they are all wonderful.

There is some sex, but very discreetly handled.  I had no problem giving them to my young teenage daughter.

@roobarb—There’s gonna be a new ENCHANTED INC.?  After DON’T HEX WITH TEXAS?  When O When?

Connie Willis - To Say Nothing of a Dog - time-traveling scifi story that is also delightful as a romance. I don’t think there are even kisses there, which doesn’t make it any less satisfying.

Speaking of a mystery-romances Elizabeth Peters is wonderful, as many said before me.

I also remembered Dorothy Cannell - The Thin Woman. I remember loving it for romance, but it was fifteen years ago. On the other hand, many classical mysteries do contain romance - Agatha Cristie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh.

Ariana Franklin wrote some very good romances—or books more like romances than the Franklin ones—under the name Diana Norman.  The sex was about the same level as the Franklin books—present but not explicit.  It was a series—_A Catch of Consequence_, _Taking Liberties_, and _The Sparks Fly Upward_.

Eva Ibbotson’s novels are absolutely lovely and originally marketed to the adult market, but again, not so much with the witty repartee. They are, however, dreamy and romantic and completely sigh-worthy.

Maybe there’s not much of the typical witty banter, but am I alone in thinking Ibbotson’s books are hilarious? She has a wonderful, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. Just think of her secondary characters :)

Claudia Dain’s super, super sexy courtesan series (Claudia Dain’s site) has very little banging but lots of steamy kissing and innuendo. I love, love, LOVE those books. The short-lived (and much lamented) Smart Bitches podcast first introduced me to them, incidentally. Swoon.

Maybe there’s not much of the typical witty banter, but am I alone in thinking Ibbotson’s books are hilarious? She has a wonderful, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. Just think of her secondary characters :)

No, you are not. A Countess Below Stairs is incredibly funny in spots Her YA stories: The Dragonfly Pool and The Star of Kazan are just lovely. Also, Which Witch? had me giggling all through and, although it is a YA or even younger, there is a strong love story.

If you like Regencies, I would recommend The Duchess of Asherwood by Mary A. Garratt or anything by Joan Smith. Escapade, in particular, is very funny and sweet.

The Pink Carnation series by Laura Willig flips back and forth between present-day chick-lit and historical romance.  The first three books have a sex scene between the historical characters, but the fourth and fifth stop before the deed is done.  I’m only as far as number five, can’t tell you about the latest.

There’s also sexy sex in the sixth book.  None of Willig’s sex scenes are particularly graphic, however… at least IMHO.  If you want to avoid sex entirely, do go with numbers four (The Seduction of the Crimson Rose) and five (The Temptation of the Night Jasmine).

Willig is very witty and I definitely agree with this recommendation.  Her next book, The Mischief of the Mistletoe, comes out at the end of the month.  I’m not sure if there will be any sex in it.

To second the early Loretta Chase recommendation, I’d suggest The Sandalwood Princess specifically.

For Eva Ibbotson, A Company of Swans is one of the best.  Madensky Square is her least romantic adult novel, but probably the richest and most grown-up.  And her sex scenes are all off-page.

Someone has already mentioned the late Edith Layton’s books—most of them, especially the Regencies, contain very little sex (and the sex scenes that do appear are discreetly written—nothing too explicit).  THE ABANDONED BRIDE is my absolute favorite, but there are many, many others.

I also like Mary Balogh’s Regencies.  Unlike Layton, most of Balogh’s books do contain sex scenes, but they are gently written and, if you really don’t want to read them, you can always skip ahead a couple of pages and not lose the thread of the plot.

You mention the Peabody books, and other commenters have recommended Elizabeth Peters in general, but no specific plugs for my fave Peters series: the Vicky Bliss books.  Still my gold standard on charming, witty banter that makes me smile many years after first reading them.

I second the info on the Stephanie Plum books, but i wouldn’t call them romances.  i find them laugh out loud funny and the first 10 or so are really good, but then i find the series begins to get repetitive.

I dont know about witty reparte, but i think Debbie Macomber is pretty clean, esp her heart of texas series.  I haven’t read her extensively, though, for the fact that they are clean.  Is it bad to admit that i like some explicitness?  ;)

Both of my author recommendations were mentioned above, Barbara Michaels and Mary Stewart. For Barbara Michaels I would recommend Come Home Ammie, besides light romance I recall that it was a pretty good ghost story (tis the season). I would also recommend Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart. It was the book that brought me back into the fold after being scarred by the old skool rapiness of Nan Ryan and Cassie Edwards.

Wow, what excellent choices!  Elizabeth Peters, Patricia Wrede/Caroline Stevermer and Tasha Alexander are absolutely wonderful.  I would also like to recommend Carola Dunn.  I just finished reading Crossed Quills, in which the hero is secretly a romance novelist and the heroine is secretly a political journalist.  It was sweet and funny and intelligent.

Totally a good thing to steer her towards YA.  There is some GREAT YA that has just a little sexiness, but not a lot of it.  Shiver did the one sex scene really well, and I found it to be incredibly romantic, though if you don’t like Twilight…don’t bother with it.

Another that handled it quite AMAZINGLY that I’m halfway through and already in love with is If I Stay by Gayle Forman.  This book is ten shades of awesome.  And the one kind of sex scene but still not actually perverted or explicit, just romantic?  AMAZING.  I cannot explain just how well this book does romance.

Other recs I make and possibly second:

Robin McKinley
Patricia C. Wrede (Especially Sorcery and Cecilia)
Eva Ibbotson
Heidi R Kling (Her debut, Sea, was all kinds of fantastic)
Angie Frazier (Ditto with her debut, Everlasting)

Yes! Angela Thirkell, D. E. Stevenson, Elizabeth Cadell.
Contemporary: Curtiss Ann Matlock’s Valentine, Oklahoma, series is
warm and folksy and sly. It begins with Lost Highways.
British contemporary: Beach Street Knitting & Yarn Club and the
sequel, Needles & Pearls by Gil McNeil.
Also Brit: Katie Fforde, Trisha Ashley, and Jill Mansell

Marion Chesney wrote some witty books, mostly Regency. They are heavy on humor and culture and not so heavy on sex.
The Six Sisters (my favorite of her series)
  1. Minerva (1983)
  2. The Taming of Annabelle (1983)
  3. Deirdre and Desire (1984)
  4. Daphne (1984)
  5. Diana the Huntress (1985)
  6. Frederica in Fashion (1985)

A House for the Season Series
  1. The Miser of Mayfair (1986)
  2. Plain Jane (1986)
  3. The Wicked Godmother (1987)
  4. Rake’s Progress (1987)
  5. The Adventuress (1987)
  6. Rainbird’s Revenge (1988)

The School For Manners
  1. Refining Felicity (1988)
  2. Perfecting Fiona (1989)
  3. Enlightening Delilah (1989)
  4. Finessing Clarissa (1989)
  5. Animating Maria (1990)
  6. Marrying Harriet (1990)

The Traveling Matchmaker
  1. Emily Goes to Exeter (1990)
  2. Belinda Goes to Bath (1991)
  3. Penelope Goes to Portsmouth (1991)
  4. Beatrice Goes to Brighton (1991)
  5. Deborah Goes to Dover (1992)
  6. Yvonne Goes to York (1992)

Poor Relation
  1. Lady Fortescue Steps Out (1993)
  2. Miss Tonks Turns to Crime (1993)
  3. Mrs. Budley Falls From Grace (1993)
  4. Sir Philip’s Folly (1993)
  5. Colonel Sandhurst to the Rescue (1994)
  6. Back in Society (1994)
  7. Miss Tonks Takes a Risk (1994)

The Daughters of Mannerling Series
  1. The Banishment (1995)
  2. The Intrigue (1995)
  3. The Deception (1996)
  4. The Folly (1996)
  5. The Romance (1997)
  6. The Homecoming (1997)

Edwardian Mystery
  1. Snobbery with Violence (2003)
  2. Hasty Death (2004)
  3. Sick of Shadows (2005)
  4. Our Lady of Pain (2006)

Regency Romance
  1. Quadrille (1981)
  2. The Flirt (1985)
  3. At The Sign of the Golden Pineapple (1987)
  4. Miss Davenport’s Christmas (1993)

I’m not sure why, but Mary Stewart comes to mind. I haven’t read her books since grade school, so they may be awfully dated and I don’t recall much witty banter, but they are of a softer, rather dreamy kind of Romance more common when they were first published. I suspect they are marketed more towards the YA reader nowadays. (Rather irritating, as if what was considered adult reading a few decades ago is now fit only for adolescents. I can remember feeling quite advanced at 10 or 12 browsing in the adult stacks to find all of her books. So I guess they were arguably YA then as well. LOL)

My absolute favorite, of course, is Dorothy Dunnett, but I’ve learned that she’s not for everyone. Also, she’s not strictly Romance, but if you’re not thrown by reading snippets of conversation in 6 or 7 foreign languages and witty allusions to historical events and personages current in the 16th century, you’ll love her Lymond and Nicolas series.

I think sometimes the older gothic romances can be awfully fun to read, like Victoria Holt. I recall very few explicit scenes in the 60s and 70s era Romances. The only caveat to that recommendation is the rather dated social and sexual mores you might run into from that era, but if you love Heyer then you’re used to looking past the odd authorial wrinkle.

What, no one else here loves Laura Matthews (a.k.a. Elizabeth Rotter, Elizabeth Walker, and Elizabeth Neff Walker)?  The bulk of her work is from the 80s, although she has continued publishing under her various names.  She’s not as witty as Heyer, but still her books are well-written and enjoyable.

Seconding the recommendations for Bujold, the Sorcery and Cecelia books, A Matter of Magic, and the Parasol Protectorate series.  Marion Chesney adds fun historical tidbits into her books, but her writing style annoys me.

Megalith: I wouldn’t call the earlier Mary Stewart novels ‘soft and dreamy’, myself.  They range from almost pure Gothic to what we would now call romantic suspense, adventure stories with very competent, active and independent heroines.  They are dated, of course; anything written 40-50 years ago is now ‘dated’.  But that only adds to their interest now, in my view.
:-)

I’ll second the vote for Deanna Raybourn’s ‘Silent’ series. No overt sex, but there is definite sexual awareness between the main characters. There is wit and humor and they are altogether very well-written.

Silent in the Grave is the first of the books and the first sentence truly grabbed me.

To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband’s dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor

Well, as I said, AgTigress, it’s been over 35 years since I read her books, so it’s possible I’m the one who was/is soft and dreamy! I appreciate the positive update. Ah, the oldies but goodies.

I’ll chime in with my recommendation for Mary Stewart as well. The books are ‘dated’; they were contemporary when first published. But they hold up well. Just think of them as historicals set in the mid-20th century. And she’s a fabulous writer. Except for one aberration, they’re all 1st person POV from the heroine. I don’t know of anyone who can set a scene like she does.

They are most emphatically not YA books (though she did write a few books for younger readers). Her H/h are adults with adult relationships. But in keeping with the time they were first published, the physical relationships are glossed over. All the better for reading between the lines, IMO.

If you’re looking for something that’s not strictly romance, there’s her classic retelling of the Arthurian story from Merlin’s POV.

Most of her books are still in print. That’s something that can be said about very few 50 year old novels, and almost no other romance authors besides Heyer.

OK, off the soap box now. But Stewart was my first introduction to the romance novel. I read The Moonspinners when I was in 6th grade. I still reread her books every year or so. She set the standard that I’ve judged other writers against for the past 40+ years.

Shiver did the one sex scene really well, and I found it to be incredibly romantic, though if you don’t like Twilight…don’t bother with it.

@John - I didn’t really take to Shiver, but I must point out that the reason a lot of us hated Twilight was not because of the genre but the book itself.

Most of my recs have already been mentioned. However there is Juliet Marillier’s Sevenwaters trilogy, starting with Daughter of the Forest. The romances are lovely, the sex scenes minimal and not at all graphic and I adore her world building and plots. The first one is based on the fairy tale about the girl whose brothers are turned into swans and she has to make shirts of nettles in silence to free them.

I’m not sure if anyone’s mentioned Nick and Norah’s Infinite Play List, but it’s a great YA novel - I believe it’s reviewed on this site

I’ll third the recommendation for Lynn Kurland, second the Julie James and insert these:

-The Season, Sarah Maclean.  Young adult regency romance at it’s best.

-Pamela Britton’s NASCAR books: by nature they’re closed door on the sex scenes, but they’re amazing contemporaries.

Stacey

i couldn’t get through all of the comments so if i’m doubling or tripling up on some other peoples books i appologize.

i would reccommend “bet me” by jennifer crusie (there is one sex scene…aaaaaaaall the way at the end, the entire novel is all flirting and foreplay and the banter is hilarious!)

i would also suggest gail carriger’s books. 1. soulless 2. changeless 3. blameless (there are 2 more coming.  it’s victorian steampunk with some vampires, ghosts and werewolves thrown in for good measure.  again not chaste but not at all a sex fest.  i don’t know if these are strictly romance but they’re all good romps and the first one is certainly about 2 people falling in love)

as for the young adult books (which i LOVE! i’m a YA librarian so…)  i’d reccommend:
i’d tell you i love you but then i’d have to kill you (carter)

nick and norah’s infinite playlist (levithan and cohn)

boy meets boy (levithan warning, this is exactly what it sounds like boys falling in love if you don’t like that then deffinitely don’t read)

sloppy firsts (mccafferty this is the first in a series)

the night world series (l.j. smith there are 9/10 published and we’re still waiting for the 10th but it’s worth starting the series)

enjoy!

I likes my sex scenes and then again, sometimes I don’t. Then I turn to Steeple Hill books, authors like Dana Corbit. I know they have a slight religious slant, but they’re still really good stories without being explicit.

Lynn Kurland is really good for the “fade to black” type of scene.  She has a lot of time-travel romance and most are full of the witty banter.  I recommend starting with “A Dance Through Time.”

Dang, you stole my answer. I def recommend Lynn Kurland, but do read them in order. It’s not critical but it is less confusing. Also, although fantasy, not romance, Patricia Briggs’s books are fade to black.

Mary Stewart (Nine Coaches Waiting, etc.)
Betty Neels (the only Harlequin author I have ever collected)
Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (space opera with romance)
Clare Darcy and Elsie Lees (older Regency)

Definitely agree with the early Loretta Chase recommendations…especially The Devil’s Delilah. That is seriously one of my favorites ever, and I think there is only a bit of kissing. After Heyer of course.

I have to put my word in for Mary Stewart, too.  I concur with AgTigress and Sandra…. her older books were my first romances with a mystery touch (or mysteries with a romance!), and have been the standard for good books since my early teens (and I’m over fifty now).  I do love all kinds of romances, and some explicit sex, too, but Mary Stewart is hard to beat.  I’d recommend Touch Not The Cat and The Ivy Tree.  And the Merlin trilogy (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment) were masterful.

I love it all when it’s well written.
But you could look up http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/
to get some synopsis’ before you buy.
Georgette Heyer as you mentioned.
Victoria Holt but those are more gothic, but still some of the best ever written.
Julie Caille, early Loretta Chase and Kay Hooper.
Phillipa Gregory, Dorothy Garlock, Virgina Coffman, early Mary Stewart.

Heyer (and Bujold) fans who like romantic sf would love the Liaden series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.  I’d suggest starting with LOCAL CUSTOM (a Secret Baby story done *right*)

Hi Hapax, I have always had slight qualms about Shan’s conception because Anne set out to get pregnant without asking her partner if that is what he wanted.  I know it all works out and I love the Liaden universe books but this quibble in the back of my mind is always with me when I re-read Local Custom.  I don’t know anyone else who reads the Liaden books so I haven’t ever been able to check this out. What do you think?

Well, I have to say I’m feeling as if my recommendation of Mary Stewart somehow got misinterpreted as a slam of Mary Stewart. Just to reiterate, I loved her books. I liked them so well I braved the upstairs adult stacks in my library to get them. Several times. I have not read them for some 35 years, and have an image of them being rather atmospheric in tone, from when I first read them at 10 or 12 years old. I often find that books I read as a child suffer visits from the suck fairy, so I am cautious about recommending them without a re-read. Thus, the bit about the possibility of the Mary Stewart books being dated. It wasn’t meant as a slam, just the reality of childhood nostalgia sometimes adding a rosy glow.

You’ll be happy to know I visited my library and checked out three of Stewart’s books today, one of which I read as a kid and two I’d never heard of. (They were written in the 80s and 90s when I was busy with other genres.) BTW, why the offense at my suggestion that these might be appropriate for YA? If you read them as a kid and I read them as a kid, doesn’t that argue that they’re appropriate for YA? I don’t really define YA as only books with YA protagonists. Do you?

I’ll third the recommendation for Julie James! I just finished “Practice Makes Perfect,” about two up-and-coming lawyers who secretly have the hots for each other until they find out that only one of them is going to make partner. It’s cover-to-cover witty banter and sexual tension and pretty much no explicit sex. (There was one sex scene, and it faded to black.) A great romance novel for readers who love the humor and tension and conflict, but don’t need to read a description of the hero’s cock :).

I can’t believe no one mentioned Barbara Cartland yet? What? She wrote about a million books, all trad regencies, and while I’ve only read a few of them I can’t recall any sex scenes - mind you the last one I read was written in about 1985 so there wouldn’t have been, but your local library should have scads of them.
I’ll also recommend Anne Herries, Margaret Moore, Elizabeth Rolls, Nicola Cornick, Mary Nichols, Ruth Langan, Juliet Landon, Deborah Hale, Terri Brisbin - these write mostly historicals for harlequin - but also if you’re looking more recent (70’s / 80’s) with no sex, WHAT ABOUT BETTY NEELS????
It’s usually fade to black before the first kiss with Betty, never mind any nookie.
Also try Essie Summers, Helen Bianchin, Jacqueline Baird, Anne McAllister. You should be able to find samples in most decent second hand bookstores as all these ladies have written very, very many books. Some of them have been recently re-released as e-books too.

spamword turned27 - yes, I did, but it was a while ago ;)

Gwen Rowley! Was delighted by the discrete fade-to-blacks in her Knights of the Round Table: Gawain, am sure the others are similar.

nice to know i’m not the only one who was looking for some sexless/low sex reads.  (if i’m not getting any, i don’t want to read about others who are…)  thanks for all the great suggestions!

May I recommend some space opera or fantasy selections that cross over the romance territory.  E.g., Billie’s description fits Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Komarr”, part of the Vorkosigan saga.  Mrs. Bujold also has an interesting essay, “Writing Sex”, on her website   (http://www.dendarii.com), that deals with challenges of writing out sexual scenes and their perception by readers

darn it won’t let me reply, how do you quote a URL please

I’ll try again

hapax said on…
10.05.10 at 11:56 AM
@roobarb—There’s gonna be a new ENCHANTED INC.?  After DON’T HEX WITH TEXAS?  When O When?

No idea when but it’s with the printers I thinnk, let me check, . . . ah darn, I read it wrong, her publishers are being difficult, see her post here

  She needs help to get them to take on the next one.  I’m devastated now :(

You may all appreciate her thouoght’s on Romance heorines though

I would agree with the recs for Stephenie Meyer and for Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day.  And for wit without explicit sex, I’d rec Waiting for Cary Grant.

If you’re looking for contemporary series romance…about 99% of all the books in the Harlequin Romance imprint have sexual tension, but no sex scenes at all. If there is a sex scene, it’s like a short, vague paragraph.

Rebecca Winters, who writes for several Harlequin imprints, also goes as far as calling her website, “Clean Romances”. http://www.cleanromances.com/

Megalith, I certainly was not criticising what you said about Mary Stewart; I knew you were recommending her, and agree heartily.  I don’t think anyone else was criticising you, either.  We just remember different things about her books, different aspects.  I re-read Madam will you Talk?, Wildfire at Midnight, Thunder on the Right, Nine Coaches Waiting, My Brother Michael, The Moonspinners,  This Rough Magic, Airs above the Ground and The Gabriel Hounds pretty regularly, and the element which always strikes me most strongly is the excitement, danger and adventure, much more than the romance.  I don’t care for either Touch Not the Cat or The Ivy Tree, and in general, I much prefer her 1950s-60s books to the later ones (I can’t stand anything Arthurian at any price, so I haven’t read those at all), but that’s just my taste.  A good writer is a good writer, and she is definitely a very good writer.
You raise a very interesting point about ‘Young Adult’ fiction, though (if SB ever wanted to do a post about this, I would be really intrigued to see if I could ‘get’ it and the comments of those who know a lot about it).  Adolescence itself was hardly a widespread classification until the 20th century.  The aim for any child after puberty was to be a full-fledged adult as soon as possible: neither childhood nor adolescence was seen as desirable in its own right, and the sooner one was ‘grown-up’, the better.  Many young people had to take on adult responsibilities at ages that we would consider shockingly young, and this still happens in many countries.  But even though we had ‘teenagers’ in the 1950s (which was the decade in which I was a teenager), we didn’t have many books, let alone a whole genre, devoted to their supposed tastes.  One read children’s books, and then, as soon as one could understand them, adult books.  I was reading Swift and Dickens at the age of 11, and I had a passion for adventure stories, so I had worked through Rider Haggard, John Buchan, Conan Doyle and so forth by the time I was 12.  I confess that I am still slightly puzzled by the perceived need for YA books, especially as they seem to be read by adults too.
Certainly Mary Stewart could, and should, be read with pleasure by anyone from the age of about 10, but they were written for adults.  Those two facts are not, to me, a contradiction;  I don’t really see a dividing line from the author’s point of view.  The division lies with the readers, who either are, or are not, interested in adult themes at a given age in childhood and adolescence.

For a great mystery/romance series, you could try Julia Spencer-Fleming’s series; the first one is In the Bleak Midwinter.  They are set in upstate New York (the Adirondack State Park) and there is a lot of sexual tension between the main characters but no actual sex.  I haven’t read the latest one yet, and it seems like that may change, though ...

You might also like Elswyth Thane’s series of Williamsburg novels, although these were written in the 40s and 50s and are quite ... umm, politically incorrect now.  The one set in the Civil War has a fair bit of racism, I’m sorry to say.  However, my fave is the one set in the Edwardian period and the beginning of the first world war—The Light Heart.  Thane has a wonderful romantic ghost story, too—Tryst.

Megalith, I certainly didn’t mean to criticize either. AgTigress has provided a much more reasoned and thoughtful response than I could have. I’ll just say that my opinion of Mary Stewart as not YA has nothing to do with the age of the reader, but entirely with the content of the books.

To me (and your definition may vary) a YA book is a book that is written specifically for the teen market with teen-age protagonists, who may or may not be facing situations common to teenagers. I do not mean to say that YA books cannot be read and enjoyed by “adults”.

As AgTigress noted, in the 50’s and early 60’s a teen’s (or tween’s) choices were often limited to childrens’ books or adults’ books. I was 11 when I first read Stewart. I would have serious reservations about a 11 YO reading many of the currently published romance novels. So, Stewart may well serve as a bridge between childrens’ books and much more explicit “adult” fare. But by my definition, she is still not a YA author.

This is the third and last time I am going to try to post this - if you don’t write the test word below absolutely correctly your post gets wiped rather than just get a second chance at the test word. Therefore sorry about the brevity.

My three suggestions are:
Robyn Carr
Jodie Thomas - historical westerns/recent contemporaries
Pamela Morsi - historical and recent contemporaries.

I read two older Lorraine Heath books that have sexual tension but no sex scenes until the last couple of pages - Texas Destiny and Parting Gifts - sweet and gentle and really not explicit.  The last scene in Bet Me is not that explicit - JC just writes so well that I think we think we read more than we really did!

DS wrote:

D. E. Stevenson is another author who wrote contemporary (to her) stories that I’ve really liked.

Unfortunately, they are also more out of print and more expensive as a result.

Good news - they are coming back into print.  Amazon shows 23 titles.

I like Rosamund Pilcher and Maeve Binchy, too. 

I’ve been rereading some old favorites - some hold up, some don’t.  The racism and sexism of Gone With the Wind is interfering with my enjoyment, but the same racist elements in Elswyth Thane don’t seem to bother me.  Maybe it’s because there is some mutual respect between her black and white characters in spite of their situation. 

I was disappointed in rereading Mary Stewart.  Obviously I’ve changed, cause she hasn’t, but she doesn’t do anything for me now.

Sex/no sex?  Doesn’t matter much either way.  For me it comes down to the quality of the writing more than the amount of spice.  I like spicy Thai food, *and* I like a sandwich on white bread with mayo now and then.  I would hate to think I could only have one or the other, but would rather have everything from Little Women to Story of O[/i[ on my shelves to choose from.

We have to remember that explicit sex only entered the popular romance novel in the 1970s, and pretty cautiously, at that. 
Anything originally published before 1960 (in the UK) is going to be safely sex-free (the crucial date is the prosecution of Penguin Books for the publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover in paperback, as a test-case under the 1959 Obscene Publications Act).  I don’t know the magic date in the USA, but as America is seldom more liberal than we are, it won’t be any earlier.

Me Me Me, or rather Mine Mine Mine, the books that, hilariously, “have no sex.” Yeah, right. No thrusting body parts:
THE RULES OF GENTILITy (HarperCollins)
My Little Black Dress books available from bookdepository.com, free shipping (no US distribution):
A MOST LAMENTABLE COMEDY
IMPROPER RELATIONS (altho this does contain a wedding night scene where the heroine, inexplicably, thinks of sausages bursting out of their skin in the frying pan).
Also my latest JANE AND THE DAMNED (HarperCollins) has no explicit sex b/c my editor was nervous about blow by blow sex scenes starring Jane Austen and assorted vampires.

Ditto to Lara on the Laurie King Mary Russell series. It was the first thing that sprang to mind when I read the post and some of my all time favorite books EVAH.

It’s got all of my requirements: smartly written, romance as a subplot but not unimportant, subtle, and crazy juicy double meanings to go back and enjoy on rereads.

I love many of these older authors, dated or not, and specifically second Jane Aiken Hodge, only because of the single mention.  Another old favorite is Madeline Brent, historical romances with strong heroines, fascinating backgrounds, some pretty harrowing adventures, and really good writing.

I think the adjective “dreamy” could apply to Mary Stewart’s description of setting and scenery.  Her adventure is exciting and suspenseful, but her sense of place is lush and evocative.  I can’t remember all the action in her novels, but I can close my eyes and teleport to Greece or the Isle of Skye thanks to Stewart.

One final comment— I, too, read a number of Cartlands in my palmier days, until I encountered one that totally ripped off These Old Shades.  Unfortunately, my shocked post-adolescent memory was unable to retain the title of this masterpiece, but I swore then that I would never read another of Cartland’s books.

I fifth the recommendations of Wrede and Peters (my own favorite Peters heroine is Jacqueline Kirby, but there is no such thing as a bad Peters/Michaels book).

And having said that, anyone who’s a Peters fan—and in particular a Vicky or Jacqueline fan—should absolutely not miss the brand new novel Coronets and Steel by Sherwood Smith.  It’s an unabashed modern-day riff on the Prisoner of Zenda idea, in which Our Heroine goes hunting for her family history in eastern Europe and finds a lot more than she expected.  There are kidnappings (and escapes from kidnappings), ghosts (mostly for atmosphere, but definitely for real), banquets, castles, peasant cottages, a masquerade ball, scheming nobles, gorgeous men, actual swordfights (Our Heroine is a trained competitive fencer), and plenty of smoldering chemistry.

Fair warning: the book is first in a series, and while it stands alone the ending stops well short of HEA.  But the banter is spectacular, the characters are engaging, and the balance of swashbuckling and snark is just about unbeatable.  Smith has done very good YA romance prior to this (see particularly Crown Duel, preferably in the later revised edition), but Coronets and Steel is her first fully contemporary book, and it is, as the expression has it, totally made of win.

Aspen Mountain Press is unrolling a new Regency and Historical line.  The Regency line is sweet romance only, no explicit sex.  The Historical line is spicier.

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/historical/aurora-regency/cat_69.html

They aren’t out yet, but soon.

As far as YA goes, I don’t know if you can go past Sarah Dessen. Her books are beautifully romantic and have no explicit (or, for that matter, implicit) sex scenes that I cna remember.

Bujold, seconded (or fifthed.)

Madeleine Brent, from the 70s and 80s - libraries probably still have copies.  Unusual and historic settings, well-written, sexual tension with fade-out.

Fiona Hill.  Intelligent, funny, sweet. Real characters who can surprise you.

I only recently started reading Heyer myself, and I gotta second the Patricia C. Wrede books. I’d read them long before, and Heyer kept reminding me of Wrede.

That said, this list is exactly what I need! I’m really excited to see it.

Hmm, I also thought of Elizabeth Peters books as mysteries.  Still, all excellent and entertaining.

I agree with the person (people) who suggested Kristen Higgens but not “The Next Best Thing” there was 2 descriptive-ish sex scenes in there.

I would encourage inspirational romance authors as sex before marriage is quite frowned upon within Christian novels. 

My last thought on this topic, for now anyway, is judge the book by the cover.  Hot man titty, probably graphic sex scenes.  Picket fence in front of house with flowers and a dog or cat but no people, sex scenes are probably limited if they exist at all.

Oops, one more, Jennifer Crusie is my favorite author for witty banter, but she has sex scenes, so unless you are okay with skimming past them…

Sharon Shinn writes in several different genres and I can’t recall any sex scenes. I love her books.

spamword: again79

There is nothing I want to repeat 78 times!

I totally agree with the suggestion of HQ Romance, and also some of the Super-romances.  They are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of tone and content - I’d avoid anything with a baby on the cover or in the title, personally - but several of the authors who write for these series do an excellent line in witty banter.  Look out for Trish Wylie, Jessica Hart, Karina Bliss, Fiona Harper.

Showing up late to third the recommendations for Carla Kelly, who is just amazing. She has recently had some re-releases, I think, and maybe a new title.

I second the Dorothy Sayers recommendation; Gaudy Night, Strong Poison and Busman’s Honeymoon are the most romantic of the Lord Peter mysteries. Patricia Wentworth also wrote many British country house type mysteries, always with a romantic subplot. The most romantic of her books, which I adore, and is one of my comfort reads, is “Nothing Venture”. It’s a marriage of convenience story. Well worth picking up used on Amazon.

J, Carla Kelly has been putting out new releases steadily. The most recent 3, “Marrying the Captain, “Surgeon’s Lady” and “Marrying the Royal Marine” are connected, with 3 sisters as the heroines. Her next one is due out in January, “The Admiral’s Penniless Bride” . And her books are better than ever. I hope she keeps writing forever.

SIng Death that did not include any sex.

Oh my God, you guys are amazing!  I’ve been away at at theater festival and just came across this.  It’s funny, but I’ve actually read several of the fantasy/sci-fi/mystery titles listed here, but never really thought of them as “romances” because I mentally categorised them as the other genre first.  Anyway, I now have a ton of books to put on my TBR list.  Thank you so much. You guys ROCK!

I know I’m late to the party (I’m often behind on reading posts!), but still thought I’d throw my two cents in. An author I adore is Lucy Walker, who’s romances are usually set in the Australian Outback and were written in the 1950s to 1970s. They’re quaint little stories, and the most recent one I read contained only about three chaste kisses. Haven’t come across a sex scene yet.

I’ve only read partway through the comments, so sorry if this has already been recommended.

I just finished reading Jo Beverley’s EMILY AND THE DARK ANGEL, a reissue from the early 90’s. It’s delightful, charming and funny, and doesn’t get hotter than a kiss. (Though there are references to “pudding”. I’m never looking at/reading about pudding again the same way for the rest of my life. *giggle*)

Others of Jo Beverley’s sweet Regencies that have been reissued are LORD WRAYBOURNE’S BETROTHED, THE STANFORTH SECRET and THE STOLEN BRIDE.

Any of Elise Lee’s books except Roommates. Especially The Passions of Medora Graham, also the early regencies of Anne Stuart, not the more recent ones.

Try “Suffer a Sea Change” by Celeste DeBlasis. I think it is from the 80’s and may be impossible to find anywhere except a library or used bookstore. I reread it regularly (skipping certain tedious parts). There is a lot going on there with some seriously preposterous Evil Drug Smugglers and other subplots, but the intense scenes (nothing R rated!) between heroine and hero (who both have Serious Baggage) really make this book for me.
Has anyone else read it?

@Lisa P:  Amazon has 20 copies of Suffer a Sea Change available for $.01 + shipping. I’m tempted to buy one based on your recommendation.

Not sure I would pay $4 shipping for it (but then I already have a copy…) LS Kilian, if you try it, I hope you like it. As I said… some parts tedious, some OH PUH-LEEZE and eye rolls, but that hero-heroine interaction outweighs it all for me.
And if you try it and don’t like it… better luck with someone else’s recommendation… there are plenty of good ones here!

I’m late to the party, but I want to play too:
Elizabeth Cadell’s books were written mostly post WWII-the sixties, so they’re practically historicals now.  My favorite is Fox from his lair.
Frances Murray wrote some excellent historicals with very good dialogue.  Try The burning lamp and The heroine’s sister.
Laura London/Sharon and Tom Curtis’s regencies are lovely.  Try The gypsy heiress or The bad Baron’s daughter.
I would also like to mention that Jan Cox Speas’ books, My lord Monleigh, Bride of the MacHugh, and My love, my enemy have been reissued in trade paper.  I don’t like the covers as well as the mass markets that I bought in the mid-70’s, but I’m so glad that someone brought them back into print.