Do good romance novels require a sex scene?

Romance Novels today have been more sexually explicit. Harlequin Novels are very famous for them.

A great romance novel is one that gets into the true core of what real romance is especially when friendship, euphoria, conflict, transition, and great happy endings are involved. It pulls together a great story.

There are many really romantic stories that have no sex at all. I always thought that Jane Eyre has one of the most romantic of love stories in it. Persuasion by Jane Austen is another novel with a truly wonderful romance.

A truly good romance needs a believable love story with characters whose feelings for each other go way beyond the physical. There is great passion in Jane Eyre, but no sex. I think some romance writers add sex scenes simply to titillate the reader, not because it actually adds anything to the story.

Some of the greatest romances of all time seem to be those where the characters have a connection to each other that approaches the spiritual as well as including the physical attraction and mental compatibility. Wuthering Heights is such a book, with a connection that is stronger than life itself.

I don't think romance novels require sex scenes. Descriptions of people having sex are usually quite tedious. What i like in any novel, whatever the genre, is an good story, interesting characters, and plenty of humour. With a romance novel obviously you want a sexy hero, but detailed descriptions of the sex act are not necessary.

Not at all. Actually, some of my favorite romance books don't have any sex scenes in them at all. Plus, if I read a book that has sex scenes in it, I usually flip past that because I don't like reading stuff like that. A good romance book has a lot of details (like a touch of a hand, a gentle brush of the lips (but nothing leading to sex) and good descriptions of the character's emotions and feelings. And there's also a need for humor. Everyone loves a good chuckle, and witty conversations between the guy and the girl who fall in love with each other.

Let me end this by saying: GOOD ROMANCE NOVELS DO NOT NEED SEX SCENES TO MAKE THEM GOOD!!!

it's actually a romance novel Cliche ( something over used) i think because sex is seen as the ultimate act of love, and that is supose to show how deeply the characters feel for each other. but now i think it's been used so much that the meaning of it truly wears off and people just read em' to get their jollies.

i was always told that a sex scene can be as simple as two people kissing and the person is seen with the other the next morning. but people still insit on making it as graphic as possible

believe it or not, in Lady and the Tramp, after the doggy date, it is supose to be suggested that lady and the Tramp did it. thats why jock was willing to marry lady the next day.( because she would be pregnant.)

Not at all. You do need sexual tension, but you can do that without having the characters get into it.

In one scene in my novel, THE MANHUNTER, the heroine is carefully checking the back of the hero for bee stings. She's an artist by trade and it's easy for her to get distracted by a firmly muscled back and.... well, the hero DOESN'T let her check his chest after that.

Oh, and then I get them snuggled together up in the fork of a tree where the hero can't get away from her, needs to hold her, and ..... Why are they up the tree? There's some wild pigs down below.

Oh, yeah, you can have a steamy romance without making it a bodice ripper. (I lifted that line from one of my reviews.)

Vampires or Werewolves, love triangles are interesting but have gotten cliche. Perhaps a physiological thriller/romance where the protagonist has gone through some serious trauma or injury and switches through alternate worlds within her mind, and is in love with this guy who she made up due to her trauma, only she believes he´s real, but she has also fallen in love with this real guy. I do not know something like The Black Swan. Hope i've helped

Not at all!

Good romance novels only need love and trust. Not sex. It is not right.

If u want my opinion, sex isnt the best part in books. I think it makes them worse. (my opinion!!)

i agree with the other people that romance novels don't require a sex scene...but only if they can generate the romantic feeling with appropriate words. if they can't then the first thing that comes to one's mind is a sex scene though it doesn't necessarily mean romance.

That is one of the best reasons to read these books but I got lucky to finding novels with funny couples with the silliest of novels.