If this book's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'

I finished reading a novel that I had bought from Amazon based on it matching up with one of my books – Amazon's way of affinity marketing.

I prefer not to mention the book's title, since I don't believe in criticizing authors. Now, I'm not really criticizing the author here; it's more of an open question about storylines. This book's plot was set in the 1800s in the west. The two heroes meet and fall in lust, then in love. Nice. But, the have sex on almost every page. I mean an unrealistic amount of sex in unbelievably fantastic ways. Guys of that era must have had a lot more energy. The book wasn't extremely graphic, but the number of carnal scenes distracted me from the plot.

There are many different types and styles of novels and that's what makes reading an adventure. Some writers gravitate toward sensual words and others like to use common slang, but the story can only be told by the author in his or her way. So, if two cowboys f*ck on every page in all conditions—great. If an amateur detective can't get laid for 300 pages, then he's in the wrong book.

So, as I work on the next Derek Mason Mystery, Derek is going to have some romance. I can tell you it won't be on every page because he would never find time to solve a mystery, but he isn't (or will ever be) a priest…Uh, let me change that to "a celibate."





Do frequent sex scenes detract or add to a story? (And the story is not about sex or the sex trade.)