I've gotten to where I really like reading romance stories that have a lot of the "good stuff" in them.  I don't need 100 pages on stuff that has no bearing to me - these details don't really matter - I'm interested in the hero and heroine and their relationship - with a lot of sex! *wink*

I loved Passion by Lisa Valdez, Deeper than Desire by Cheryl Holt, Forbidden Fantasy by Cheryl Holt.  Does anyone have a favorite author I've not read that is good? I've read Valdez and Holt.  Help!

*Edited to add:  I don't think I could read threesomes and I'm looking for a male/female type of book.  Thought I'd add that. :)  Just found Lorelei James.  Is she good?

the only Lorelie James book I've read had 4 in it...a woman and 3 men..or heck might've been 4 guys and I think 2 of the guys were together too. I didn't think I'd like 3-somes either but Calista's Men by Jory Strong and Forbidden Pleasure by Lora Leigh were pretty hot! they're on my forever keeper shelf.

if you like historical western Sarah McCarty has the Promises series and youc an get the ebooks from ellorascave.com or hunt for the paperbacks. lora leigh(at least one of her series the men share a woman but most end up with just one couple except for forbidden pleasure that I know of), lacey alexander is pretty hot but she does have some brief m/m and 3-some 4some scenes, lisa marie rice doesnt' have any 3somes that I know of and so far even her worst stuff is still ok, jory strong though she's gone paranormal. these are all erotic romance authors. oh almost forgot - lena matthews has 3 in the  joker's wild trilogy that don't have 3somes. the main focus in all of these I think is the sex so the storylines are there and good but probaby not as good as the other authors you mentioned since the focus there is probably on the storyline(haven't read those authors myself)

well, most of the bks u mention are HRs so here are the usual suspects:

Sylvia Day Georgian series

Susan Johnson - stick with her stuff from the early 90s, especially early Braddock-Black series

Sarah McCarty - I find her way too talky but loads love her

Jess Michaels

Robin Schone

I read one Lorelei James. It was a menage and had that clinical quality of erotica but people seem to love her. I much prefer Beth Kery, Shiloh Walker, Jaci Burton for m/f

I second Susanna's suggestion of Sarah McCarty.  I've read one of her Promises books, and three of the Hells Eight and have loved them all.  Tucker's Claim and Sam's Creed had quite a bit of story compared to sex, but the romantic scenes were HOT! 

Lora Leigh is known for sex, but her books tend to be quite predictable (as well as known for BAD editing).  I pretty much read everything she puts out, though.

Lora Leigh is my HomeGirl!!! i started on Erotica from her SEALs Series. OH BOY!! Yummy HOT!! or her Paranormal Series the Breeds!!

Lorelei James has menage, gay/lesbian, and more except for 1 of those books.

Sarah McCarty, lol. VERY wordy. not enuf 2 keep me interested honestly. Have the Promises in TBR and LOVE the Wild Stories.

Megan Hart except for Switch, that was HORRIBLE.

Lacey Alexander, Lauren Dane, Maya Banks, Shayla Black 

Vanilla erotica, but HOT scenes & men...Beth Williamson, Toni Blake 

Megan Harts books are not what I'd call uplifting at the end... and one of them, can't remember the title, has some menage stuff. Just read the blurbs to avoid that one. Tempted, I think it was. I read that and it depressed me. No more Megan Hart for me. :P 

I second the recommendation for Sarah McCarty.  I also second Lauren Dane and Maya Banks and Shayla Black, but be sure you read the blurbs if you want to avoid the menage ones.

Allie, I read 2 or 3 Megan Harts as well and no more for me either.  I read books to escape and feel good.  Hers do not make me feel good.

Have you checked out Kate Pearce?  Sophie Renwick?  Shannon McKenna if you like romantic suspense erotica.

aww, thats so sad. i love Megan Hart. Dirty is my fave. and Deeper was really good too. hers r an emotional roller coaster but both of those end well enuf. Switch was awful, so so bad. but yes read reviews/tags/back of book 2 stay away from the meetings u dont want. lol

also Bella Andre, Cheyenne McCray...

oops I didn't realize you were asking for erotica titles - sorry !

Beth Kery's Wicked Burn was really good and super hot. That's one of the better and steamier books I've read in a while.  If I think of any more, I'll pop back in.  :-)

WOW!  This gives me a lot to consider!  I've WL Wicked Burn because that sounds really good! :)  I'll stay away from Megan Hart if she's sad then, don't like sad endings and will check out Lora Leigh and the others too.  I appreciate your letting me in on what to look for and how to decide which would be good ones for me!  Thank you all, I love this site!! :)

I've read just about every thindg written by Lora Leigh except the breeds.  I like her but , I cant read too many of hers in a row.Need to take a break between.  Because she use's the same lines over and over.

I wouldn't consider Cherry Adair erotica but she writes pretty hot sex scenes in her romantic suspense. (No menage)

Shannon McKenna isn't really sold as "erotica" but she writes some spicy sex scenes.  Most of her males are pretty alpha so some may not like that and some of the dialogue is a bit over the top (check out the thread "Sex words that make you say "Ewwww" in the L&R forum--one of her phrases qualified:lol:).  

I like Shelley Laurenston's shifter series (dragon and big cats/wolves/etc).  With those books you get raunchy humor (be ready for cursing)  and some hot sex stuff.   I read them inbetween darker more serious books for a fun break but usually can only do one at a time since there is a lot of goofy in most of them.

So, what is the dividing line that takes a book out of pure romance and into erotica?

I don't think the line is definite but in erotica I pretty much expect use of the 'f' word and stronger language and some of it seems that sex sex sex is the main focus instead of a storyline..I prefer a good or at least decent storyline(after all some of us need a little breather and recuperation time) I mean I've read romance where the 'f' word was used but not repeatedly in a sexual situation. I've also never encountered anal sex in my 'regular' romance books but it's pretty frequent in erotic romance - honestly I'm t hinking Lisa Marie Rice is about the only erotic romance I've read that had 'plain vanilla sex' bu tl ots of it with t he dirty talk so you may wanna check her stuff out..anyways the others it's pretty much there and described pretty graphically.

but for me honestly I've read romance books that weren't meant to be erotic romance and I found some very simple passages to be a big turnon for me and looking back and re-reading (and re-reading!)that brief passage no 'dirty' words were used but it was erotic to me. ellorascave.com and samhainpublishing.com have descritpions..ellorascave has 3 categories and I'veonly read the 2ndcategory and some of that makes me wonder what the extreme 3rd category is like LOL and samhain has sometimes hilarious descriptions like 'vehicular sex, shower sex, well sex just about everywhere but the bed, not for the faing of heart..' stuff like that..I amused myself one evening reading those 'warnings'after the book descriptions!

The Switch      Author: Diane Whiteside ISBN-13: 9780425208175 - ISBN-10: 0425208176

This was my favorite, hands down. A real mattress rocker as my Partner calls it!

Diane Whiteside is a fav of mine, along with Lisa Marie Rice, Sarah McCarty, and Cheyenne McCray. I love Leigh's Breed series (much more than her contemp. bks).

sarah mccarty and lora leigh. sarah mccarty's promise books are my favorite.

I compiled this list of some of my favorite series for another group but it might contain some that haven't been mentioned yet.  Yes many are menage or more, some are scifi/fantasy based, all are paranormal romances.  They are all ones that I've read more than once.  All of these are available in ebooks - pdf format, some are also available in printed format), remember, you did ask for steamy !:

Maya Banks - "Falcon Mercernaries" (2 books)
Anya Bast - "The Embraced"
Bianca D'Arc - "Resonance Mates" & "Tales of the Were"
Lauren Dane - "Witches Knot" & "Cascadia Wolves"
Autumn Dawn - "Darklands"
Viola Grace - "The Half-Blood Club"
Marie Harte - "Circe's Recruits"
Felicity Heaton - "In Heat" series
Elizabeth Lapthorne - "Rutledge Werewolves"
Shelly Laurenston - "The Pride" & "Magnus Packs"
Sarah McCarty - "Hell's Eight" & "Wild Werewolves/Haven"
Mima - "Bonded Fantasy"
Lorie O'Clare - "Cariboo Lunewulf" & "Malta Werewolves" & "Lunewulf"
Sherrill Quinn - unnamed werewolf series (2 books)
Jaden Sinclair - Shifter series
Brenda Steele - "Accidental Mates"
Jory Strong - "The Angelini", "Fallon Mates", & "Supernatural Bonds"
Diane Whiteside - "Texas Vampires"

To your question, So, what is the dividing line that takes a book out of pure romance and into erotica? My simplistic definition is that romance is more about feelings and erotia is more about doing...I also divide books by publishers.  Sometimes an author is published by more than one house and therefore winds us on both my romance and eroticia lists (or romanticia as Ellora's Cave has coined as a phrase).  Another way to look at it:  If you'd be embarrassed to be caught reading it, it's probably romanticia.  LOL

Thank you guys for your suggestions!  I have Wicked Burn now and am looking forward to reading that! :)  Does anyone know of any Historical Erotica Romance authors? My mom loves historical and I do too, so I thought I'd ask.  :)

Emma Holly has a couple of erotica historical.

Sarah McCarty

Beth williamson

Those two write historical erotica ,but their books are all wishlisted..

I love Lorelei james!  her( rough rider) series are soooo good.

Take a look at my WL...lol   its mostly  erotica...

I'll second Jess Michaels.  Everything Forbidden's my favorite of hers... loved both main characters from the start, and very steamy... yum...

Edit to add: Forgot to mention, Michaels (what I've read of hers, at least) is regency-era

Nevermind!