Why "Torrid"?

Why Torrid?

To be honest, it's catchy! I am ripping the idea off of a popular plus-sized clothing store named Torrid. www.torrid.com. When I first saw the store in my local mall I got really excited. Judging from the window displays I assumed I was going to visit a plus-sized Fredericks of Hollywood http://www.fredericks.com. I was pleasantly disappointed to see that Torrid was not a lingerie boutique, but a plus-sized ladies clothing store with something for everyone and its own fashion point of view.

The romance genre is exactly the same way. The cover art and titles of the books range from really mild, to silly, to racy. Some cover art and titles are so scandalous you might be more comfortable going behind the black curtain at your local video store and renting a movie instead of purchasing one of the books at an open counter.

But reading the stories behind the covers and you will see that most of the stories are not so racy. The racy pictures are purely for marketing purposes. I'll admit some romantic parts of the stories are... shall we say descriptive... and are definitely adult only reading material. However violence is minimal, drug use is almost non-existent, and overall you are reading about generally normal heterosexual couples looking for love in some interesting situations.

The Romance genre is its own and like the Torrid store should not be confused with Fredricks of Hollywood Romance is it's own genre to to be confused with Erotica or Urban Lit, two genres which are very adult orientated.

Erotica is very adult reading. The sex scenes in these books are so racy you can skip it and just get go behind the the black curtain at the local video store. Surprisingly you will also find some of the most popular Erotic novels in Target or Walmart displayed next to the bibles.

Urban lit is a common African American genre with heavy crime, violence, and drug use. Usually the protagonist are living on the unfavorable side of the law. Urban Lit has romantic aspects but it is not the romance genre. These books are usually displayed in Walmart next to the book titled: How to get a Job After Being Released From Prison.

So what is romance? You will have to read them to find out. Or at least settle for reading this blog.

I want to invite you to read a romance book with the members of the Torrid Booklovers.