How spicy is that book?
Everybody rates books in chillies now, and nobody agrees on what the chillies mean. These are honest ratings on the same five-chilli scale we use on our own stories — so once you know where a book you have read sits, you know exactly what you are getting from anything on this site.
The scale
- 1 of 5 — Warm
- Closed door — attraction and tension
- 2 of 5 — Steamy
- A love scene or two, written for feeling
- 3 of 5 — Hot
- Several explicit scenes, plainly written
- 4 of 5 — Scorching
- Frequent, fully explicit, adventurous
- 5 of 5 — Filthy
- Explicit throughout — the forbidden is the point
The long version: spice levels explained.
Twisted Love
4/5 · Scorching
Ana Huang · Twisted
A four. Frequent, graphic and central — this is the one people mean when they say a book is spicy. Possessive hero, and the book knows it.
Hooked
4/5 · Scorching
Emily McIntire · Never After
A four, and a dark one. Explicit, morally grey, and not trying to make you comfortable.
The Kiss Quotient
4/5 · Scorching
Helen Hoang
A four. The sex is the plot, not a break from it — frequent, explicit, and unusually tender with it.
A Court of Thorns and Roses
3/5 · Hot
Sarah J. Maas · A Court of Thorns and Roses
Book one is a three. Explicit, but only in a few places, and the rest of the book is tension. If somebody told you this series is filthy, they were talking about book two.
The Unhoneymooners
3/5 · Hot
Christina Lauren
A three. Genuinely explicit in a handful of places, and playful rather than intense with it. Forced proximity done properly.
The Hating Game
3/5 · Hot
Sally Thorne
A three. One scene everybody remembers, and a whole book of tension around it. The enemies-to-lovers standard.
The Spanish Love Deception
3/5 · Hot
Elena Armas
A three, and a patient one. The heat is late, explicit when it arrives, and earned by a very long build.
Ugly Love
3/5 · Hot
Colleen Hoover
A three, and the hottest thing Colleen Hoover is widely read for. Explicit, but the bruise it leaves is emotional rather than physical.
People We Meet on Vacation
2/5 · Steamy
Emily Henry
A two. One open door late on, and several hundred pages of two people not saying the thing. The yearning is the product here, not the heat.
Maybe Someday
2/5 · Steamy
Colleen Hoover
A two. Restrained on the page and merciless everywhere else — the difficulty here is moral, not physical.
From Lukov With Love
2/5 · Steamy
Mariana Zapata
A two, and famously so. Mariana Zapata is the slowest burn in romance and this is the book people name when they say it.
Every story here carries a rating
Pick your heat before you start — and the first chapter is always free.
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