We’re all readers first. For me as a reader, the best erotic romance is raw, darkly seductive and intensely emotional.

I spent a few hours this afternoon roaming the Amber Heat and Amber Allure websites and updating my wish lists. Reading excerpts is a great way to select new books, and I wanted to highlight two exquisite snippets that took my breath away. As a reader, this is the type of stuff that has me reaching for my credit card.

From Vivien Dean’s STILL, LIFE

From his seat on the small couch, Joe drank in the broad expanse of Israel’s back, outlined against the gossamer curtains at his hotel suite’s wide window. The edge of a black tattoo snaked beneath the collar of Israel’s T-shirt, unseen, unknown. At some point in the last eighteen years, he’d inked his skin. Joe would bet everything he had Israel had created the design himself.

This passage tells us so much about the characters, and provides a great anchor into the setting as well. We know exactly where we are, who we’re with, and that something sexy and intense is about to happen here. And we want to watch…

From Penny Dawn’s THE FORGOTTEN LORE
Here’s an example of some of the hottest, most sultry dialogue I’ve ever read. Can’t you just feel the scorching heat between these two?

She caught her breath, but found herself nudging closer to him all the same. “You can’t want me,” she whispered. “It isn’t decent.”

“I want you because no one has had you. I want you because I, too, deserve what I’ve existed without for the entire twenty-six years of my life.”

And later…

“I want you because you don’t want me,” he said.

“I want you.” The words escaped in a careless whisper. “But that’s neither here nor there.”

His lips brushed against hers. “I want you, Lady Tiffany, despite knowing better than to take you.”

I’ve just added two new books to my “must have” list. What about you? What books have you added to your wish list lately? And what drew you to them?