If you’ve been on Goodreads lately (or any other book-reviewing website), you may have seen a lot of reviews mentioning a book’s “spice level.” Most commonly seen in YA or romance novel reviews, the “spice level” is the amount of sexy or erotic scenes in the book. Essentially, the spice level lets you know if the book has a lot of smut in it or not.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term “smut”, it refers to writing sexual scenes for the express purpose of titillation. You may think, “Well, isn’t that what sex scenes are for?” but there are also sexual scenes used for educational or explorative purposes, not necessarily to engage the reader sexually. Smut is specifically written for the latter purpose.
For a quick example to differentiate between a simple sex scene and “smut”, we can think about Looking for Alaska and the Throne of Glass series. In Looking For Alaska, there’s an awkward scene that briefly describes two teenagers exploring oral sex. It’s very “coming of age” in that it describes something many teenagers are likely engaging in for the first time themselves. It’s not a polished, intimate scene. It’s awkward, embarrassing, and highly relatable.
In contrast, the sex scenes in YA novels like Throne of Glass are written for the purpose of stimulation. The main characters in these novels are of age (I believe late teens/early twenties (aside from the immortal characters)), and the scenes are very passionate, detailed sex scenes. They’re not meant to be realistic nor relatable, and certainly no teenagers (or anyone, probably) is having sex like that. It’s erotica.
With our terms so defined, we return to the idea of a “spice level.” A book like Looking for Alaska would have a spice level of, say, 1/5. There may be some sexual scenes, but they’re not going to turn you on. A book like Throne of Glass would be closer to a 3/5 or 4/5. This indicates that there are likely multiple scenes in the book that are hot and heavy. These examples are just to explain what “spice level” means and to give a frame of reference for what people (mainly adults) are referring to as “spice” as in these novels.
When these comments started popping up, I initially saw them as a good thing. I don’t enjoy books with a lot of smut in them, so if I see a book with a high spice level, I know that I may not enjoy that novel. I still think the ratings are helpful in this way. However, when I started to notice these ratings appear on a lot of YA novels, I started to think a little bit more deeply about what exactly this means. It’s also important to keep in mind that not only are people including a spice level in their reviews, but I often see comments with people asking for MORE spice in their reviews of YA books.
Now, I’m no prude. I don’t think YA books should omit sexual escapades because teens will have, are having, and have had sex. However, I do think that more recently (within the last 10-20 years), there have been a lot more books published as “YA” that contain a really high level of spice (meaning, they have a lot more smut than YA books used to).
A TikTok I saw recently confirmed that I’m not the only one noticing this trend, and I’m also not the only one thinking its odd for grown adults to be asking for more “spice” in YA novels. I’m going to link it here because I found it very interesting, and it helped me articulate a lot of my thoughts on this matter: (link)
When you give the simplest definition for this genre, YA books are written about kids for kids. What makes a book YA is that the protagonists are, well, young adults. Typically they’re anywhere from 10-18. There are examples of YA books where the protagonist is older, or starts out at a young age and ages up as the series continues, but they usually fall within the teenage years. The other main point here is that they are written specifically for young adults (again, 10-18) to be the target consumers.
At least, they SHOULD be targeted towards teenage readers. That’s who the young adult genre is for. Unfortunately, there seems to be a trend of YA authors writing for adult readers, yet still marketing their books as YA.
For example, the Throne of Glass novels really should not be considered YA, yet they are classified online as an “award-winning YA series.”
In the very first book, the protagonist is already 18 years old. This is still technically Young Adult, but there are no other markers of a young adult book. The book is a high fantasy novel where every other character is an adult, the main character constantly engages in adult situations, and there is a gratuitous amount of erotica. It’s an adult fantasy series that was marketed as YA.
This may be because the protagonist is young enough to be considered a teenager, but when you take into account the context of this character in the world she’s in, she is consistently treated as an adult. One can argue that being treated as an adult or taking on a lot of adult responsibility is true for many YA protagonists. However, I would argue that it’s typically a younger character navigating adult situations, not an adult that is also treated as an adult by other adult characters in the book.
I do believe there is a reason for these non-YA books being marketed as such, which is that YA books are generally easier to publish and market. There is already a large adult fantasy romance genre with plenty of smutty fantasy books. It’s an inundated market, which makes it hard to have “breakout” series the way YA often does. The adult fantasy romance genre is also often seen as less credible than other adult fiction novels or even YA novels. Marketing an adult fantasy series as YA shifts how people think about the books themselves. In general, I think it raises the overall esteem of the novels.
To note here, something that’s considered “elevated” in YA may be considered “on par” or even “sub-par” from an adult genre perspective. I don’t think YA novels should have different standards because the genre is just as credible as adult genres, but I have noticed this trend and wanted to mention that it may have an influence on publication.
There is also the fact that teenagers are the main people that use social media. The Throne of Glass series along with other YA novels (*cough* Colleen Hoover) would not be nearly as popular without BookTok and BookTube content creators discussing those books.
For these reasons, I think these authors have chosen to market their books as YA, even though they don’t truly fit into the genre. To give some fantasy comparisons, the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Inheritance Cycle, Harry Potter, and The Twilight Saga are all very well known YA fantasy series. These are all also a very different caliber than something like Throne of Glass.
Even if you were to consider more recent YA fantasy like The Lunar Chronicles or The Hunger Games trilogy, it’s easy to see the difference between these novels and Throne of Glass. The protagonists start out younger, and there is a good amount of romance, but there are no “smut” scenes to be found. The main themes of the aforementioned novels are death, politics, transformation, self-discovery, etc. The romance often takes a backseat, rather than riding on the hood of the car.
Again, I’m not arguing that there shouldn’t be sex scenes in YA novels, just that specifically “smut” should not be in novels marketed at teens. Teenagers can easily find those books in the adult section if that’s what they’re seeking, but it shouldn’t be a staple of YA novels, which is what seems to be happening.
The main issue here is that adults are largely the ones consuming these “spicy” YA novels, and they’re the ones asking for more of those novels. This encroaches on YA territory, and has started eliminating the space that’s supposed to be designated for teenagers.
When adults start requesting more of these books, YA publishers take note of that and start generating them. They don’t care about the audience, they just want to sell more books. Then, because the demand for “spicy” novels is so high, novels without this element have a harder time being published. This warps the genre so that, all of a sudden, YA isn’t really for young adults anymore.
That’s not to say that books like Throne of Glass shouldn’t exist, they just shouldn’t be marketed within the YA space.
I’ve seen some discussion of a “New Adult” genre, which I think is a great concept and solution. These would be books like Throne of Glass, Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, and many other novels where the protagonist is between 18-22 (or so). A lot of these stories focus on self-discovery, experimentation, romance, etc. and gearing them towards adult readers and new adult readers (who are typically the ones consuming them) is a much better tactic than marketing them as Young Adult.
I think the most important thing to remember here is the historical context surrounding the YA genre’s development. For a long time, and still to this day, YA books were considered less polished, less meaningful, and less impactful than adult genres. They were essentially considered glorified children’s novel, and many authors had to fight to have their work taken seriously within this space.
To encroach YA out of its own territory eliminates this genre that hard-won in the first place. Young adults need a space to be young adults. They need a space for books that deal with coming of age, death, self-discovery, politics, religion, sexuality, etc., at the level that is appropriate for young adults. Asking for these books to focus more on the smut aspect is coming full-circle towards delegitimizing these novels.
Rather than ask for more smut in YA novels, advocate for more smut in adult romance and fantasy, or advocate for a New Adult genre where this aspect that you appreciate is more appropriate.
The Lit Wiz