Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Like the books of Judith McNaught, the plots of Susan Elizabeth Phillips's books all-too-frequently hinge on some (at best) very questionable sex. Unlike Judith McNaught (who honestly doesn't seem to see anything wrong with icky sex scenes) Ms. Phillips surreptitiously tosses in her creepy little scenes in at the beginning of a novel and then fills up the rest of the book with so much wholesome, flirty charm that you forget all about the freaky bit at the beginning and end up lending the book to your grandmother.

Aftertaste:
If you can't just take my word for it on the freaky sex stuff, here's an example: in the early chapters of This Heart of Mine, the heroine (who has always had a crush on the hero, who barely knows she exists) gets into bed with him when she KNOWS that he is totally out of it, and has sex with him when he is only semi-awake. You know what we would call this if a guy did it, right? Yeah. Ew.

Availability:
Everywhere.

Other Recommendations:
Anything by Nora Roberts, who, happily, is pretty much freaky-sex free.

Anything by Jennifer Crusie

Website:
http://www.susanephillips.com/ -