filthy rich series

5 Tips to Writing An Effective Sex Scene

(Author’s note: Once a month, I offer writing tips to my Hyperromantic Authors on Patreon. I wanted to share a smidge of this month’s offering on a topic near-and-dear to my heart with all of you. For $5/month, you can sign up to read the entire article AND receive writing articles and sexy short stories from me every month!)

“Lopez …makes a profound statement about being an American amid absolutely mind-blowing sex scenes. It’s her ability to balance these lascivious passages with pointed, meaningful storytelling that sets her work apart and makes her a writer worth returning to again and again.”
--Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly

I like sex scenes. Before I began writing, sex scenes were my favorite part of the book. They were what I would read over and over again, as you can tell by the bends in my paperbacks. It’s easy to dismiss this as horny inclinations, but that would too easily dismiss the value and distinctiveness of the romance novel genre.

In mysteries, we love the unwinding of the whodunnit. In horror novels, we love the slow creep down the hall to the terrifying reveal. These books create a feeling that readers sign up for when they buy them.

A great romance novel captures the visceral sensation of falling in love. It is a sensation that has launched a thousand ships and sent people into murder and madness. It is not to be trivialized. Many authors, myself included, consider physical chemistry and lust part and parcel to falling in love. Great sex scenes aren’t just about inserting tab A into slot B. Great sex scenes capture all the mystery and majesty of touching the person you will spend the rest of your life with for the very first time. Done well, all the high emotion and relinquishing of self and terror and hope and stumbling and flying of falling in love can happen in a sex scene.

No pressure, right?

Because I value and respect sex scenes, I’ve worked hard to make them powerful, compelling, and emotionally resonating in my books. Although I do not write erotica, you can’t skip a sex scene of mine without missing something integral to the plot, characters, and novel. Here are some tips to how I go about writing effective sex scenes.

Make characters’ sexual selves as distinctive as the rest of them.

You know your characters’ eye colors, jobs, thoughts about themselves, thoughts about their world, religion, favorite foods, etc. Their thoughts about sex, about themselves as sexual creatures, and how they approach the act is as distinctive as the rest of them. We do such a disservice to our characters and to our readers when we make every hero a growly alpha and every heroine an inexperienced virgin who effortlessly orgasms. Think through how their lives and upbringings inform their sexual selves, and how it repels and compliments the partner you’ve created for them.

In my debut book Lush Money, my billionaire businesswoman and the prince she tries to buy are powerful, epically attractive, sexually experienced, and overwhelmingly confident. When they first have sex, it’s like a clash of the titans, with both of them warring for the upper hand. However, they’re both good people with deep wounds who crave to be loved, and this vulnerability and tenderness toward each other comes into play in the bedroom way before they’re willing to let it show in real life.

Get four more tips on writing effective sex scenes by signing up on Patreon…

Listen to the Filthy Rich series on audiobook

I’m thrilled to announce that today — with the release of Serving Sin in audiobook — you can now listen to the entire Filthy Rich series.

The whole series was produced by Dreamscape Media, who produced audiobook versions of Helen Hoang’s The Bride Test, Veronica Roth’s Divergent, and Candace Bushnell’s Is There Still Sex in the City?, and narrated by the astonishing Scarlette Hayes.

Over the years, many of you have reached out personally to let me know how much you enjoyed Scarlette’s re-creation of these books. I say “re-creation” because that’s exactly what Scarlette did with them — make them come alive in a new way, even for me, the author! I remember the first time I heard Scarlette read one of my love scenes. I was laughing, blushing and shocked — and I wrote it!

Here’s what Audiofile Magazine had to say about her work on Lush Money: While their relationship is initially quite contentious, Hayes lets listeners hear how it gradually develops into something far more complex and passionate as they get to know each other.

As fantastic as her work was on it, she took it even in further in Hate Crush. I don’t know if at that point she knew my tone and the characters better, but listening to her reading Hate Crush is like listening to an audio play of it. She completely sweeps you away. And her reading from my hero’s point of view is so hot that I forget that it’s not a hot guy in my ear!

Audiofile Magazine said Hayes perfectly captures Sofia's incandescent rage at not being taken seriously despite her demonstrated excellence in her chosen field simply because she has the misfortune and audacity to be a woman.

Scarlette has over six years of voiceover experience and specializes in stories that are sassy, sophisticated, and sexy. Passionate about bringing characters to life, she has narrated titles in both English and Spanish as well as some in Greek. Give her a follow on Instagram!

I can’t wait to see what she pulls out for Serving Sin!

Purchase the Filthy Rich audiobooks at your vendor of choice!

Follow me on Chirp to be notified when my audiobooks go on sale.

Read Henry's love story, DREAM GIRL, for free!

Dream Girl, the love story of Henry, our sunny Texas bodyguard in the Filthy Rich series, is now available to read for free on Harlequin Online Reads. The story will be released over 20 days, from Nov. 23, 2020-Dec. 20, 2020, so it will take a little patience to discover how Henry’s one night stand turns into so much more!

You can catch up on his journey through the Filthy Rich series in my previous blog.

And you can get a sneak peek below!

I hope you love it. Please let me know what you think in the comment section!! And share with your friends if you’re enjoying it!

Dream Girl

by Angelina M. Lopez

Chapter One

Henry Walker didn't want anything getting between him and his whisky. Especially not the gorgeous redhead who sidled up to him at the mahogany-and-brass bar of the San Francisco hotel and laser-beamed him with her eyes while specifically ordering a bottle of wine produced by his world-famous best friend.

He might be known for his sunny Texas disposition and good ol' boy manners. But if she'd wanted to make his dark mood blacker, reminding him of his connection to PrincesaSofia de Esperanza y Santos, winemaker and owner of Bodega Sofia, was certainly the way. His best friend in the whole world was going to kill him. He'd just told that winemaker's sister-in-law—his boss, in fact—that he was quitting the job of his dreams.

He used all of his six-foot, three-inch height and healthy 260 pounds to glower away the pretty hanger-on. Then he finished off the double of twelve-year-old single malt Japanese whisky and signaled for another.

He needed to drown the image of his billionaire boss's hurt brown eyes.Henry Walker didn't want anything getting between him and his whisky. Especially not the gorgeous redhead who sidled up to him at the mahogany-and-brass bar of the San Francisco hotel and laser-beamed him with her eyes while specifically ordering a bottle of wine produced by his world-famous best friend.

He might be known for his sunny Texas disposition and good ol' boy manners. But if she'd wanted to make his dark mood blacker, reminding him of his connection to PrincesaSofia de Esperanza y Santos, winemaker and owner of Bodega Sofia, was certainly the way. His best friend in the whole world was going to kill him. He'd just told that winemaker's sister-in-law—his boss, in fact—that he was quitting the job of his dreams.

He used all of his six-foot, three-inch height and healthy 260 pounds to glower away the pretty hanger-on. Then he finished off the double of twelve-year-old single malt Japanese whisky and signaled for another.

He needed to drown the image of his billionaire boss's hurt brown eyes.

continue reading Dream Girl…

Henry's story coming to Harlequin Online Reads

Catch up on Henry’s journey through the Filthy Rich series before the 11/23 release!

After the release of Lush Money, I started regularly getting one question that I couldn’t answer:

“When is Henry getting a book?”

Eep! I hadn't realized how much readers would fall in love with billionaire Roxanne Medina’s sunny Texas bodyguard, Henry Walker. As far as I was concerned, he was just a good ol’ boy good man who made the other men green with envy!

Fortunately, my editors at Carina Press/Harlequin are wiser than I am!

On Nov. 23, Henry’s 20-chapter short love story, Dream Girl, will be available for free on Harlequin Online Reads. The story will be released over 20 days, from 11/23-12/20. The story is a sexy little number about Henry’s one-night stand that becomes so much more! Newsletter subscribers have already gotten to read the first chapter (sign up now and you’ll always gets stuff free and early!).

If you’d like to get caught up on Henry’s journey through the Filthy Rich series, I’ve provided excerpts and page numbers below. Re-visit all of Henry’s cocky grins, sweet care for the ladies he protects, and moments when he makes the guys in the ladies’ lives crazy!!!

Lush Money, pg. 98 (Loc 1166)

Lush Money, pg. 347 (Loc 4204)

Lush Money, pg. 359 (Loc 4354)

Hate Crush, pg. 45 (Loc 500)

Hate Crush, pg. 114 (Loc 1362)

Hate Crush, pg. 210 (Loc 2546)

Hate Crush, pg. 239 (Loc 2889)

Read Henry’s love story, Dream Girl, beginning Monday, Nov. 23!

How to avoid the sophomore slump

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Ah, the journey of the sophomore book. The road to that second-book-for-publication can vary widely. Maybe the first book published was your first book written. Or maybe it’s the 100th. Perhaps you published traditionally. Or published indie. But in the trenches of the sophomore book, many things are similar for writers. And yet we think we’re the only ones who’ve battled there.

“As authors enter into deadline pressure, the most common struggle is learning how to juggle everything else,” said editor extraordinaire Angela James. “The second is learning how to just deal with the deadline pressure and realizing that you’re not writing just for ‘fun’ any more, but writing under an obligation to someone else. That can sometimes paralyze authors!”

And I can tell you from personal experience, that paralysis is not fun!

My latest released book, Hate Crush, was my sophomore effort. The curse and blessing of the first book, Lush Money, was that when I delivered it, my editor complimented it for its clean copy and said it needed few edits.

The perfectionist, Virgo, ex-journalist in me preened. There is NOTHING I like better than giving clean copy. So I thought I could write Hate Crush just like I wrote Lush Money: pantsing it, amping up the bonkers, and writing with the same bravery and exhilaration that I wrote when I didn't have a contract or a deadline.

Yeah… No.

During the months of writing, the words HOT MESS began to scroll across my brain like a Times Square ticker. I tried to rein the book in. I suggested to my agent and editor that I felt the book was “experimental” and “taking a new direction.” They were gently and kindly silent. They both knew that this is just what happened with sophomore books.

Ask multi-published romantic suspense author Adriana Anders: “I wrote Book Two before Book One was published, so I actually felt pretty good about it, overall... until Book One came out. My first release had some good responses from the trade mags, which was great. It also made me miserable, convinced that I was a one-hit wonder. Writing after that first release was very, very difficult.”

When my editor got back to me with revision notes for Hate Crush, she never said the words, “Hot mess.” But what she did say was, “Fix it. I believe in you.”

For thirty days leading up to Christmas of 2019, I re-wrote Hate Crush with 50,000 new words. I dropped plot lines and characters. I made my protagonists softer. I clarified my villains.

I saved the damn book. I hoped.

And although the first review for the book was a scathing 1-star that the reviewer made sure to post EVERYWHERE, the other reviews let me know that my career wasn’t over: Readers said they might love Hate Crush even more than Lush Money. Author friends said it didn’t read like a sophomore effort. And then came these reviews from Booklist, Entertainment Weekly, and NPR.

I’d done it. I’d pulled that book back from the brink.

My hope is that these encouraging how-tos from me and other romance folks help you avoid the sophomore slump before a 30-day re-write and help you embrace the fact that, if you’re having a tough time, it’s part of the process and you’re not alone.

1. Take your time (and try to make the time)

“One of the things I used to counsel authors on when we were doing their first contract was to think about how they were setting new manuscript delivery dates,” Angela James said. “Most new authors don’t have any experience with what it’s like to write a book while also editing, marketing, promoting, reviewing cover copy, chiming in on cover art and doing everything else that comes along with publishing the first book. So I would always tell authors to take a step back before they confirmed manuscript delivery dates and to think about how much extra time they’ll need to write a new book, now that they’ll have the distractions of everything else publishing added in while writing.”

Many romance authors wish they could deliver books like a Pez dispenser. But we need time to write books that readers will fall in love with and that will help build our brand. So try to be realistic about the amount of time you’ll need to write the sophomore book so that it’s a reflection of the quality that readers fell in love with in your first book.

One way to manage your time wisely: Time blocking. Block out the time each day you will devote to your book, and deny the distractions (social media, the news, the dog) that will corrupt that time. Just devoting one hour is still one hour closer to being done!

2. Allow your process to change

I entirely pantsed my first book, Lush Money, and figured I would write Hate Crush the exact same way. But as I tried to stick to the freedom and exhilaration of pantsing, I knew I was getting lost in the weeds. Hate Crush was a different kind of book, a second-chance romance with a bit of a whodunit element, and it needed a plan.

Unfortunately for my editor, I didn’t figure that out until after I’d gotten the book back from revisions. When I broke down the plot threads, streamlined and clarified them, the book was so much stronger. I wished I’d embraced the fact that my process could change earlier in the writing. But as internationally bestselling historical romance author Diana Cosby said, “Ignore your doubts and keep writing, get the story out. You can edit later.”

Thank God for the opportunity to edit!

“You can’t get to a place of confidence by thinking about it or planning it. You gain the most confidence by doing it. Action helps stop fear and doubt.”
— Editor Angela James

3. Believe in yourself

Imposter syndrome and the fear that we’re a one-hit wonder plagues many writers. That fear intensifies as more people – readers, agents, editors, book bloggers – look over our shoulders.

“You have to do a series of ignoring them for a time and purging negativity. Take what they say, use if it you agree but let go of the rest,” said best-selling romantic suspense author Tracee Lydia Garner. “We allow things into our psyche like residue and think about them at length. Residue is something that is often stubborn and needs scrubbing. Folks, impressions, thoughts, really do take up too much residence and yet we let them drive the moving truck to our brain… We don't often take the time to evict, we just let folks hang out eating our popcorn, wine and cheese.”

When I got my revisions back from my editor and knew I had to re-invent that book in 30 days, the one thing I wouldn’t allow myself to do was cry. If I started, I was afraid I wouldn’t stop. What I did was tell myself over and over again: You’re a professional. You can do this.

You’re a professional. You can do this.

Whether the first book you published was the first one you’d ever written or whether you had eight books (cough, cough) under your bed, you did something the majority of people don’t: You finished a book. You figured out plot, characters, love scenes, a dramatic high, the black moment low, and the HEA. You sat your ass in the chair and did the hard work.

I promise, you can do it again.

4. Rely on your resources

When a book starts going off the rails, the last thing you want to do is show it to other people. But those other people – beta readers, your agent, and most importantly, your editor – are exactly who you need to lean on for help.

Award-winning romance author Alexis Daria said: “I wish I’d asked for more support from my editor when I was stuck or didn’t know something.”

My editor told me repeatedly that sophomore books were tough, and although I was too much of a chicken to show her the tough stuff, knowing that I wasn’t the first author in her talented cadre that experienced difficulty was helpful.

I did show the book to beta readers. Romance author Cate Tayler and romance lover and life coach Wendy Reed were instrumental in helping me figure out what wasn’t working. When working with beta readers, be very clear about what you want their insight on. I asked specific questions about areas that I felt were weak, and they gave focused answers. If you’re already feeling shaky about a book, getting advice you don’t need can push you further from clarity.

5. Know you’re not alone

“I think many authors hit a moment when they start to believe they only had one story in them, that they can’t possibly write a second book, and that the second book is going to be awful when they do finish it,” said Angela James. “That’s just not true, it’s just a function of nerves, imposter syndrome, putting too much weight on reviews, comparing yourself to your fellow authors, and basically forgetting to focus on all the great things about you-as-a-writer instead of focusing on fears, expectations and doubts.”

I’ve always felt like a distinctive person, a unique individual. I’m sure you do, too. But I’ve been ASTONISHED during this journey how often my writer insecurities are echoed by other authors. Multi-published authors. New York Times bestselling authors. BIG authors. I was once at an event when Eloisa James talked about feeling imposter syndrome.

So this feeling that your first book was a fluke – it’s not just you. It’s part of the process. But how do you get past it?

“Keep writing. Keep writing. Keep writing,” said Angela James. “You can’t get to a place of confidence by thinking about it or planning it. You gain the most confidence by doing it. Action helps stop fear and doubt. And even when the fear and doubt are still there, if you keep writing, at least you’re moving forward and not staying stuck!”

HATE CRUSH Cover Reveal and Exclusive Excerpt on Frolic

FINALLY!! After waiting FOREVER, I can finally share with you the cover of Hate Crush, which is getting a big reveal along with an exclusive excerpt over on Frolic.

Hate Crush, is the second book in the “Filthy Rich” series and follow-up to Lush Money. But you might notice some intense design changes between the two covers in the same series. Why? Well, I have to be coy for now. But there will be some exciting new things happening with Lush Money, so the awesome powers-at-be at Carina Press decided that a new cover theme would be appropriate. I can’t wait to tell you more!

But why are you still here?

Also, if you’re a book reviewer or blogger, Hate Crush is available now over on NetGalley. Early reviews are super helpful for just-starting-out authors like myself!

The digital edition of Hate Crush will be available on June 29 and the mass market paperback copy will be available on June 30. You can preorder now. And thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for your excitement about this second book in the series!

HATE CRUSH cover reveal coming WEDNESDAY!

Join me on Frolic Wednesday, April 8 for the cover reveal and exclusive excerpt of Hate Crush, my second book in the “Filthy Rich” series and follow-up to Lush Money.

You know what’s better than an enemies-to-lovers story? When the enemies were lovers FIRST (I guess that makes it a lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers story).

As a reference point for those of you who read Lush Money, Hate Crush is Mateo's sister's story. You might remember the hot-headed, long-haired Princesa Sofia? Ten years ago, when she was a 19-year-old wild child, she fell in love crazy fast with bad boy Aish Salinger during one California harvest season. Three months later, he broke her heart and she's sworn to never fall in love again.

Now she's a millionaire, and the future of her kingdom, the Monte del Vino Real, rests on the success of her about-to-launch winery. Faking a relationship with her heartbreaking ex, now a world-famous rock star, would ensure her winery's success and a future for her people. Only problem: She hates him more than any other person in the world.

Trying to recover from scandal, fallen superstar Aish Salinger jumps at the chance to be near Sofia again. Leaving her was the biggest mistake he's ever made, and he's waited ten years to win her back. He never counted on finding a woman who despised him so much she didn't want to be anywhere near him.

Folks, there is so much groveling in this story. So. Much. Groveling. And sex. And wine. And deep, intense feels. And groveling.

Sound good?

You can preorder Hate Crush now!

And don’t forget to check in Wednesday, April 8 on Frolic to check out the cover and an exclusive excerpt!

If you’re a book blogger, reviewer, or fan, Hate Crush will be available on NetGalley.com on Wednesday after the cover launch. Don’t forget to request it!