My First Smut is a recurring feature where we talk about our formative smut experiences. These short confessionals may include such details as: What book did you read? How old were you? Were there other people involved? What made the experience special? What role does smut play in your life?
This week, we are excited to host romance author Allie Winters. (Our reviews of her books are here.) Her latest book, No One Else, was released last week – stay tuned for our review!
I had dabbled with romance starting in middle school, late nights staying up during summer break reading as many V.C. Andrews books I could get my hands on from the library.
When I started high school, I deemed myself a serious scholar, and would only read classics, stubbornly plowing through most of them, but also finding gems like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. It was more of a self-important enjoyment of the works rather than true pleasure in reading them.
Early college found me rejecting “deep” literature for lighter fare that wasn’t required reading, beginning with Twilight and the like. But it wasn’t till I was about twenty when a coworker lent me a copy of Kerrelyn Sparks’ Forbidden Nights With A Vampire from her Love At Stake series that I found my true reading passion – smut. This is what I’d been searching for, without ever realizing I was searching to begin with. It was so different from what I’d read before. There were intense sex scenes, and wow were they hot!
From there I discovered J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series, and more. These were the authors I wanted to read, the stories I truly enjoyed.
Both paranormal and historical romance were my jam for many years, and after I exhausted the backlist of those, moved onto contemporary and new adult romance. I voraciously read for years, usually about 150 books a year, until my daughter was born a few years ago and suddenly it became ten times harder to find free time at home.
Once I decided to start writing, the free time dwindled even more, but romance always holds a special place in my heart. It’s my preferred genre, the one I always gravitate toward and have identified with the most, usually by women for women, with the emotion and heat that feeds my soul. When a book makes my stomach flutter with anticipation and my chest ache with longing, that’s when I know I’ve found a keeper.
I love that I get to contribute now to the world of romance. I write the kind of books I like to read, with hot heroes and warm, gushy feelings (plus, some seriously steamy scenes!), so I get that creative energy that feeds my soul every time I sit down to write.
Allie lives in sunny Florida with her husband, daughter, and two cats. A librarian by day, she spends her nights writing happily ever afters. She enjoys reading, playing video games, and all things Disney.
Learn more about her books at alliewinters.com or connect with her on Instagram.
Have an early smut experience you’d like to share with us? If you’d like to see your story featured, send us a note or fill out this handy-dandy form and we’ll post it in an upcoming week.
The Smut Report 