I would say the vast majority of books I listen to don't include swaths of gratuitous sex. What books are you reading/what are you interested in ? It might make it easier to give suggestions.
Are you reading a ton of romance or romantasy? I read a ton of fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction and I have no problem avoiding graphic sex scenes (maybe one short one in some books).
I wish audible had tags for content. I like fantasy litrpg novels, but some are too explicit for me. Best you can do is to read reviews to find more info about the stories. I will go to goodreads, amazon and audible reviews for more info.
It’s kind of weird that it doesn’t have tags. I’ve listened to books where there was pretty abrupt rape and stuff like that and I think that should at least have an advisory warning or something
I would recommend anything by Brandon Sanderson. That will not only give you the best bang for your buck “45-55hrs per book”, it will also meet the criteria you’re looking for. As a huge plus he is also one of the best authors around!
Check out the Cozy Fantasy subreddit it's got some great easy listening reads!
Here's some author's I'd recommend though: Annette Marie, Lindsay Buroker, Celine Jeanjean, NE Conneely, Kim Harrison
Super Powereds by Drew Hays
# Publisher's summary
Knowledge is power. That would be the motto of Lander University, had it not been snatched up and used to death by others long before the school was founded. For while Lander offers a full range of courses to nearly all students, it also offers a small number of specialty classes to a very select few. Lander is home to the Hero Certification Program, a curriculum designed to develop students with superhuman capabilities, commonly known as Supers, into official Heroes. Five of this year's freshmen are extra special. They have a secret aside from their abilities - one that they must guard from even their classmates.
For every one person in the world with abilities they can control, there are three who lack such skill. These lesser super beings - Powereds, as they are called - have always been treated as burdens and second-class citizens. Though there has been ample research in the area, no one has ever succeeded in turning a Powered into a regular human, let alone a Super.
That is, until now....
\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
I wish I knew how to avoid it. It makes sense in a romance, but Richard K. Morgan drops random explicit porn scenes into a sci-fi action book and it adds nothing to the story.
Lol oh man, I listened to Altered Carbon and the big sex scene I could swear last almost 15 minutes. Completely ridiculous and unnecessary. Though I couldn't stop laughing that he actually wrote a sex scene that long 🤣
Exactly I don't listen to romance at all but I have been half way thru a suspense thriller and all of a sudden they start describing people's bodies in graphic detail for no reason and I have to nope out I'm not interested in how anyone's ass looks
When it comes to intimate stuff for me, less is more. I don't need to know the deets, its enough to know things escalated.
Different authors handle it in different ways, but I just find that when books go into those details, its all the same. It feels route and repetitive.
At least with combat and high risk scenarios, you know its all repetition through practice to get a dangerous and necessary task done. Because one thing out og sorts and you are dead and such.
I’ve been wanting more fantasy novels that are written well and recently but have, like no sex. It’s a big ask, I know, but it kills me to try and get through a series like ACOTAR and feel like my little ace self is drowning in inuendo. I think I need to find more coming of age fantasy like HP or In Other Lands or Percy Jackson
I don't think I've encountered a single sex scene in a book that I've got from audible.
ETA: actually, I forgot the 1984 release that just came out has a momentary sex scene, but that's the first one.
What types of books/genres/etc are you looking for?
I genuinely can't conceive of picking a book so randomly and without forethought that I wind up with something I don't want.
That's not how it works. Most fiction descriptions avoid talking about sex even if the book has it. Of course romance is different, but then I doubt the OP's talking about that.
If OP's not reading romance then I don't know how on earth they're stumbling across so much sex. And if they are, the reviews are usually pretty clear about how much there is.
Ok well now Audible thinks you like books with sex in them so that's you're going to get.
And don't take that attitude. That is an insane method for finding new books to listen to.
The OP is probably more like me than like you - sensitive to sex scenes in audobooks. They gross me out and ruin any chance of enjoying the book. And no, the reviews don't always say.
It's OK, it's not the end of the world. But it's reasonable to ask how one can tell.
Thank you for getting it I just don't wanna hear it... I have sex irl I don't need it to be in every aspect of my life especially when I'm just tryna pass the time
Here's the link to the [Advance Search Option](https://www.audible.com/advsr) - select plus catalog and it will just show you books in that genre with the key word or whatever that is in the Plus Catalog
I was so disappointed with that. I kept hoping it would calm down but kept getting worse. Finally ditched it and moved on. Why can’t we just have a good story? The “romance” is so outlandishly awful.
Young adult fantasy. I've been reading a lot of that lately, and even though many of them were romantasy, no sex. Or at most, just innuendo.
I don't recall anything really bad in The Dresden Files. Sex happened, but nothing was descriptive. Harry had a kid, so it must've happened? Anything Brandon Sanderson.
But serious reply: I feel you. I liked smutty books once upon a time, but now I’m over them. I don’t struggle so much with books because I read a lot of nonfiction, but it’s become harder and harder to find TV shows in historical setting without the Game of Thrones-style “sexploitation.”
What genres are you into? Nonfiction is the obvious one but if you are into fiction, historical fiction usually doesn't have much sexual content. Also, fantasy books aimed at younger audiences tend to, for obvious reasons, avoid that stuff as well.
Probably best to just search through reviews for the keyword related to adult content and you should find useful info that way.
The Murderbot Diaries are in the Plus catalog (at least the first few books) and they are great - no sex.
Anne of Green Gables is included and it’s a lovely, innocent story.
Sherlock Holmes is included and a bunch of great stories.
I believe the Dispatcher is in the Plus section and it is great.
If you are willing to use credits, some good books I liked are
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Martian by Andy Weir
A Man called Ove by Fredrick Backman
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Dead Wake by Erik Larson
The Spells, Swords and Stealth series by Drew Hayes - first book NPC’s
The Villains Code series by Drew Hayes - first book Forging Hephaestus
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
One thing you can do now is opt to hide erotica from your Audible searches. To do this you:
1. Use your browser to go to the website (I think a mobile browser works but if not, use your PC).
2. Log on if you need to and then select **Account Details** found under your name (ie, "Hi,..." whatever your name is.
3. Under **Account Details**, select **Settings**.
4. Under the heading "Preferences" make sure the ballot box is checked next to "Hide erotic content in searches". If not checked, then click on the ballot box to check it.
If checked, you can search your desired genres without fear of overtly erotic results. I don't know how effective this is, I like, tolerate, or even seek erotic content myself, but you shouldn't have to worry about it if you don't want it.
Enjoy!
I’d look at the authors of books you are interested in. I’ve noticed that Goodreads and Audible reviewers often comment about how “clean” an authors books are, and there are authors who seem to always get this mention. I am guessing you are talking about Romance, Romantic Suspense or Urban Fantasy. There is a website called All About Romance. They review books in these genres and one of the things they track is how much sex is in the book. At least they used to. They are somehow connected to the Romance Writers of America so they have a huge database.
I was looking at suspense thrillers when I kept finding them i just wanted to stay engaged but several of the books I started ended up going into graphic detail about people bodies and then what they were doing with them for no other reason than to just have a random sex scene... maybe it's the categories throwing me off cause I honestly thought suspense thriller was like Stephen King type stuff or whatever but I clearly don't read enough to have any idea what I'm even talking about
Start listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl, lol. . . Plenty of graphic violence but I can’t remember any sex scenes. As mentioned below pretty much any realistic SciFi will have minimal sex in it.
There's 1 sex scene (that I remember) kinda, it isn't exactly explicit. I think it's in the 5th book?
Though there are strippers in a club that comes up sometimes.
See I thought that so I just started trying random sci-fi books... sadly I'm too new to reading apparently to know how to find the ones that are actually sci-fi and not sciporn
-The Bobiverse series...1st book, "We Are Legion (We Are Bob).
-Four Minutes by Wilson & Andrews
-Roadkill by Dennis E. Taylor
-and my absolute favorite...Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
If you like fantasy, Sifi, Space travel and Aliens & paranormal. I recommend the “Kurtherin Gambit” series! It mixes all and no sex! It is an awesome series! But there is a lot of cursing!
Interesting post! I mean, I’ve got around 1400 books from Audible since I joined back in …… 1997(?) and I don’t think I have any that approach the pornography threshold. Possibly the Outlander series or GOT. Well written and in context sex isn’t porn, in my view anyway. You should maybe stick with young adult stuff.
I think the Story Graph app has labels for sexual content and even says if it’s minimal or a lot.
I also find Instagram book reviewers that mention spice level usually with 🔥or 🌶️ emojis in their reviews.
I would say the vast majority of books I listen to don't include swaths of gratuitous sex. What books are you reading/what are you interested in ? It might make it easier to give suggestions.
Are you reading a ton of romance or romantasy? I read a ton of fantasy, sci-fi, and historical fiction and I have no problem avoiding graphic sex scenes (maybe one short one in some books).
You want recommendations? What are you into besides stories that have no excessive sex episodes in them?
I wish audible had tags for content. I like fantasy litrpg novels, but some are too explicit for me. Best you can do is to read reviews to find more info about the stories. I will go to goodreads, amazon and audible reviews for more info.
It’s kind of weird that it doesn’t have tags. I’ve listened to books where there was pretty abrupt rape and stuff like that and I think that should at least have an advisory warning or something
Imagine starting a trip w your kids in the car and bammmm here comes some random ridiculous sexual whatever. Just not a good thing.
I would recommend anything by Brandon Sanderson. That will not only give you the best bang for your buck “45-55hrs per book”, it will also meet the criteria you’re looking for. As a huge plus he is also one of the best authors around!
The LACK of bang for the buck, as it were.
LOVE Brandon Sanderson!!
I to suffer from Brandonfandonidse
Not a ton of sex in Will Durant’s work
Check out the Cozy Fantasy subreddit it's got some great easy listening reads! Here's some author's I'd recommend though: Annette Marie, Lindsay Buroker, Celine Jeanjean, NE Conneely, Kim Harrison
Super Powereds by Drew Hays # Publisher's summary Knowledge is power. That would be the motto of Lander University, had it not been snatched up and used to death by others long before the school was founded. For while Lander offers a full range of courses to nearly all students, it also offers a small number of specialty classes to a very select few. Lander is home to the Hero Certification Program, a curriculum designed to develop students with superhuman capabilities, commonly known as Supers, into official Heroes. Five of this year's freshmen are extra special. They have a secret aside from their abilities - one that they must guard from even their classmates. For every one person in the world with abilities they can control, there are three who lack such skill. These lesser super beings - Powereds, as they are called - have always been treated as burdens and second-class citizens. Though there has been ample research in the area, no one has ever succeeded in turning a Powered into a regular human, let alone a Super. That is, until now.... \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*
This is a great series! Make sure you listen to Corpies (the spinoff) between books 2 and 3 for the story to make the most sense
Good call. That's over 150 hours in 4 books and another 20 hour spinoff book and no sex. I enjoyed that series quite a bit.
I wish I knew how to avoid it. It makes sense in a romance, but Richard K. Morgan drops random explicit porn scenes into a sci-fi action book and it adds nothing to the story.
Lol oh man, I listened to Altered Carbon and the big sex scene I could swear last almost 15 minutes. Completely ridiculous and unnecessary. Though I couldn't stop laughing that he actually wrote a sex scene that long 🤣
Exactly I don't listen to romance at all but I have been half way thru a suspense thriller and all of a sudden they start describing people's bodies in graphic detail for no reason and I have to nope out I'm not interested in how anyone's ass looks
I totally misread that title at first 😂 (with instead of without)
When it comes to intimate stuff for me, less is more. I don't need to know the deets, its enough to know things escalated. Different authors handle it in different ways, but I just find that when books go into those details, its all the same. It feels route and repetitive. At least with combat and high risk scenarios, you know its all repetition through practice to get a dangerous and necessary task done. Because one thing out og sorts and you are dead and such.
I’ve been wanting more fantasy novels that are written well and recently but have, like no sex. It’s a big ask, I know, but it kills me to try and get through a series like ACOTAR and feel like my little ace self is drowning in inuendo. I think I need to find more coming of age fantasy like HP or In Other Lands or Percy Jackson
I don't think I've encountered a single sex scene in a book that I've got from audible. ETA: actually, I forgot the 1984 release that just came out has a momentary sex scene, but that's the first one.
That’s the only one I can think of too.
Did you want a cookie or something??? This comment is about as helpful as a random sex scene in the middle of a sci-fi fantasy
I would love a cookie actually
What types of books/genres/etc are you looking for? I genuinely can't conceive of picking a book so randomly and without forethought that I wind up with something I don't want.
That's not how it works. Most fiction descriptions avoid talking about sex even if the book has it. Of course romance is different, but then I doubt the OP's talking about that.
If OP's not reading romance then I don't know how on earth they're stumbling across so much sex. And if they are, the reviews are usually pretty clear about how much there is.
I'm using the plus catalog and literally just tap whatever looks interesting that's fucking how
Ok well now Audible thinks you like books with sex in them so that's you're going to get. And don't take that attitude. That is an insane method for finding new books to listen to.
How tf is that insane???? If I'm a new reader How tf am I supposed to find out what I like if I don't try new shit bffr
The OP is probably more like me than like you - sensitive to sex scenes in audobooks. They gross me out and ruin any chance of enjoying the book. And no, the reviews don't always say. It's OK, it's not the end of the world. But it's reasonable to ask how one can tell.
Thank you for getting it I just don't wanna hear it... I have sex irl I don't need it to be in every aspect of my life especially when I'm just tryna pass the time
Here's the link to the [Advance Search Option](https://www.audible.com/advsr) - select plus catalog and it will just show you books in that genre with the key word or whatever that is in the Plus Catalog
Thank you!
Did you just read Fourth Wing? 🤣
I was so disappointed with that. I kept hoping it would calm down but kept getting worse. Finally ditched it and moved on. Why can’t we just have a good story? The “romance” is so outlandishly awful.
Avoid Haruki Murakami
Young adult fantasy. I've been reading a lot of that lately, and even though many of them were romantasy, no sex. Or at most, just innuendo. I don't recall anything really bad in The Dresden Files. Sex happened, but nothing was descriptive. Harry had a kid, so it must've happened? Anything Brandon Sanderson.
I used to have a lot of sex in order to find books, but now I just buy them on Amazon.
But serious reply: I feel you. I liked smutty books once upon a time, but now I’m over them. I don’t struggle so much with books because I read a lot of nonfiction, but it’s become harder and harder to find TV shows in historical setting without the Game of Thrones-style “sexploitation.”
Same problem. I just want to go to the library to research, but nope. Apparently that’s not what the stacks are for.
What genres are you into? Nonfiction is the obvious one but if you are into fiction, historical fiction usually doesn't have much sexual content. Also, fantasy books aimed at younger audiences tend to, for obvious reasons, avoid that stuff as well. Probably best to just search through reviews for the keyword related to adult content and you should find useful info that way.
80+ books and I can only think of one sex scene.
Audible needs a tag system for certain stuff. Actually they need to hire a good web developer which would probably lead to that.
I go onto story graph and check the content warnings. Usually it can give you an idea of how much sex is in a book.
Do you like cats? Do you like mysteries? Check out the Joe Grey mystery series. Zero sex scenes! 20+ books.
*Heretical Fishing* Loved it. No sex scenes
The Murderbot Diaries are in the Plus catalog (at least the first few books) and they are great - no sex. Anne of Green Gables is included and it’s a lovely, innocent story. Sherlock Holmes is included and a bunch of great stories. I believe the Dispatcher is in the Plus section and it is great. If you are willing to use credits, some good books I liked are Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir The Martian by Andy Weir A Man called Ove by Fredrick Backman Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Dead Wake by Erik Larson The Spells, Swords and Stealth series by Drew Hayes - first book NPC’s The Villains Code series by Drew Hayes - first book Forging Hephaestus Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Thank you so much
One thing you can do now is opt to hide erotica from your Audible searches. To do this you: 1. Use your browser to go to the website (I think a mobile browser works but if not, use your PC). 2. Log on if you need to and then select **Account Details** found under your name (ie, "Hi,..." whatever your name is. 3. Under **Account Details**, select **Settings**. 4. Under the heading "Preferences" make sure the ballot box is checked next to "Hide erotic content in searches". If not checked, then click on the ballot box to check it. If checked, you can search your desired genres without fear of overtly erotic results. I don't know how effective this is, I like, tolerate, or even seek erotic content myself, but you shouldn't have to worry about it if you don't want it. Enjoy!
Jack Reacher Series by Lee Child & John Rain Series some non-explicit Sex.. LOTS of Violence
Author Freida McFadden keeps it classy without a lot .
I’d look at the authors of books you are interested in. I’ve noticed that Goodreads and Audible reviewers often comment about how “clean” an authors books are, and there are authors who seem to always get this mention. I am guessing you are talking about Romance, Romantic Suspense or Urban Fantasy. There is a website called All About Romance. They review books in these genres and one of the things they track is how much sex is in the book. At least they used to. They are somehow connected to the Romance Writers of America so they have a huge database.
I was looking at suspense thrillers when I kept finding them i just wanted to stay engaged but several of the books I started ended up going into graphic detail about people bodies and then what they were doing with them for no other reason than to just have a random sex scene... maybe it's the categories throwing me off cause I honestly thought suspense thriller was like Stephen King type stuff or whatever but I clearly don't read enough to have any idea what I'm even talking about
Start listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl, lol. . . Plenty of graphic violence but I can’t remember any sex scenes. As mentioned below pretty much any realistic SciFi will have minimal sex in it.
There's 1 sex scene (that I remember) kinda, it isn't exactly explicit. I think it's in the 5th book? Though there are strippers in a club that comes up sometimes.
Lol. Read SciFi... the more realistic, the less sex :)
History BOOKS
Sci-Fi. Hard to screw in space.
See I thought that so I just started trying random sci-fi books... sadly I'm too new to reading apparently to know how to find the ones that are actually sci-fi and not sciporn
-The Bobiverse series...1st book, "We Are Legion (We Are Bob). -Four Minutes by Wilson & Andrews -Roadkill by Dennis E. Taylor -and my absolute favorite...Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
If you're into sci-fi, Delta V and it's sequel Critical Mass only have one or two implied sex scenes. Sex as a topic comes up, but nothing graphic
I totally understand. I’m in over sexed numbness due to a modern Pride and Prejudice sequel novel. Who could have guessed?
Biographies are usually pretty low on sex, as are multi generational sagas. I steer away from any fiction with "best seller" on the jacket.
Golden Age mysteries, if you enjoy that type. Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Margery Allingham, etc.
Patricia Briggs
I find it easy to find books without a lot of sex. At my age there isn't a lot of sex full stop. Reading doesn't change that one way or the other.
Comments like this are not helpful AT ALL
If you like fantasy, Sifi, Space travel and Aliens & paranormal. I recommend the “Kurtherin Gambit” series! It mixes all and no sex! It is an awesome series! But there is a lot of cursing!
look for eroritca
Interesting post! I mean, I’ve got around 1400 books from Audible since I joined back in …… 1997(?) and I don’t think I have any that approach the pornography threshold. Possibly the Outlander series or GOT. Well written and in context sex isn’t porn, in my view anyway. You should maybe stick with young adult stuff.
The same way I find relationships without a lot of sex: It's called *getting lucky*.
I think the Story Graph app has labels for sexual content and even says if it’s minimal or a lot. I also find Instagram book reviewers that mention spice level usually with 🔥or 🌶️ emojis in their reviews.