How we rate

The heat scale

1. 0

   Heat 0: None

   No romance on the page beyond feelings

   No kissing or sexual content on the page. Any romance is limited to attraction, longing or hand-holding.

2. 1

   Heat 1: Spark

   Kissing only

   Kissing and embraces on the page. If the couple has sex, it happens entirely off the page and is not described.

3. 2

   Heat 2: Smolder

   Heated, cuts away

   Make-out scenes with touching that go further than kissing. Sex may be implied or begin on the page, but the scene cuts away before any detail.

4. 3

   Heat 3: Flame

   One or a few on-page scenes, limited detail

   At least one sex scene is written on the page. Description is brief or focused on emotion, and scenes are few.

5. 4

   Heat 4: Blaze

   Several explicit scenes

   Several sex scenes are written on the page with explicit detail. They are a regular part of the book, though the plot still leads.

6. 5

   Heat 5: Inferno

   Explicit and central

   Explicit scenes are frequent, long and central to the story. The book may include kink or more graphic content.

Age suggestion

Our age suggestion starts from the publisher's audience or age range. We raise it when the heat level is 4 or 5 (18+, or 17+ when the scenes are few and late), or when violence, abuse or language goes beyond what the publisher range usually covers. We never lower an age below the publisher's range.

Method

Who rates

Every heat level, age suggestion and warning on this site is set by the Romantasy Rated editorial team, using the scale above and the sources listed on each book page.

What we base it on

Facts come from the publisher page, the author's official site and content notes, and staff-written editorial articles. Common Sense Media is used only as a second opinion on age, and we link to it rather than quote it. Reader blogs, fan wikis and forums are not used as sources.

Scene chapters

A chapter is marked as confirmed only when an editorial or publisher source names it. Chapters we have seen only in reader guides are shown as unverified, and single mentions are left out.

Our words, our numbers

Every summary on a book page is written by us. We do not copy ratings or scores from other sites; our heat level is our own call on the scale above.

When we update

Each book page shows the date it was last checked. We recheck a page when a new edition, a new book in the series or a correction arrives, and at least once every six months.

Our rating vs sourced

• Our rating: an editorial judgement by Romantasy Rated.
• Sourced fact: taken from the publisher, the author or an editorial source, linked with the date we read it.
• Unverified: reported by reader guides, not yet confirmed by an editorial or publisher source.

Not yet confirmed

Every fact on the site that still waits for a publisher or editorial source. 9 items.

Report a mistake

Write to hello@romantasyrated.com with the book, the chapter or fact, and where you saw it. When we change a page after a correction, we note the change and its date on that page.