Getting Steamy with Author Alisha Rai

The romance novelist talks sex positivity, consent, and the ever-importance of inclusion in publishing.

Alisha Rai / Avon Books

Alisha Rai knew from a young age, back when she was still writing "Nancy Drew" and "Hardy Boys" fanfic, that she wanted to be a romance novelist. Since then, the lawyer-by-day has published more than a dozen books, often featuring non-white heroes and heroines — a rarity in romance novels. Rai herself is a woman of color, another striking rarity in this blockbuster genre. According to a recent report by the Ripped Bodice, the sole romance-only book store in the U.S., "for every 100 books published by leading romance publishers in 2016, only 7.8 were written by people of color."

One of the things that I really like to see in the romances I read... is a woman getting what she wants, whatever that means.

It was Rai's 2014 "A Gentleman in the Street" that put her on the map for many romance readers — this reader included. Her incredibly sexy books are also beautiful character studies that, as her website tagline suggests, bring "all the heat, all the heart." Her latest, the "Forbidden" series, is a gripping family saga told across three books. The first, "Hate to Want You," which came out in August, follows Nicholas and Livvy, a couple who grew up together and then fell in love until a big family fallout drove them apart and Livvy moved away. "Hate To Want You" starts with Livvy's dramatic return. "Wrong to Need You," the second book in the trilogy, is out later this month.

I recently caught up with Rai — as both a fan and a friend — to talk about what she loves in romance novels, how she writes all those sexy scenes and characters, and how consent, sexiness, and race intersect in her work.

Jessica Luther: How did you go from being an attorney to also writing romance novels?

Alisha Rai: I started [writing] when I was 13 years old, and it was just always a part of my life. I wanted to write a romance from the time I was 18. I think I always knew this is what I wanted to do.

I went to law school, it was fun, and I really loved it. Even if I got millions and millions of dollars, I don't know if I would ever quit law, because I really do love it. I feel better having my brain in two different areas, to have the creative part and also the logical, rational part.

For me, what sex positivity means is that people should just do what feels good for them.

JL: What makes a romance novel good?

AR: One of the things that I really like to see in the romances I read — if we're talking about particularly heterosexual romances — is a woman getting what she wants, whatever that means. If that's career, if that's family, whatever. If it’s good sex that you want, you get good sex. Marriage, if you want marriage. If you want to be really good at your job, you should be able to be really good at your job and not have somebody knock you down for that.

And then, tied in with a happily ever after, the hope that everyone can be loved no matter what it is about them that makes them think maybe they shouldn't be happy.

JL: Your books are very sexy. How do you know as an author that your hero or heroine is sexy? How do you make sexy characters?

AR: I think sex positivity is really important, as a person and as an author. And I think a lot of people interpret that to mean "Women should have lots of sex." But for me, what sex positivity means is that people should just do what feels good for them. And as long as it's consensual and you're adults and all of those caveats apply, if you're honoring your own desire, that's good, and that's positive. And if that means abstaining from sex, that's fine. If that means having lots as one, that's fine too.

When I write the scenes, in my head, if both characters aren't finding it sexy, it's not sexy to me. I don't want to write it, and I don't think it'll be sexy to readers.

I think "Gentleman" [on the Street] is probably my sexiest book, and I've had people say to me "Oh, I would never, I don't read books with multiple partners, it's over the top, but ['Gentleman'] was really hot." And I was like, "well, good." It means even if you don't normally read that, or if you don't normally or personally find any of that sexy, that means I did my job. I went deep enough in the character point of view that you picked up on their sexiness, and that helps you find the book hot, too.

JL: On that note, how do you bring consent into how you write sexy scenes?

AR: When I'm writing, I'm very conscious of whose point of view I'm in, and who's holding the power. And if it's a man and a woman and the man is in the dominant position in whatever way, I'll write it from her point of view, just to show that her head's fully engaged and she's consenting. I think it's important from a craft perspective to make it very clear in whatever way you can that [both characters] are digging it.

JL: You're a woman of color, and you often write characters of color, but we live in a society that very often equates sexiness with whiteness. White people are given a much broader spectrum of sexy, and certainly the romance genre itself has deficits when it comes to both authors and characters of color. Does all of this have an impact on how you think about sexiness and consent with your characters?

AR: I've actually talked about this with my friends — the ones that are women of color — and we talked about how sex positivity and sexiness can vary from culture to culture, and how it can mean different things for different women (men as well, but we're talking specifically about women) depending what your background is and how you were raised and various other things.

At some point readers will think, Maybe women of color are just like white women.

My first book ever was “Glutton for Pleasure” and it [had] a ménage [à trois]. The heroine in that is Indian-American, and I remember I used to get quite a few emails and reviews. [Readers] would say things like "I don't buy this because an Indian woman would never have a ménage." Invariably the person saying it would not be Indian. And they'd review other ménages that had white women and be like, "five stars." That was like their main complaint with mine, that was their only issue.

So I thought that was interesting. What does that mean that you're uncomfortable seeing a woman of another color owning her sexuality, but you applaud it when it's a white woman? And the emails and reviews and letters I've gotten from Indian-American women, they're always like, "Thanks for writing this. It's the first time I've read a sexy book with an Indian-American heroine." We don't have a ton of them because there's not a ton of us writing. And that sort of trickled through my other books: "Oh thank you for writing this, because we don't really have this."

"Bet On Me," "Risk & Reward," and "Play with Me."
Alisha Rai

JL: Do you just not think about the haters as you are crafting stories?

AR: I can't predict what pre-conceived emotions people have about different ethnicities, but I know for a fact that someone from whatever ethnicity I'm writing, or whatever race I'm writing, is reading my book. I know that somebody who sees themselves in my characters is reading my book somewhere in the world. So my priority is to not hurt them and to give them a voice.


I'm glad even if somebody tells me they don't believe someone from that culture could have sex with two men or have an orgy or whatever. It's important [that] they read the book, and maybe they'll read another one with something similar in it, and at some point they'll think, "Maybe women of color are just like white women. Maybe they come in all different sizes and shapes and wants and needs and whatever makes them happy might be different from woman to woman and maybe everything I have been fed is sort of a lie."

It’s important for them to see different viewpoints and different things that challenge whatever they're thinking. Even if that means that I get some emails in my inbox. I'm hearty enough that I can withstand that if it means that I'm putting out material that makes people question things in a good way.

Jessica Luther is an independent journalist and avid romance reader living in Austin, Texas. She is the author of "Unsportsmanlike Conduct: College Football and the Politics of Rape."

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