Calling all romance-novel enthusiasts. Getting to the steamy stuff – you know what we're talking about – just got a little easier. Audible recently launched a feature for some romance audiobooks that lets listeners skip to "the good part."
The Amazon company launched the Audible Romance Package, which allows users to "binge to your heart's content" thousands of audiobooks included.
Because parsing through the masses can be daunting, there are a few ways to narrow the search, including recommendations from the "Take Me to the Good Part" tool. It offers listeners the option to jump to certain places in select audiobooks based on 10 categories.
Take the excerpt below (for full effect, listen to the audio attached to this story).
"He sank into an elegant crouch directly in front of me. Hit with all that exquisite masculinity at eye level, I could only stare, stunned."
Audible characterizes this moment in Sylvia Day's Bared To You as the First Meeting.
Other categories include Flirty Banter, Sexual Tension, Proposal and Hot, Hot, Hot.
Romance novelist Alexis Daria says the tool is interesting and could help listeners decide which books they're going to commit to. (Romance readers tend to be voracious. Before writing took over, she used to read five or six books a week.)
"If you can skip ahead and see if it's going to be a satisfying book for you based on your preferences, it could be useful," Daria says.
Audible says it used machine-learning technology to scan the books for keywords and phrases to find and identify those good parts. Human editors then vetted the selections.
The romance package also gives listeners the option to peruse audiobooks based on steaminess. They're divided into five groups: Sweet, Simmering, Sizzling, Hot Damn and the steamiest of 'em all, O-O-Omg. If you'd rather not skip over character development, or you're not quite sure what level of steaminess you're looking for, fear not. Listeners can still search for romance audiobooks through more conventional categories, such as story themes and character types.
The Audible Romance Package is $14.95 per month, or $6.95 per month for Audible and Kindle Unlimited members. (Spoiler: You can get all the good parts for free during a one-month free trial.)
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