The Smart Girl’s Guide To Steamy Summer Reads

Ladies, it's time to talk beach reads. While we're all for picking up the latest historical nonfiction, we can't deny the appeal of tomes that are a little more, ahem, interesting. Sure, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt will impress your towel mates, but it's the summertime, and you deserve to have a little literary mental fun.

And, since we don't want to send you off to the R-rated section of Amazon to pick up any ol' racy book, we did the, er, dirty work for you and picked out our favorite sexy reads that aren't Twilight fan fiction.

Of course, these aren't your average stories of ripping clothes and throbbing you-know-whats — these are tales that will stimulate your brain, too. From an Edwardian-era British tale of romance to a cutting-edge feminist tome, these are all reads you won't have to hide inside the latest copy of InStyle (seriously, there are no crotch-covered jackets to be found here). Of course, it wouldn't be a steamy beach read if there weren't a little erotica, so maybe steer clear of cracking these open in easy view of your boss.