Wherein I am somewhat baffled

Now that I've finished my manuscript and am in the "waiting to hear from the editor" stage, I've noticed something about the review for my next book, KNAVE'S HONOR, in Romantic times. The first is that that title of the book isn't with the review. There's my name, and the rating and the setting, followed by the quotable bit, and then a brief synopsis. But no title. I guess folks are just supposed to remember from the index, but that strikes me as a tad odd.

The other thing that struck me as odd was the sexuality rating for KNAVE'S HONOR. According to RT, it's "mild," which means "May or may not include lovemaking. No explicit sex."

Okay, I'll admit KNAVE'S HONOR is not the sexiest romance ever. My characters do make love, though, and I don't think it's any mystery that that's what they're doing.

So here's where I'm really baffled. What do they mean by "explicit" sex? I do describe the consummation, albeit in a few paragraphs. Do they mean in great detail? Do they mean with every body part described? No, I don't do that, but there's also the scene where they think they're being watched and since they're supposed to be husband and wife, they fake it. I think that part's kinda explicit.

I'll be interested to see what other reviewers and especially what readers think of KNAVE'S HONOR and the level of sexuality. Maybe readers will appreciate that I write books where the couples tend to have conflicts that prevent them from making love so that activity comes later in the book, rather than having them make love first and then have problems. Or maybe they'll be disappointed because they have certain ideas about what constitutes a historical romance, and lots of hot and heavy sexual activity is one to them.

I develop the physical intimacy in a way what feels true to me, in terms of character, plot and setting, so in KNAVE'S HONOR, that meant not a lot. In the next book (A LOVER'S KISS), however, well...there's more. Different characters, different setting, different plot, different emotional relationship means a different physical relationship.

That variation is something that helps keep writing interesting for me.