bodice ripper

noun

, Informal.

1. a modern Gothic novel or historical romance, usually in paperback format, featuring at least one passionate love scene, characteristically one in which the heroine vainly resists submitting to the villain or hero.

bodice ripper

noun

1. informal.
   a romantic novel, usually on a historical theme, that involves some sex and violence

Example Sentences

This bodice-ripper about Restoration England, banned in fourteen US states, was the bestselling novel in 1940s America.

From The Daily Beast

In a sitting, I raced through the book: a thinking man's bodice-ripper.

From The Daily Beast

The Infidel author, now in hiding for her own book, weighs in on the Mohammad bodice-ripper Jewel of Medina, out today.

From The Daily Beast