The spice meter, explained
Content & Heat Guide
Every Heard Ever After story carries a heat level from one to five flames and a list of content notes, so you know what you’re pressing play on. Here is what each level includes, what each note means, and who our stories are for.
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The five heat levels
The heat level is set from the finished book. One flame is the sweetest; five is the most explicit.
Romantic tension, longing looks and kisses. Any intimacy happens off the page. Language stays mild.
Charged, sensual moments and desire you can feel, but intimate scenes fade to black before they begin.
Intimate scenes happen on the page, told through emotion and sensation rather than graphic detail.
Explicit, on-page sex scenes with descriptive language. Several scenes across the story.
Frequent, highly explicit scenes that may include kinks or dynamics named in the content notes. Read the notes first.
Content notes
Content notes name things some listeners want to know before they start. They are listed on every title page under Content notes.
- Explicit sexual content
- On-page sex scenes described in detail.
- Strong language
- Frequent swearing and crude language.
- Rejection and heartbreak
- A partner refuses or abandons the bond; emotional pain is part of the story.
- Possessive behavior
- A love interest acts jealous, territorial or controlling.
- Violence
- Fights, attacks or combat, sometimes with injury.
- Blood and injury
- Wounds and blood described on the page.
- Death and grief
- The death of a character or grief over a past loss.
- Bullying
- A character is mocked, shunned or humiliated by others.
- Power imbalance
- One partner holds significant power over the other: rank, money or magic.
- Abduction
- A character is taken or held against their will.
- Dubious consent
- Scenes where consent is unclear or compromised, for example by magic or a mate bond.
Romance terms we use
- Heat level
- How spicy a story is, on a scale of one to five flames.
- Rejected mate
- A shifter-romance trope where one fated mate refuses the bond, usually early on, and the one who was rejected rises anyway.
- Fated mates
- Two people bound by destiny or magic. The bond is felt long before it is understood.
- Shifter
- A character who can change between human and animal form, most often a wolf.
- Alpha
- In shifter romance, the leader of a pack: dominant, protective and often possessive.
- Omegaverse
- A romance subgenre built on alpha, beta and omega dynamics, with heats, scent bonds and pack hierarchy.
- Slow burn
- A romance where attraction builds over a long stretch before anything happens.
- Dark romance
- Romance with morally gray or villainous love interests and darker themes. Always read the content notes.
- Romantasy
- Romance and fantasy in equal measure: courts, magic and a love story at the center.
- Duet narration
- Two voices perform the book, usually one for each lead, alternating by point of view.
- HEA
- Happily ever after. The couple ends up together, for good.
For adults 18 and over
Heard Ever After is for adults 18 and over. Our stories contain mature romantic and sexual themes.
Covers and samples on the site stay suggestive. The explicit material is inside the stories, labeled by heat level and content notes. If anything is unclear, ask us.