Exactly how steamy is this story?
PG-13
Fans of Heinlein's work know this author is not shy about discussing sexuality in society as well as on a personal level. This mildly evocative cover of his novel Friday is actually quite tame when you consider the contents of the story contained within it.
Given some notable titles in the author's bibliography, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a surprisingly PG romp when it comes to the steaminess. Consider this scene:
Then her head was pillowed on my stump and I put right arm around her. "What are you crying about, Wyoh?"
"I'm not crying! I'm just frightened silly that you won't come back!" (15.127-128)
This passage provides the most scintillating details for the only sex scene in the entire novel. As you can tell, it's way more suggestive than sensual, and there's not enough heat in these words to steam up any literary sauna.
The novel does deal with issues concerning sexuality on the social level—including rape, untraditional marriages, and prostitution—which are best left to the consideration of more mature readers, say, teenagers and older. But our narrator, Mannie, discusses each with an analytic distance that is more reminiscent of a newsfeed than a romp into space-aged Playboy.