reading m/m romance
If you hadn’t guessed already, my name is Kris, I’m a girl, and I adore reading gay romance.
This might seem pretty bloody odd to some who have never come across *nudge, Patti, nudge* this particular genre before, but you’ll find we fans tend to have discovered it in similar ways.
My own journey began when, eyebrow raised, I started to notice gay characters and couples featuring more and more in fantasy, UF and paranormal stories as secondary characters. This is pretty subtle and is relatively easy for a reader to either shrug off or be mildly intrigued by.
That wasn’t so easy to do when I found the wonder and instant gratification of ebooks and, through them, more romance and erotica fiction than any girl could every dream of.
I was in heaven.
Sub-genres and themes as far as my fingers could click and... “Hello! What’s that? Menage?? Ooooooh. How... naughty.”, thoughteth I as I did a secret little squee and quickly added it to my cart.
Aww, ménage. *nostalgic sigh* Those were the days...
Menage aka the gateway genre to m/m. I vaguely remember being semi-interested in these types of stories as long as there was something else about the book that caught my eye. I still tended towards ‘normal’ or m/f romance in my buying habits until an auspicious day when I bought a book by Emma Holly.
Me: *reading, reading, reading* Hold up. Are those two boys really going to...? O.O They’re... Holeeeeeeee. Sheeeeeeet. I think I might need to read that bit again. Yowzer.
I was titillated. I was tantalised. I wanted more.
I went from reading m/f/m ménage to focusing on stories that featured an m/m/f relationship. Soon after – VERY soon after. Trust me on this. – I ‘ditched the chick’, tried my first m/m romance and fell into total
I’ve never looked back since. :)
Why does it work for me as a reader? For several reasons.
Number one is my overall sense that the relationship seems more equal in m/m. Until I started reading it, I hadn’t realised how tired I was of what appeared to be the imbalance of the pairing in m/f; that is, it was always the woman who seemed to compromise more, to give up more, to get the HEA or the HFN. Okay, this may be just my own prejudices as a girl being brought down upon m/f, still it doesn’t stop me from having this perception and liking m/m all the more because of it.
Associated with this is number two; my attraction to strong male characters. I’m not saying I like my characters perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think when someone is dealing with such an inherent aspect of themselves as their sexuality it brings an honesty and strength to that person. I have a great admiration for that and nothing hits my reader buttons more than seeing two such men fall in love. It makes my heart pitter patter. Yes, I’m a sap. I do read romance after all. ;)
Number three, and finally, I’m a complete and utter perve. Yep, I totally admit it. Quite frankly, it would be ridiculous for me to even attempt to deny that m/m makes my girly bits happy.
That would be my lovey dovey, female of a heart, of course.
*cough*
*ahem*
So that’s me, but what about you?
Do you read m/m and, if you do, how did you get started and what do you like about it? And, if you haven’t tried it yet, what the hell is stopping you?! Go for it! You won’t regret it. :D
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