I finished a book last night which was an M/M romance. Hero #1 a young stripper named Riley, Hero #2, an older cowboy named Trace. Trace literally lays eyes on Riley and it's love at first sight. Riley has been hurt by past lovers who judged him for stripping and wants no part of love. He's on board for the sexorring, but not love. Never love.It's actually quite a sweet romance. But here's what struck me about it. If Riley had been a woman (and he could have been) very, very little about the story would have changed. I mean, there were (obviously) a couple of sex acts that would have been modified, but other than that, this book read like a M/F romance.
So that got me to thinking, I don't read a ton of M/M, I've probably read 10 or 15 altogether, so I am by no means an expert. But to me, the allure of M/M romance is it's two guys. And we get to get inside their heads, and kind of, see the way the male mind works. And in this case, Riley really, really could have been female. He had what I would consider to be female thought processes, he reacted in quintessentially female ways to certain situations, and in generally acted like a girl to me. Which left me, not with a bad taste in my mouth exactly, but more, a vague feeling of dissatisfaction. Like the door had been opened, but as a reader, I hadn't been invited to walk through.
I'm not saying I need two totally manly men for a M/M romance to work for me. But, I've got to buy both of the heroes as guys, you know? I think about LB Gregg's books, where there is usually a more "dominant" male, or The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson, where both guys are relatively dominant, and one is closeted, or My Fair Captain by JL Langley, where there is a definite ALPHA male, or even the Adrien English series by Josh Lanyon, where Adrien is my favorite type of man: good looking, smart and a total wise ass. Even in cases where one of the heroes is a much more dominant male, there is still "guy-speak" going on in both heads. Which for me, is the joy of M/M romance. And it just seemed to be missing in this case.
Your turn: When thinking about M/M romance, do you need a definite alpha, or is it OK to have one of the heroes seem almost "female" in their dialogue, actions and monologue? Am I being oversensitive here? And if you've read M/M romance where you've found that trope to be successful, please give me the titles, I'd like to try some other titles and see if it was this author's style or the trope itself that bothers me.
7 Comments:
Even in straight romance, one of the lovers is a beta and the other is an alpha. I guess when an author is writing a MM romance, they have to decide who their audience is. Do women tend to enjoy that alpha/beta MM couple? Would it work with with a beta/beta or an alpha/alpha?
hmmm making me think here Kati #2.
I prefer both men to be more alpha...and like you said, one can be more dominant..but I like them both to be...dudes. That's just my preference :)
I can enjoy the obvious top/bottom dynamics because it is dominate in Gay Romance.
The problem is yeah the bottom almost always gets played to the hilt as a overly feminine stand-in for the typical heroines role.
I am far more fascinated by stories that break that mold slightly and show both parties as highly masculine and assertive even if they wind up doing the top/bottom role thing. At least they chose to do that (or maybe arm wrestled or something) because that is actually the type of thing gay guys tend to play out in RL.
You are initially sexually attracted to someone with your same look and demeanor that keys into the type of kinks you find hot and then from there you decide who does the dishes and who cooks so to speak.
Hmmm. You raise some good points Kati. Of the m/m I've read (which isn't much...yet :) most have an obvious alpha and an obvious non-aplha.
I would suggest Josh Lanyon & JL Langley, but you're already on board with his books so.... *thinks*
Have you tried Jordan Castillo Price's PsyCop series?
Kati - I'm with you and Teddy Pig.
I just finished reading two you might like:
Cameron Dane's Knowing Caleb and
Jez Morrow's Law's Rule.
I think Teddy Pig said it best and explains it very well. I liked My Fair Captain very much but I just felt the younger character was too "female" in my mind. It's just not my thing. I liked The Assignment better because they were both more masculine. That's what does it for me.
I would say I'm more bothered by idea that the submissive role is automatically stereotyped as feminine.
Random recommendation: if you want to read a book that is great at getting into two guys' heads, try Tigers and Devils.
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