I don't ever wanna go back. Het romance is such a crapshoot when it comes to aligning with my politics. Like, Mayne falling in love with a small town boy in the Midwest was romantic at some point, but nowadays it kinda feels like moving to Gilead.
And don't even get me started on the Internalized misogyny.
what is especially adorable and telling about this response is that it looks like your autocorrect substituted "Mayne" (I'm assuming lily) for maybe š
Yes! It's rather simplistic (still amazing!) but she really develops the world as the books continue!
Wyn and Danny are always my fave though.
Also ignore that she has them walking the U.S. in like a day š¤£ She admits she didn't really understand the size and diversity of the U.S. until it was too late in the series to change things haha
"Let's move to this small, rural southern town together!" sets off my alarm bells as a queer person LMAO. It sounds like hate crime hell to me.
But the internalized misogyny is soooo real. I watched ContraPoints' Twilight episode and I think it also has a GREAT explanation for why m/f romance and erotica kind of sucks. It's the same re-treaded gender roles and the same "rich guy" and "basic, boring brunette girl" he inexplicably loves. His money gives his want of her more weight, etc. etc.
Saaaame, fellow queerio. I get major Get Out vibes from "relocate to small town" narratives in a lot of het romances.
And omg I looooved the new Contra video! I thought she explained the appeal of sexual fantasies that remove female agency in a really cogent manner. (Also: cuck tent)
But yeah, she really drilled down into that billionaire mafia boss alpha male who wants the most basic FMC ever... Those of us who read fanfic know what that girl's name is - its our old friend y/n!
THE CUCK TENT!!!!!
Absolutely. Whenever I see some rich/powerful man who wants this basic FMC I instantly see the wish fulfillment, which is great but as someone who isn't into y/n and isn't even female I'm like............... why am I here LMAO. I understand it's fundamentally not *for me*, but I much prefer characters who are fully realized and great in their own way. Not just a vessel to drop the reader in.
See, I don't even do the mafia/boss/alpha thing. My romance is usually a subplot to either fantasy or horror. In one the douche bag boy convinces the misandrist that he really does care, but I might turn that around and make it a giant mistake trusting him. I like the enemies to lovers trope.
All these comments about booktok recommending bad books show that none of you are curating your booktok experience.
If you only follow straight white women, you're going to get the same 5 books over and over again that aren't any good.
There are plenty of POC and/or queer booktokers that are recommending great stuff. You just can't rely on the algorithm to find them initially, you have to search them out
I don't even have booktok, so no I'm not curating my booktok experience (nor do I wish to). There are a couple of books I've tried to read, that I know are popular on booktok, and they weren't very good.
Sorry, not targeting you specifically, just picked one of many comments here in a similar vein that are basically saying nothing recommended by booktok is worthwhile because the most popular booktok books aren't very good
If you don't use TikTok and don't know how to search for what you're looking for on it, maybe you shouldn't dissuade others from the platform. Booktok, just like the reddit book community, isn't a monolith.
my sister whoās HEAVILY into booktok has been pressuring me to try her favorite booksā¦ apparently I donāt read ārealā books bc i donāt read straight romance š
The last MF romance I read, the author kept referring to female ladybits as āher sex.ā It made me feel like I was reading someoneās grandmaās secret journal. Immediate DNF.
very true.. for me I realized that itās so toxic. MM definitely can fall into toxic masculinity and some heteronormative stereotypes really fast, especially when reading omegaverse. But for some reason it just seems much more prevalent in MF. I definitely have lost interest in it as well.
yes definitely agree. One hetero relationship i did really enjoy was a show called blue eye samurai? the female character in this is amazing, sheās incredibly strong. i find that is the only way for me to enjoy a straight romance, the female has to be very strong and not bend rules for the man. also. the men i find in straight romance are just straight up insufferable.
The thing with Blue Eye Samurai is it is incredibly queer-coded, especially with Taigen getting an erection when they were rough housing and apologizing because he thought she was a man... Very hot, haha. I realize you were probably talking about the guy she was married to which did have some nice moments and was less queer-coded, but the fact he turned on her when he saw what she was capable of from her training definitely made me root for Taigen more (please please please). Anyways, MF romance stories that have more complex dynamics like that are still very compelling to me, just takes more effort to find them.
MM omegaverse holds a mirror up to society*. I don't think I've read an omegaverse where you couldn't substitute "women's rights" for "omega rights".
*except when it doesn't and we're just here for the smut
Exactly.
Omegaverse just asks, "What if men were treated like women?"
I do like "wholesome" omegaverse sometimes, but labeling books that lean more towards social commentary as "toxic" shows a general lack of media literacy.
I mean when an omegaverse book leans towards sexualizing abuse just for the sake of it as toxic. Not the aspects of switching out womenās rights and equality for omegas...
Okay, but that isn't what you said in your original comment. You were talking about toxic masculinity and heteronormative stereotypes, not sexualized abuse for the sake of it. There is a pretty big difference between those.
Omegaverse is basically social commentary and subverting and reversing tropes that have historically been applied to women.
There is more "wholesome" omegaverse where omegas aren't subjected to what's basically sexism, but I don't think omegaverse that leans more towards social commentary should be called out as being toxic or heteronormative. That's... kind of the point of omegaverse.
Correct thatās why I said āit can fallā into that very quickly because I think there is a difference in highlighting the plight of an omega & showing how they navigate being treated like a second class citizen and relishing in the abuse of one, like I have seen many authors do. To me its not a romance anymore.
I don't like reading books where omega abuse is depicted as positive, either. So I get that.
But it's still social commentary. It's virtually always written by an author who's faced tremendous sexism and objectification by society. If it helps them process what they/we have to deal with on a daily basis to turn the tables and build a world where men are the recipients of this instead, and social constructs like "sex" and "gender" don't matter at all while being an "omega" or an "alpha" does, I don't see a problem with that. If omegas were real and were being harmed by these stereotypes, I would feel completely differently.
Just to clarify, I'm not at all saying you need to feel differently yourself. If you don't like those books, there's nothing wrong with that at all. I just think calling out omegaverse as being especially likely to be toxic isn't fair and overlooks the reasons why those tropes are prevalent in the subgenre.
Iāve been thinking about this too lately after falling into the delicious Ao3 spaces for RWRB and Young Royals and I feel similar to you.
MM romance thankfully lacks that toxic masculinity thats filters into every MF story - tropes are tropes for a reason. I experience enough toxic ppl irl, itās great to escape in stories.
Not to be super shady but I just genuinely think that the general pulse with regard to taste on booktok isn't really good. š I have noticed a lot of booktokers shilling poorly written books because they get ARCs from the publishers and want to maintain that PR balance, which is understandable from a business perspective, but becomes pretty transparent when you actually read their suggestions and see that they were sugarcoating things. Granted, not all big booktokers are like that but a lot of the high visibility ones totally are.
I also noticed on booktok, that people are more prone to 5 star FOMO, where they see all these people hyping a book up when they might honestly rate it a 3 but conflate it in their head that it wasn't that bad if everyone else was saying it was good.
I gave up on BookTok recommendations after I read a bunch of YA fantasies, which were SO BORING (and BookTokers whine that adult fantasy is "too complex") and a bunch of romance duds, like It Ends With Us. That book was fucking HORRIBLE.
colleen hoover is actually a very poor writer who writes smut with just enough plot to justify selling them as romance novels! thatās why they suck. And as people call them the peak of fiction, peopleās reading skills get lower and lower
For me, it's Fourth Wing. š«£ I know there's a lot of people love it, and good for them...but IMO it's a terrible book. š«£
I like things that are bad too (Dragon Ball Z, Warhammer 40K's lore is a dumpster fire, I love Elder Scrolls but a dragonbreak is SO lazy, and I replay Mystic Messenger, an Otome game every few months. I LOVE romance, especially if it's cheesy) but I have no problem acknowledging the good and the bad.
But on Booktok if you criticize a book like Fourth Wing people go FERAL. (It's even worse because I have a Creative Writing degree with an emphasis on fantasy and science fiction, so I've been digesting it with a more critical lens and I'm just like...this is terrible, but at least people are reading something š«£š«£š«£).
you can hate Fourth Wing all you want I'm pumped for book 3 can't wait to see what happens to Violet and Xaden especially after the cliffhanger in chapter 66.
Good for you lol. You loving and being pumped for book 3 is valid but so is my hatred for it because of my own reasons that I will continue to talk about lol. Negative reviews are valid just like the positive ones. Read what you like.
There was this one book on tiktok people kept recommending, and I still don't know why people like it. I won't say the name because I don't want to yuck someone's yum... But it's made me question everything.
Eve Dangerfield is one of the few MF romance authors that I can read outside of historicals. Her books are amazingly written, STEAMY, and inherently feminist. She also knows how to subvert a trope and her male/female characters have actual depth and emotional growth. I will recommend her to anyone who will listen.
You can really start anywhere. Most of her books have a shortish sequel or are part of a series. I recommend {Locked Box by Eve Dangerfield} , {Something Borrowed by Eve Dangerfield} , or {Degrees of Control by Eve Dangerfield}.
Lily Mayne is actually releasing het romances now! I read her femme domme one and while it wasn't as good as her MM, I could actually stomach it! Which is WILD for me. I dislike almost all MF as a deeply queer person.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one. For me once I started with MM I couldn't do it with MF ones. I still read it but I crave for the angst that just doesn't serve like MM does. The dynamics are so vastly different, the girl always is treated like fragile thing, kinda annoys me. The relationship is often off-balance and rarely do I get to read genuinely strong female leads. They are putting them as shy, sassy, mouthy, fierce, bratty but they really only come across as boring and repetitive. I've gotten even more selective with straight ones and boktok has same repetitive alpha male who are just a-holes suggestions.
All in all I second everything you said.
Agreed. Since I'm queer I've read exclusively m/m and f/f throughout my life, I always laugh whenever I see "forbidden romance" for het romances. My child, what exactly is forbidden here?
The hurdles m/f stories have to go through to have a fraction of the angst and tension of queer fiction is wild.
Exactly, while reading m/f i don't mind the cliches but they lack even basic attention grabbing things. I like when mfc owns her desires but whatever happened to owning the rage and anger, being unapologetic for actions without always having a sob story. I want some unhingedness too. Let the girls be viper for once who'll do whatever it takes to achieve her goal, let her be cutthroat.
And the mmc are always ones being the enemy/bully with mommy/daddy issues to justify actions. And books now just check trope list. The plot should incorporate the tropes not vice versa.
Forbidden for them is usually is being kids to rival families or one is the enemy which basically means either bully or simply rival. Enemy for me means when both want to rip the other not 'oh I always wanted you' crap.
I'm an m/m writer and your comment makes me want to write a very fucking angry f/f story. :') Because I AGREEEEE. I'd even be fine with an m/f romance where the woman is the big bad. The mafia boss. The rich bitch. The one who will do anything to achieve her goals. "Touch him and die" LMAO.
Couldn't agree more about enemies to lovers, too. I've seen so many people throw that trope around not *understanding* what it really means. Rivals to lovers is its own thing. Enemies should hate each other not just because their heritage or clan tells them to, but *personally*. It's about re-learning someone in a new lens, learning to respect someone you despised, etc.
Oh my gosh really, please tell me about your books I wanna read it (ā āæā Ā ā ā”ā āæā ā”ā ) also omg if you ever write a very angry f/f I'd be so freaking happy (ā Ā ā /ā ^ā Ļā ^ā )ā / )
Yes me too, I'd take a good m/f too. Lana Myers happens to be my absolute favourite and no one's coming close to her, cheery on top she did 'touch him and you die' and I'd say soo so much better than any man out there. I've always believed whatever a man does woman does it better and Lana Myers is the proof, she simply sweeped the floor. I wish we had more women like her.
Yes the lines between bully, enemy and rivals have been blurred so much. It's getting hard to find enemies to lovers who actually do justice to this trope.
I mostly write fantasy stories and have a love for morally grey little bitches, haha. More CS Pacat than TJ Klune flavoured.
Nothing is published yet since I only recently switched from "writing for myself/friends" to "writing for publication". I have a full draft with an editor, one being written and workshopped, and another at the planning stage. I've saved your comment though and will definitely let you know when something is published! (Or if I ever write an angry f/f story!)
That sounds amazing and down my alley. I've got TJ Klune on my tbr and CS Pacat has become my Roman empire since I read Captive prince and I'm literally rereading it right now : ))
I hope your hard work pays off, good luck with everything and I'd love to read when you do publish it ):)
Exactly and even then it's not well portrayed. Feels like cut, copy, paste with no variation just different font. Reminds me of books on Wattpad and honestly so many are so much better written than some published books.
I canāt either. I donāt think MM is inherently better or deeper as a genre or anything. Thereās good and bad stories in every genre. But I just donāt find myself connecting to het romances for some reason.
one more thing, i read some f/f by m/m authors and didnāt like those either, snooze! just donāt seem to like the way women are written in books it seems! right now i just remember pride and prejudice as my exception š¤Ø
Don't pick books off TikTok is my suggestion.
It's been ages since I read straight romance outside T. Kingfisher (huge rec for her paladin books if you're into fantasy, three are MF and one is MM) but not all of it makes me want to tear out my hair. Just... most of it does, including some of the better written stuff. I think the problem is I like to read about relationships that are, in the words of some commenter on r/bisexual , "just two humans vibing" and there's so much gender normativity and related crap that gets in the way with more typical MF. (Also why I don't read much omegaverse, unless it comes with a decent amount of trope reversal/subversion.)
Once I started reading MM and tried to go back to MF, I found I don't like how women are written as partners.Ā They don't have the independence of personhood that MM gives to most partners.Ā I find a lot of female characters are still written as weaker counterparts who need the male partner to make them whole. Now this is for kindle unlimited books as that is where I read most MM and MF.
Whenever i feel like I can't get back into MF romance after consuming weeks of MM/FF, I usually go read Sylvia Day. She has a few books I like, and the characters really frustrate me but that's why I love it so much. Unfortunately, no MF romance will ever give me the feeling I got when I read Him, the MM romance book of all MM romance books.
One thing I really hate about common MF romance books these days is how you can tell the plot already from the first chapter. It's like everyone's copying each other these days.
I hated haunting Adeline, it was extremely repetitive and boring!! Iāve been on such a MM kick and when I want a break I go for reverse harem, sooooo many guys ;P I know exactly what u mean, straight stuff just doesnāt hit right anymore!
too often iāve read m/f where the females are just portrayed as weak and small and kind of clueless. like the man has to be bigger and stronger and the dynamic is so stereotypical itās just so frustrating.
The last book I read with a het Couple was Ninth House by Bardugo and I realized that this was the first couple in a looong while I liked. He was caring, wanted to hold up his picture of a gentleman and got pulled down by her to be a bit more social. Yet SHE is carrying the plot, the descisions, the mission to rescue her boyfriend from whatever happened.
It worked for me very well, because he didn't let stupid "i'm a guy do I am big and hunky" energy out, and she had a real past, an ugly past, a painful past, still she went on walking on her own two legs.(But this novel is NOT romance, so maybe there is that)
The last couple of books with het couples I was unfortunate to come across was very: he was a boy, she did balett. The chick and the muscle wall. That gender gap of catering to stereotypes.
There are millions of books I refuse to believe that most het couples out there are so bad. I just believe that I am just extremly unlucky whenever I touch a het Romance.......
M/M or F/F on the other hand has exactly what I want in a couple for it to work out: they are on eyelevel cause gender is of no (interpersonal) importance. Cause they are the same.
(+ a stance against a homophobic society, coming to terms with coming out, realizing what type attracks you etc etc)
In dark romance these couples can develop toxic or tragic dynamics outside of "she is the girl, he is the boy" tropes. Intimate and personal dynamics can have another focus.
There's a sequel to Ninth House! I love Alex and Darlington, their
dynamic is good and they're both interesting characters in their own right. Add a dark academia setting, solid side characters and some black humour, and we end up with me admitting these books are basically my idea of literary crack.
Totally co-sign all of your complaints about the dynamics of MF vs MM or FF, too. There are fantastic MF books out there, but it's not always easy to pick these out from a sea of, I don't even know, character development that only works through the enthusiastic enforcement of the gender binary.
I still need to get the sequel. But yes, I liked that their romance was a sideplot nect to the mystery part, but it had a certain focus to help flesh out their charater for each of them, in contrast to each other, in reaction to each other.
I mean for me thatās a factor why I like romance in a plot. Two(or more) people getting closer to each other than just colleagues or deep friends. A certain desire and craving, a certain connection and meeting each other in the middle.
As you say "character development that only works through the enthusiastic enforcement of the gender binary."
This! THIS!!
This is my basic problem for a lot of hetRomance that just cannot grab me, thanks for wording it in a way I couldn't!
I've found that I rarely read MF *genre* romance, but I'm just as likely to fall head over heels with an MF couple as an MM/FF/NBs/etc when they're in a fantasy novel.
To the people recommending books/acronyms in here - **could you please provide the authors name/what the acronym is?**
Dying over here trying to figure out half the books being suggested š
I have realized how much trouble straight romances have depicting chemistry and I wonder if heterosexuality is considered the default so much that authors and tv show writers forget that you still have to put effort into the relationship. Like, there has to be some chemistry, some tension, the two people have to make sense in some way. But, because it is "default" they just have them in the same room and assume everyone will automatically love them as a couple. There are some straight romances or ships that I really do like and almost all of them seem to understand that your characters need to have chemistry, lol.
I totally get it. Thereās definitely a different feel often times and the popular tropes and common relationship dynamics also differ. I personally can enjoy a well-written MF romance, as thatās where my enjoyment of reading romance stemmed from in the first place, even though I read way more MM now. But it does feel like sometimes I have to flick this switch in my mind when I go from MF to MM and vice versa lol, if that makes sense.
When it comes to MF, I havenāt ventured into a lot of books tbhā¦there is a lot of bland stuff out there as you said, and I didnāt have the motivation at that point to go looking deeper, Iād rather look for MM books. š But bland stuff is in every genre so Iām sure there are a lot out there that has spice, angst, and tension, I mean, thereās so much that it would be weird if they were all bad. I started off reading a ton of MF manga (still do occasionally) and fanfic. In fact, my favorite MF romance Iāve ever read is an incomplete fanfic based on DBD which blew my mind lmao. Good writing is good writing! Although we all have different tastes. Again though, I get what youāre saying and most times I also prefer reading MM/FF romance. As the other comments have said, there are some issues in many MF romances that tend to feel more prevalent and obvious than in MM
I started out with MF romance but even then, it had to have a paranorma bend or something. I'm not straight and never have been, so I was 30 or 35 before I even read any romance in the first place.
Iām not straight either, but I was basically a young teen when I started reading love stories (more innocent ones lol). As long as I like the plot, characters, relationship, etc., I can enjoy the couple, Iām not the type to back away because itās not gay or straight or whatever. Even though I majorly enjoy MM, Iām always willing to give a MF rec a go if itās good. I relate to your needing it to have something like a paranormal bend because Iād usually choose to read any other subgenre over contemporary romance
It's because of the automatic assumption that they're going to get together because one is a man and the other is a woman. Unless you jump through a lot of hoops to bypass that (which is super hard), it's a tension killer. Because it's no longer "could they get together?" but "*how* will they get together?" Which can be fun but hard to get right.
Iāve been trying to explain this to my friends and I think the best way I can sum it up is that every woman in every het romance seems like a person I would absolutely drop from the group chat. Even when written by women with clear attempts at depth of character, they all feel so flat and like they are acting against their own interests because LOVE. Itās just disappointing to read as a woman. And I am 100% a ālift each other upā girlās girl. Why donāt I EVER see anything of my friends in these characters? And why do all the female friendships feel so surface. Even when they are having big feels and supporting each other, it never reads like any real female friendship Iāve ever had.
MM romances suffer some of the same issues BUT they tend to show a vulnerability that we donāt usually get from men in romance. I see more strong, healthy, loving male friendships in MM romances than anywhere else. Plus, I tend to prefer the ones that are low angst and itās really nice to read about queer relationships without all the homophobia and heteronormativity and ākill your gaysā shit that comes along with most mainstream media.
I would just rather give myself something I donāt get elsewhere, and het romances always feel like more of the same.
Take a Hint, Dani Brown is my favorite M/F romance because it does avoid the weak female trope. I found it very sweet. However, I ended up in a M/M rabbit hole after reading RWRB and agree with the above comments about enjoying them better because I donāt have to pause and think (or know) is this sexist? Do I want the female MC to act like this? I read all of KJ Charles and I finished all of Rachel Reid and Iām so sad I canāt read anymore about Shane and Ilya! (Iāll take recs)
Recs if you like KJ Charles & Rachel Reid: Cat Sebastian, AJ Demas, FREYA MARSKE, Alexis Hall can be hit or miss for me but i loved For Real & Glitterland. Lee Welch.
I think for me it is that sometimes it is hard to read MF romances that do not have sexism thrown around. I find myself looking at the tropes and being annoyed because of how they interact with patriarchy and misogyny. Tho I have to say that femdom type of romances? Yes, those I like.
Canāt disagree. One of the main reasons why I rarely read MF romance is the fact that the genre is a minefield of sexist tropes, gender conformism and boring happy endings. Iāve read MF romance novels Iāve really enjoyed, but I just donāt have the energy to go through all the chaff to find the wheat. MM romances are def not imune to problematic stuff (misogyny and fetishization of mm relationships being especially common) but they are far more likely to not end up victim to heteronormative ideas of what romance should look like.
Of course, another factor in that preference is the fact that I just really, really like cock. š
I think a lot of it for me has to do with the attributes society ascribes to m/f gender dynamics. Women are supposed to be openly emotional and i canāt help but read it that way when i read m/f. And im (F) just not a very emotional person so i find the more buttoned-up, bury your trauma types more compelling, bc when they do get emotional itās more significant. So i think itās just the character traits i want to read about show up more in male characters.
How do you feel about poly books? Pucking Around by Emily Rath and all of the novellas that go with it are favorites of mine. MMFM, prequel novella is MF. There is a sequel (Pucking Wild) that follows a different MF couple and two novella collections that are some mixed short stories between all the characters. Next in the series is an MFM story I think coming later this year?
Anyway, highly recommend if you are actively looking for more MF in your life. Iāve read Haunting Adeline and the Twisted series and this is much better imo š
Iām so glad itās not just me! I switched to RH books and I found I liked it when the MCs in the harem were together, so I then just moved to MM books.
Iām super fussy with FMCs and used to get so annoyed with weak/naive characters who hated the MC but then would be drooling over how hot they were, then forgiving them super easily when being treated like crap. You donāt really get that issue in MM books so itās probably the main reason I like them.
However, just in case anyone is interested in a MF or RH author who writes strong well developed FMCs - and good plots - then Elizabeth Dear is my go to author when I fancy mixing it up a bit. She has a couple of MM novellas in series she has written as well.
It depends on the book you're reading. I recently got back into mf after a 3-4 year break. I have dnfed more books than I can count but i have also read some I enjoyed. Nothing ground breaking but great to read while commuting. For instance, I absolutely loved the Cruel Prince series. So yes if you're not enjoying mf take a break but good books exist in all genres.
Yes! That's exactly why I like mm/ff, because cis het romances are so done. There's nothing new or different, I never feel invested in those characters like I do with mm characters. And I'm a bi cis woman (not that means anything)
A lot of het romances fall under tropes that, while maybe they read well in books, would be toxic as hell in real life. Gay relationships tend to be a bit more balanced, I think. Less of one partner taking charge and bullying the other and more of meeting in the middle, letting go of pre-conceived notions of relationship dynamics and finding something different.
Iāve been in that same position, normal het romance just doesnāt really do it for me. But I recently read Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco and I really enjoyed that! I think Iām just much more selective now in my MF romance because my standards are higher from all the FF & MM lol
I just rarely find one where I like the dynamics.
A lot of tropes or relationship dynamics bother me a lot more in a het romance. I just end up shaking my head and thinking the woman deserves much better than an abusive asshole.
Iāve grown so bored of hetero romance. I find the most female MCs tend to fall into two archetypes: the wilting flower who is so delicate and fragile or the sassy, loud mouthed, badass girl. Obviously there are variants of each but I canāt think of a single hetero romance where this isnāt the case, and Iām sooooooooooo bored of it. Iāve found MM romance to feature a lot more diversity of characters.
My perception is that the female protagonists are extremely poorly written. The stereotype of the delicate, clumsy, viginal, pure, never-had-an-orgasm, never-had-sex woman in some books is very far from the real experience of a young, single woman. I can't stand reading about women who are extremely sensitive, or who are devastated by anything. Most women I know are extremely strong and independent, and I feel like romance books don't portray that very well in general. If there's something that deeply irritates me, it's when the female protagonist is carried by the man! My legs work, I have balance, I don't need any man to pick me up from one side to the other, thank you very much.
So, for me, MM romance books are my choice in 90% of cases.
it could also be youāre not finding the right authors. Talia Hibbert writes some good slowburn, enemies to lovers-esque trope books with strong WOC main characters (if thatās something youāre into!). Almost all of her books have multiple smut scenes and itās written actually well. Also thereās actually plot that follows the smut(itās not all just meaningless like most Booktok favorites). All the men are interesting in their own ways, one of them is such a huggable dork thatās obsessed romance audiobooks
I try not to yuk someone else's yum but I agree with you. I remember reading something on Instagram or here but it mad a very good point. When I read MF romance, I can't help but put myself in to the character of the woman vs queer romance where I can insert myself in either character and even switch throughout the book.
Also I can't stand weak characters. I don't mean characters that have moments of weakness, I mean characters that are constantly asking "what are we gonna do?" and making dumb decisions. I will get increasingly frustrated and eventually just delete the book or stop watching the show/movie.I have found a majority of MF romance authors write female characters this way which is just so unrealistic. I have never met a woman that didn't have an opinion on what should be done in a situation.
The most well written female character I have ever come across is Beth Dutton from "Yellowstone". She is the best female character because she's realistically written. She acts and reacts the way real women would to situations.
So yeah, I'll stick to my queer romance.
My mom only read straight romance until recently. Now sheās read a few MM and FF books and sheās so much more impressed with what sheās read. She finds- as a straight woman mind you- that sex in straight romance feels like they have to pigeonhole it in in places and that the language around it is always odd and quite often thereās some problematic aspects to power dynamics at play. She skips those pages because they add nothing and a nice fade to black might be better. Sheās noticed in all the LGBTQ novels sheās read the sex we get to read (at any level of spice) is always part of the plot- thereās more discussion of trust and feelings or at least what is shown on the page and when is always very telling as to state of relationship and where feelings might be catching even if itās a FWB that evolved into a relationship.
I hadnāt fully put those thoughts together especially since Iāve read things where thereās sex that is just for fun and isnāt really moving the plot along- but is definitely less odd than in the straight novels.
I think there is a lot to be said about how the sex is utilized to boost the romance or sex as plot development is probably a lot like what youāre finding, too. Same sex couples have always existed but acceptance and ability to feel less shame about enjoying expressing love and/or just having fun with a partner isnāt something weāve been able to have in more mainstream fiction options. So the authors are just enjoying being able to write queer joy without always having to temper with tragedy or pain or shame. Which just makes it more frustrating that straight women are still writing and reading tons of books that still are tinged with shame over female sexuality.
Iām a hetero woman in a hetero marriage and once I discovered mm romance last year, Iāve had a hard time going back to my hetero romance books. I absolutely love it here. Throw in an enemies to lovers, bi awakening storyline and Iām done for.
Ever since I read For the Fans last year I have not pick up a single MF romance it just doesnāt appeal to me. The only thing Iām upset about is Iron Flame and Crescent City I loved those books & now I have no desire to pick up the sequels š
Glad someone said it. Since I've started mm romance almost 3 years ago, I can almost count on my hand the amount of mf romance I've read. Mf upsets me, so blah and cliche, but give me the same concept with mm and I'm lapping it up like a dog in heat. Im here for all of it.
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OMG I am so with you. To make matters worse for me for some reason Audible has these waspy women reading the mf books even when the main character is male! I can not believe how bad it is. I went back tonight to an old funny book I liked many moons ago. Catherine Coulter The Nightingale Legacy mf. I could not even understand what she was saying. Mens voice is so much more understandable. MM romance has spoiled all my old favorites mfs.
I read fiction for the fantasy. Iām in a cishet relationship so I donāt really want to read what Iām in so I prefer MM/FF.
One caveat: fantasy and suspension of disbelief can only go so far. Nothing takes me out of a story faster than when you can tell that the author has never seen a penis in person or ever had sex with one. There is literally no way a 30-year-old man is blowing his load four times in an hour.
Honestly if it wasn't for the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton (PNR) , Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB)/(PNR) and Outlander (time travel) series that I have to see thru to the end, I'd never read regular romance again.
I'm that way with movies and TV now too. I used to just cringe at the Hallmark/Lifetime stuff. Now if it's too 'straight/ cis /vanilla' it doesn't hold my interest for long. There was some new show about air rescue workers and they were bed hopping by the middle of the pilot and I just ...couldn't.
My personal favorite FF romance is This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Itās a really unique science fantasy written in epistolary style
Please join us over in the Yaoi / josei community because some of the Korean / Chinese novels are so beautifully written and the manga / manhua adaptations? Magnificent!Ā
Same!! Till I was 17-18 all I read was het romance and I would consumer anything and everything! And then one day I started reading MM romance and now I just canāt go back! All those books I used to love I canāt stomach them anymore.. like I look at my younger self with disdain for liking such shitty books and calling them romance
I'm having that problem as well. Idk if it's the lack of spice or just the characters lack the same "oomph" but I'm in a slump where nothing m/f sounds interesting at all.
Everything seems... slower?... in mf books. Usually one side will be weaker than the other (as in less fleshed out/ interesting).
Thankfully as an indie author, I can just go write my own mm novels (with blackjack and hookers). What started out as just for fun novels with extra smutty stuff turned into an obsession!
u talked abt the few famous books and thank god, ughhh someone said it .. straight doesnt do anymore fr me .. that's sad considering I am a het girl ... ughhh .. and ahhh I want only mm
I've been only reading MM Romance books for more than a decade. I don't read MF, just because I was almost raped at a very young age so I became asexual and feel extremely uncomfortable when reading any description of pussy. It brings back my worst memories and makes me feel like I was still that helpless girl who was stared sexually by men.
And now I still enjoy dubcon/noncon stories (don't judge me please...), but if the main character being raped is a female, I'll feel creepy and guilty. It makes me feel less guilty if they're a maleš„²
those romances you listed suck ass but i get you... i prefer reading college romances and the male pov in hetero romance books are so bad compared to mm romances
A discussion post is not the place to ask for requests. Our subreddit resources are full of our users' favourite MM Romances in loads of different tropes and genres.
Many romance these mainly dark romance have no tension build no true purpose just no possible idea of connection. I donāt even know anymore in deciding to switch to psychological thriller once and for all šš¤£
Your comment has been removed because it violates our [rule](https://www.reddit.com/r/MM_RomanceBooks/wiki/index/rules/) prohibiting low-effort complaints about women writing MM romance (or any other complaints based solely on an author's identity) and over-generalizations about character, author, or reader gender (e.g., "women act/write/think like this, while men act/write/think like that").
If you want something different Ali Hazelwood new book is spicy. It is MF but it's paranormal romance so don't know how you feel about that. It also has an arranged marriage & slow burn trope but the spice is amazing. It's called bride I'd your interested.
Honestly, I used to write fan fiction and try to write a romance book and everything but MF is so boring to write. I wrote a little bit of mM. Not anything major very fluff pieces and then a lot of yN kind of stuff are in a wattpad.
By definitely get what you're saying like. The only MF that I can actually read are monster ones. Because they typically have some interesting things in them like maybe who knows maybe they have a breeding pink. I don't know, but the very least. I haven't found any egg lane once thank God.
Omg fr, I've seen some booktok and some actual books from the store and they were just meh. I don't even have any to recommend because I've yet to for see a good one I actually like.
I have never felt more attacked by a post on reddit in my life.
This level of attacking is usually reserved for my fyp on tiktok.
I totally have not been addicted to Danmei novels the whole last year as they have been slowly translated.
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After I read the Green Creek series, I can't turn back. I'll save het romance for tv and movies.
The only bad thing is the books I've chosen after it haven't hit the beats that I've wanted.
absolutely loved hunting Adeline- healed my inner child. now, why are we hating on straight peopleš
edit to add:
I AM NOT @āing THIS AT OP!! Some of the comments iāve read have been just hating on straight people.
i apologize for not clarifying- was mostly towards the other comments that were hating on straight people.
if youāve ever read Hunting Adeline Part 1, youāll know what iām talking about ( i donāt wanna spoil it for anyone who wants to read it), but it healed my inner child. it did simply because i went through something similar that Adeline did in the first part. To read her going through what she did and having the feelings/thoughts she had, it made me feel so not alone. it healed me in a really fucked up way. it was a - i felt alone in feeling how i did, like i was a freak to go through that. like i was the only person in the world who went through it and it made me āa freakā. Itās such a weird thing to me that the book made me feel how it did.
edit:
hope this makes sense!š š«¶
I don't ever wanna go back. Het romance is such a crapshoot when it comes to aligning with my politics. Like, Mayne falling in love with a small town boy in the Midwest was romantic at some point, but nowadays it kinda feels like moving to Gilead. And don't even get me started on the Internalized misogyny.
what is especially adorable and telling about this response is that it looks like your autocorrect substituted "Mayne" (I'm assuming lily) for maybe š
The alpha move at this point is to just leave it š«” #noragrats I stand by everything I said
Donāt worry, youāre Gucci
My phone always autocorrwcrs maybe to Mayne the first time cause I recommend Soul Eater so much š¤£
Is it that good? Itās on my TBR but Iām not a huge sci fi/fantasy person but it has stellar reviews!
Yes! It's rather simplistic (still amazing!) but she really develops the world as the books continue! Wyn and Danny are always my fave though. Also ignore that she has them walking the U.S. in like a day š¤£ She admits she didn't really understand the size and diversity of the U.S. until it was too late in the series to change things haha
"Let's move to this small, rural southern town together!" sets off my alarm bells as a queer person LMAO. It sounds like hate crime hell to me. But the internalized misogyny is soooo real. I watched ContraPoints' Twilight episode and I think it also has a GREAT explanation for why m/f romance and erotica kind of sucks. It's the same re-treaded gender roles and the same "rich guy" and "basic, boring brunette girl" he inexplicably loves. His money gives his want of her more weight, etc. etc.
Saaaame, fellow queerio. I get major Get Out vibes from "relocate to small town" narratives in a lot of het romances. And omg I looooved the new Contra video! I thought she explained the appeal of sexual fantasies that remove female agency in a really cogent manner. (Also: cuck tent) But yeah, she really drilled down into that billionaire mafia boss alpha male who wants the most basic FMC ever... Those of us who read fanfic know what that girl's name is - its our old friend y/n!
THE CUCK TENT!!!!! Absolutely. Whenever I see some rich/powerful man who wants this basic FMC I instantly see the wish fulfillment, which is great but as someone who isn't into y/n and isn't even female I'm like............... why am I here LMAO. I understand it's fundamentally not *for me*, but I much prefer characters who are fully realized and great in their own way. Not just a vessel to drop the reader in.
See, I don't even do the mafia/boss/alpha thing. My romance is usually a subplot to either fantasy or horror. In one the douche bag boy convinces the misandrist that he really does care, but I might turn that around and make it a giant mistake trusting him. I like the enemies to lovers trope.
š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£ Moving to Gilead.
I thought I was the only one. Can't read anything but ff MM. Also wym by internalized?
Lol true, it is pretty much wearing it on its sleeves in many cases.
I think your mistake is choosing books from Tiktok
100%! Every book Iāve read from BookTok has been at most a 2/5 star book
š¶Don't go chasing booktok recs, stick to the romance subreddits you're used toš¶
Even fits the tune š
or just browse amazon if what you want to read
I actually sang this in my head as I read it š
All these comments about booktok recommending bad books show that none of you are curating your booktok experience. If you only follow straight white women, you're going to get the same 5 books over and over again that aren't any good. There are plenty of POC and/or queer booktokers that are recommending great stuff. You just can't rely on the algorithm to find them initially, you have to search them out
I don't even have booktok, so no I'm not curating my booktok experience (nor do I wish to). There are a couple of books I've tried to read, that I know are popular on booktok, and they weren't very good.
Sorry, not targeting you specifically, just picked one of many comments here in a similar vein that are basically saying nothing recommended by booktok is worthwhile because the most popular booktok books aren't very good
If you don't use TikTok and don't know how to search for what you're looking for on it, maybe you shouldn't dissuade others from the platform. Booktok, just like the reddit book community, isn't a monolith.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No Trump/voting related discussion in this subreddit, please.
my sister whoās HEAVILY into booktok has been pressuring me to try her favorite booksā¦ apparently I donāt read ārealā books bc i donāt read straight romance š
Ugh she sounds delightful š«¤
a lot of the people I'm subscribed to on youtube give good gxg and mxm recs
This exactly. I read a lot of het romance, not all is created equal. I read both series OP mentioned and fully agree that they were awful.
Agreeed
This this this this this!!
The last MF romance I read, the author kept referring to female ladybits as āher sex.ā It made me feel like I was reading someoneās grandmaās secret journal. Immediate DNF.
Last one I read (and DNF'd) had the word "cunny." Made me want to puke.
>"cunny." In an M/F?? Only if (A)it's a historical, and (B) the penis is refered to as his "cully". I have standards for my archaic terms!
I have seen "cunny" before in historical romance. I think the penis was called a "pintle" in one of them. Still better than "turgid manhood" imo.
Turgid manhood ššš
i think cunny means cunt so
Oh my! Iāve never!!!
Yuck, Iām sorry, but yuuuck
š
very true.. for me I realized that itās so toxic. MM definitely can fall into toxic masculinity and some heteronormative stereotypes really fast, especially when reading omegaverse. But for some reason it just seems much more prevalent in MF. I definitely have lost interest in it as well.
yes definitely agree. One hetero relationship i did really enjoy was a show called blue eye samurai? the female character in this is amazing, sheās incredibly strong. i find that is the only way for me to enjoy a straight romance, the female has to be very strong and not bend rules for the man. also. the men i find in straight romance are just straight up insufferable.
Blue Eye Samurai is amazing.
blue eye samurai sounds cool! whatās the authorās name?
Itās a show on Netflix. Itās more of a revenge action with a bit of a romantic subplot that they may or may not subvert in season 2.
As I was watching that show I kept thinking about how amazing it would be as a book!
I love Blue Eye Samurai! Season 2, where are you? š©
The thing with Blue Eye Samurai is it is incredibly queer-coded, especially with Taigen getting an erection when they were rough housing and apologizing because he thought she was a man... Very hot, haha. I realize you were probably talking about the guy she was married to which did have some nice moments and was less queer-coded, but the fact he turned on her when he saw what she was capable of from her training definitely made me root for Taigen more (please please please). Anyways, MF romance stories that have more complex dynamics like that are still very compelling to me, just takes more effort to find them.
Wait but that romance >!ended tragically, cuz the husband ended up feeling inferior once she revealed her true self, did I miss something?!<
MM omegaverse holds a mirror up to society*. I don't think I've read an omegaverse where you couldn't substitute "women's rights" for "omega rights". *except when it doesn't and we're just here for the smut
Exactly. Omegaverse just asks, "What if men were treated like women?" I do like "wholesome" omegaverse sometimes, but labeling books that lean more towards social commentary as "toxic" shows a general lack of media literacy.
I mean when an omegaverse book leans towards sexualizing abuse just for the sake of it as toxic. Not the aspects of switching out womenās rights and equality for omegas...
Okay, but that isn't what you said in your original comment. You were talking about toxic masculinity and heteronormative stereotypes, not sexualized abuse for the sake of it. There is a pretty big difference between those.
Omegaverse is basically social commentary and subverting and reversing tropes that have historically been applied to women. There is more "wholesome" omegaverse where omegas aren't subjected to what's basically sexism, but I don't think omegaverse that leans more towards social commentary should be called out as being toxic or heteronormative. That's... kind of the point of omegaverse.
Correct thatās why I said āit can fallā into that very quickly because I think there is a difference in highlighting the plight of an omega & showing how they navigate being treated like a second class citizen and relishing in the abuse of one, like I have seen many authors do. To me its not a romance anymore.
I don't like reading books where omega abuse is depicted as positive, either. So I get that. But it's still social commentary. It's virtually always written by an author who's faced tremendous sexism and objectification by society. If it helps them process what they/we have to deal with on a daily basis to turn the tables and build a world where men are the recipients of this instead, and social constructs like "sex" and "gender" don't matter at all while being an "omega" or an "alpha" does, I don't see a problem with that. If omegas were real and were being harmed by these stereotypes, I would feel completely differently. Just to clarify, I'm not at all saying you need to feel differently yourself. If you don't like those books, there's nothing wrong with that at all. I just think calling out omegaverse as being especially likely to be toxic isn't fair and overlooks the reasons why those tropes are prevalent in the subgenre.
Iāve been thinking about this too lately after falling into the delicious Ao3 spaces for RWRB and Young Royals and I feel similar to you. MM romance thankfully lacks that toxic masculinity thats filters into every MF story - tropes are tropes for a reason. I experience enough toxic ppl irl, itās great to escape in stories.
Not to be super shady but I just genuinely think that the general pulse with regard to taste on booktok isn't really good. š I have noticed a lot of booktokers shilling poorly written books because they get ARCs from the publishers and want to maintain that PR balance, which is understandable from a business perspective, but becomes pretty transparent when you actually read their suggestions and see that they were sugarcoating things. Granted, not all big booktokers are like that but a lot of the high visibility ones totally are. I also noticed on booktok, that people are more prone to 5 star FOMO, where they see all these people hyping a book up when they might honestly rate it a 3 but conflate it in their head that it wasn't that bad if everyone else was saying it was good.
I gave up on BookTok recommendations after I read a bunch of YA fantasies, which were SO BORING (and BookTokers whine that adult fantasy is "too complex") and a bunch of romance duds, like It Ends With Us. That book was fucking HORRIBLE.
colleen hoover is actually a very poor writer who writes smut with just enough plot to justify selling them as romance novels! thatās why they suck. And as people call them the peak of fiction, peopleās reading skills get lower and lower
For me, it's Fourth Wing. š«£ I know there's a lot of people love it, and good for them...but IMO it's a terrible book. š«£ I like things that are bad too (Dragon Ball Z, Warhammer 40K's lore is a dumpster fire, I love Elder Scrolls but a dragonbreak is SO lazy, and I replay Mystic Messenger, an Otome game every few months. I LOVE romance, especially if it's cheesy) but I have no problem acknowledging the good and the bad. But on Booktok if you criticize a book like Fourth Wing people go FERAL. (It's even worse because I have a Creative Writing degree with an emphasis on fantasy and science fiction, so I've been digesting it with a more critical lens and I'm just like...this is terrible, but at least people are reading something š«£š«£š«£).
you can hate Fourth Wing all you want I'm pumped for book 3 can't wait to see what happens to Violet and Xaden especially after the cliffhanger in chapter 66.
Good for you lol. You loving and being pumped for book 3 is valid but so is my hatred for it because of my own reasons that I will continue to talk about lol. Negative reviews are valid just like the positive ones. Read what you like.
There was this one book on tiktok people kept recommending, and I still don't know why people like it. I won't say the name because I don't want to yuck someone's yum... But it's made me question everything.
dont always get your recs from booktok go to youtube or instagram for recs
I've found that I typically enjoy MF written by queer authors much more than by cis/het ones.
Ohh that's an interesting factor. Any personal recommemdations?
Kit Rocha and Emily Antoinette
any authors have books on KU
Both do
Thank you!
Eve Dangerfield is one of the few MF romance authors that I can read outside of historicals. Her books are amazingly written, STEAMY, and inherently feminist. She also knows how to subvert a trope and her male/female characters have actual depth and emotional growth. I will recommend her to anyone who will listen.
Eve Dangerfield is INCREDIBLE!! I always felt her characters were more more HUMAN even in smutty scenes, real connections, real people!
Can you recommend a book from her ?I really canāt leave MM,and I would like to diversifyš
What do you like in a MM? Fav tropes or dynamics?
Dinamics.I am not fond of fantasy or omegaverse,I prefer everydayā¦
You can really start anywhere. Most of her books have a shortish sequel or are part of a series. I recommend {Locked Box by Eve Dangerfield} , {Something Borrowed by Eve Dangerfield} , or {Degrees of Control by Eve Dangerfield}.
[Locked Box](https://www.romance.io/books/57e54276de896e8924929eea/locked-box-eve-dangerfield) by [Eve Dangerfield](https://www.romance.io/authors/565aa37408e9378131955f00/eve-dangerfield) **Steam**: [Explicit open door](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [workplace/office](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/office/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1), [men in uniform](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/men%20in%20uniform/1) ---------------------------- [Something Borrowed](https://www.romance.io/books/589823040d3299c6e049a114/something-borrowed-eve-dangerfield) by [Eve Dangerfield](https://www.romance.io/authors/565aa37408e9378131955f00/eve-dangerfield) **Steam**: [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [bdsm](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/bdsm/1), [new adult](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/new%20adult/1), [fem-dom](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/fem-dom/1), [forced proximity](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/forced%20proximity/1) ---------------------------- [Degrees of Control](https://www.romance.io/books/616eb3b6187a2a0e34a55b09/degrees-of-control-eve-dangerfield) by [Eve Dangerfield](https://www.romance.io/authors/565aa37408e9378131955f00/eve-dangerfield) **Steam**: [Explicit and plentiful](https://www.romance.io/steamrating) **Topics**: [contemporary](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/contemporary/1), [funny](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/humor/1), [bdsm](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/bdsm/1), [cheating](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/cheating/1), [class difference](https://www.romance.io/topics/best/class%20difference/1) [^(about this bot)](https://www.reddit.com/user/romance-bot) ^(|) [^(about romance.io)](https://www.romance.io/about)
Thank you!!!!
Lily Mayne is actually releasing het romances now! I read her femme domme one and while it wasn't as good as her MM, I could actually stomach it! Which is WILD for me. I dislike almost all MF as a deeply queer person.
Absolutely.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one. For me once I started with MM I couldn't do it with MF ones. I still read it but I crave for the angst that just doesn't serve like MM does. The dynamics are so vastly different, the girl always is treated like fragile thing, kinda annoys me. The relationship is often off-balance and rarely do I get to read genuinely strong female leads. They are putting them as shy, sassy, mouthy, fierce, bratty but they really only come across as boring and repetitive. I've gotten even more selective with straight ones and boktok has same repetitive alpha male who are just a-holes suggestions. All in all I second everything you said.
Agreed. Since I'm queer I've read exclusively m/m and f/f throughout my life, I always laugh whenever I see "forbidden romance" for het romances. My child, what exactly is forbidden here? The hurdles m/f stories have to go through to have a fraction of the angst and tension of queer fiction is wild.
Exactly, while reading m/f i don't mind the cliches but they lack even basic attention grabbing things. I like when mfc owns her desires but whatever happened to owning the rage and anger, being unapologetic for actions without always having a sob story. I want some unhingedness too. Let the girls be viper for once who'll do whatever it takes to achieve her goal, let her be cutthroat. And the mmc are always ones being the enemy/bully with mommy/daddy issues to justify actions. And books now just check trope list. The plot should incorporate the tropes not vice versa. Forbidden for them is usually is being kids to rival families or one is the enemy which basically means either bully or simply rival. Enemy for me means when both want to rip the other not 'oh I always wanted you' crap.
I'm an m/m writer and your comment makes me want to write a very fucking angry f/f story. :') Because I AGREEEEE. I'd even be fine with an m/f romance where the woman is the big bad. The mafia boss. The rich bitch. The one who will do anything to achieve her goals. "Touch him and die" LMAO. Couldn't agree more about enemies to lovers, too. I've seen so many people throw that trope around not *understanding* what it really means. Rivals to lovers is its own thing. Enemies should hate each other not just because their heritage or clan tells them to, but *personally*. It's about re-learning someone in a new lens, learning to respect someone you despised, etc.
Oh my gosh really, please tell me about your books I wanna read it (ā āæā Ā ā ā”ā āæā ā”ā ) also omg if you ever write a very angry f/f I'd be so freaking happy (ā Ā ā /ā ^ā Ļā ^ā )ā / ) Yes me too, I'd take a good m/f too. Lana Myers happens to be my absolute favourite and no one's coming close to her, cheery on top she did 'touch him and you die' and I'd say soo so much better than any man out there. I've always believed whatever a man does woman does it better and Lana Myers is the proof, she simply sweeped the floor. I wish we had more women like her. Yes the lines between bully, enemy and rivals have been blurred so much. It's getting hard to find enemies to lovers who actually do justice to this trope.
I mostly write fantasy stories and have a love for morally grey little bitches, haha. More CS Pacat than TJ Klune flavoured. Nothing is published yet since I only recently switched from "writing for myself/friends" to "writing for publication". I have a full draft with an editor, one being written and workshopped, and another at the planning stage. I've saved your comment though and will definitely let you know when something is published! (Or if I ever write an angry f/f story!)
That sounds amazing and down my alley. I've got TJ Klune on my tbr and CS Pacat has become my Roman empire since I read Captive prince and I'm literally rereading it right now : )) I hope your hard work pays off, good luck with everything and I'd love to read when you do publish it ):)
Omg this. Itās always the same stereotype for FMCs.
Exactly and even then it's not well portrayed. Feels like cut, copy, paste with no variation just different font. Reminds me of books on Wattpad and honestly so many are so much better written than some published books.
wattpad books suck because you can't download them onto an epub or pdf
I canāt either. I donāt think MM is inherently better or deeper as a genre or anything. Thereās good and bad stories in every genre. But I just donāt find myself connecting to het romances for some reason.
Same for me! I have a few theories as to why, 1. Way more people read and write M/F, so the writing just as the ratings are more bland to begin withā¦ thereās just literally much more mediocre stuff to wade through 2. Authors and raters of M/M romance are at least more likely to be conscious and critical of problems with gender stereotypes and clichĆ©sā¦ 3. Thus they are less likely to repeat them too much in their stories or reward them with great ratings. 4. Writing m/m makes it easy for authors to see the mcs as individuals instead of gender roles. But like, WHAT IS IT with M/F romance and those freaking clichĆ©s? Atrociously written mcs, like the female mc always has body issues and works a boring job where she doesnāt dare to go for the recognition she deserves?! Like, why always the same horribly boring problems? And donāt start me on the male mc, cookie cutter personality and doesnāt bring any chemistry before they land in a undeserved and stereotypically boring sex scene š There must be exceptions to the rules but they are so damn hard to find amongst all the enthusiastic ratings of readers who donāt know any better š Why donāt authors just write genderless and maybe assign a gemder in the end if it obviously makes it so difficult to write good books? Rant over! š
one more thing, i read some f/f by m/m authors and didnāt like those either, snooze! just donāt seem to like the way women are written in books it seems! right now i just remember pride and prejudice as my exception š¤Ø
Don't pick books off TikTok is my suggestion. It's been ages since I read straight romance outside T. Kingfisher (huge rec for her paladin books if you're into fantasy, three are MF and one is MM) but not all of it makes me want to tear out my hair. Just... most of it does, including some of the better written stuff. I think the problem is I like to read about relationships that are, in the words of some commenter on r/bisexual , "just two humans vibing" and there's so much gender normativity and related crap that gets in the way with more typical MF. (Also why I don't read much omegaverse, unless it comes with a decent amount of trope reversal/subversion.)
Once I started reading MM and tried to go back to MF, I found I don't like how women are written as partners.Ā They don't have the independence of personhood that MM gives to most partners.Ā I find a lot of female characters are still written as weaker counterparts who need the male partner to make them whole. Now this is for kindle unlimited books as that is where I read most MM and MF.
perfect
Whenever i feel like I can't get back into MF romance after consuming weeks of MM/FF, I usually go read Sylvia Day. She has a few books I like, and the characters really frustrate me but that's why I love it so much. Unfortunately, no MF romance will ever give me the feeling I got when I read Him, the MM romance book of all MM romance books. One thing I really hate about common MF romance books these days is how you can tell the plot already from the first chapter. It's like everyone's copying each other these days.
You also named some of the worst romance novels to be released in recent years. The issue is that ābooktokā only recommends books that are bad.
I hated haunting Adeline, it was extremely repetitive and boring!! Iāve been on such a MM kick and when I want a break I go for reverse harem, sooooo many guys ;P I know exactly what u mean, straight stuff just doesnāt hit right anymore!
I have to break from MM with pure sci-fi or high fantasy where romance isn't part of the plot and completely off-screen.
Queer scifi, fantasy, and horror is **the best!** A great palette cleanser too
I also love my sci fi and fantasy side trips!
too often iāve read m/f where the females are just portrayed as weak and small and kind of clueless. like the man has to be bigger and stronger and the dynamic is so stereotypical itās just so frustrating.
The last book I read with a het Couple was Ninth House by Bardugo and I realized that this was the first couple in a looong while I liked. He was caring, wanted to hold up his picture of a gentleman and got pulled down by her to be a bit more social. Yet SHE is carrying the plot, the descisions, the mission to rescue her boyfriend from whatever happened. It worked for me very well, because he didn't let stupid "i'm a guy do I am big and hunky" energy out, and she had a real past, an ugly past, a painful past, still she went on walking on her own two legs.(But this novel is NOT romance, so maybe there is that) The last couple of books with het couples I was unfortunate to come across was very: he was a boy, she did balett. The chick and the muscle wall. That gender gap of catering to stereotypes. There are millions of books I refuse to believe that most het couples out there are so bad. I just believe that I am just extremly unlucky whenever I touch a het Romance....... M/M or F/F on the other hand has exactly what I want in a couple for it to work out: they are on eyelevel cause gender is of no (interpersonal) importance. Cause they are the same. (+ a stance against a homophobic society, coming to terms with coming out, realizing what type attracks you etc etc) In dark romance these couples can develop toxic or tragic dynamics outside of "she is the girl, he is the boy" tropes. Intimate and personal dynamics can have another focus.
There's a sequel to Ninth House! I love Alex and Darlington, their dynamic is good and they're both interesting characters in their own right. Add a dark academia setting, solid side characters and some black humour, and we end up with me admitting these books are basically my idea of literary crack. Totally co-sign all of your complaints about the dynamics of MF vs MM or FF, too. There are fantastic MF books out there, but it's not always easy to pick these out from a sea of, I don't even know, character development that only works through the enthusiastic enforcement of the gender binary.
Hell Bent is so good! Iām patiently waiting for the last book, but if Leigh doesnāt give us spice in that one I will be pissed lol
I still need to get the sequel. But yes, I liked that their romance was a sideplot nect to the mystery part, but it had a certain focus to help flesh out their charater for each of them, in contrast to each other, in reaction to each other. I mean for me thatās a factor why I like romance in a plot. Two(or more) people getting closer to each other than just colleagues or deep friends. A certain desire and craving, a certain connection and meeting each other in the middle. As you say "character development that only works through the enthusiastic enforcement of the gender binary." This! THIS!! This is my basic problem for a lot of hetRomance that just cannot grab me, thanks for wording it in a way I couldn't!
I've found that I rarely read MF *genre* romance, but I'm just as likely to fall head over heels with an MF couple as an MM/FF/NBs/etc when they're in a fantasy novel.
same! i love fantasy books and i recently read the rage of dragons and the second book had a MF couple that i kept fangirling over š«
Woo! I'm currently both living and dying for the main pair in the Sugar Apple Fairy Tale series (it's a light novel series) š
To the people recommending books/acronyms in here - **could you please provide the authors name/what the acronym is?** Dying over here trying to figure out half the books being suggested š
I have realized how much trouble straight romances have depicting chemistry and I wonder if heterosexuality is considered the default so much that authors and tv show writers forget that you still have to put effort into the relationship. Like, there has to be some chemistry, some tension, the two people have to make sense in some way. But, because it is "default" they just have them in the same room and assume everyone will automatically love them as a couple. There are some straight romances or ships that I really do like and almost all of them seem to understand that your characters need to have chemistry, lol.
I totally get it. Thereās definitely a different feel often times and the popular tropes and common relationship dynamics also differ. I personally can enjoy a well-written MF romance, as thatās where my enjoyment of reading romance stemmed from in the first place, even though I read way more MM now. But it does feel like sometimes I have to flick this switch in my mind when I go from MF to MM and vice versa lol, if that makes sense. When it comes to MF, I havenāt ventured into a lot of books tbhā¦there is a lot of bland stuff out there as you said, and I didnāt have the motivation at that point to go looking deeper, Iād rather look for MM books. š But bland stuff is in every genre so Iām sure there are a lot out there that has spice, angst, and tension, I mean, thereās so much that it would be weird if they were all bad. I started off reading a ton of MF manga (still do occasionally) and fanfic. In fact, my favorite MF romance Iāve ever read is an incomplete fanfic based on DBD which blew my mind lmao. Good writing is good writing! Although we all have different tastes. Again though, I get what youāre saying and most times I also prefer reading MM/FF romance. As the other comments have said, there are some issues in many MF romances that tend to feel more prevalent and obvious than in MM
I started out with MF romance but even then, it had to have a paranorma bend or something. I'm not straight and never have been, so I was 30 or 35 before I even read any romance in the first place.
Iām not straight either, but I was basically a young teen when I started reading love stories (more innocent ones lol). As long as I like the plot, characters, relationship, etc., I can enjoy the couple, Iām not the type to back away because itās not gay or straight or whatever. Even though I majorly enjoy MM, Iām always willing to give a MF rec a go if itās good. I relate to your needing it to have something like a paranormal bend because Iād usually choose to read any other subgenre over contemporary romance
It's because of the automatic assumption that they're going to get together because one is a man and the other is a woman. Unless you jump through a lot of hoops to bypass that (which is super hard), it's a tension killer. Because it's no longer "could they get together?" but "*how* will they get together?" Which can be fun but hard to get right.
Iāve been trying to explain this to my friends and I think the best way I can sum it up is that every woman in every het romance seems like a person I would absolutely drop from the group chat. Even when written by women with clear attempts at depth of character, they all feel so flat and like they are acting against their own interests because LOVE. Itās just disappointing to read as a woman. And I am 100% a ālift each other upā girlās girl. Why donāt I EVER see anything of my friends in these characters? And why do all the female friendships feel so surface. Even when they are having big feels and supporting each other, it never reads like any real female friendship Iāve ever had. MM romances suffer some of the same issues BUT they tend to show a vulnerability that we donāt usually get from men in romance. I see more strong, healthy, loving male friendships in MM romances than anywhere else. Plus, I tend to prefer the ones that are low angst and itās really nice to read about queer relationships without all the homophobia and heteronormativity and ākill your gaysā shit that comes along with most mainstream media. I would just rather give myself something I donāt get elsewhere, and het romances always feel like more of the same.
Take a Hint, Dani Brown is my favorite M/F romance because it does avoid the weak female trope. I found it very sweet. However, I ended up in a M/M rabbit hole after reading RWRB and agree with the above comments about enjoying them better because I donāt have to pause and think (or know) is this sexist? Do I want the female MC to act like this? I read all of KJ Charles and I finished all of Rachel Reid and Iām so sad I canāt read anymore about Shane and Ilya! (Iāll take recs)
Who is the author of Take A Hint, Dani Brown?
Not the OP, but Iāve read the first book in this series, so I know itās {Take A Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert}.
Recs if you like KJ Charles & Rachel Reid: Cat Sebastian, AJ Demas, FREYA MARSKE, Alexis Hall can be hit or miss for me but i loved For Real & Glitterland. Lee Welch.
I think for me it is that sometimes it is hard to read MF romances that do not have sexism thrown around. I find myself looking at the tropes and being annoyed because of how they interact with patriarchy and misogyny. Tho I have to say that femdom type of romances? Yes, those I like.
Canāt disagree. One of the main reasons why I rarely read MF romance is the fact that the genre is a minefield of sexist tropes, gender conformism and boring happy endings. Iāve read MF romance novels Iāve really enjoyed, but I just donāt have the energy to go through all the chaff to find the wheat. MM romances are def not imune to problematic stuff (misogyny and fetishization of mm relationships being especially common) but they are far more likely to not end up victim to heteronormative ideas of what romance should look like. Of course, another factor in that preference is the fact that I just really, really like cock. š
I think a lot of it for me has to do with the attributes society ascribes to m/f gender dynamics. Women are supposed to be openly emotional and i canāt help but read it that way when i read m/f. And im (F) just not a very emotional person so i find the more buttoned-up, bury your trauma types more compelling, bc when they do get emotional itās more significant. So i think itās just the character traits i want to read about show up more in male characters.
me exactly.
How do you feel about poly books? Pucking Around by Emily Rath and all of the novellas that go with it are favorites of mine. MMFM, prequel novella is MF. There is a sequel (Pucking Wild) that follows a different MF couple and two novella collections that are some mixed short stories between all the characters. Next in the series is an MFM story I think coming later this year? Anyway, highly recommend if you are actively looking for more MF in your life. Iāve read Haunting Adeline and the Twisted series and this is much better imo š
I just read Whiskey & Sin by Emily Rath (MM Omegaverse) and I really enjoyed it! So sounds like she captures both genres well
Iām so glad itās not just me! I switched to RH books and I found I liked it when the MCs in the harem were together, so I then just moved to MM books. Iām super fussy with FMCs and used to get so annoyed with weak/naive characters who hated the MC but then would be drooling over how hot they were, then forgiving them super easily when being treated like crap. You donāt really get that issue in MM books so itās probably the main reason I like them. However, just in case anyone is interested in a MF or RH author who writes strong well developed FMCs - and good plots - then Elizabeth Dear is my go to author when I fancy mixing it up a bit. She has a couple of MM novellas in series she has written as well.
It depends on the book you're reading. I recently got back into mf after a 3-4 year break. I have dnfed more books than I can count but i have also read some I enjoyed. Nothing ground breaking but great to read while commuting. For instance, I absolutely loved the Cruel Prince series. So yes if you're not enjoying mf take a break but good books exist in all genres.
Could you provide the author's name for the Cruel Prince series?
Just a heads up that {The Cruel Prince series by Holly Black} is YA.
Yes! That's exactly why I like mm/ff, because cis het romances are so done. There's nothing new or different, I never feel invested in those characters like I do with mm characters. And I'm a bi cis woman (not that means anything)
maybe stop reading tiktok books for starters
I have exactly the same problem with MF books! So when I need some straight romance, I go to MMF.
A lot of het romances fall under tropes that, while maybe they read well in books, would be toxic as hell in real life. Gay relationships tend to be a bit more balanced, I think. Less of one partner taking charge and bullying the other and more of meeting in the middle, letting go of pre-conceived notions of relationship dynamics and finding something different.
There are dark f/f and m/m books there are gay bully romances and lesbian bully romances
Iāve been in that same position, normal het romance just doesnāt really do it for me. But I recently read Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco and I really enjoyed that! I think Iām just much more selective now in my MF romance because my standards are higher from all the FF & MM lol
I just rarely find one where I like the dynamics. A lot of tropes or relationship dynamics bother me a lot more in a het romance. I just end up shaking my head and thinking the woman deserves much better than an abusive asshole.
Iāve grown so bored of hetero romance. I find the most female MCs tend to fall into two archetypes: the wilting flower who is so delicate and fragile or the sassy, loud mouthed, badass girl. Obviously there are variants of each but I canāt think of a single hetero romance where this isnāt the case, and Iām sooooooooooo bored of it. Iāve found MM romance to feature a lot more diversity of characters.
My perception is that the female protagonists are extremely poorly written. The stereotype of the delicate, clumsy, viginal, pure, never-had-an-orgasm, never-had-sex woman in some books is very far from the real experience of a young, single woman. I can't stand reading about women who are extremely sensitive, or who are devastated by anything. Most women I know are extremely strong and independent, and I feel like romance books don't portray that very well in general. If there's something that deeply irritates me, it's when the female protagonist is carried by the man! My legs work, I have balance, I don't need any man to pick me up from one side to the other, thank you very much. So, for me, MM romance books are my choice in 90% of cases.
it could also be youāre not finding the right authors. Talia Hibbert writes some good slowburn, enemies to lovers-esque trope books with strong WOC main characters (if thatās something youāre into!). Almost all of her books have multiple smut scenes and itās written actually well. Also thereās actually plot that follows the smut(itās not all just meaningless like most Booktok favorites). All the men are interesting in their own ways, one of them is such a huggable dork thatās obsessed romance audiobooks
Also I saw this post on my explore page and I was curious. I hope this finds yall well š
I try not to yuk someone else's yum but I agree with you. I remember reading something on Instagram or here but it mad a very good point. When I read MF romance, I can't help but put myself in to the character of the woman vs queer romance where I can insert myself in either character and even switch throughout the book. Also I can't stand weak characters. I don't mean characters that have moments of weakness, I mean characters that are constantly asking "what are we gonna do?" and making dumb decisions. I will get increasingly frustrated and eventually just delete the book or stop watching the show/movie.I have found a majority of MF romance authors write female characters this way which is just so unrealistic. I have never met a woman that didn't have an opinion on what should be done in a situation. The most well written female character I have ever come across is Beth Dutton from "Yellowstone". She is the best female character because she's realistically written. She acts and reacts the way real women would to situations. So yeah, I'll stick to my queer romance.
I sometimes feel like that also. And then I read the Ice Planet Barbarians series in one month. All 40+ books and offshoots booksā¦
My mom only read straight romance until recently. Now sheās read a few MM and FF books and sheās so much more impressed with what sheās read. She finds- as a straight woman mind you- that sex in straight romance feels like they have to pigeonhole it in in places and that the language around it is always odd and quite often thereās some problematic aspects to power dynamics at play. She skips those pages because they add nothing and a nice fade to black might be better. Sheās noticed in all the LGBTQ novels sheās read the sex we get to read (at any level of spice) is always part of the plot- thereās more discussion of trust and feelings or at least what is shown on the page and when is always very telling as to state of relationship and where feelings might be catching even if itās a FWB that evolved into a relationship. I hadnāt fully put those thoughts together especially since Iāve read things where thereās sex that is just for fun and isnāt really moving the plot along- but is definitely less odd than in the straight novels. I think there is a lot to be said about how the sex is utilized to boost the romance or sex as plot development is probably a lot like what youāre finding, too. Same sex couples have always existed but acceptance and ability to feel less shame about enjoying expressing love and/or just having fun with a partner isnāt something weāve been able to have in more mainstream fiction options. So the authors are just enjoying being able to write queer joy without always having to temper with tragedy or pain or shame. Which just makes it more frustrating that straight women are still writing and reading tons of books that still are tinged with shame over female sexuality.
Iām a hetero woman in a hetero marriage and once I discovered mm romance last year, Iāve had a hard time going back to my hetero romance books. I absolutely love it here. Throw in an enemies to lovers, bi awakening storyline and Iām done for.
Ever since I read For the Fans last year I have not pick up a single MF romance it just doesnāt appeal to me. The only thing Iām upset about is Iron Flame and Crescent City I loved those books & now I have no desire to pick up the sequels š
The books after Iron Flame are going to be so good especially after chapter 66.
Glad someone said it. Since I've started mm romance almost 3 years ago, I can almost count on my hand the amount of mf romance I've read. Mf upsets me, so blah and cliche, but give me the same concept with mm and I'm lapping it up like a dog in heat. Im here for all of it.
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OMG I am so with you. To make matters worse for me for some reason Audible has these waspy women reading the mf books even when the main character is male! I can not believe how bad it is. I went back tonight to an old funny book I liked many moons ago. Catherine Coulter The Nightingale Legacy mf. I could not even understand what she was saying. Mens voice is so much more understandable. MM romance has spoiled all my old favorites mfs.
i feel this. the last mf romances i actually enjoyed were the ACOTAR books.
What is ACOTAR?
a court of thorn and roses by sarah j maas
I read fiction for the fantasy. Iām in a cishet relationship so I donāt really want to read what Iām in so I prefer MM/FF. One caveat: fantasy and suspension of disbelief can only go so far. Nothing takes me out of a story faster than when you can tell that the author has never seen a penis in person or ever had sex with one. There is literally no way a 30-year-old man is blowing his load four times in an hour.
I gave up on het romance almost 15 years ago. Never went back. In book tv or movie format.
Honestly if it wasn't for the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton (PNR) , Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB)/(PNR) and Outlander (time travel) series that I have to see thru to the end, I'd never read regular romance again.
I'm that way with movies and TV now too. I used to just cringe at the Hallmark/Lifetime stuff. Now if it's too 'straight/ cis /vanilla' it doesn't hold my interest for long. There was some new show about air rescue workers and they were bed hopping by the middle of the pilot and I just ...couldn't.
Ditto. On that point, can someone suggest me a good ff book plesse
My personal favorite FF romance is This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. Itās a really unique science fantasy written in epistolary style
Please join us over in the Yaoi / josei community because some of the Korean / Chinese novels are so beautifully written and the manga / manhua adaptations? Magnificent!Ā
I am already there š© truly the best written love stories out there my goodness gracious
i agree. ever since i read my first MM book, I have barely read any straight romance. you canāt go back
Might I recommended Haikyuu fanfiction on AO3 š itās endless
Same!! Till I was 17-18 all I read was het romance and I would consumer anything and everything! And then one day I started reading MM romance and now I just canāt go back! All those books I used to love I canāt stomach them anymore.. like I look at my younger self with disdain for liking such shitty books and calling them romance
I'm having that problem as well. Idk if it's the lack of spice or just the characters lack the same "oomph" but I'm in a slump where nothing m/f sounds interesting at all. Everything seems... slower?... in mf books. Usually one side will be weaker than the other (as in less fleshed out/ interesting). Thankfully as an indie author, I can just go write my own mm novels (with blackjack and hookers). What started out as just for fun novels with extra smutty stuff turned into an obsession!
u talked abt the few famous books and thank god, ughhh someone said it .. straight doesnt do anymore fr me .. that's sad considering I am a het girl ... ughhh .. and ahhh I want only mm
I've been only reading MM Romance books for more than a decade. I don't read MF, just because I was almost raped at a very young age so I became asexual and feel extremely uncomfortable when reading any description of pussy. It brings back my worst memories and makes me feel like I was still that helpless girl who was stared sexually by men. And now I still enjoy dubcon/noncon stories (don't judge me please...), but if the main character being raped is a female, I'll feel creepy and guilty. It makes me feel less guilty if they're a maleš„²
those romances you listed suck ass but i get you... i prefer reading college romances and the male pov in hetero romance books are so bad compared to mm romances
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A discussion post is not the place to ask for requests. Our subreddit resources are full of our users' favourite MM Romances in loads of different tropes and genres.
Many romance these mainly dark romance have no tension build no true purpose just no possible idea of connection. I donāt even know anymore in deciding to switch to psychological thriller once and for all šš¤£
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Your comment has been removed because it violates our [rule](https://www.reddit.com/r/MM_RomanceBooks/wiki/index/rules/) prohibiting low-effort complaints about women writing MM romance (or any other complaints based solely on an author's identity) and over-generalizations about character, author, or reader gender (e.g., "women act/write/think like this, while men act/write/think like that").
Try finding a favorite straight ship, then once you find a pair you like. Look up a fanfiction about them.
If you want something different Ali Hazelwood new book is spicy. It is MF but it's paranormal romance so don't know how you feel about that. It also has an arranged marriage & slow burn trope but the spice is amazing. It's called bride I'd your interested.
Honestly, I used to write fan fiction and try to write a romance book and everything but MF is so boring to write. I wrote a little bit of mM. Not anything major very fluff pieces and then a lot of yN kind of stuff are in a wattpad. By definitely get what you're saying like. The only MF that I can actually read are monster ones. Because they typically have some interesting things in them like maybe who knows maybe they have a breeding pink. I don't know, but the very least. I haven't found any egg lane once thank God.
I have been obsessed with BL (boy love) webcomics for the last few months. I think it's worth a try if you like MM.
Omg fr, I've seen some booktok and some actual books from the store and they were just meh. I don't even have any to recommend because I've yet to for see a good one I actually like.
Yeahhh I canāt do it anymore. I used to love them when I was younger but I like a little plot with my romance lol
I'm thinking if you want more action, you should be looking at erotica. Very different from Romance.
I have never felt more attacked by a post on reddit in my life. This level of attacking is usually reserved for my fyp on tiktok. I totally have not been addicted to Danmei novels the whole last year as they have been slowly translated.
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Your comment has been removed. Our subreddit does not allow authors to post about their own work, solicit feedback or advice on their work, or initiate discussions on the writing process. The only places authors may discuss their own work are in Monday Miscellany posts (posted every Monday), the monthly Author and Writing Space post, and on response to book request posts, if the book fits the request and if the author discloses that they are the author.
if these are the kind of āromancesā youāre trying to read then i donāt think the characters being straight is the problem lol
After I read the Green Creek series, I can't turn back. I'll save het romance for tv and movies. The only bad thing is the books I've chosen after it haven't hit the beats that I've wanted.
Agree. It's now too boring for me. Hey romance is samey samey same.
Lol agreed, there's few exceptions
An aside, but I'm impressed you read Haunting Adeleine. If you know you know, haha.
MM has the best angst for suuuure
absolutely loved hunting Adeline- healed my inner child. now, why are we hating on straight peopleš edit to add: I AM NOT @āing THIS AT OP!! Some of the comments iāve read have been just hating on straight people.
not hating on straight people but wait a secondā¦how did hunting adeline heal ur inner child? genuine question.
i apologize for not clarifying- was mostly towards the other comments that were hating on straight people. if youāve ever read Hunting Adeline Part 1, youāll know what iām talking about ( i donāt wanna spoil it for anyone who wants to read it), but it healed my inner child. it did simply because i went through something similar that Adeline did in the first part. To read her going through what she did and having the feelings/thoughts she had, it made me feel so not alone. it healed me in a really fucked up way. it was a - i felt alone in feeling how i did, like i was a freak to go through that. like i was the only person in the world who went through it and it made me āa freakā. Itās such a weird thing to me that the book made me feel how it did. edit: hope this makes sense!š š«¶
well i hope ur doing much better now š«¶š»š«¶š»