Review: stereotypes
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 12 14, 2012
Raving reviews from the very vocal fanclub aside, this M/M romance is not bad: well thought of, well written, with a consistent plot and likeable characters.Its only -unfortunately huge- problem is its being supposed to be M/M: as such it is completely, utterly, incredibly wrong.An M/M romance does not work like that. Well, it might apparently work like that for lady-readers (I suppose those who do not really know how gay men think) and it is not by chance that all five-star reviews come from women. As a gay man I have found it entirely off.The two lovers are not fems, but they reason, they act, they take decisions like a woman would. Their sexuality is feminine because of how they stress some aspects of their relationship and not others. It is a very well known fact that what makes women tick -especially sexually- is entirely different from what makes men.Take the first stereotype: Jordan is a business shark and he needs to let his hair down. It is a stereotype, but it is a well-loved one because it is conducive of good character interaction.He meets Ryan who was a shark but gave up on that life -second stereotype, a little less good for the plot, but still acceptable.Of course Jordan innerly craves not just to relinquish control -third stereotype, very obvious- which would be more than understandable. To relinquish control he needs to be dominated... ehm... -fourth stereotype, very unnecessary bordering with the cheap-.First of all I have an issue with this dom/sub thing that so many lady authors seem to love (BDSM gay male authors write entirely different things: not necessarily better, different), but this is a personal taste and can be bent if the author is good enough to handle it deftly.But what is the kernel of this dominance/submission thing? It is Jordan's learning to ask for things nicely instead of demanding them as he is used to do. This is a very feminine thing. It is the role play of the naughty boy vs the strict school mistress. Most women relish the spoken word, even sexually. For men it is a situation which is intriguing, not the words used to describe it.You think I am wrong? There is a humongous scientific literature stating the widely accepted and acknowledged differences between male and female sexualities. If you do not have much time, just give a short look to Ian Kerner's A Billion Wicked Thoughts or to any sex-health handbook you happen to have on your shelf.This is the reason for the one-star. As a straight -or perhaps even as a lesbian- romance it could have worked quite well and very little changes would be needed.