The temptation to review…

When I created this website, my intention was to not focus on reviewing books. Instead my intention is to promote books that I have enjoyed. If a book doesn’t grab me, I don’t post it.

But the challenge is when a book falls into that middling territory. I finished the book, didn’t hate it, have a few quibbles, but decide to go ahead and post the book. And in those cases I might reference something that I struggled with. Sometimes I just let folks decide for themselves. I read a LOT of gay lit. If I read a book that is similar to many others, it can feel tiresome – though if it had been the first of those similar books to be read, I might have liked it just fine. I’m aware that this is all incredibly subjective. A book might put me to sleep simply because I’m tired and no fault of the author. So I try to allow a little grace if the book is otherwise generally appealing.

Another challenge is when a book is mostly great, but there is a fatal flaw in the storytelling. There have been a number or reads over the last year that I have loved, till I didn’t. It is incredibly frustrating when a book might have been fantastic, except for some horrible author choices. IMHO

I do have a few pet peeves:

1. Remarkably stupid main characters. Flaws can make a character more interesting. But when the cluelessness gets so silly that it throws me out of the reality of the story, I eventually put the book down. It starts to feel like a plot directed by an author instead of choices of the characters.
2. Amoral protagonists. I need to want to spend time with these people. If the characters are without redeeming features… if I would actively avoid them in real life, I don’t want to spend ten hours of my leisure time with them. It’s fine if characters start in one place and grow. But even then, I really need to find some commonality with them. I’ve no interest in reading about serial killers, pedophiles, criminals… from their point of view. I struggle to come up with sufficient empathy to finish the book. As much as I want to empathize with those who make bad choices, ultimately they are choices. And I don’t want anything to do with feeling empathetic with those actively choosing to hurt others.
3. Stereotypical treatment of gay folk. I can’t tell you how many m/m romances whose main character is a soft, willowy, submissive bottom, who falls for a big, burly, masculine top. Not saying that those relationships don’t exist, but all too often they are intentionally written that way to appeal to female readers and reinforce societal stereotypes. It is simply not an interesting approach to character creation. I struggle to stay interested in those books. Especially when the author attempts to describe m/m intimacy and clearly has no knowledge of how it works. It just gets ridiculous.
4. Long-winded sex scenes. I love a well-written bit of steam. But if it goes on for longer than a page without revealing additional character, plot, or relationship information, a sex scene can get tedious.

In those situations, part of me wants to write a blistering review… to warn people away from the book. But that is not what this site is about. I simply do not include those books among the titles that I have enjoyed.

(The art up top is an illustration I created for my book Olly, Olly Oxen Frey. One of the characters employs climbing roses as security guards for their home.)