When RJ invited me to join in her Ten Year Anniversary celebration, my first thought was wait, how can it be ten years already? RJ and I each found our way to this community at roughly the same time, and I can count her debut novel, Oracle, amongst my own earliest M/M romance reads. I’m so honored to be here with all of you today.
I’ve always been a firm believer in the idea that we are, in some ways, a pastiche of the books we consume; that we carry bits and pieces of wisdom forward with us, whether it be inconsequential or monumental, from everything we have read over the years. Yes, we may forget characters’ names or remember only certain specific points of a book, the further removed we are from the reading, but oftentimes we can recall—with a fixed and distinct clarity—how a story made us feel, how it shaped new perceptions, and there is no greater compliment I can give to any book than to carry its emotional essence and resonance with me in my memories.
Two of the questions I’ve been asked most often over the past decade are, “Do you remember your first M/M romance?” and “Why did you read it?” The answer to the first question is yes, I absolutely do remember—it was Jane Seville’s Zero at the Bone, and to this day the book holds a special place in my heart. The answer to the second isn’t quite as simple. What drew me to it, why I decided to give that book in particular a try, wasn’t that its protagonists were both men but that it was the first time I could recall ever seeing a novel, in any genre or subgenre, with two men presented on the cover as clear romantic leads. It was an absolute departure from what I was consuming at the time—a hodgepodge of Horror and Fantasy and non-fiction with some M/F romance mixed in—so it may have been simple curiosity that drew me to it. This book was something new, something different, and the blurb ultimately won me over. I’ve since gone on to read Zero at the Bone more than half a dozen times since 2010, it remains a sentimental favorite, and I give it full credit for leading me to read and review thousands more books featuring LGBTQ+ characters in the decade since.
Happy Anniversary, RJ, and may you continue to be inspired for many years to come!
Lisa
The Novel Approach Reviews
Giveaway: I’m offering one lucky reader the opportunity to win a $10 (US) Amazon gift card, which RJ has generously offered to match. To enter for a chance to win, please share your first M/M romance read and tell us what made you decide to read it.
Cut & Run by Abigail Roux and it was recommended to me!
I loved Zero to the Bone! Now I’m going to have to reread (this is why my TBR pile never gets any smaller…) According to my GR list, Like Coffee and Doughnuts by Elle Parker was my first, followed quickly by Like Beer and Pizza and then Cut and Run (at that, as they say, was all she wrote.) I wish I could remember how I picked it up – my previous reads were nearly 100% M/F PNR and UF, It must have come up on some blog, but I really can’t remember. If I had known it would end up sparking my interest in what would become the majority of my reading, I would probably have written it down😊
OMG! I can’t remember my first M/M Book… My first M/M read was actually a fanfic, a 1D fanfic if you can imagine, back in the days when you read fanfic either on Facebook or Wattpad.
I read it as a joke, but it felt so right!
If I had to choose a book that made me fall definitely with the genre and never look back… I will have to say Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.
I know, i know…
The book is about a girl and a boy falling in love, but Simon and Baz captured my heart and waiting (and finally reading) Carry On was one of best things ever!
There have been many amazing writers and stories that have made fall in love with this genre and it’s couples and HEA, and discover there is more to the world than black & white, but if I have to choose just one book that sent me on this journey it would be Fangirl.
Well actually my first MM romance wasn’t a book. I got into MM romance when I watched Junjo Romantica. I really loved it. So I started reading yaoi manga and then discovered MM books from there. I don’t know what the first actual MM book was.
My first MM romance was Mavericks Mate by Lynn Hagen. I was downloaded free book on Amazon and downloaded it. I didn’t realize it was a MM book until I started reading it. Once I started I was hooked.
I read “Maurice” by E M Forster after I watched the film and that was years ago I can’t remember! Then I read a M/F book and the secondary character had a Boyfriend and that part of the book was so much better than the M/F part. Then I went on the Internet and found Torquere and brought 42 days by Willa Okati and that was it I was addicted to M/M books.
It was Hellbent by Sara Rayne. It’s a motorcycle club romance and is part of a series. The rest of the books were MF and I was so invested with the characters and I was curious. Haven’t looked back since. 🙂
Dumb luck- I was looking in a women’s magazine and in the back was an advertisement for author Andrew Grey’s Love Means series. I decided to try it and I have been hooked ever since.
Mine was Cut & Run by Abigail Roux, I stumbled across it and have been hooked ever since.
I was getting tired of the repetitiveness of heroines in MF books and stumbled upon MMF. From there it was easy to cut the F out of the equation 😀 first books were by Stormy Glenn 🙂
I had read some gay-themed books in college, like David Leddick’s MY WORST DATE and the erotica book TRICKS, but they weren’t really romances. I enjoyed slash fanfic about music and hockey, but the first official m/m book I read was Marie Sexton’s BETWEEN SINNERS AND SAINTS.
The Last Herald-Mage trilogy way back in high school, I was already in love with Mercedes Lackey’s Heralds of Valdemar series and once I dove into Vanyel’s story I was hooked on the MM genre.
It’s hard to remember the first book but I’m pretty sure it was Slow Burn by Sam B Morgan. No turning back after that.
I was probably introduced to MM by reading Suzanne Brockmanns Troubleshooters series, that has a MM couple in the series. Then my first MM was RJ Scott’s Texas series, which I loved and then I branched off from there.
I’m pretty sure my first MM book was Fair Game by Josh Lanyon. Pretty much opened my eyes to a whole new world. Never looked back.
Probably Slow Burn by Sam B Morgan. Had no idea how steamy MM could be.
I think it was the Cut and Run series by Abigail Roux. I enjoy military and cop characters and I love comedies. When I used the search engine on a website that is no longer in business, Cut and Run popped up and I decided to give it a try. I will read anything as long as it sounds like a good read.
I don’t know what it was. I started looking when I was a teenager, but there wasn’t anything in my small town. I found a gay section in the library when I went to university in Vancouver.
the Anita Blake series first introduced me to MM and Travis by Nicole Edwards was a definite eye-opener (I really wanted Kylie to get out of Gage and Travis’ was!) but my first tru MM book was Try by Ella Frank
I really wish I could remember my very first MM romance as that question gets asked a lot. What I do remember is that I got to MM stories by way of MMF books. In particular, Samantha Kane’s Brothers in Arms series which also includes at least one MM story. That series also sparked my interest in MM historical romance. Happy publishing anniversary to RJ, I love her books!
the first mm romance was the first book of charlie cochet’s thirds series, on the advice of a friend and I immediately fell in love with the genre
the first mm romance was the first book of charlie cochet’s thirds series, on the advice of a friend and I immediately fell in love with the genre
a book w/ 2 holiday related stories-to all a (very sexy) good night. I had thought the stories (one historical, one contemporary) sounded interesting I was curious to give the genre a try and won this in a giveaway.
I love that; ‘…the idea that we are, in some ways, a pastiche of the books we consume; that we carry bits and pieces of wisdom forward with us, whether it be inconsequential or monumental, from everything we have read over the years.’
The first mm romance I read: Flipping for Him by Jeff Adams. I loved it and never looked back!
Like so many of the readers above, I transitioned from MF to MMF to dropping the F! The plots seemed so much ‘deeper’ and more engaging. I think the whole concept of homophobia was so foreign to me I still am trying to understand it.
I really don’t remember what book it was. I started reading mm on the internet then a friend sent me a few books he had. I was shocked at the different genres there were when I got my first Kindle and started exploring and following different authors.