There were some authors here whose work I’ve read before and thoroughly enjoyed. Burgoine’s Range of Motion, Bright’s What a Coincidence, and Wheeler’s own introduction (if you haven't read one of Wheeler's introductions before, you're missing out), they were all keepers for me. But what really impressed me were the number of authors I'm only just now discovering whose stories I enjoyed, like Bishop's Wilde, which spoke to the Urban Fantasy geek in me, and McFerren's Firebrand, which spoke to my appreciation for plot twists done right, and Rabushka's Crewman, which spoke to my...well...cause honestly sometimes gay romance is less about dinner and flowers and more about sweat and paint brushes.
The book was chocked full of great boy-meets-boy/man-meets-man stories and those are always fun. But the stories that spoke most to me were the ones about the long-term relationships. Maybe it's just the age I am now or the number of years invested in my relationship, but the stories that stood out to me were those that had lasted past the first meet-and-greet (or meet-and-grope as the case may be) into something deeper and longer lasting. Seaton’sContinuum and Blackburn’s The Second Time Around were two that I really enjoyed, but the one that touched me most, tucked away in the middle of the anthology, was The Essentials by Vinton Rafe McCabe.
A wonderful little slice-of-life piece about two men spending a Saturday afternoon together watching TV and telling each other stories they’ve told one another countless times before. The honesty, the richness of detail, the effortless simplicity of the narrative drew me in and once it ended I discovered I didn’t want to leave these two men or their perfect day quite yet. A lovely, lovely story.
Men In Love: M/M Romance is a good one if you like M/M Romance or even good old gay romance done right.
No comments:
Post a Comment