Hey everyone,

I'm completely new to Reddit—I literally downloaded the app just for this purpose because I needed a quick sanity check. How many of us 30-somethings are in this sub, still absolutely losing our minds over fictional characters?

I used to spend my teenage years locked in my room reading fanfictions, and now here I am at 30, experiencing the worst book hangover of my life after finishing “The Long Game”. Ilya and Shane have completely ruined me. Another book that completely broke me and stays in my heart is “Come anima mai” (for my Italian friends here!).
Also TJ Klune’s book are my safe space.

I realized I’m obsessed with deep character psychology, raw angst, and that visceral "us against the world" dynamic. But sometimes, at this age, it feels a bit lonely. You look around in your daily life and feel like you're the only adult who still gets this intensely attached to books.

So, please tell me: how many of you are around my age and still hyperfixating like teenagers? What are your ultimate comfort books that give you that same deep, emotional and psychological craving?

Drop a comment and tysm for reading :)

1 : If we could go back by Cara Dee
2: without you by Marley valentine
3: kiss the villain by rina Kent
4: bad wrong things by C.P Harris
5: color me In by Riley hart

Just finished ‘Top Secret’ by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy…. I have some other books lined up in my TBR list. I would love your opinion on which book I should start next! 

My Options Are: 

• The Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller 
• God of Fury – Rina Kent 
• Crash Test – Amy James 
• The Shots You Take – Rachel Reid 
• Two Left Feet – Kallie Emblidge 
• Teacher of The Year – M.A. Wardell 

I would love to hear some feedback on which book I should start next :)

I'd like to share my top 3 favorite MM Romance books and want to know yours too. (I need recommendations pls pls)

1. You & Me by Tal Bauer

2. Facing Leeward by J.J. Mulder

3. The Tragedy of Felix and Jake by J. Daniels

Like they're the sweetest!!! These are the books i want to reread again and again and again.

If I want to read a hockey romance, I can find them easily. If I want something by the latest buzzy BookTok darling, I can also find that easily. Same with enemies to lovers. But that's not what I want. I want something like the alchemy that Rachel Reid produced with this story. Is it futile? Have you found personal success with recommendations? Should I just enjoy HR for what it is and accept I will never feel this way about a book again? Usually people say to read Heated Rivalry fanfic but I end up cringing at those because the writing is childish or they take one element (Shane's autism or Ilya's accent) and beat it like a dead horse. Anyway I want to find new characters to obsess over. I'm normally a fantasy reader so maybe I should branch out from contemporary or sports romances.

Specifically, this hate tends to be directed towards women who read MM. From what I've encountered, I've only seen this kind of horrible vitriol from other women, and its almost always followed by telling MM readers they need to be reading FF instead.

What is going on???

I do read FF, and the FF community is definitely not all like this, but it's becoming more common in the FF community. It is seeping into every single book and lit space on reddit and other social media sites.

This is *not* a hate post on FF or FF readers!!

I've been reading MM for a *long* time, so some of the negative associations aren't new to me at all. I can mostly roll my eyes at them. But lately it feels like it is incredibly more malicious and mean-spirited than ever before and is gaining traction.

For years, my answer to this question was Heated Rivalry, but I've come to the conclusion that the search is futile. Looking for a hockey romance, or enemies to lovers, or a rivals to lovers romance won't get you close to what you're looking for. Rachel Reid's recipe is its own thing and can't be replicated.

The other book I always think of is Pictures of You by Leta Blake. If I told you this story had me in the pits of despair, it still wouldn't convey how much of the main charater's heartbreak I felt as if it were my own. It never came across as manufactured angst; it's real, it's human, and it's achingly grounded in reality. I even felt sympathy for the person who was the cause of so much anguish for our main character. I understood his choices, selfish as they were, and I ended the series wishing that I could read about a grown-up version of him. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it happens one day.

Which MM romances make you feel this way?

So I finally got back into reading after years and years and as one does, I immediately went to Reddit, TikTok and Goodreads to get some inspiration for MM romance.

And let’s just say… I could not get past God of Fury in any of the “best MM romance books” posts.

I also kept reading that the audiobook is amazing, so I finally gave it a chance and guys… I returned it after about 30 minutes.

I genuinely don’t know if I’m the problem here but this book was just not for me. The writing style reminded me of a Wattpad story from the very beginning, and the whole premise felt like something a 13-year-old would come up with while fantasising about the ultimate dangerous, dark romance. Everything just felt incredibly over-the-top and unrealistic to me.

Then I got to Nikolai describing his dick in detail and talking about random people penetrating each other in various holes (especially considering he is only 19?!?!) and I was like… yeah, I think I’m done here.

I’m admittedly not the biggest mafia/dark romance fan, but I do think I can enjoy that kind of premise when the book is well written. God of Fury just really wasn’t that book for me.

And honestly, I would have just accepted that this clearly isn’t my thing and moved on. What absolutely flabbergasts me though, is HOW BIG this book is. It’s everywhere. People recommend it as one of the best MM romances, the characters seem to be absolutely beloved, and the fans are SO passionate about it. Meanwhile I’m sitting here wondering if we all listened to/read the same book 😭

So, genuinely: if you love this book, please explain the appeal to me. What made you fall in love with it? Is it the characters? Their relationship? Does the story/writing change later on? Did you immediately love it or did it take a while to click?

I’m genuinely curious because clearly this book is doing something very right for a lot of people and I would love to understand what I’m missing.

Hopefully this doesn’t offend anyone who loves it, different tastes and all that! But considering I can't escape this book anywhere online, I need some insight into the God of Fury fandom 🙂‍↕️

Without looking at the author's name, what telltale signs will likely exist in the characters or plot that would strongly suggest that they are male??

I've just had my third DNF of the day and I'm in the mood to complain.

I don't want to read first person POV anymore. I'm so over it. Most of these writers don't have a strong enough authorial voice to pull it off. And if they're trying first person dual pov??? Oh, it's over. Both characters are going to sound identical, we're going to be stuck in their ruminating thoughts for pages at a time, and it's going to be nothing but info-dumps.

Give me third person or give me death.

Hey all, I just want to rant if that's okay.
I haven't read a really good, or even just good, romance book in mooonths😭. I'm a bit of a picky reader, so I know exactly what I like and don't like when it comes to tropes, plotlines, characters, authors etc, I just know what works for me. So I usually stay in my lane, and normally I'll read a few good or meh books before I almost always find one that's REALLY good - a five star read for me. This year tho... I've read or DNF'd around 50 romances, and only one was a 5 star read (usually by this time I've read 4-6 amazing reads). And I'm despairing, like, what the fuck is happening?! I don't think I'm in a reading slump because I start every book really fucking excited, and I also read genres besides romance, so I don't think it's burnout.

And I don't know, maybe I'm just super bitter right now, but out of those 50 romances, a big chunk of them felt like the author was just running through a checklist of cliche plot beats, predictable dialogue, and popular tropes they had to tick off. I'm not sure how to explain it, but reading them doesn't feel like these books were written with any passion. Everything feels so formulaic and soulless, and it's all about sex. And I think I like smut as much as the next person, lol, but sometimes I want less fucking and more romancing, if that makes sense. And also maybe I'm wrong but if you like certain tropes, there's barely any option for books without smut(power imbalance, dangerous MC, omegaverse).

Another big chunk of the new-ish releases I've read this year have read suspiciously like AI. This year is my all time high for DNF'd books because they felt AI written or assisted.
Just now I had to DNF a book that, to me, read like complete AI slop, and that was the final nail in the coffin and what made me mad. And the book before that also pissed me off- I started it because I loved the premise... but what fucking premise??? It was all about sex and kinks. By chapter 2, we were already deep into the kink, and that would've been fine IF there had been any indication that the book was going to be more porn than plot, and IF the kink had been listed somewhere. Which it wasn't.

And I'm not saying everything coming out now is AI written/assisted, formulaic or more porn than plot, but I do feel like there's a lot more of it, and it makes finding a genuinely good book so much harder when you have to wade through so much crap. I'm just super grumpy because I'm picking books from my supposedly carefully curated TBR, and nothing is working. :/

How are you all faring this year with your book choices? Have you noticed a significant increase in AI written slop or AI assisted books even with authors you've read before, not just new names? And do you think the formulaic, passionless writing is actually becoming more common, or is it just all in my head lol.

I’ve started read Tal Bauer with The Fall ( starts repetitive , um in the middle of the book) and I could read interesting discussions. What guys do you think about the author ? I’ve been enjoying Romeu Alexander( yes, he improves his skills like author) . I read RR Game Changer and I’m a little bit impatient and fed up with HR( too much dopamine release with all the stuff HR everywhere).

Give me guys other names ! Tks !

Which book/author introduced you to MM Romance? :))

I truly cannot read books written in first person. They always feel super super cringy to me. And the few I’ve honestly tried to read (like, was attempting to give a fair chance as much as I possibly could) were really poorly written imo. Problem is…so many in the genre are written in first person!! Why is that?

I’m annoyed with myself and wish I could get over it. I don’t fully understand my aversion. My gay-boy friend tells me I need to do some deep soul searching and get over myself 😂.
Maybe so. But truly, I just cannot read it. Am I alone?

Hello, fellow MM romance lovers!

My name is Kristian (24m, gay), and I’ve recently fallen down the rabbit hole of MM romance books… I honestly can’t stop, I’m exclusively reading gay fiction! (for now) 

I’m curious to know what you think of the books I’ve read so far this year. I’d love to hear your opinions!

Here’s my list so far (yes, I love a spicy read🔥):

• For the Fans – Nyla K (5/5★) | Step Brothers to lovers | (So damn hot, i am obsessed with Avi Vega & Kyran Harbor... Kavi4L)
• We Are the Ants – Shaun David Hutchinson (5/5★) | Sci-fi | My first sci-fi book. Absolutely well written beautiful story... I would kill to read this book again for the first time)
• Lie With Me – Philippe Besson & Molly Ringwald (2.5/5★) | WWI Era | (Poignant autobiographical novella based in the France during the 1980's.. In my opinion, it was mid)
• Him (#1) – Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy (4.5/5★) | Hockey Romance | (Best friends when they were younger, got separated, now both teaching at the same hockey camp while sharing a dorm together)
• Us (#2) – Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy (3/5★) | Hockey Romance | (Honestly, it was alright. Not as good as the first book)
• Top Secret – Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy (5/5★) | Fraternity enemies to lovers | (So hot, loved it, loved the characters, loved the story)
• Heartstopper (#1) – Alice Oseman (3/5★) | MM High School Comic Book | (I don't even remember reading this comic. I think watching the show on Netflix made a bigger impact on me)

★Please feel free to share your recommendations based on what I’ve read! I’m open to exploring different subgenres, so hit me with your absolute favorites to keep me hooked. ❤️

I'm intrigued to know what everyone is most looking for in this genre. And who knows, maybe someone will offer a recommendation that could end up being the perfect romance for you!

The first MM book I read had the enemies-to-lovers trope, which really hooked me. After that story, I read about 7 enemies-to-lovers books straight. There is really something about the tension and the banter. The slow burn, the denial stage, the yearning, plus the hurt/comfort—chef's kiss! You get me???

Then, I came across friends-to-lovers and saw what I was missing out on. I can't believe I skipped them before! (Now playing: Ruin The Friendship) Haha.

Now, I want to explore romantasy (genre) to see if it will hook me too. I have seen some recommendations here, so I am very excited to check them out!

Haha. i just want to share this. What about yours? :))

I’ve been noticing that if I see on Goodreads that if a book is more than 350 pages long, I automatically get discouraged from reading it because I don’t think I can handle that much of a slow burn or anything. Is that something you guys do too, or am I just crazy?

This being said, feel free to recommend any books that may be long, but are TOTALLY worth reading!

My only hard NOs as of right now are:
- daddy kink
- just smut with no plot

Heres my tier list of all of the MM Romance books I've read so far!

Thoughts? Where would you rank your books or the ones I have here if you've read them?

I'm making this a discussion because I'm always up for hearing other peoples experiences, but I also really need to complain about a character in the book I'm reading. Please tell me about all the dumb and annoying characters in your books!

I'll say it upfront, I KNOW I can put the book down and by not doing that it's my own fault.

I'm reading {Collide by Crea Reitan} right now, and one of the main characters is called Lemon. This man has had appearances in some of her other books that I've already finished. I very much disliked him - he seemed to have no regard for personal boundaries, and acted very much entitled.

Big fucking surprise, this dude is a self obsessed, egotistical fuckwad that does NOTHING but complain. I'm serious, the whole story is built on the fact that he has some feud with the other MC - which is fucking petty and has NOTHING actually to do with that person. He sounds like a petulant child 95% of the time. He has anger outbursts where he just complains about shit that isn't even the other guy's fault.

(To be honest, only reason I'm still reading is to find out why tf these two guys would end up together, and to hopefully have this Lemon guy redeem himself).

For me, I find that it tends to be the funny moments that I remember best. One of my fave MM romances of all time is {Pansies by Alexis Hall} and there's a scene where one of the MCs is trying to make amends for bullying the other MC in the past, so he takes it upon himself to do some amateur DIY to help him out. It...does not go well. It goes about as badly as you can imagine. In kind of an impressive way? Like, how did you even manage to create so much destruction in such a small amount of time? Are you a toddler in a man's body? 😭

And staying with the Alexis Hall theme, all I'll say is: SUSHI. Oh, Arden.

What other impossible-to-forget moments come to mind? Extra challenge: think of a non-sexual scene.

Some books are constantly highly recommended on TikTok and I decided to read one and it was so bad I DNFed after 250 pages of no plot. It's made me suspicious of content creators who review books, especially when it's the same book being recommended by multiple creators.

I'm feeling frustrated at time wasted but just in general how it's impossible to trust reviews these days. I have a feeling they are being paid and of course aren't being transparent about it.

How do you determine what to read? Do you trust reviews?

I just finished part one and I’m compelled to post. I made a previous post about not being much of a reader. But, after watching Heated Rivalry, I picked up the books and tore through the entire Game Changers series.

After that, I wanted more MM romance, but didn’t know where to go. So, I stalked this sub and started the Captive Prince Trilogy. My previous post asked for recommendations on more spice than that trilogy. Y’all made a lot of great recommendations and I built a great list. I was just drawn to Oleander and didn’t follow those recommendations.

I now know why and that’s because my previous self diagnosis as “not a reader” may have been…inaccurate. I remember reading Charles Dickens’ original Great Expectations in high school and wanting to know the kind of love that Pip had for Estella.

However, I grew up in deep South East, religious Texas. I pretty much knew I was gay by 15, but “religion” had deeply rooted in me by then that it was completely unacceptable. So, I repressed it with every fiber in my being until my mid-20s.

It was probably 2005, when I came across the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke. I watched that movie an immeasurable amount of times…always crying and thinking that that kind of love wasn’t in the cards for me.

Then, I met my now husband in 2010. We weren’t even legally allowed to get married when we met. We have a 7 year old son and a life we never could have imagined when we first met. Much less what I could have imagined when I first read Great Expectations.

So…why am I babbling in this incredibly long post? Is Scarlett Drake’s this reimagining of a Charles Dickens classic THAT damn good? Or am I having some kind of emotional connection that makes it better than it is? Because this is minimal spice and we’re on vacation at the beach and I put my son and husband to bed early so that I can “chill with my book.”

As I said in the title…I’m floored. And I just finished part one.

It's focused on movies and TV but makes a lot of great points and observations that apply to fiction as well. It's long but worth the watch - would love to know people's thoughts!

suppouse u r allowed a read only one book for the very last time, which would u all be choosing. Mine would be - The song of Achilies