New adult is not my genre. I mostly prefer historicals when I read romance. But occasionally, a book catches my eye and gets such good reviews that the curiosity monster who lives in my head and makes all my decisions just can’t be denied. This was one of those books.
I’ve also read m/m romances before, but they are by no means something I’ve read a lot of. This seems to be a very well done one.
There’s no doubt it’s new adult, because holy hell so much explicit sex up in here it allllmost qualifies as erotica, but it’s also really well written, and the characters are great and actually have emotional arcs and there is a plot, so it just doesn’t qualify. Those of you who are curious about more explicit books but are too embarrassed to admit you read them, this might be a good entry point because you can also say, but look! Characters! Responsible adult behavior! A really interesting coming out story! Exploring identities!
And hot hockey players making out with each other.
So yeah. Smutty. Lady porn, if you will, because the emotions of it are just as important as the sexy times. I stayed up until 1 AM to finish it.
I’ll probably read more by both of these authors. Elle Kennedy writes m/f new adult, and Sarina Bowen the same, mostly, although I know there’s a m/m tucked in to her Ivy Years series (also about hot hockey players making out with each other . . . . do I sense a fetish?). I already have the first book in that series downloaded, but I keep getting distracted by other shiny things.
I don’t know if I’ll be reading the second book in this series since my favorite part of romance novels is the getting together (or back together). Not sure I will be as interested in reading about their continuing relationship since the big conflicts have already been resolved, and to add any more into their lives would smack of contrivance to me, but I guess never say never.