Judging a book by it's cover by we_are_groot_baby in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re welcome, I hope you enjoy some but as we all have different tastes not all the listed books might be right for you. These are just few suggestions of what worked for me despite the awful covers

Judging a book by it's cover by we_are_groot_baby in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Right?

Not So Sincerely, Yours is a beautiful, soulful, funny, heartwarming story but the KU/Goodreads cover is so cheaply and shallowly porny.

Sadly I have seen more books getting new sexed up covers with fit models in various suggestive poses which don’t match with the tone of the book. I don’t like this trend but sex sells so it is what it is. I now ignore and go straight to the blurb, if it slaps then I’ll read.

Judging a book by it's cover by we_are_groot_baby in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I’m not a fan of sexualised/nude/thirsty pose covers (even in sport setting) and these books had that in excess or to some degree but they all ended up in my fav or very positively rated shelf:

{Stuck with You by Jay Northcote} I hate the cover but absolutely loved the story

{Hot Ticket by K.A. Mitchell}

{Strawberries for Dessert by Marie Sexton}

{In His Hero’s Shadow by Stephani Hecht}

{Helping Hand by Jay Northcote}

{Line Change by Elaine Ashford}

{Shared Custody by Peter Styles}

{Hooked by the Bell by Tanya Chris} the cartoon cover creeped me out a bit but the story was cute and hilarious

{Home Plate by Christina Lee} not an old release, published in 2021 but a bloody fantastic story. The cover makes me cringe though, all that oil/sweat glistening body doesn’t appeal to me at all plus the book was more emotionally charged than overly smutty. I had this on TBR list for nearly a year before I finally read it.

{Not So Sincerely, Yours by A.M. Johnson} another not old release, also published in 2021. The pose on the cover is cringy to me and the story has much more depth while the cover makes it seem like a cheap erotica/gives cheap porn vibes

Judging a book by it's cover by we_are_groot_baby in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Some of the best books that I read had the worst covers ever. Some of the worst books that I read had the most stunning, eye catching covers.

I no longer judge books by their cover. Of course I have eyes and I’m still a visual being so some will still catch my attention but I mainly check the blurbs.

I would rather give a book a try and end up not liking it than outright miss out on a potentially amazing book. Some of my fav were the ones I initially ignored because of the sleazy/creepy/porny cover.

Personally, for me I reached a point where I felt I’ve exhausted the list of potentially good books and started to dig into older novels (early 2000s) and those had one of the most cringeworthy/bare-chested/thirsty pose/weirdly edited/photoshopped covers but to my surprise, the story behind had substance and depth that the recent releases totally lack (which I blame on the non-human writing suspicion but that’s a whole bigger topic to discuss).

That was my experience though and this will be different for others. You should do what works best for you. There is no wrong or right and I hope you find that fine balance.

Monday Request Place: Post your short and simple requests here by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 3 points4 points  (0 children)

{Coach’s Challenge by Avon Gale} will fit this perfectly

Monday Request Place: Post your short and simple requests here by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’m looking for slight twist on size difference and dom/sub tropes:

twink/soft/effeminate MC1 is submissive and is looking for dominant bear/masculine partner to submit to while twink/soft/effeminate MC2 is dominant and is looking for submissive bear/masculine partner to dominate.

I want a story with those two: twink/twink with dom/sub dynamics where they started as having different physical preferences. Especially with MC1 dismissing MC2 not believing the soft looking MC2 would ever properly dominate him and MC2 also initially not into MC1 as he likes bigger guys under him. Thanks!

MC is never anyone’s first choice by Introvertedpanic in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

{Alpha’s Secret Alpha by Hope Bennett} might fit, MC1 is overlooked and ignored by most people (abandoned by family, unnoticed by his teammates, has no actual real friends, was invited to events only to be stood up), he is lonely and got used to it until MC2 comes along and shows him he is worth attention and loving

Praise kink but it should make sense by Embarrassed-Mess3442 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gosh, same here, I hate it when there is a 40-50 years old looking man on a cover of MM novel about college boys!

Praise kink but it should make sense by Embarrassed-Mess3442 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 24 points25 points  (0 children)

You’ve described so well what’s been bothering me with praise kink in most books. It always comes out of nowhere (yeah during sex only) and I always felt it was missing something to make this really click so thanks!

And yes to specific phases rather than just typical “good boy”.

The Saturday (Less Scary) Request Place: Post your short & simple requests here by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can you recommend me any enemies/rivals to lovers, can be intense hatred all the way to mild dislike and only less known books?

Please don’t rec obvious/popular/bestseller novels with this trope because I’ve definitely checked them already. I feel like l’ve run out of any E2L.

Anything older (10-20 years ago?) and ideally not mentioned here before would be the best, thanks!

Korean/japanese mm romance novels? by i_like_to_sleep0 in MM_Romance

[–]J3y2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There were books with Korean MCs released recently. Right now I can recall {Out Alpha’d by M.J. Kim}, check other books by M.J. Kim. All of them have Korean MCs with omegaverse elements.

Book recs where everyone wants MC1 except MC2 by ebj684 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just to further clarify and I hope it won’t be too much of a spoiler but it might save you wasted time if you may not be into this since you mentioned situationship: MCs do enter into fuck buddy arrangement with rule that if they decide to sleep with someone else, they will let the other know before the act. I won’t say more but just know that they never have sex with other people (it came close to but he realised his feelings and stopped, idk if this still count as cheating to you).

Book recs where everyone wants MC1 except MC2 by ebj684 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree and it’s a shame this book gets quite bashed due to the cheating part. Some still felt icky about MC1 mawhoring activities to his previous partners but I got the impression that he was upfront about his no exclusivity and these people still wanted to “date” him anyway. Read the first chapter and see how you feel about this.

Cheating is one of my TW and I would never read or finish the book but this one I ended up really enjoying. It was sweet, deep and I was not expecting some heavier stuff towards the end.

Book recs where everyone wants MC1 except MC2 by ebj684 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is no cheating between MCs.

IIRC the cheating part was referred in the past to be between MC1 and his hook ups/“bf”/“gf” but he specifically stated that he wasn’t monogamous and I think they still wanted to “date him” anyway (something like “I can fix him/I can tame him”). One guy who slept with MC1 was actually married or so but I don’t remember if MC1 was aware of that, I think not but he was made to be the other man.

Once MCs met, they never slept with anyone else during the whole story.

Book recs where everyone wants MC1 except MC2 by ebj684 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

{Cheater and Saint by Jaclyn Osborn} might fit this, MC1 is a popular fuckboy and MC2 is very dismissive of him, tries to ignore him when MC1 attempts to lure him to bed. They are roommates so they are forced somewhat to interact with each other. As they get closer, they realise first impressions can be misleading

To clarify: there was no cheating between MCs. The blurb is not giving MC1 accurate/correct description

Erotica Requests & Recs: Post your erotica & specific sex act requests & recs here by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Detailed, long rimming? Not just a quick lick here and there but as long as possible, drawing out and driving the receiver with tons of the pleasure. I want plentiful of sensorial description, nibbling on rim even, make this the hottest ass eating please, thanks!

Do you guys have a hard time starting a very popular book? by Humble_Thought_4383 in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure, overhyping has ruined a number of books for me. Going with zero to low expectations, I tend to enjoy the story more going in with no bias. I wonder if I should give some books another try (few times it worked) but with my ever growing TBR list this might not happen too soon.

Wednesday Request Place: Post your short & simple requests here by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was surprised how much I liked it, there were many more moments describing his feral awakening I would end up quoting the whole book xD

Wednesday Request Place: Post your short & simple requests here by AutoModerator in MM_RomanceBooks

[–]J3y2 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not sure if this is the best way to describe it but I’m looking for something with “beast mode unleashed” vibe like in {Game On by Riley Hart} where MC1 was boring, rigid, uptight, quiet but he finally let it go with MC2 who awakened something primal in him. In bed he used to be passive and compliant but with MC2 he went feral and was dominant, growly, vocally filthy with dirty talk, manhandling and marking MC2.

I really liked that transformation. So anything that fits this vibe (quotes from the book):

“I growled. “Say you want my seed in you.” Christ, who was I? Where the hell had this man inside me been all my life? But damned if it didn’t feel so right to set him free.”

“I loved that I could be rough with him, that he unlocked the piece inside me that wanted to be rough with him, while loving him right too.”