Book Talk Review; Male/Male

I am riding a high like I've never experienced before. 

"All I had to do was write a book about him. All I did in the end was fall in love with him..."

Talon Cooper is a struggling young writer who decides to enter the male/male, or gay romance, genre to expand his horizons. Alexander Mendes is an established gay fiction author who takes Talon under his (muscled) wing to introduce him to the vibrant LGBT+ world and ensure he approaches the subject respectfully.

As two old friends get closer and long-repressed feelings start rising into the light, life starts imitating art in a way Talon never expected – because he is not just writing his first gay love story anymore. He is living it in real life.

“All I wanted to do was write about Alexander and his world. All I wanted was to capture his unique magic and hope to do it some justice on the page – but now I have been taken prisoner by that magic. My muse has become my master, and I have no idea what to do about it…”

*Warning: lately I have come across many “warning labels” accompanying books about two men who love each other. Consider this an un-warning label. The fact that these “warnings” exist at all is why I have dedicated my adult life to pushing diverse stories out into a world that is still so judgmental and puritanical, it requires disclaimers for stories containing love between two humans who do not happen to be male and female. To “warn” of something is to indicate that it is somehow wrong or shocking or taboo, and that mindset is frankly dangerous. We don’t need to be warned about love. In nations only a plane ride away, gay men are being rounded up and killed – please do not contribute to this notion that associates homosexuality with shame and scandal. Love is never wrong or shocking. It is just love.  

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Before I go into my actual review I have to say that the "un-warning" almost did me in. I already knew I was going to buy and read this book, yet I am the type of person that will read a blurb multiple times before I actually start the book, and sometimes I'll stop in the middle of the first or second chapter and just go back to the blurb. I am a blurb whore. I love blurbs. 

So when I read the un-warning I teared up and knew that what ever was in the pages of the book, it was going to be beautiful. 

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Book Talkers, I've been doing this a long time. Almost three and a half years if we want to get technical. And I've been reading since long before that. I've been apart of the indie world for six years. But, never have I ever felt this type of high. Never have I ever felt that I was saying goodbye to my favorite people. I fell in love so hard and so fast that it shocked me. Male/Male easily became one of the top books I have ever read. 

The only book that ever made me feel this much was Straight by Seth King. (You can read that review here) Is it a coincidence that my two absolute favorite books are by the same author? I don't think so. Let me tell you  why: 

Seth King writes from his soul. He pours so much of himself into every single thing he writes that it's almost amazing to think he has anything left. But he does, because he emits a beauty that I have never seen before. And I feel blessed as a reader to be able to read and enjoy these pieces of him. 

Male/Male is a story about two people who fall in love. And that's it. They meet, they fall in love, and they try their hardest to live in a world that has problems with accepting that love. 

I've read tons of M/M books this year. Most of the 81 books on my Goodreads profile are books about the love between two men. I've dug myself deep into the LGBT+ world. But those are works of fiction. And while Male/Male is also a work of fiction; it isn't at the same time. It's so much more. 

Male/Male is a love story. A pure true love story set in the reality of our society. And that, that is what makes it the best love story. It's real. The love is real.  And in the end, that is the most important thing.

I don't think I've ever loved two characters more. I don't think I've ever fallen in love so hard so fast with a book. Like always Seth's words touched something inside me-something I can't even begin to explain.

I had fun reading this book. It's been a long time since I met two characters who just breathed life and loved and were perfectly amazing. I laughed, I teared up, I loved. I cannot wait to read it again and that rarely happens. Very quickly it threatened to knock Straight off it's pedestal. And that shocked the hell out of me as I loved Straight like I've never loved a book before. 

I don't know how he does it. Each and every time he make me love his work more. Seth King make me admire his work more with every single book.  

I connected with Talon in a way I haven't connected with a character before. He's a writer, I'm a writer. His thoughts and feelings about the struggles that come with our chosen profession struck a chord so deep inside of me. 

Alexander-I fell in love with him right away. He just breathed life and love and my heart filled with so much joy and love for him. For the both of them. 

Seth King made me fall in love. I didn't fall in love with a book. I didn't fall in love with it's characters. I fell in love with the people that made up this beautiful love story. 

*Quote-

"The most important love you will ever find is love for yourself, but if someone nudges you along that road, good for you. It's all still love in the end." -Talon 

"I feel more alive than I ever have, but then again, maybe none of us are really alive until we smack into our soul mates." -Talon 

-Abri