I’m getting ready to review Rough Canvas by Joey W. Hill. This is the latest book in her Nature of Desire series. It’s also a m/m romance.
Now if you asked me two or three years ago if I would ever read a m/m romance, I would have said no way in hell. It wasn’t that I just all of a sudden decided I wanted to read a m/m romance. When I really started going beyond my comfort zone was when I read Natural Law by Joey W. Hill. Before that book, I had read some BDSM, but not much. What I had read, I didn’t particularly like. I loved Natural Law. So I read all the books in the Nature of Desire series. Some I liked more than others. Natural Law is still my favorite in the series. Anyway, when Rough Canvas came out, I had to read it. Not only was it part of the Nature of Desire series, one of the heroes was a character from a previous book.
I really enjoyed Rough Canvas. I guess I had this vague thought that I would feel uncomfortable reading it, but that wasn’t the case. It was a romance, just like any other romance I’ve read. Still, it was reading out of my comfort zone b/c I didn’t know what to expect.
Which brings me to my questions…have you ever left your reading comfort zone? What book(s) took you out of that comfort zone?
I recently read an e-book by Crystal Jordan that was ffm menage. It was different. Do not think I will go there again, but it was different.
I have not read anything by Ms Hill yet but I have Mermaid’s Kiss in my tbr pile.
Yes, it was called tree sex.
Just started reading m/m in the last year. Never thought I would but I like it.
Mermaid’s sex…..I mean Mermaid’s Kiss is in my TBR thanks to a friend sending it to me. I’m working my way up to it. lol
Yes, I have left my comfort zone when it comes to reading. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the book, The God of Small Things, there were certain aspects, such as child molestation and incest, that really bothered me. I’ve kept the book, but I’m not sure I’ll ever read the whole thing again.
Oh, and I just remembered another one that crossed the boundary of my comfort zone. John Cleland’s Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure had a lot of scenes that were too much for me as I’m not a big fan of orgies or reading about prostitution.
Like Tracy, I’ve only just started reading m/m romance in the last year.
I was introduced to Joey Hill’s Nature of Desire series via a guest opinion by Ms Hill at Dear Author, which led to me reading the excerpts for both Natural Law and Rough Canvas. As Rough Canvas is not yet in print (I’m lagging a bit and can’t read eBooks – YET! 🙂 In the interim, I have bought (but not yet read) Natural Law – I’m waiting for a day when I will not be disturbed by various man-made (read family) disasters.
m/m romance doesn’t feel out of my comfort zone, but the BDSM aspect in the Nature of Desire series will be. I have read some fan-fiction that was heavy on the humiliation, something that I am not at all comfortable with. However, after after discussing the Nature of Desire series with Ms Hill I am not worried about that aspect appearing in her books.
I actually found the excerpt for Round Canvas rather fascinating and am so looking forward to reading the book!
I can’t say that I have come out of my comfort zone as much as many of you have but I am much more open now than when I was younger.
At one time I wouldn’t have thought of m/m romance being something I would want to read but Brockmann broke that door for me – I haven’t actually read Jules story but I wasn’t upset like others were that it would be told. I had to stop reading Brockmann because I would go through withdrawal after one of her books – now that Jules has a HEA I’m thinking it’s time I started reading her again.
I think vampires, werewolves etc were once way out of my comfort zone. I know the first werewolf story I ever read had me scratching my head and wondering way too many things. I still wonder but now I love series with these creatures.
For me, if someone says you just have, have, have to read this book and I see that other romance readers love it then I usually pick it up, even if I know there might be something in it that I haven’t encountered before.
So here’s to being open to new reading grounds 😉
CindyS
I came (back) to reading romance novels via fanfiction. So I already had read a lot craziness. I don’t remember what I thought when, for example, I read my first m/m fanfiction, but some of my favorite stories were m/m stories then. The problem now is they are mostly e-books (or expensive).
I don’t know about the comfort zone thing. There are individual books that gross me out and/or cross my boundaries but when it happens, I see it as one book and not as a whole genre that’s out of my comfort zone. That tree-sex book might be a good candidate for that.
I think my comfort zone is pretty large 😀 I’m always open to new genres or topics. However, there are topics I don’t want to read – BDSM, F/F, fetishes. I don’t see it as a matter of comfort zone; I have read books with some of those in the past and it didn’t bother me overly. I just wouldn’t seek books that deal specfically with that because I’m simly not interested.