Sometimes a negative goodreads review is a RECOMMENDATION.
Context: in addition to getting deep and nerdy about the PWHL (and following some Men Hockey Stuff), I’ve been reading Other Hockey Romances.
A Negative Review (I cannot remember if it was re @aribaran or @sbbarnes or the Ashlynn Kane+Morgan James writing duo): “ugh too many supporting characters”
Me: that’s going on the TBR list!
Now, a thing about me: I intermittently read romance novels but have a different relationship with 21st-century contemporary queer romance novels. There are historical m/f romances I would wildly prefer over Two Gays In A Context.
Until Heated Rivalry the show dragged me into hockey romances, I had a policy of not reading ANY contemporary queer romance written after 20O8-ish, because the Marriage Imperative became so strong with increasing feasibility (and the English language romance sector is extremely US dominated. If you were in the US pre Obgergfell maybe the twee gay romance complete with a marriage because it sure was set in a state that allowed that was cathartic! It wasn’t for me).
At some point years ago (somewhere between Obgerfell and Switzerland authorising marriage equality, and Aus marriage law changed in that period), I was reading T Kingfisher, Rose Lerner, Lydia San Andres, and KJ Charles in the romance/erotica zone, and I was ALSO reading Kerry Greenwood (mainly the Phryne Fisher books). Now, a lot of KJ Charles books are crime/mystery/thriller adjacent (AND often with magic!) and T Kingfisher’s romance books are set in a sorta-Pathfinder universe so have both magic and Worldbuilding.
What I realised is that i read romance and crime in the same way:
- I go feral for Good Historical Context
and while I enjoy magical shenanigans that’s not in my top two priorities. The equal first priority is
- Does this book have a special interest? I want to LEARN SOMETHING about something. There was a T Kingfisher book that taught me about perfume composition! There was a Kerry Greenwood book that taught me things about the history of cricket in Australia!
So I’m now reading Hockey Romances (misc), and I actively _want_ More Side Characters because the side characters fill in the stakes of the Hockey Plot, or the “life is not all Hockey” plot! I don’t think this would be a weird way to approach crime/mystery genre fiction, including erotic crossovers of same.
I might be reading romance fiction with the priorities of a specific subset of crime readers. Oops. HOWEVER, it turns out that m/m hockey fiction is actually pretty well optimised to Me, Specifically. I’ve learned so much about Hockey from the authors noted above (while cross-referencing PWHL and occasionally NHL podcast content).
I imprinted on at least one book from the Morgan:James duo and one from @sbbarnes. I’m only halfway through book 1 of @aribaran’s penalty box series and I suspect the book I Must Reread Compulsively is yet to come: what will keep me reading, however, is that I really enjoy the supporting cast and the Perspectives And Contexts Re Hockey. Because I read romance the same way I read crime fiction. HUH.
