Gay male romantic fiction continues to be a top read for me—I find myself more emotionally vested in their lives, as opposed to the heterosexual counterparts. I watch these couples meet, fall in love, and attempt to have a relationship amidst the insecurity, prejudice, and fear that often taints their lives, regardless of setting. I love watching them come to terms with themselves and each other beyond the bedroom. More often then not, the trope is a gay or bisexual man who is comfortably out of the closet who falls in love with a straight man who is so far in the closet he can’t find his way out. There is a faint forbidden vibe that clings these stories that only adds to the excitement.
Here are five hot male couples that hooked me as I followed their path from lust to love:
Josh Lanyon’s Adrien English and Jake Roirdan, from The Adrien English Mysteries, caused a lot of heartbreak and anxiety as I watched the story and romance unfold. There are five books in the series:
Fatal Shadows
A Dangerous Thing
The Hell You Say
Death Of A Pirate King
The Dark Tide
A classic gay love story/mystery series about a gay bookstore owner, Adrien English, whose penchant for mysteries places him in the hot seat when he is suspected of killing his best friend. Detective Jake Roirdan is one of the detectives in charge of the investigation, and the sparks fly when he and Adrien meet. While Adrien is openly gay, Jake is firmly in the closet and views his biexuality and attraction to Adrien as an affront to himself and his sensibilities. The series follows their on- and off-again relationship as Adrien falls in love with Jake, who bpoth embraces and rebuffs him. You will find yourself laughing and falling in love with Adrien as you plan the murder of Jake, repeatedly through out the series.
“He never lied to me. I just didn’t ask the questions I didn’t want to know the answers to.”
Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban’s Ty Grady and Zack Garrett, from the Cut & Run series, is a favorite of my partner’s, Mandi from Smexybooks. The series are romantic suspense with action-packed plots, along with an emotional romance that tears at the heart. There are four books in the series with more to come.
Cut & Run
Sticks & Stones
Fish & Chips
Divide & Conquer
Here we meet sexy, sexy FBI agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett. Ty and Zack are the exact opposites in every way, yet they are put together on an important case when two fellow FBI agents are killed. Both Ty and Zane carry deep emotional scars that have them behaving towards each other in the most obnoxious and hilarious ways. You want to hug and smack them both. Ty is suffering from PTSD, while Zane is still mourning the passing of his wife and is a recovering alcohol and drug addict. Neither deals well with their emotions, and when their attraction for each other becomes the elephant in the room, we watch as two very dominant men struggle against their feelings for one another. As the series progresses, we watch in hope and agony as they fight their own individual demons in order to secure a life together.
“Zane was starting to piss him off again. Which was good, he supposed. It meant the urge to lick him all over was passing, at least.”
LB Gregg writes the very cute and funny couple, Caesar Romano and Dan Greene, in her Romero and Albright series. Gregg has a way of drawing you into the story and takes you down a well-written path filled with laughter, romance, and some extremely eccentric characters. There are currently two books in this series:
Catch Me If You Can
Trust Me If You Dare
Gallery assistant Caesar Romano is out of the closet and ready to take on the world...as soon as he leaves his Nana’s spare room. Just out of a relationship, he swears off men for good. His galley is promoting a show that will either make or break him. When a valuable sculpture goes missing, he is greeted by the maddening, sexy, and “oh so available” PI Dan Greene, but Caesar ain’t buying. When Caesar finds himself up to his eyebrows in blackmail, glitter, and clowns....Caesar realizes that Dan may be the one for him after all.
“Warning: This book contains graphic language, sex, lies, intrigue, clowns, kleptomania, anal sex, oral sex, mutual masturbation, bad driving, good cooking, and the missing head of a Justin Timberlake statue. Not for the sour of disposition.”
Kele Moon’s Eden series is an emotionally turbulent erotic romance that introduces us to lovers Danny Carlow and Paul Mattling. This story addresses the subject of abuse and the darker side of BDSM. so I will warn you that this series is not for those with triggers or the faint of heart. There are currently two books in the series, though Finding Eden is actually a prequel to Beyond Eden.
Beyond Eden
Finding Eden
Danny Carlow and Paul Mattling are best friends, yet complete opposites. Danny is an angry spoiled young man who struggles to find his place in life, while Paul is an all American, clean-cut young man whose life is seemingly perfect on the surface. Paul has a secret, though, that leaves him feeling ashamed and depraved. Danny’s lifelong attraction to Paul is only curtailed by his attraction to Eve Everton. When Eve leaves town to follow her dreams, Danny accidentally stumbles upon Paul’s secret, and soon the men embark on an intense passionate affair—an affair that threatens to destroy everything they hold dear. What drew me to this couple is the pain they have both suffered and how they each cope differently with it. Their journey is a long one, filled with many pitfalls. Your heart breaks for them over and over.
“Tasting what could have been—what should have been—didn’t make it easier.”
Tere Michaels’s Evan Cerelli and Matt Haight have to be my favorite m/m couple out there. First introduced in Faith and Fidelity (#1 in her Faith, Love, and Devotion series), Detective Evan Cerelli has recently lost his wife and finds himself unable to cope with the grief of losing the only person he has ever loved. Former detective Matt Haight is a ladies’ man—a real “love ’em and leave ’em” kind of guy who develops a midlife crisis when he retires from the force. When they start getting together and talk, the friendship begins to morph into something deeper, something that scares both men and turns their lives upside down. There are three stories in the series:
Faith and Fidelity
Love And Loyalty
Duty and Devotion
The appeal of these books are their genuine realism: Two police detectives, both straight, who find themselves attracted to one another. An attraction that builds from friendship. Evan’s family and friends are viable presences and each bring something to this burgeoning relationship.
“Helena caught the look that passed between the two men and it was beautiful…the only word she could think of was beautiful. It was love and lust and such a tender expression of care she wondered if they had any clue how lovely it was to see...”
So tell me, what gay male couples have a permanent spot on your bookshelf and/or e-reader?
Tori Benson, Smexybooks and at Twitter.
