LB Gregg: Men of Smithfield series 1-4 First Impressions of M/M Romance

Other than the few, skimpy scenes scattered throughout the Black Dagger Brotherhood and Suzanne Brockmann's All Through the Night (which I'm not sure really counts), I've never read any m/m romance. Certainly not one with explicit scenes that are comparable to a traditional m/f romance. But the Twitterverse is filled with recommendations for this subgenre. I'm not knowledgeable enough to outline the difference between the m/m romance written for women and the m/m romance written for men. Nor am I really all that aware of the differences between m/m romance written by women. But, thanks to recommendations by Book Binge and Smokinhotbooks, I decided to give L.B. Gregg a try.

Wow. I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't to find an author with such a unique (and funny) writing style.  After reading 4 of her books, I have no doubt I'd recognize her work anywhere. I'm talking about the L.B. Gregg moment. Each book in the Men of Smithfield series has a moment where you stop and think "This right here is the reason I am reading this book. This bit of hilarity will stay with me forever." It's the toaster costume. It's the Bible whacking attack. It's the massage table orgasm. Little episodes with nearly slapstick humor, but I loved them.



I'm not a huge ebook fan. My ereader is my ipod touch and occasionally my laptop. But even someone who doesn't like ebooks should give these books a try. They are genuinely touching, with great characters, a little suspense, and quite a lot of laughs.

A few observations from a first timer...
 Mature characters seem to be more prevalent. Life after 30 seems to be rich, rewarding, and sexually active. In the m/f world, it's a rare thing to see a heroine over 30. Approaching it, yes. Past it? Not really. Maybe that's tied to the shelf life of a woman's uterus whereas that's generally not an issue in the m/m genre? It's a nice change and one I'd like to see more of in traditional m/f romance.

There doesn't seem to be a problem with age differences. At all. It's not even really mentioned except in passing. A 15+ year age gap isn't even eyebrow raising with these books. And while you see that a bit with historicals (Regencies in particular) it's getting rare in the contemporary m/f world. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is another one by Suze Brockmann.

The best recommendation I can give is that I read these so quickly--one after another--that I didn't stop to review them individually. They are addictive. I'm getting ready to try Josh Lanyon next, just to get a bit more knowledge about the genre.

I'll be reviewing the Men of Smithfield series individually next week!