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My Magazine > Editors Archive > cat3 > Book Review: Best Gay Romance, edited by Richard Labonté
Book Review: Best Gay Romance, edited by Richard Labonté   by T. R. Moss

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If you’re feeling romantic, are the type to enjoy sex in a field of flowers, enjoy shopping for baby items together, like lingering over every last detail of an all-consuming D/s affair, or just feel ready to fall in love and dive in completely, this anthology is for you.

Warning: cynics beware ‒ high cheese alert. These stories are unafraid to take on the most romantic of clichés and make them sexy (see the above romp in a field of flowers). Not all of these stories feature explicit sex scenes, although most do. This is a short, sweet collection of moving short stories about men in love. The entries are varied: falling in love and lust for the first time, men who enjoy the complicated desires fulfilled through the years with a long-time partner, and men whose romantic desires are more unconventional.

“Paws de Deux” by Jamie Freeman is a scrumptious bear-on-bear romance, ranging from a romantic poolside dance to Frank Sinatra to dirty sex in the field of flowers, and then sex in a secluded log cabin in front of the fire. It’s refreshing to read about such hot sex in the context of a long-term, complex relationship.

Jerry L. Wheeler’s “Templeton’s in Love” is a nostalgic, bittersweet story of two ex-boyfriends who had a nasty breakup. After several years apart, they rediscover their mutual attraction to the sound of a piano-playing jazz singer.

“Closer to the Sky” by G.A. Li is a sweet teenage love story about a carefree muscle-bound teenager romping at a beachside bonfire party with his best friend, as they finally realize their years-long lust for each other and have a sizzling hot exchange of blowjobs in the dunes.

“The Abbey” by David May and “Squeamish” by Simon Sheppard both tap into deeply romantic D/s connections, although each is from an opposite viewpoint.

The boy bottom in “The Abbey” is left by a true jerk of an ex, whose saving grace is that he leaves a great collection of leather magazines; the boy enjoys them and finds the Daddy of his dreams, who guides him through sensual fucking, beating, and collaring.

“Squeamish” isn’t nearly as rose-tinted. A leatherboy’s bitter ex spends his time obsessing about the salacious, ritualized, and humiliating beating-and-groveling activities the former boyfriend must be up to. It’s clever of Sheppard to combine the stomach-churning longing for knowledge about an ex with the craving for forgiveness. That story hits in the pit of the stomach but is so good it leaves you wanting to take another punch, like any good masochist.

L.A. Field’s “The Wanderer” is a new, touching take on a classic road trip/buddy story. The narrator is a teenage runaway with Kerouac in his back pocket. The older, blonde and tanned, deeply cool musician who picks him up to have a few weeks of deep conversation, adventures and fucking, returns the teenager back to his mom’s house once he realizes what’s up. There’s promise of a more serious long-term relationship as well ‒ not by any means a typical teenage runaway story.

“Guy Sydney” by David Holly definitely has its David Lynch moments, as the narrator is a hotel clerk stuck in a truly surreal job with atrocious coworkers. He meets an older, wealthy, and handsome rare book dealer who, as part of their slow burn of an affair, gives him an insider’s tour and education of rare books, and eventually hires him away from the terrible job. The slow seduction of the hotel clerk is compelling, but the truly sultry part of this story is the loving and rapturous descriptions of the antiquarian books.

Curl up with this cozy, seductive selection of heartwarming romantic stories. Deeply romantic erotica ‒ who’d have guessed? This anthology is full of the best combinations of sex and romance, and will satisfy your desires for both.