Take (Temptation Series #2) by Ella Frank or Why straight woman like reading M/M books.

Posted July 25, 2014 by Karen in Book Reviews, Discussion Sessions / 5 Comments

17798654Title: Take (Temptation Series #2)

Author: Ella Frank

Genre:  Contemporary Romance 18+

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Sexual Heat: M/M Extra Steamy.  Holy HOTNESS

Publish Date: July 7, 2014

~ Synopsis ~

TAKE – verb: to reach for and hold in one’s hands or get into one’s possession, power or control.

Logan Mitchell is a man who’s always been more than happy to take what he wants. It’s a philosophy that’s proven lucrative in both his business and personal life, and never was it more apparent than the night he laid eyes on Tate Morrison. After pulling out all the stops and convincing the sexy bartender to give him a try—he’s hooked.
Now, Logan finds himself in a predicament that demands more from him than a smart-ass answer and his innate ability to walk away when things get too deep.
He has a choice to make, and it’ll force him to do something he’s never done before—take a chance.

Tate Morrison knows all about taking a chance. He took the biggest one of his life the night he showed up at Logan’s apartment to explore his unexpected reaction to the man.
Ever since then, he’s thought about little else.
At first he was convinced his attraction was based solely on his body’s curiosity. But the more time he spends with the silver-tongued lawyer, the more Tate realizes that their physical chemistry is only the beginning.
He’s starting to catch a glimpse of what life with Logan would be like, and it’s one full of excitement and satisfaction—a far cry from what he had in the past with his soon to be ex-wife.

Each man will face their fears as they begin to understand the true meaning of give and take. Their feelings for one another will be tested, as will their very beliefs. But now that they’ve found love where they least expected it, will they be brave enough to reach out and take it?

 ~Karen’s Opinions ~

I’ve think, sometimes too much, but I think all the same.  Kinda like Pooh Bear sitting in a tree pondering the world; if Pooh Bear was an almost fifty year old woman with a reading obsession.   I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about why straight woman like to read male/male romance books.  I just finished Take ( Temptaion Series) by Ella Frank, and again Frank’s had me enthralled with her story of Logan and Tate. Which is a complete love story of two individual coming to terms with love, who they are, what defines a family and what price someone is willing to pay for happiness.

I stumble across her book Try last year, you can read my thoughts about that book here.   Frank’s latest book is a  is a five star read, because she writes an erotic, love story, the characters just happen to be the same gender. The tale is as old as time, boy meets boy and they fall in love.  What boy meets boy and fall in love, well love is love; I have lived long enough to not let perceived social mores influence how I perceive love.

As I read this book,  I started to think, do men have better sex?  Cause darn these two men have some hot sex.  Then I thought not it’s not the sex, it’s how the sex is portrayed.  No I’m not talking about the graphic nature, I’m talking about the power structure between male characters.  In Take both characters can are sexy alpha males.  There is no naive ingenue, ready to loose her virginity to the billionaire de jour.   No I am not an expert on M/M as Frank’s is the only author I have read.  But, what I am struck with is that both Tate and Logan are strong characters, this element of equality is what is missing from some female/male romance books; as the characters are not on equal footing.   This makes strong independent female readers gravitate to male/male books, as they can actually identify more closely with a strong male character, rather than a weak female on.   My opinions don’t even have anything to do with sexual experience, as I believe you can be an alpha female and still be chaste; it has to do that female characters with the exception of paranormal romances being portrayed as disadvantaged in sexual experience, economics and life experience.  In Take, Logan is a rich lawyer and Tate is a bartender, but no gifts are bought by the rich lawyer and lavished on the poorer bartender.  I know I am making huge generalizations, but the appeal of Frank’s books is that the love story is one about equals.   I think that is why her books in the Temptation Series do resonate with so many females that would not necessary pick up and M/M book.  Because honestly excluding paranormal romances, how many truly equal romantic entanglements can you list?  I would love for you all to post below and give me your opinions, of just tell me to go jump in a lake, as I have totally missed the mark.  Feel free to express yourselves.

 

Purchase Links

 

Amazon | Barnes and Noble 

 

About the Author 

6451816I am the author of the Exquisite Series, including Exquisite, Entice and Edible. I also released my first Erotic Novel, Blind Obsession in March 2013.I’m a happily married woman and mother to a crazy cat. I’ve been writing ever since I fell in love with falling in love and I credit that to my Nan who handed me my first romance novel.Currently I reside in the Southern portion of the United States of America.

5 responses to “Take (Temptation Series #2) by Ella Frank or Why straight woman like reading M/M books.

  1. What a thought-provoking post! It makes me want to pick this one up just to see how she handled the power of their relationship and the sex scenes. As a writer, I find It’s a delicate balancing act in portraying believable characters in love or out of it, to say nothing of their sexual prowess, especially that of female characters. Society imposes judgment and mores on all of those, and it depends upon the generation and what’s trending as hot in Hollywood and, of course, the political correctness of it all as perceived on any given day, it seems.

    In other words, It takes deftness to avoid the cliches and achieve believability in fiction. I’m always looking for writers who achieve this in their work. Thanks for the post!

  2. Rene

    I thoroughly enjoyed this post. As a straight, professional women who is 50 years old,I could not agree with you more. I don’t read much M/F romance anymore because of a couple of factors that you touched upon.
    1. Power imbalance between hero and heroine (economic, life/sex experience, etc.). Last time I checked we are living in the 21st century and more women are educated, affluent, and have a healthy attitude about sex (no more double-standards).
    2. The overdone trope of virgin (or near virgin) paired with man-whore. I don’t think this reflects reality at all especially when a lot of the heroines in these books are in their mid-late 20s. Heck back in the mid-80’s, I and most of my girlfriends had more sexual experience than most of the heroines I read about and I was not the least bit ashamed of it.
    I hope more authors who do write contemporary M/F romance actually catch up to our times. It would be refreshing to read about a powerful, sexually confident heroine for a change.

  3. Ayesha Devi Seebarat

    What you write is one of the most amazing opinion I read so far..since I have started reading m/m I was also wondering why I love these books..after reading your blog, I found the real reason in your words..so, well said dear..

  4. Why are we asking “Why women love M/M romance ? All men like seeing two women having sexe, why wouldn’t be the same for us ?
    But as you ask, I found your opinion interesting. Personnaly, I’m a fan of M/M romance and pornographie because I like the yin and yang concept of a man accepting his feminin part (comming with the penetration).
    I like the mix of strong and weak, I like the man body and this kind of novel doesnt joke about worshiping the body male.
    I like the fact that they take things straights (!!!).
    And in pornography, I like the fact that actors more often looks like they really have more fun than in F/M porno (where the woman is often shouting like a pig).

    Thank you for having talking about this subject.

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