Jake C. Wallace: Welcome Crystal from Crystal's Many Reviewers to the Blog!

If you don’t know who I am, then you’re one of the lucky ones! But that’s about to change after this posting because I’m strange like that. Trust me; once you know a little about me, you will always remember me. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, but I tend think on the positive side. So sit back and enjoy the ride to get to know a little bit more about me, my blog, and how I started out reading M/M books.

To be honest, I haven’t always read M/M books; I suppose you could say that I’m a newbie in the genre. But I don’t think that makes me any less important of a reader in this genre. The first book that I read that had M/M relations in it would have actually been Bend by Bailey Bradford. At the time, I was all into ménage stories, and I found that one. When I realized that it was an M/M/F book, I was a bit worried at first because I wasn’t sure if I would like the M/M aspect of the story. But turns out that I did enjoy it! And I couldn’t get enough of the M/M stories. So all the authors out there who I have read your books, make sure you thank Bailey because it all started with her!

Then that brings me to the starting of my blog, Crystal’s Many Reviewers. When I started the blog, the only thing that I knew was that I wanted it to be completely open to EVERYTHING. I wasn’t going to discriminate against any genre, every one of them were open to be advertised on the blog. After a rough start, because I did have some authors who flat out refused to allow reviews of their books on a site that had LGBT books advertised as well. Don’t even get me started on the number of times I was told that I was going to hell because of the fact that I read “the devils books” but really? I didn’t care. Why should I stop reading what I enjoy because of someone else’s thoughts and opinions?

Since I have started reading primarily in this genre, one thing that I have realized is how insanely nice the authors are to work with. They will just spend time talking with you, ask your advice on their books, advertise your blog as much as you advertise their books. And not only that? But they also support each other. It doesn’t matter if one author is a best seller on who knows how many lists, they will still promote and support the new up and coming authors in the genre. They will give advice to you if you need it, if you ask for it. They just overall support you no matter what, without asking anything in return.

Now, let’s bring this around to me reviewing books. When you have read/reviewed as many books as I have, you start to get bored of the stories. You start to get bored of the sex. (Yes, I know I said that! But it’s the truth!) You want something MORE from the stories. Let’s be honest here, when there are 2 men together, there’s only so many things they can do… It does get kinda boring after a while reading the same thing over and over again. My best advice to authors in this genre or wanting to write in this genre? Make your story about more than just the sex. Take the time to add the backstory of the characters and give the reader a reason to want to turn the pages, a reason to not want to put your book down do something else.

When it comes to reading this genre, there are TONS of authors who I completely love:

Bailey Bradford will always be my first love in the genre because she is the one who introduced me to this world.

Lori Toland, who is my amazing author bestie, has some great books out there now. The very first book of hers that I read, The Long Con, made me fall in total lust with her writing and since then I have successfully stalked her for over a year now. Her Replacement Guitarist Series is the first M/M Rock Star series that I have ever read, and I have can’t get enough of those men! Lori was/is amazing at helping me get the M/M portion of the blog taking off. If it wouldn’t have been for her putting me in contact with the right people, then I wouldn’t be where I am today.

MA Church was completely able to suck me back into enjoy Syi-Fi books with her story The Harvest: Taken. But my all-time favorite of hers will always be Faded Love. That book even though it was short, it packed a huge punch. (And she also shows that just because a story is short, that doesn’t mean it’s not a great read.)

Kindle Alexander, caught me so off guard with how amazing their stories are and even more than that, with how caring and loving they are as people. They truly care about all of their fans, and will go out of their way to support everyone.

There are tons of other authors in this genre, some who I found by complete fluke, (Like my amazing host who’s blog I’m stealing the spotlight of today!) Now onto JC, I actually met JC by complete fluke!! We were signed up to host during another authors release day blast, and we were on at the same time! But instead of arguing about it, we decided to share the spotlight, and that’s how I found out about Shaney, (who I completely love!). After the event was over, and JC finally realized how awesome I was and offered a review copy of Curiosity Killed Shaney. As soon as I finished reading it, I was on messenger begging for the next book. And from there, our awesome relationship has bloomed!

The best way I could say that you can find new authors in this genre, is to just check out what other authors are sharing. I search the Amazon Top 100 Gay and Lesbian list everyday and when I see new authors who have a 99 cent release, I 1 click that sucker. (That is how I also found JJ Black!). So if you’re looking for new authors to read, I would completely recommend that!

If you haven’t read this genre yet, but you’re on the fence about it? I say go ahead and take that plunge. It’s completely worth a shot and you never know what you will find!