u/Sharp-Orange-8500

Lately, I’ve been struggling with most MM books I read, for many reasons, and one of them, I think, is that I need something more real. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m growing older, but the cliché, overly dramatic, overly perfect, not realistic romances, are not doing it for me anymore.

Do you know any mm romance book where the characters, the relationships and the world feels real ? This post as it is will probably be deleted because it’s too vague and what feels real is subjective, so let me clarify a little bit :

- Realistic story (no : fantasy, rival mafia clans, psychopath mc who kills people, kidnapping, step brothers etc)

- Good portrayal of gay struggles

- Messy characters who have real life problems and make mistakes

Also, this is a must for me unfortunately : the characters must be under 30yo, because I struggle to relate otherwise.

I would not say they’re 100% realistic but I really enjoy Alex Cross’s books, her writing style is my favorite among all mm authors right now.

Skins / Euphoria / Skam vibes but set in college ?

Young, messy, angsty boys with a complicated relationship, who party a lot and make bad decisions. Do you know a book like that ? Thank you !!

Slice of life type of story with a toxic/messy relationship? They don’t have to be a couple right from the start, but they need to have a complicated and realistic relationship. No over-dramatic / Wattpad-type moments and cringey characters. An example of a toxic book that I didn’t like was Whisper by Cambria Hebert, but I could also name 90% of the MM books that you can find on Kindle Unlimited. I’ve tried Willow Dixon, Nordika Night, Bethany Winters, Alexandra St. Pierre, and so many more. Their writing has something very similar that I don’t really like and it just doesn’t work for me.

I prefer:

- Not Kindle Unlimited UNLESS it has mature, show-don’t-tell writing with realistic characters and believable situations

- 3rd person/single POV over 1st/dual. Dual pov is fine if it’s written in 3rd person, and 1st person is fine if it’s single pov.

- Characters are under 30 years old

- Chemistry/tension over smut. I don’t mind explicit smut as long as it’s not JUST that. I’m tired of porn with/without plot stories.

Do you have any recs? Thank you so much!!