After receiving a very nice review from Lasha at Jessiewave, and seeing the reader comments that have gone by on Goodreads, I’m beginning to see a pattern emerging. In an online chat about M/M erotic romance not long ago, someone asked if characters burping and farting was acceptable in these stories.
I don’t recall a consensus being reached. Some writers/readers felt that it was disgusting and others thought it could be funny. Well, that’s what I’m seeing in the reviews and comments for We’re Both Straight, Right? Not that people are saying, “I can’t believe Larry farted! I had to stop reading right there!” But it does seem to be mentioned more than I anticipated, and I suspect it’s putting some people off.
On the other hand, other people, including Lasha, seem to feel that it makes the characters more realistic, and there have been comments to the effect that this is a refreshing change from standard m/m romance heroes.
The latter impression is more or less what I was aiming for with this story, although I don’t think I intended for the fart scene to leave such a lasting impression on people. Ah, well. This story was a little bit of a risk for me, since I don’t usually try to write humor. I’m happy to see that a number of people find the book very funny.
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