Monte's Marines (Dark Court 2) by Stormy Glenn

[reviews_and_ramblings]

With this second book in the Dark Court series Stormy Glenn continues in her saga about the special elf people whose royal male member can give birth; it’s a series all centred around the male pregnancy theme, and plays a lot with all the stereotype of this type of stories: big and sturdy men who fall in love for little pretty boy and have to face the unthinkable, the possibility to become father; unthinkable not only since their partner is a man, and so it was pretty much impossible to have an unplanned pregnancy but also since this strong men don’t have any idea how to treat little baby and even less how they have to deal with the fathers of those baby, ethereal beautiful men, fragile like porcelain both in body than in will.

Doc, one of the Marines that in the previous book helped Zack and his elf lover Eljin, is sent on a special mission, retrieve Monte, who is not only Eljin’s cousin, but also the son of one of his best friend, Gunny. Doc has just had a lovers quarrel with Rocky, the man he is love since years, and sincerely he sees this mission as a way out to avoid having to face his feelings and being hurt. When he meets Monte, in dangerous circumstances, he falls in love for the beautiful man, and maybe even this is a way out to not face his real feelings for Rocky, it’s easier to love Monte, even more “ordinary”: true Monte is an elf, and a man, but he is pregnant with Doc’s baby, so, in a way, more comply to normal society.

In a way, with this ménages a trois, Stormy Glenn is deploying two different type of man on man relationship and so trying to match the taste of different readers. Rocky and Doc are the all male but gay version of a M/M relationship, both of them are everything other than effeminate, strong in body and in will; true, Doc is maybe a bit more emotional than Rocky, but indeed Doc has always known he was gay, and instead Rocky is living a “gay for you” situation, where he is thinking to have a relationship with a man, not since he suddenly feels attracted by other men, but simply since he fell for Doc, and Doc is a man.

Doc and Monte, and later Monte and Rocky, instead have the classic M/M relationship (using M/M in the slash meaning of the word, in contraposition to Gay novel, M/M romances are usually a bit more stereotype) where one of the two men involved is more feminine, if not for the anatomical difference, he could be easily mistaken for a woman, and he is for sure pretty like one. Plus, in this series, these elves are also fragile and submissive, they very much depend from their men and in a way, they expect their men to treat them as precious things. Indeed they are pretty much spoiled brat, and very aware of that, with no intention to change.

https://www.nobleromance.com/ItemDisplay.aspx?i=125

Series: Dark Court
1) Dark Side of the Veil: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1007526.html
2) Monte's Marines

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Comments

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

Doc and Monte, and later Monte and Rocky, instead have the classic M/M relationship where one of the two men involved is more feminine, if not for the anatomical difference, he could be easily mistaken for a woman, and he is for sure pretty like one.

This is so offensive to gay men I don't even know where to start! :(

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Alex, don't misunderstand me, I used M/M as in the slash meaning, for this reason I didn't use gay. I think there is a difference between Gay romance and M/M romance, and that is the main one, M/M is more stereotype, not so realistic. I will change the sentence to better explain it.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

Thanks for explaining! I think this sort of fiction is highly offensive to begin with, you wonder why the authors don't just write het and be done with it, at least it wouldn't be such a slap in the face of a minority group. But I'm glad I mis-read your comment in any case. :)

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

This is a common argument of discussion. To simplify my point of view on this, I would say that M/M romance are aimed more to a female target; I often said that yes, it could be possible that some M/M romance written by women could appeal to a male reader, but I think there is a limbo between M/M and Gay romance, and a separation line: more you are near the separation line, more it's possible to mix female and male reader, but more you are distand from that line, and near to the opposite border, more it's difficult to have a common ground for both genders.