The pro and cons, to be or not to be...

[reviews_and_ramblings]

When wondering why and if I have to continue with this blog, I received an email like this one:

"Greetings and respect from a gay leatherman who finds your reviews truly excellent

Dear Signora Rolle,

I wish to express my sincere thank you and my profound respect for your wonderful and discerning reviews. I use your reviews to select what M/M fiction I will like best and you never, ever let me down.

You provide a wonderful service, taking your passion for M/M fiction and sharing it primarily wih female readers but also with gay men.

I also love the beautiful male images which you have collected.

You are a wonderful person, a wonderful and expressive writer. I both admire and respect you. Thank you so very much."

I received this email weeks ago, and also in a moment when I was a bit down. Then I read it and decided there was a reason for doing what I'm doing. Then again yesterday I wondered again; maybe I should let other people doing that, other reviewers with more experience... why a straight woman should read and review gay romances? but now, when I will wonder again, I have the above letter to give me a reason to continue.

My response to Victoria Brownworth: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1108364.html

Comments

[kiernankelly.livejournal.com]

Elisa, I've told you before that you were the first person to review my first book, and your opinion is what kept me going all these years. For that, I will always be grateful, and sincerely hope you continue to do so!

The article you cited made me see red - it was full of half truths; the author tried to pass off skewed views as fact.

I think the line that angered me more than any other was "A feature of M/M novels is often rape." Really? Not in my books, sister. Not in any I've read, either.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and if the author of that article was simply stating theirs, it would have been fine, but that's not the case here. It was opinion and prejudice being passed off as fact.

Don't let it get to you.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I didn't want to comment that sentence since, if I had to give other statistics, the author probably would have some surprise. As I said, what worried me more was the generalism of her assumptions, so full of unproven facts.

Thank you Kiernan, it's for friends like you that I find the mood to continue.