Gay romance novels are great. I love them...obviously.
But compared to het romances, which have a much longer and more robust history behind them, gay romances tend to leave out one thing: the wedding.
In straight and straight-presenting romance novels, almost all of them end with marriage, or at least engagement. But when you read gay romance novels, it's 50/50 whether marriage is even going to be a thing.
50/50 is probably actually generous. I'm struggling to think of a gay romance novel I've read anytime recently where the heroes get married or engaged by the end. More often than not, it stops at "moving in together."
Why is that, though? Well I don't fucking know. I'm just an author. I talk to my roommate and my dogs, and I read the same seven books over and over and over. But that doesn't mean I don't have thoughts. Oh boy do I have thoughts.
Well...one thought, mostly.
I think it all ties back to the lack of gay marriage in reality. I mean, newsflash if you missed this, but gay marriage was only legalized this decade, upon writing this. It wasn't exactly an option that could be played with. That honestly kind of carries over into gay life. A lot of dudes-into-dudes that I know and have met personally aren't attached to the idea of marriage. To be frank, I'm not overly attached to it myself. I think, if it came to it, I certainly lean toward marriage, but that's mostly because I really want to throw a fabulous wedding and get tax benefits.
Let's end a romance novel with that, shall we?
I'm not down on love, but like other gay dudes, I lived without the real prospect of marriage most of my life...so I kind of just said "fuck it" and got okay with the idea of never marrying. I still am. A relationship, to me and to a lot of guys-into-guys, doesn't need marriage to be real.
I don't know where I'm going with this. I don't know that I even want to see more gay weddings in romance novels. But it's something I certainly have noticed. Especially since I'm in RWA and have judged the Ritas, I've read a lot of het romances.
So many weddings.
What do you think? Are gay weddings the way to go? Do we have the right amount of them already? Sound off down below, because I'm always interested in hearing what others think.
Happy Wednesday,
Raven
But compared to het romances, which have a much longer and more robust history behind them, gay romances tend to leave out one thing: the wedding.
In straight and straight-presenting romance novels, almost all of them end with marriage, or at least engagement. But when you read gay romance novels, it's 50/50 whether marriage is even going to be a thing.50/50 is probably actually generous. I'm struggling to think of a gay romance novel I've read anytime recently where the heroes get married or engaged by the end. More often than not, it stops at "moving in together."
Why is that, though? Well I don't fucking know. I'm just an author. I talk to my roommate and my dogs, and I read the same seven books over and over and over. But that doesn't mean I don't have thoughts. Oh boy do I have thoughts.
Well...one thought, mostly.
I think it all ties back to the lack of gay marriage in reality. I mean, newsflash if you missed this, but gay marriage was only legalized this decade, upon writing this. It wasn't exactly an option that could be played with. That honestly kind of carries over into gay life. A lot of dudes-into-dudes that I know and have met personally aren't attached to the idea of marriage. To be frank, I'm not overly attached to it myself. I think, if it came to it, I certainly lean toward marriage, but that's mostly because I really want to throw a fabulous wedding and get tax benefits.
Let's end a romance novel with that, shall we?
I'm not down on love, but like other gay dudes, I lived without the real prospect of marriage most of my life...so I kind of just said "fuck it" and got okay with the idea of never marrying. I still am. A relationship, to me and to a lot of guys-into-guys, doesn't need marriage to be real.
I don't know where I'm going with this. I don't know that I even want to see more gay weddings in romance novels. But it's something I certainly have noticed. Especially since I'm in RWA and have judged the Ritas, I've read a lot of het romances.
So many weddings.
What do you think? Are gay weddings the way to go? Do we have the right amount of them already? Sound off down below, because I'm always interested in hearing what others think.
Happy Wednesday,
Raven
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