I’ve been trying to understand the world of M/M erotic romance written by straight women; it’s so different than me that I’m fascinated. At the same time, I’ve been starting to work my way through the National Leather Association finalist list because I’m also curious to see what critics find hot and well-written. Pat Califia is my idea of a smutty, well-written good time. I read Djuna Barnes’ Nightwood annually, so I know my taste is a little unusual.

Anyway, my M/M erotic romance written by straight women reading got switched with my NLA finalist reading and I ended up reading One Step Further by Felice Stevens thinking it was Skyscraper by Scott Alexander Hess. I read about the protective gal pal…the shy stuttering hunky veterinarian…the slutty player who settles down…the forbidding homophobic parents…the too many blow jobs…the gay marriages…the sad lonely walks in the park…the happy ending, thinking that any minute someone was going to get frisky. But, no. I finished it thinking what the fuck…this is totally vanilla! Has NLA changed radically? Is vanilla now BDSM? Was there a power dynamic that I missed? Then I figured it out and read Skyscraper.