Gay romance novel, anyone?

[Pixiebells]

Hey all I'm Stephie. I know it's unusual to have my first thread not an introduction, but I'm dying for feedback on a novel I'm nearly done with.

Would anyone be interested in checking it out on Wattpad? Titled Burnt Bliss; it's set in England in the 1660s. Here's the official summary:

Prolific young writer William Garnett struggles to find his place in the ever-changing world of Restoration England.

After tragedy strikes, his childhood best friend Augustus and his remaining sister come to live with Will's family. Shortly after living together, Will realizes he's become enamored with Augustus, and has always been subconsciously attracted to him. They secretly persue a romantic relationship despite socitial constraints.

However, his controlling parents have other plans, including a place for him in their family business and a girl from a prominent family they expect him to marry. He has no interest in either of these prospects.

With his Enlightened free-spirited Uncle and his stubbornly pseudo-Puritan mother vying for influence, he is caught between two very different sets of ideals--and two versions of his life.
With mounting pressure on all sides, he is faced with a daunting choice: follow the rules, or follow his heart.

I can't post the link but I am on Wattpad

Please let me know what you think! Feel free to follow me on Wattpad too. Just search for Burnt Bliss (so I don't post my full name here)

~ Stephie

[ChadCoxRox]

Hi and welcome to GS! Not introducing yourself first and soliciting help with your produce violates a few forum rules from the start and I don't want anyone to suggest I overlooked that in my positive response to your request. I'll give it a go but I'm a slow reader and I am reading two books at the same time that I keep up with at least six professional journals regularly so I'll write you when I can. Thanks for the chance. I did read the first chapter and I find it a great read. As a social scientist I find the language "hook" amazing for the genre. Nice idea. More later...

[Pixiebells]

Hi and welcome to GS! Not introducing yourself first and soliciting help with your produce violates a few forum rules from the start and I don't want anyone to suggest I overlooked that in my positive response to your request. I'll give it a go but I'm a slow reader and I am reading two books at the same time that I keep up with at least six professional journals regularly so I'll write you when I can. Thanks for the chance. I did read the first chapter and I find it a great read. As a social scientist I find the language "hook" amazing for the genre. Nice idea. More later...

Sorry about that; it's been several years since I stepped digital foot in a web forum; I'll do an intro; just sort of nervous, actually. I wanted to start annoynoumsly. I understand the point of it, yeah.

Thanks for taking a look btw. I'm a history buff & went to great lengths to be accurate , so I'm really glad you liked that.

Time for an intro....gulp.

[ChadCoxRox]

Sorry about that; it's been several years since I stepped digital foot in a web forum; I'll do an intro; just sort of nervous, actually. I wanted to start annoynoumsly. I understand the point of it, yeah.

Thanks for taking a look btw. I'm a history buff & went to great lengths to be accurate , so I'm really glad you liked that.

Time for an intro....gulp.

geeez louise...make it brief and kind rather than informative and it'll be more than many!!!
I was just covering my own ass and giving you fair warning.

[Charon]

Given your description, why do I keep thinking of Henry Fielding's "Tom Jones"? The late 17th Century was great fun for the morally lapsed and those who wished to be morally lapsed. Charles the Second and all that. I do feel you need to add one word to your description of your work and that's "Historical". You're dealing with a public that has very limited concepts and so to say it's a gay romance novel immediately brings to mind "Brokeback Mountain". You need to ease the reader backwards quite a bit. I know that the word "Historical" is going to cause some to back off but....what they haven't thought about is that people 'n sex have been around forever. That this is in the 1660's is just another pit stop on the amusing road to perdition.

[Pixiebells]

Given your description, why do I keep thinking of Henry Fielding's "Tom Jones"? The late 17th Century was great fun for the morally lapsed and those who wished to be morally lapsed. Charles the Second and all that. I do feel you need to add one word to your description of your work and that's "Historical". You're dealing with a public that has very limited concepts and so to say it's a gay romance novel immediately brings to mind "Brokeback Mountain". You need to ease the reader backwards quite a bit. I know that the word "Historical" is going to cause some to back off but....what they haven't thought about is that people 'n sex have been around forever. That this is in the 1660's is just another pit stop on the amusing road to perdition.

.....I didn't say historical!! That wasn't intential by any means & I'll fix it thanks for reminding me Nwver heard of Tom Jones & Charles II was pretty freakin' awesome. I adore historical fiction

[Person66]

Romance novels?
Yuck!
Thry're for my Mother, who reads like one each day.

But for me me (tell me if this counts?
I love Yoai, ( pronounced yow-ee, yow as in Tao, or as in Ow that hurts) the genre of Manga, Japanese graphic novels, that tell the story of two young (lHigh school to early thirties) men falling in love (sometimess called BoysLove in America but I hate calling it that.

They vary in length from a "one-shooter" which is just one book.
"I Shall never return", the best Yoai title ever was a five book set.
"Bad Teacher's Equation" was also five volumes but the books were VERY FAT
And anywhere in between.

Yoai has mild sex scenes but it's not porn that's Hentai
There's also Shonen-ai ( like Gravitation which is pure romance, no sex.

The most romantic thing was when I was reading one four book set and only the first three came out in English, I was so bummed that I couldn't read the ending, so my fiancé ordered the fourth book from Japan and had a Japanese friend write English translations on it and gave it to me as a gift.

Tell me if Yaoi counts?
( but don't you dare call it BoysLove or I'll kill you

[Pixiebells]

I like yaoi; I've heard of it; it's like slash fiction. Some yaoi is pretty cute; yeah