Torrid
Title: Torrid
Type: Novel
Author: Morgan Hawke
Licensed By: eXtasy Books
Language: English
Genre(s): Romance, Shounen Ai, Yaoi
Summary: Blond-haired, bespectacled, and affable, Trey, a Ballroom Dance instructor, was innocently shopping at an Adult store for a male g-string. As one of the few men in town that could actually dance, he’d been hired to strip for a bachelorette party.
Coincidentally, dark haired and aggressive Kenshin Asano, Martial Arts instructor, just happened to be shopping at the same Adult store -
though for a very different reason.
What could it hurt to flirt, just a little?
Trey is about to discover what happens when he plays with fire.
Excerpt: http://www.darkerotica.net/Torrid1.htm
Review: This story remains dear to me because it was my first experience w/ BL. I bought it when it was still in eBook form in 2005, I think. (Although, my first homosexual literature was in 1995, when my gay English professor forced everyone to read a book he had authored. I was really traumatized by that piece of work that went into detail about an experienced guy w/ V.D. preying on a completely innocent guy, and various stories like a woman giving birth while having sex w/ multiple people. Urgh, I still shudder at the memory.) In any case, this story didn’t completely turn me onto the BL path but it certainly opened the door to it years later. It’s not a particularly deep story, but then again what erotica novel is deep.
I actually tried a couple of more M/M American stories, but I found it hard to get into. It wasn’t until I discovered BL from Japan that I found out what I liked about “Torrid”. The style of this story is actually very similar to BL novels from Japan which I took an instant addiction to. It’s actually hard to define what makes Japanese BL so distinctly different. Perhaps it’s the emphasis on romance despite the smut, and the air of innocence in being or falling in love in the most unexpected way.
In “Torrid”, Kenshin and Trey are definitely hetero, but by chance they meet and sparks fly in a sexy way. Like most BLs, the romance and the smut comes really fast, but that’s what makes BL enjoyable. You don’t get some heroine waffling “to love or not to love” while constantly being saved by a man. It’s refreshing and straight forward in its romantic ideal.
Kenshin & Trey remain one of favorite characters with their charisma and confidence. This story is attractive in that both partners aren’t suddenly attacked by gay fever, getting jealous of other men, or involving a love triangle. It’s a simple story about love or lust at first sight where an automatic flirtatious action could be construed as something else.
I highly recommend this to BL fans, and if you like the excerpt, please support the author. I’m glad to see that the book is now available in paperback as well.
Rate: 8/10