3.5*Full of the usual tropes but I enjoyed this story a lot anyway or maybe because of these! :)Billionaire French jet setter Max meets down to earth semi closeted Firefighter Chris.They fall in love while having a lot of sex! ;) but their differences might be too much to overcome. No big surprises really, but a nice enjoyable read, although the epilogue was almost too much of a good thing, even for me! This was my very first (truly dedicated) m/m romance. That's a definitive statement for me as a romance reader. I've read some tidbits of m/m in m/f romances in the past, but wasn't really able to "connect" because I'm hetero -- it'd never been my first choice for "romance" because I've always figured I just couldn't "relate." That said, I saw this one while "browsing" on Elora's Cave for something sexy/fresh and interesting, and thought "What the hey," I'll give it a try (the blurb was both provocatively new to me, and yet sexy/sweet for a "newby" (and true romantic like me). Wow, I was shocked at how quickly I was engrossed in Max and Chris' romance as well as the different style, intense sexual scenes, yet typical insecurities of both the men in the romance exhibited to the reader. Who knew?! On a whim, Max, a wealthy, yet bored single, decides to attend a "Swap Meet" sexual social gathering when invited. He doesn't "see" himself in the sense of a gay man, yet the very fact his curiosity overwhelmes him to attend such a function definitely lets the reader know he's just capitulating to probably all the sexual questions he's ever asked himself. At the swap/meet, he meets Chris, and is immediately drawn to Chris' sexual energy, despite all his "reasoning it away," as a curiosity, and the two quickly become sexually involved with each other. That said, Lopez gets the reader involved with each of their internal dialogues that make it clear they are extremely chemically attracted to one another, yet (like most males) unwilling to admit it's happening/what it REALLY is - perhaps something more than just sexy/can't turn away from so easily. This is the part that I found particularly interesting as a "newby" to m/m romance, because I still felt their longing and sexual attraction to one another, yet they retained their male dominance (initially) that made them act like they couldn't commit. (Bear with me -- I'm a first time female-perspective reviewer here.) The author did a great job (particularly) with a reader like me in keeping the story both romantic and sexy, yet I never tried to make these two fall into a male/female relationshp-sense mode. All that said, I felt Max and Chris little by little succombed to one another's feelings, and I fell right into wanting them to be together, loved their sexual chemistry and hot (REALLY HOT!) love scenes, and had no question that they were falling in love with one another and extremely scared about divulging their personal vulnerabilities to each other. Even more so than an m/f romance perhaps. As erotica, this story was fresh and exciting, and as romance, it was new and completely novel to me in it's authenticity. Perhaps a more experienced m/m reader would find it boring or trite. I don't know, since I'm a novice?! And frankly ... I dont' care! ;) All I can say from my perspective is it was sexy, hot, well connected and ultimately sigh-worthy at the end. It even had an awesome epilogue that I'm a sucker for. If this is where you are in this genre, or if you're just a sucker for hot sexy traditional romance with m/m, this one is worth exploring.K.
What do You think about Swap Meet (2010)?
3.5 stars. This was a cute comfort read.
—Samantha
