I want to like MMF books because I like MMF scenarios, but the current state of MMF makes that difficult. Too many of them are erotica, not romance, and though I read erotica (and write erotica), I have gripes about MMF erotica, the first of which is that sometimes I want MMF romance.
Romance means there’s a plot outside of sex, relationships outside of sex, and characters with traits that can’t be measured in inches and cup sizes. It means that we get to watch something grow, something that will last. I want that for my MMF triads. I want them to have stories and conflicts and relationships as real and varied as any other romantic pairings.
And most particularly, I want to see the woman be an equal partner without being the center of sexual attention. Too often, MMF is the story of two men on the hunt for a woman who’s an uncomfortable combination of princess and sex toy, an object of extreme desire who’s treated almost like an obstacle to the two men getting what they want. Though she’s never before wanted two lovers, they overcome her hesitancy with their God-like sex powers.
So in my search for good MMF, I turned to MM writers, who I feel like I can trust to given women agency, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Anna Zabo’s Outside the Lines doesn’t feature any MMF sex (it’s a V, not a triangle) but this is a love story. It focuses on the MM relationship developing, but it doesn’t shortchange the woman here either. She’s poly. She’s open to/wants a relationship of this type and she gets to play a role much bigger than sex object.
Sloane Kennedy writes some of my favorite MMM, so when she told me at last year’s GRL that she had a MMF coming out, I was pretty excited. Discovering Daisy is pure Sloane Kennedy. Everyone is damaged by their traumatic backstory and the action is dramatic. Although this is a story of two guys adding a reluctant woman into their relationship, what I like about Discovering Daisy is that Kennedy treats Daisy exactly the way she treats the men in her stories. (All of her characters are surprised about ending up in a triad—no poly people here).
I’m sure there are other good examples of MMF romance, which I’d be happy to have pointed out to me, but this blog post was, of course, prompted by my own release. As we writers are often told to do, I wrote the book I wanted to read. In You, Me & Her, Sherry is already poly before Nate shows up. She’s had threesomes—more of them than he has. The one being pursued here is Nate. Sherry knows exactly what she wants.
So if you’d like to see more MMF romance, please support books like the above and help spread the word.
MMF is my absolute favorite, but it is almost impossible to find any quality romances. Kelly Jamieson used to write them several years ago, and they were truly balanced triads. The people in her books had interesting careers and full, independent lives. I have read MFM, but for me it’s so much more rewarding when all the MCs involved share the same level of intense feelings. MMF is not tagged in a searchable way at book sites except for those who put it in the title, and those are usually poorly written. So frustrating!
I read for the emotion evoked by a passionate relationship, so I only read romance. It can be BDSM, MMM (High Lonesome!😍) , trans, Mpreg (Omega Revealed! 😍)… I love it all as long as the development of the story is in service to the relationship. If there is a sex scene outside of the MCs, I can’t get into it. I don’t think You, Me, and Her is going to work for me, but I’ll keep watching for others of yours that turn me on. Reading books like yours has definitely broadened my horizons, and made me think about love, gender, and sexuality in new ways. Thank you!
I don’t read a lot of MMF, but I can think of a few that are good romances and aren’t just erotica merely focused on the female: Mine and Three by Chloe Lynn Ellis (she has another called His that I haven’t read yet, but I imagine it would be similar); Candy Boys by Jo Raven; and Come When Called by Piper Trace.
Thanks, Courtney!
Olivia Cunning has several good MMF romances in her collection which I can highly recommend, ie, Double Time and Outsider