HAPPY MENAGES HOLIDAYS with Mary Menage Interview!

 What better way to celebrate Yule with an awesome blogger who shares my love for sharing! <g>

Please welcome, Mary. 

Mary, can you tell us a little about yourself?

I am an Erotic Ménage Romance Reviewer middle-aged french canadian, curious of everything with a very open mind. Homophobia and censorship are NOT part of my vocabulary! So it was no surprise that when I discovered ménage stories in 2005, I decided then and there that I would read only this genre after that. I am proud of my collection and to promote this genre. My reviews are based on reading so many of them. I am passionate and can be sarcastic if something bother me but I am always honest, never mean! Welcome to my ménage world! :)

What's your thoughts on straight men in menage?

There is no straight men in menage. plain and simple. Straight men means no romance and no physical proximity in the bedroom. If a man is not in love with a man but during sex is touching another man's part of his body, not especially his genitals, in my book, he finds his pleasure to watch and/or feel because of the other guy in action. If there is a dual penetration with a woman, each guy will feel automatically feel each other penises and the friction and reduced place will bring them both pleasure. Therefore, if a guy find his pleasure because of another guy, even if he has no romantic views toward the other guy, for me he just cannot be totally straight. It does not mean he is bisexual or gay, but he definitely has bisexual tendencies.

What's your favorite combination in menage?

It depends. I love both: MFM and MMF but mostly multiple men and one woman. The different combination in menage is generally very different because the love and sex dynamic are different.

My only comment on this is that being an exclusive menage, I have a hard time with some MM authors writing a MMF in the middle of their long list of MM romances. It shows immediately that the focus will be the male characters and I very often felt frustrated to not find equality love and sex in their stories. I totally dislike to read a female character being a third wheel not fully committed as equal partner in the relationship and introduced to it because one of the character used to love to have sex with women and feel something is "missing". I love to relate to characters so feeling that the woman is added because she has boobs and two holes is not something I enjoy to relate with :P

MFM do not have such issue because the focal point is the female. The exception could be in D/s menages and I read a couple that was the male submissive instead of the female. But this scenario is rare.

I have no issues if the author respect this rule: romance + sex + equality + time for all main characters. It is not easy, mind you, but at the end of the day, this is what makes the difference between a forgettable and an outstanding story.

What genre do you find works best with menage and which do you find doesn't work at all?

My pet peeves are: caveman macho male and dumb virgin female.

I am no longer a teenager reading romances with rich middle aged aristocrates falling for the 17/18 years old virgin woman. I am a bit too old to believe that being a virgin is romantic. There is nothing fun or sweet to be deflowered in my opinion, it is even rather painful, thank you very much. Then again, the "I am the man, you are the woman and you will do what I say" was something we saw with our grand-parents and I am not fond to be associated to this generation when women could hardly work, nor live alone or raise a baby alone without being called whores, could not vote or do certain jobs because "our brain" could not handle it... and all kind of stupid reasons like that. That some authors do find romantic and hot to be treated like a piece of trash baffle me.

Some romances remind me, sadly, a generation that I am not part today. I always think that it is best to write what we know and if this is the case, then, I am totally puzzled to read how some authors portray their characters... I am sorry to say that this kind of menage is not only frustrating but put the author in my "do not read again" list.

So what works best? equality, consistencies, reasonable time-frame between major events (falling the Monday, engaged the Wednesday and married the following Sunday and express eternal love... all within a week? really?), imperfect characters, humor, original sex scenes and of course a nice plot.

There is no recipe really. It is all about talent and how the authors will dig the emotions and transpose them alive in theirs stories.

Tell us about the Menage Romances Holidays tour?

I do welcome menage author guests on my blog and I thought: why not giving the opportunity to discover a new menage every day for 2 full weeks? On top of that, each author agreed to give a free book as one giveaway. So each day, from December 21 up to January 2nd, I will invite a menage author to talk about her menage release. I am very excited about it and I hope your fans will come and visit us!

Thank you again, Bianca, for this opportunity to promote this menage holidays tour! I love your hockey series. GO Habs GO!!!!

~Mary

Blog: http://marymenage.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marys-Naughty-Whispers/123676797775001
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MenageReviewer
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6426542-mary-s-menage-whispers

Thank you so much for joining us, Mary! 

Readers, I'd love to hear from you about menage in fiction! What works, what doesn't? One commenter will win their choice of one of my books, INCLUDING any of the books to be published in 2015 (which means you'll get a copy as soon as it's publish ready! <g>)