Shirtless Men on Book Covers

I have been reading a lot of books with shirtless men on the covers. My son keeps telling me that they are sexist and I keep trying to explain that they are really great books where both genders are equally represented, but the covers are misleading.

He, of course, doesn't believe me and I was driving him and a friend and they both started talking about how their moms read these books with disgusting half naked men on then. He's 10, so it may take him a while, but the reality that I can't judge a book by its cover is becoming increasingly apparent to me as publishers work hard to get the books noticed.

I started reading a book by G. A. Aiken, who writes a series of books about dragons who also have a human form they use to interact with...well...humans.

When I picked up the first book I assumed I was going to be reading yet another book with two clear main characters who would predictably fall in love even though the heroine is feisty. A genre I enjoy, but had learned not to expect mush except, perhaps, great sex scenes.

What I got was a book that began with Anwyl the Bloody Queen leaving her military camp so that she could take a few soldiers on a secret mission. The soldiers she took were both female, one who is a dragon and one who is a kick-ass human.

These are not even the people the love story is about. So it took a while for me to figure out what was going on since she was clearly not going to follow what I had come to expect from fantasy/paranormal romance.

These books are the most gender neutral books I have ever read and I say that as a person with a Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies.

The male and female characters are equal. There is no discussion about why one gender should or should not do something and the women are kick-ass fierce even if they don't fight in combat. The men are just as fierce and the entire book is written with such good humor and camaraderie between the characters that I fall in love with each and every one of them.

I was reading scenes out loud to my 13-year-old daughter who asked if she could read them, which I had to think about since there is some graphic sex in them. But the reality is that she is already exposed to sexual situations in high school and the sex among equals in these books is exactly the type of sexual situations I would want her exposed to. The women never lay there waiting for the man to take control acting like they don't know their own bodies.

This author also writes a series of shifter books under Shelly Laurenston, which has the same amazing gender equality and character dynamics, but there is more discussion of inequality and societal limitations on characters since this takes place in an alternate version of our world. But all still amazing!

So while I thought I was going to write about the disservice the publishing industry does when they put cheesy covers on amazing books I just ended up telling you about the amazing books, which is really just better anyway.