As for reading recommends for a male? Try Elizabeth Lowell’s Donovan series, and the books that follow. She is wonderful. Her medievels are to die for also.

Re the genre, I don’t and don’t pretend to know to what to ascribe this entrenched attitude to. Perhaps it is in a large part influenced by a lingering disrespect towards the recreational interests of women and the placement of the home and hearth as secondary to the importance of the man’s work place. This is a lingering cultural meme.

Individually, we all place home and hearth first and go out and work to sustain it. Culturally though, I think that there are still vestiges of that separation of home and work that automatically put “mens’” work outside the home over the “woman’s” work at home.

-Lori Foster’s “Say No To Joe”

-Any of Suzanne Brockmann’s SEAL novels. She has 2 series. The Troubleshooters series is best. They usually show the man’s point-of-view. Lots of action/suspense. The romance elements are realistic and within a man’s comfort zone, I’d think.

I think Kage Baker’s cyborg “Company” series would work as well. There is a strong romantic element running through the series, but nothing that would bother a man. I don’t remember any real sex scenes. (Sci Fi)

Also, what about Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series? (also Sci Fi)

Long stretch here, but what about some of Georgette Heyer’s novels with a very strong male protagonist? Regency Buck or These Old Shades come to mind.

Linda Howard’s 2-3 most recently published might work. Strong men, strong women, lots of action.

Margaret Maron’s Judge Deborah Knott series has a great romance across several novels. I love the realistic relationship between Deborah and her husband. (Mystery) Also, what about Dorothy Sayers “Lord Peter” books?

I also agree that Nora Roberts, Susan Elizabeth Phillips and maybe Jenny Cruisie (try Bet Me first) might work.

Not exactly romance, but too good to miss is Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series.

Not sure how common it was for a courtesan to dictate the terms of an arrangement. Didn’t the men usually decide when to visit, and when to break off the relationship?

For actual “courtesans” it was not at all uncommon for the woman to dictate all sorts of limits and rules (and to have them spelled out in a signed, legal agreement!). You can find all kinds of tidbits and details about the lives of real highfliers in period journals, letters, autobiographies (aka tell-alls), etc.

Not sure how common it was for a courtesan to dictate the terms of an arrangement. Didn’t the men usually decide when to visit, and when to break off the relationship?

I expect a courtesan would not have been living three pennies from the gutter, and would have therefore had more financial freedom to break off a relationship, or to be more discriminating with the men she entertained.

I think being a courtesan is (was?) a very different matter, in terms of social stature, lifestyle (”courtesan” implies a higher standard of living) and control over one’s own destiny.

Not sure how common it was for a courtesan to dictate the terms of an arrangement. Didn’t the men usually decide when to visit, and when to break off the relationship?

I have no moral problem with prostitution, but agree that the reality of being a whore shouldn’t be glamorized (as in Pretty Woman). I think being a courtesan is (was?) a very different matter, in terms of social stature, lifestyle (”courtesan” implies a higher standard of living) and control over one’s own destiny. So I’m all for courtesan heroines, “lax morals” be damned.