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This study conducts a literary analysis focused on female readership motivations for engaging with gay, specifically male/male (M/M), contemporary fiction. Through a thematic analysis of reader reviews of Heated Rivalry and Twisted Love by Rachel Reid and Ana Huang, the study examines how readers interpret and evaluate gendered power dynamics and relational equality in contemporary M/M romance in comparison to contemporary heterosexual romance. Combined with a literary analysis of novels, the study explores how emotional vulnerability, intimacy, and masculinity are interpreted by readers. The findings indicate that readers regularly perceive fictional M/M relationships as more egalitarian than heterosexual relationships due to the portrayal of mutual vulnerability, power distribution, and emotional development. However, the study also shows that these understandings are not necessarily based on the absence of hierarchy or imbalance, but on how readers interpret these dynamics within the relationship.