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(More customer reviews)4.5 Review
Recently laid off from his job, Thad Matthews's self-esteem is at an all-time low. With a life that seems to consist of a meaningless routine of watching TV and cruising the Internet, Thad is not only bored, he's lonely. Until he steps through the doors of the Blue Moon Café, that is, and meets the proprietor, Sam Lupino. Sam is everything Thad could want in a lover: besides being handsome and hot, he exudes kindness and caring. And if Thad's dog doesn't particularly care for Sam? Well, she can spend the evenings locked in the bathroom.
At the same time, a serial killer is preying on the gay community in Seattle. Not only is he killing these men, but he is mangling them beyond recognition. Some even believe that the victims look as if they have been partially eaten. The rumor is that the killer is a werewolf, and while the police discount that theory as fantasy, the newspapers are quick to pick it up and run with it.
The happiness that Thad has found exploring his newly-found passion for Sam is tempered with doubt, however. It is bad enough that his lover tends to disappear without notice for days at a time, but Sam's absences seem to coincide with the murders and the full moon. Could Thad's sweet lover possibly be a murderous werewolf? As much as Thad would like to avoid the issue, he needs to know the truth.
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In his novel "Blue Moon Café", Rick R. Reed combines paranormal horror and romance into a story about love and family and choices...and werewolves. This is a blend of the believable and the fantastic, and the werewolf that preys on Seattle is as frightening as any that I have encountered recently. This is not your usual fluffy werewolf of romance but a creature bent on death and revenge, and it is rendered even more threatening by the fact that we see the results of the wolf's carnage more than we see the wolf itself.
Mr. Reed has set this story in my hometown of Seattle. I enjoy reading stories set in my city when they don't try too hard to drop names and landmarks, and has worked the city into this novel without it seeming heavy-handed. He has chosen a very beautiful and trendy location for the café and Thad's apartment and has released his werewolf in a very eclectic neighborhood known for counter-culture and nightlife and its GLBT community.
"Blue Moon Café" is well-written and interesting, and I found myself immediately involved in the life of the main character, Thad, who has lost his job due to the economic downturn. In a realistic fashion, he dinks around on Twitter and Facebook to help alleviate boredom, and volunteers at the Lifelong AIDS Alliance to get out of the house. Thad is young, perhaps prone to drama, and although he professes to love Sam, he doesn't allow the stars in his eyes to blind him completely. When faced with a difficult choice, he is capable of making a level-headed and realistic decision.
The romance portion of the story is sweet and somewhat tragic. Sam is a man torn between love and family. He wants to be truthful to Thad, but he also must protect the family secret, and this leads to difficult decisions for both himself and his lover.
Interspersed throughout the narrative are scenes of the werewolf hunting his prey which are creepy enough to make you shiver. We don't just watch the wolf choose his victim, we experience the hunt along with him. Mr. Reed takes his readers right into the mind of this creature that exudes so much malevolence and hunger. Not only does this wolf relish stalking his prey, he enjoys every second of the terror he causes.
One of the characteristics of Mr. Reed's writing that I enjoy is that he doesn't necessarily leave his readers with a happy ending. Even though "Blue Moon Café" can be considered a romance, the resolution of this story is more complicated than your usual romance happily-ever-after. Overall, this is a bittersweet but satisfying story with a quite successful blend of romance and horror. I enjoyed it and found it well worth my time.
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Someone--or something--is killing Seattle's gay men. A creature moves through the darkest night, lit only by the full moon, taking them, one by one, from the rain city's gay gathering areas. Someone--or something--is falling in love with Thad Matthews. Against a backdrop of horror and fear, young Thad finds his first true love in the most unlikely of places--a new Italian restaurant called The Blue Moon Cafe. Sam is everything Thad has ever dreamed of in a man: compassionate, giving, handsome, and with brown eyes Thad feels he could sink into. And Sam can cook! But as the pair's love begins to grow, so do the questions and uncertainties, the main one being, why do Sam's unexplained disappearances always coincide with the full moon? Prepare yourself for a unique blend of dark suspense and erotic romance with The Blue Moon Cafe, written by the author Unzipped magazine called, 'the Stephen King of gay horror.' You're guaranteed an unforgettable reading experience, one that skillfully blends the hottest romance with the most chilling terror...(Gay / Dark Fantasy / Shapeshifter / Werewolf / Suspense / Thriller)
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