Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Release Day and A Rave Review for I HEART BOSTON TERRIERS!





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So thrilled to announce the release of I HEART BOSTON TERRIERS. This is a story that's near and dear to my heart, mainly because my husband Bruce and I have a Boston terrier princess in our home named Lily. We got her at 8 weeks old and she's now a dignified older lady of 14.

Here's a picture of her from very early days, when we lived on Fargo Avenue in Chicago.

You may recognize Lily on the cover of I HEART BOSTON TERRIERS. That shot was taken last fall at one of our happy places--in a cabin at Doe Bay on Orcas Island, up near the Canadian border.

I'm also thrilled to share with you the first review for the story, which I woke up to this morning. Reviewed by Michael at Diverse Reader.



 DIVERSE READER REVIEW (by Michael)

There are a number of reasons dog is considered Man’s best friend.  They are loyal and attentive.  They never have a negative thing to say about you, and are always happy to see you.  Additionally, when treated right, they react in similar fashions by giving you trust as devotion.

Now, I’m not saying that people should be treated like animals, nor am I saying dogs should be treated like people (even though I treat mine like spoiled children). What I am saying is that both species want the same thing.

Aaron has recently been dumped by his boyfriend.  He’s moved in with his sister, Becca, sharing a small studio apartment with her and her cat.  While on a run for supplies for the car, they happen to stumble upon an adoption event, and find Mavis, a tiny scared Boston Terrier, huddled as close to the back of her cage as she can get.

Mavis has been dumped too.

See where this is going?

Becca convinces Aaron to adopt Mavis.  Aaron struggles to bond with the canine, even wondering at times if he made a mistake.  After an unfortunate incident with a pair of Jimmy Choo stiletto heels, Becca does a complete one-eighty and demands Aaron return Mavis.

Aaron knows what it is to be dumped, to be cast aside and unwanted.  Drawing upon his own experiences, he can relate to how Mavis may feel going through something similar, and can’t fathom putting another breathing creature through the same kind of pain.  Now, the argument can be as to whether or not dogs feel emotions the way humans do, and I’m not here to postulate one way or the other.  What I will say is both need the same thing, the thing that we all need.

To be loved.

I enjoyed this book.  The parallels between Mavis and Aaron, weren’t overdone.  They were subtle.  We have a tendency to minimize the feeling of the broken hearted, unable to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes (or paws).  Until we, too, experience that pain.  Mavis and Aaron could actually teach us a thing or two about treating each other with compassion.

Sometimes through compassion, the strongest bonds are formed.

BLURB

When Aaron finds Mavis, an emaciated and shy Boston terrier, at a pet adoption fair, his heart goes out to her—completely.

When Christian, manning the adoption fair for the Humane Society that autumn Saturday, finds Aaron, his heart goes out to him—completely.

This is a story about embracing love, whether it’s for someone who walks on four legs or on two. Mavis’s journey back to wholeness and finding her forever home parallels the story of two men discovering each other at the perfect moment—a moment that defies logic, propriety, and common sense. But when did love ever follow a rational course?

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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Buy One Get One Deal! I HEART BOSTON TERRIERS and LOST AND FOUND

Psst...have I got a #BOGO deal for you!



TODAY, September 19, ONLY, my stories about dogs helping people find love are on sale at Dreamspinner Press. Pre-order my short I HEART BOSTON TERRIERS for just $3.99 and get my full-length novel LOST AND FOUND...for #FREE. Hurry on over to Dreamspinner to get yours before tomorrow comes! Please help me spread the word!

BUY ONE GET ONE:
https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/i-heart-boston-terriers-by-rick-r-reed-8859-b

BLURBS

I HEART BOSTON TERRIERS

When Aaron finds Mavis, an emaciated and shy Boston terrier, at a pet adoption fair, his heart goes out to her—completely.

When Christian, manning the adoption fair for the Humane Society that autumn Saturday, finds Aaron, his heart goes out to him—completely.

This is a story about embracing love, whether it’s for someone who walks on four legs or on two. Mavis’s journey back to wholeness and finding her forever home parallels the story of two men discovering each other at the perfect moment—a moment that defies logic, propriety, and common sense. But when did love ever follow a rational course?








LOST AND FOUND

On a bright autumn day, Flynn Marlowe lost his best friend, a beagle named Barley, while out on a hike in Seattle’s Discovery Park.

On a cold winter day, Mac Bowersox found his best friend, a lost, scared, and emaciated beagle, on the streets of Seattle.

Two men. One dog. When Flynn and Mac meet by chance in a park the next summer, there’s a problem—who does Barley really belong to? Flynn wants him back, but he can see that Mac rescued him and loves him just as much as he does. Mac wants to keep the dog, and he can imagine how heartbreaking losing him would be—but that's just what Flynn experienced.

A “shared custody” compromise might be just the way to work things out. But will the arrangement be successful? Mac and Flynn are willing to try it—and along the way, they just might fall in love.

BUY ONE GET ONE:
https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/i-heart-boston-terriers-by-rick-r-reed-8859-b

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

5 Stars for my Modern-Day Dorian Gray!

Pleased to wake up to this awesome video review of my modern-day retelling of the Oscar Wilde classic, The Picture of Dorian Gray called A FACE WITHOUT A HEART.



BLURB
A modern-day and thought-provoking retelling of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray that esteemed horror magazine Fangoria called “…a book that is brutally honest with its reader and doesn’t flinch in the areas where Wilde had to look away…. A rarity: a really well-done update that’s as good as its source material.”

A beautiful young man bargains his soul away to remain young and handsome forever, while his holographic portrait mirrors his aging and decay and reflects every sin and each nightmarish step deeper into depravity… even cold-blooded murder. Prepare yourself for a compelling tour of the darkest sides of greed, lust, addiction, and violence.





Friday, September 8, 2017

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: IM, the Book that Will Make You Think Twice About Hooking Up Online

What Drove Me to Write my Serial Killer Thriller, IM


If you get an instant message from me, would you wonder why? Probably not, unless you knew that one of my most infamous thrillers was called IM, and that IM in the title stands for instant message, but that it could also stand for instant murder. And maybe you’d pause if you knew that IM is a book about a serial killer who uses the Internet to lure his victims.

But then again, maybe you wouldn’t. After all, what are the odds that someone who writes a book about a murderer who uses instant messages to charm his way into the homes of his victims, where he will ruthlessly stab them and perpetrate all sorts of horrors on their bodies would actually do something so heinous?

IM comes from that comfort zone we probably all have: that place that tells us, “It couldn’t happen to me.” People, in general, don’t expect to be murdered. That’s why scores of young men on gay internet hook up sites often brazenly invite strangers into their homes. They believe it “couldn’t happen to them.”

This belief is the impetus for IM. The internet has made it so easy for us to meet other people, especially for sex. Who needs a bar, a social club, or even a bathhouse to meet a sex partner? Today, we can order up a roll in the hay almost as easily as we can order a pizza. And have it delivered fast, hot, and fresh… The temptation is so great that many of us cast caution to the wind and never do the things common sense might tell us when contemplating an online hook-up, things like meeting in public first, getting the details on your potential suitor like name, address, phone number and conveying those details to a good friend, just in case.

Instead, many men, every day, open their homes up to complete strangers. Strangers who have no connection to them. Who, if they’re careful, would leave no pesky traces like motivation or other associations investigators might look for. The internet has made it easy to perpetrate the perfect crime.

Enter my killer, Timothy Bright, who looks mild mannered but who’s twisted and broken on the inside. He knows how easy it is to chat someone up online and gain admittance to their homes. It almost never fails.

And that’s just how it works in real life. I thought that was scary…and so I began writing.

BLURB

The Internet is the new meat market for gay men. Now a killer is turning the meat market into a meat wagon. 

One by one, he’s killing them. Lurking in the digital underworld of Men4HookUpNow.com, he lures, seduces, and charms, reaching out through instant messages to the unwary. When the first body surfaces, openly gay Chicago Police Department detective Ed Comparetto is called in to investigate. At the scene, the young man who discovered the body tells him the story of how he found his friend. But did this witness play a bigger role in the murder than he’s letting on?

For Comparetto, this encounter is the beginning of a nightmare—because this witness did more than just show up at the scene of the crime; he set the scene. Comparetto is on a journey to discover the truth—before he loses his career, his boyfriend, his sanity… his life. Because in this killer's world, IM doesn't stand for instant message… it stands for instant murder.

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Amazon
Dreamspinner Press Publications

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