A very quick and easy MM romance that was very different to others I've read and sadly that wasn't a positive as I just found it to be quite boring and slow with an ending I didn't love - it just wasn't for me unfortunately.

DNF at about 50%. Too much "insta love" and I just had a hard time liking the characters. Tried to stick it out but it just felt like it was dragging eventually.

Thad doesn't expect to find love when he wanders into a new restaurant, but he is instantly smitten with the chef, Sam. The feeling seems to be mutual, but the secrets Sam and his family are hiding may be too much for Thad to handle. Meanwhile, while Sam is unavailable every full moon, a beast is stalking and brutally murdering gay men.

The cover and summary make it pretty clear this is going to be a story that includes a minimum of one werewolf. While this isn't my favorite book including shifters (The Parasol Protectorate and They Bite series are much stronger to me), I did enjoy reading this. Thad and Sam have a lot of chemistry, and the horror aspect of this book is truly scary. The story felt a little rushed at times, like there were some scenes missing, but the story came together well.

When I read the blurb I find the story interesting and I was super excited about, what i got instead of a thrilling story was an over the place story. I didn't liked Sam at all or his and Thad's love story... it was full of lies and half truths and I just didn't see chemistry between them. It was really disappointing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

For the record, one of Rick R. Reed’s horror stories is not supposed to include tears. Emotion, sure. Terror, totally expected. Romance, probably. But tears? I in no way expected a story about blood thirsty, vengeful driven werewolves to bring me to tears. *sigh* That’s not a bad thing though. I consider any book that can draw that kind of emotion a worth-while read. It just kind of caught me off guard.

Dinner at the Blue Moon Cafe was told by several different POVs. It definitely kept things interesting, especially considering one of the POVs was from the killer. That didn’t surprise me though. Rick R. Reed has a knack for getting inside the heads of his most terrifying characters. I’m not sure what that says about me or him, considering his horror stories are among my favorites that he writes.

Thad and Sam were pretty much attracted to each other from the time that they met. Thad always had feeling that there was something different about Sam. A lot of that came from his self doubt though so it was easy to ignore… until it wasn’t. I think what I liked most about Dinner at the Blue Moon Cafe was that there was the possibility that love wasn’t enough. Some things are just too much to overcome and Thad had every right to walk away. That thing that I liked so much? Yeah, it’s what broke me too. It was obvious that Sam really cared about Thad, but…

Yeah, no spoilers here. You’ll just have to read Dinner at the Blue Moon Cafe and find out who the real monster was. 😉

i wanted to smack these two and tell them they needed to communicate better so many times haha.. this was well written.. i loved seeing the mind of a killer.. inside it.. loved the romance.. the thriller.. the paranormal.. the suspense.. the writing was amazing.. i am quickly becoming a big fan of this author. loved it

Thad Matthews is a man in his mid 20s who’s recently been laid off ans is enjoying a bit of R & R in his Seattle apartment while he job hunts and lives of unemployment. He tries to stay fit and has recently signed up to volunteer at a local food bank that serves gay shut-ins. He’s a super daddy to his chihuahua Edith, and he would really like a guy to settle down with, but no one has seemed right in the longest time.

He checks out a brand new cafe one night and meets the owner, a secy Sicilian bear named Sam Lupino. Sam and Thad have an instant connection and their night only begins with Sam feeding Thad all the best of his cafe’s kitchen. It unexpected, but delightfully, ends with Sam absolutely blowing Thad’s mind in bed. And, best news of all, Sam wants a repeat and a real relationship.

Meanwhile, Sam’s life is “complicated” and he can’t really commit on account of family issues. Thad thinks Sam must be closeted and playing him like a side-piece, but it’s more that Sam’s adult son, Domenic, is extremely homophobic. Sam is afraid to upset his family dynamic and Thad is heartbroken. Through his volunteer efforts Thad meets Jared, who really wants to date Thad–but his heart is still bruised by Sam. And, there’s some back and forth where Sam and Thad do connect in ways that might lead to more.

However, there is a murderer on the streets of Seattle. Twice in the past two months–always on the full moon–men in the gay community have been brutally slaughtered in areas known to be cruising zones. Jared is nearly attacked, and he leans on Thad heavily as he recovers from the shock. Thad’s dreams are plagued by nightmares of werewolves, and he’s starting to piece together the nights he sought out Sam and couldn’t find him were always on the full moon. Is Sam a brutal killer? Is Thad losing his mind?

This is a really cool take on the werewolf horror trope and harkens back to Silver Bullet, a fave movie from my youth. The werewolf is definitely under control–but Thad and Jared are also in its sights. Sam’s mysterious behavior provides a great counterpoint to the building tension, and while I had picked the killer out in the first part of the story, there were enough turns to keep me 100% engaged and turning those pages. There’s a significant amount of suspense, and while the ending is technically happy, there is certainly a lot of loss and gore until we arrive there. It’s a perfect Halloween read.

A monster moves through the darkest night, lit only by the full moon, taking them, one by one, from Seattle’s gay gathering areas.
I thought this book was ok. Diverting enough. I would read more.

Paranormal horror stalks Seattle streets😲

3.5-4🌟stars
I missed this story when it was first published about a decade ago. The plot was good but, for a Rick R. Reed horror romance, it was a bit predictable, scary but not shocking. I expected a few startling twists because that's what Reed typically serves in his more recent novels that made him one of my favorite MM authors. I found the horror aspect of the story better than the romance, probably because the two leads Thad and Sam spend less time together than Thad devotes to his friend Jared. The stalking and attack scenes were menacingly dark and exciting.

Thanks to publishers NineStar Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

Though technically this is a queer romance as well as a thriller, I found myself more engaged in the thriller aspects. The narrative, in general, is stronger with the killer's POV and the visceral descriptions of how the killer hunts his victims. For this, the flow of the language is more action orientated, which makes the pace more dynamic. This is juxtaposed against Thad's POV and internal monologue, which often pauses for long-winded exposition. This exposition acts as a disruption in immersion for the reader. Due to the fact these two narrative styles are portrayed side by side in the plot, it makes Thad’s portion drag on, and as a reader I became less engaged.
The romantic relationship between Thad and Sam comes off as genuine, given that one party is overtly hiding something from the other. It is very obvious that the relationship is built more-so on physical attraction, with a desire to further an emotional connection. Rather than starting or insinuating said emotional connection early in the narrative, before trust can be established, I found the conflict wrought from Sam hiding things and the growing tension between the pair made for an interesting obstacle, and helped set an overall tone of suspicion which was then amplified by the environmental theming with the murders.

Gay men in Seattle are turning up dead, having been ripped to shreds and partially consumed...a monster is on the loose.
Thad meets Sam Lupino, a Sicilian chef and restaurateur, when he stops by the new premises he and his family have opened, and the Sparks fly from the get go. But Sam is hiding something and it has to do with he and his family always being out of town during the full moon...
A heady mix of love, romance and sex, with the occasional murder thrown in make this book an entertaining read.
Likeable characters and men in touch with their emotions just add to the enjoyment.
My thanks to NetGalley, NineStar Press and Rick R. Reed for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review.

This wasn't my cup of tea. I was excited for a M-M shifter romance with plenty of steam and some mystery. But it just was too all over the place for me. This could have done with a little more development of the plot and love story.

Such an interesting and well written book.
Rick R. Reed's writing never ceases to amaze me.
I was captivated from the very first page and thoroughly enjoyed this.
I loved how real, relatable and well fleshed out the characters were. The setting of the story was quite compelling as well.
A definite recommend especially if you are a fan of Rick R. Reed's work.

i had no expectations when i chose this title, just a curiousity on how the book would turn out given the blurb. I was disappointed, it read like an early 2nd gen mills & boon, the author had discovered they could get away with adding in sex instead of polite hand holding and chaste kisses so did but not well and with just the need to fill a gap, the back story was just that a ramble through parts of old myth/horror movie scripts and a disconnected romantic plot that didn't gel. I'm sad to say it fell very short of the jacket promise.

I enjoyed reading this. Especially the parts in the werewolfs pov. I thought those spots where very interesting to see.
It's a quick read which is always good for these types of books.

It has an insta love story with Thad and Sam and that's not usually my thing, but it really worked for them.

And you get recipes at the end of the book. Like hell yes!

This one took me by surprise. It was both well written and passionate. I thoroughly enjoy spending an afternoon a relaxing with this book.

The night Thad met Sam his life was changed forever. Not only did he feel himself falling in love with Sam but there was also strange things happening that Thad couldn’t help but feel involved Sam. There were violent and vicious murders happening to gay men that were more than just an animal attack but what was described as the attacker just didn’t make sense. So why was Thad having nightmares that included Sam being a huge black beast.
This was a good paranormal romance with a bit of a twist. Although the plot was not overly difficult the characters made it super enjoyable. The difficulties that people face when having to choose between family and love is something that many people face although may be not to this extreme.the writing was really easy to read and there was enough depth to keep me interested until the last page. Great quick read!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review

I actually really enjoyed this story. Thad was a good character, but I felt like the supporting characters were not as well developed. The small horror/suspense parts really complemented the overall reading experience. The ending was a little abrupt, but since it’s a fairly short book it’s understandable.