Long and Short Reviews welcomes Rick R. Reed who is visiting with us today to celebrate the release of his newest book Bigger Love.

Bigger Love is set in a high school and it’s about high school students and everything that goes along with being that age—the angst, the hormones, the feeling that everything is life and death. The fascination with love. The fears that you’re too good, not good enough, headed everywhere and headed nowhere.

The books below portray this turbulent time in ways that are so on target, they make my heart ache.

And they’re what I hope I captured too, in creating the world of small town high school senior, Truman Reid. Here, in no particular order, are five reads that are captivating and true not only to the teenage experience, but the human experience.

The Day I Killed James
Catherine Ryan Hyde
Hyde, author of Pay it Forward, gets deep inside the head of a young woman, a survivor, who holds herself responsible for the death of a boy she likes. It’s unsentimental, real, and teaches a lesson about coming to terms with grief and loss. I chose it because she treats her teenagers like adults, and never talks down to their experience, something I tried hard to keep in mind as I wrote Bigger Love.

Thirteen Reasons Why
Jay Asher
This book portrays teenagers so poignantly and so realistically, I was blown away. The book’s central tragedy and the peeling away of the onion layers that led up to it, is handled with incredible sensitivity.

The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
What I love about “Fault” is how John Green makes us care so deeply for two characters—a young man nearing his untimely death and the girl who loves him. He never makes things saccharine and doesn’t shy away from the harsh reality of death and disease. Yet, at the same time, it’s a book filled with hope and the redemptive—and undying—power of love.

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Becky Albertalli
The reason this one’s on the list is because of its light touch and, oh yes, its humor. Adolescence and young adulthood have angst to spare, but author Albertalli knows that doesn’t have to mean depressing or sad.

Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook
Todd Brown
This first-person coming of age tale, told in journal entries, is sadly out of print and it doesn’t appear there’s much else available from the author. That’s a shame because this is a wonderful, touching book about a young gay boy’s coming to grips with his sexual orientation, with family, and with life. I like to think my Truman Reid would have been best friends with this book’s main character.

Truman Reid is Summitville High’s most out-and-proud senior. He can’t wait to take his fierce, uncompromising self away from his small Ohio River hometown, where he’s suffered more than his share of bullying. He’s looking forward to bright lights and a big city. Maybe he’ll be the first gender-fluid star to ever win an Academy Award. But all that changes on the first day of school when he locks eyes with the most gorgeous hunk he’s ever seen.

Mike Stewart, big, dark-haired, and with the most amazing blue eyes, is new to town. He’s quiet, manly, and has the sexy air of a lost soul. It’s almost love at first sight for Truman. He thinks that love could deepen when Mike becomes part of the stage crew for Harvey, the senior class play Truman’s directing. But is Mike even gay? And how will it work when Truman’s mother is falling for Mike’s dad?

Plus Truman, never the norm, makes a daring and controversial choice for the production that has the whole town up in arms.

See how it all plays out on a stage of love, laughter, tears, and sticking up for one’s essential self….

About the Author: Rick R. Reed draws inspiration from the lives of gay men to craft stories that quicken the heartbeat, engage emotions, and keep the pages turning. Although he dabbles in horror, dark suspense, and comedy, his attention always returns to the power of love. He’s the award-winning and bestselling author of more than fifty works of published fiction and is forever at work on yet another book. Lambda Literary has called him: “A writer that doesn’t disappoint…” You can find him at www.rickrreed.com or www.rickrreedreality.blogspot.com. Rick lives in Palm Springs, CA with his beloved husband and their fierce Chihuahua/Shiba Inu mix.

Buy the book at Amazon (print), Amazon (ebook), Publisher (print), Pubisher (ebook).