Blue Umbrella Sky

Rick R. Reed

Jan 2019 · Dreamspinner Press

Ratings and reviews

A sweet and moving story. This is the first book I've read by Rick R. Reed and I really enjoyed it. The story is sweet but also a bit melancholy. Milt is mourning his dead husband, Corky, and at the same time he feels a bit guilty. Corky died from early-onset Alzheimer’s and Milt kept him at home as long as he could and was burned out from the stress of being a caregiver. As much as he misses Corky it was almost a relief for it all to be over. Billy was attracted to Milt when he saw him moving into the trailer park where they both now live. He's always had a thing for older guys but no matter what he tries he can't get Milt to talk to him other than a passing hello. I like how the story is told in third person but alternates between Milt and Billy. One small thing bothered me at first…Some of the chapters are flashbacks to the past but there wasn't any visual indication in the book to let the reader know that. It didn't take me long to catch on but it was still a bit disconcerting at the time I read it. Other books I've read that do this usually have a timeline/date reference, or use italic type, at the beginning of the section where the flashback starts. I'm not sure who controls this when it's not a self-published book and it's possible that since I was reading an ARC that it was corrected in the copy that was used for publication. The story itself was really good despite the melancholy. I would definitely call this a slow-burn romance; Billy and Milt don't really get together until pretty late in the book. If your looking for steamy this won't be the book for you but then you'd miss a really sweet and touching book. Another thing I liked about the book was the frank discussion about Billy's past. Since it's not disclosed in the blurb, I won't tell you about it other than to say the depiction of his struggle seemed very real to me. I will definitely be reading more books by this author. An advanced copy of this book was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author. ***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***