books
Welcome!
Ryan O'Reilly is the author of To Nourish and Consume and Snapshot. He is also a freelance writer for various publications across the country, and a self-proclaimed ex-hippie.
His home is the open road, but he keeps a change of underwear, some soap and a clean towel on his small farm in Clever, Missouri.
The novel To Nourish and Consume is the story of three former friends, who reunite unexpectedly in the small resort town on Lake Michigan they had known as children. Central to this triad of personalities are Jaqueline Morgan, a coquettish and manipulative woman whose hold on Brian has withstood the tests of time and distance, and Dabney Dryden, Brian’s childhood best friend whose easy charm is balanced by a dangerously explosive personality.
Named after Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73, this is a story about fleeting youth and the not-so-fleeting impacts our childhood experiences have on our adult lives. Brian’s memories of summers spent on the lake with Jackie and Dabney are fraught with class tension, romantic conflict, sexual tension and youthful hubris. In the end do we hold on to what we know, or embrace what we don't yet know?
"A shattering, unforgettable book that upends our ideas of love, loss and memories. O'Reilly is surgically deft as he plunges his knife into the very heart of human conflict, exploring the emotional carnage, the trauma, the scarring and, ultimately, the healing. A combination of great characters and brilliant plotting make the novel the most compelling I've read in quite a while. A must-read."
- J. Rye Erixon, author of Angel's Milk
"To Nourish and Consume gets its hooks in you from the very first page. O'Reilly's writing is tight, fresh and compelling. The story is smart and tres moderne, with surprising twists, steep plunges and hairpin turns. Haunting and romantic, mysterious and enigmatic. The film version can't be that far off."
- Patti Ann Bengen, author of The Devil's Dance
"A twenty-first-century romance reminiscent of William Styron (Sophie's Choice) and Evelyn Waugh (Brideshead Revisited) with its heated, sexual tensions, blistering love triangles - and money. This is a sophisticated thrill ride, an insightful, sleek novel filled with enough plot turns to keep the reader rivited from hot start to steamy finish."
- Stephen F. Medici, author of Adverse Selection
GEN-X QUITS AND HITS THE ROAD. What made him do it? Was it the stifling, dead-end corporate job or the unfaithful fiancae? Whatever the reason, one fed-up, twenty-something decides to kiss the rat-race good-bye and take to the road to find himself and his dreams.
As he rides on his motorcycle on a journey of self-discovery, the traveler becomes a nomadic vagabond seeking enlightenment and finding it in a series of remarkable encounters, a modern counterculture and a fellow wanderer. Through friendship, death and the freedoms found outside of middle-American values, the traveler learns life's most important lesson: It s not the destination that is important, but what happens along the way. BUY A COPY TODAY!