Author: Parker Williams
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 168 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: Of Love and Corn Dogs is just the ticket for someone who is looking for a sweet romance where a happy ending is guaranteed.
Reviewed By: Sammy
Blurb: With more money than he could spend in ten lifetimes, Darwin Kincade still couldn’t keep death from stealing his lover. A little older and a whole lot wiser, flirting with his twice-a-week waiter is the perfect no-risk substitute for a real relationship. Until the night his routine is upended by the restaurant’s newest employee.
Ricky Donnelly loves people. While being a server isn’t his dream, he’s good at it. When a grumpy man is seated in his station, Ricky sees there’s more to him than he lets on, and when the man relaxes, he’s actually sweet.
As the two men bond over a discussion about corn dogs— something Darwin’s never heard of—he realizes how much he’s missed out on in his life. He vows to open himself to new experiences—including, perhaps, a chance at finding love again.
Not wanting anything to muddy their blooming relationship, Darwin hides part of himself from Ricky. He likes the look in Ricky’s eyes, unclouded by Darwin’s notoriety. Unfortunately, the truth can never stay hidden, and when it comes out, Darwin may lose any hope of holding onto the future they’ve begun to build.
Review: If you are looking for a tender romance with relatively no angst and a fairy tale-like ending, then you need look no further than Parker Williams’ novel Of Love and Corn Dogs. While it could be defined as a rags-to-riches love story, you just need to look a bit deeper to see that there is, at the heart of this story, a quiet statement about taking chances and finding love all over again after great loss.
Darwin Kincade is no stranger to love. He had found the love of his life, once upon a time, only to lose him to cancer far too soon. After that, he threw himself into the family business he had inherited, with a passion. He is genuinely one of the good guys, looking out for his employees and even giving his own foolish brother more second chances than he may have deserved. But he is also incredibly lonely, and after spending months pining after a waiter in an upscale restaurant, he returns one week to find his eye candy gone, and the replacement not quite what he expected.
Ricky Donnelly is barely scraping by, paying off student loans and trying to make ends meet while pursuing his dream of one day opening his own restaurant. But while he enjoys being a waiter, his new boss seems to take real delight in riding him and constantly reminding him that he is not upscale restaurant material. When he sees the disappointment in his current customer’s eyes, Ricky knows he has to do something to help the guy out. So what better thing than to suggest his own favorite food—corn dogs? Darwin has never had one, nor has he ever been so taken with a wait staff person before. Sure, the other guy was nice on the eyes, but this waiter was something more. But will Ricky still look at Darwin with such compassion and excitement once he finds out just exactly who Darwin is?
The thing that really worked in this tender romance was Darwin. He was so incredibly likable and immediately tugged at your heartstrings. It wasn’t that he was some “poor, lonely rich boy” who was so misunderstood—not at all. In fact, he had a true support system of hired staff that were more like family, and who genuinely cared for him, and he for them. This, coupled with the realistic air of innocence that he carried about him, made Darwin someone you really rooted for, someone who deserved to find true happiness. While it seemed a bit of a stretch that Ricky would have such a difficult time with Darwin’s staggering wealth, when the author unwrapped the root of Ricky’s unease it all made sense and, for me, made the story that much more realistic. I could see someone like Ricky truly being taken aback by Darwin’s wealth, and the way in which he responded to the revelation that Darwin was indeed a corporate magnate made Ricky more three dimensional than he had been throughout the entire novel.
Of Love and Corn Dogs is just the ticket for someone who is looking for a sweet romance where a happy ending is guaranteed. Low on angst, fast paced and tender, this is a genuine love story from beginning to end.
You can buy Of Love and Corn Dogs here:
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