Of Love and Corn Dogs by Parker Williams

#1 Of Love and ….

152 Pages

Buy Links:     Amazon         Amazon UK

The 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. 

My thoughts

Of Love and Corn Dogs is, for the most part, a sweet feel-good story featuring two adorable, be it at times frustrating, protagonists I couldn’t help but fall for.

Ricky is such a good guy. He’s nice. He just wants people to be happy, doesn’t appear to have a selfish bone in his body, and charmed me from the moment he appeared on the page.

Darwin was a different story. Initially he came across as rather short and stand-offish. Of course the fact that he at first appeared to be rather arrogant made it all the more wonderful when he revealed himself as a thoroughly good and warm-hearted man.

I read most of this story with a huge grin on my face as these two men find their way towards each other and in the process brighten each other’s lives. Of course it isn’t all plain sailing and I’ll happily admit to feeling the urge to slap first Darwin and subsequently Ricky for being short-sighted fools and almost destroying what could be. But, I could understand their reasons for doing what they did, even if I didn’t agree with them.

This story features quite a few fabulous secondary characters. I adored Henley (Darwin’s chauffeur) and Maria (his cook) but there were others who made me smile. In fact, as I said before, this whole book made me happy. This is a thoroughly enjoyable feel good story and as such it was exactly what I needed during a somewhat sad and difficult personal time. It was impossible to not fall hard for both Ricky and Darwin and root for them from the start. Just as I now find myself very curious about ‘corn dogs’ and longing for a good shake. J

In short, I highly recommend this book if you happen to be looking for a story that will make you smile and lift your spirits. In the meantime, I’ll be investigating other solo novels by Parker Williams. I have no doubt I’m in for a happy surprise or two.