DINNER AT HOME
by Rick R. Reed
Pages:
214
Date:
29/05/2014
Grade:
3.5
Details:
Received from Dreamspinner Press
Through Love Romances and More
Own
/ Kindle
The
blurb:
“It only takes a few days for Ollie D'Angelo to
lose his boyfriend, his job, and his home. Instead of mourning what he doesn’t
have, Ollie celebrates what he does: the freedom to pursue his real
passion—cooking. He begins Dinner at Home, a home-catering business, and it
takes off.
Late one night, Ollie catches Hank Mellinger, a streetwise hood down on his luck, about to rob his car. Ollie soon discovers that appearances aren’t necessarily what they seem. Hank isn’t a criminal caught red-handed, but a hungry young man trying to make a life for himself and the four-year-old niece he’s trying desperately to take care of.
Instead of calling the cops, Ollie offers Hank a job and a way to pull himself up by his bootstraps. Together, they discover they can really cook... and that their shared passion for food just might lead to a passion for each other.”
Late one night, Ollie catches Hank Mellinger, a streetwise hood down on his luck, about to rob his car. Ollie soon discovers that appearances aren’t necessarily what they seem. Hank isn’t a criminal caught red-handed, but a hungry young man trying to make a life for himself and the four-year-old niece he’s trying desperately to take care of.
Instead of calling the cops, Ollie offers Hank a job and a way to pull himself up by his bootstraps. Together, they discover they can really cook... and that their shared passion for food just might lead to a passion for each other.”
My thoughts:
This was a sweet love story and that was both its
selling point and its weakness. For me this book was a bit too sweet, Ollie a
bit too nice and trusting, Hank a bit too comfortable despite his shitty past
and solutions to problems a bit too easily achieved.
This is going to sound funny from somebody who up
until recently claimed not to like angst, but I really feel this book could
have done with more of it. Ollie seemed to suffer very little after the
boyfriend he’d bought a ring for breaks up with him. Losing his job just a day
later doesn’t seem to bother him either. By the same token, while we get the
details of Hank’s horrible past, I never really felt his pain or the trouble he
might still be having dealing with it. And when tragedy does strike it doesn’t
come as a surprise and, once again, seems to be accepted by the characters
almost before the reader realises what exactly has happened. For me the shifts
from pain to happiness were too abrupt. A chapter filled with inner turmoil
would be followed with a chapter filled with bliss. It was too black and white,
the changes in feelings too extreme. Shouldn’t doubts linger, pain ease only
slowly and solutions come gradually?
I constantly found myself wanting to like the
story more than I actually did. The storyline felt like something that should
work perfectly for me and yet it didn’t, which made this a somewhat frustrating
reading experience.
I did like the obvious love of food and its preparation
in this book. Every chapter starts with a recipe and every single one of them
was enticing and at least one or two may have to be tried out at some point in
the future. Having said that, I almost wish I had a paper copy of this book
available. On my Kindle the recipes seemed to take up a lot of – dare I say it,
too much - room. I’ve got a feeling though it wouldn’t feel that way if the
pages had been bigger.
Even now, after I’ve finished the book and have written
most of my review I still find myself wanting to say I liked the story more
than I actually did. The characters managed to charm me, the story line had an
almost fairytale-like quality and it was a smooth read. If I had to describe this book in one sentence
I’d say this was a feel good book that could and should have been a feel great book.
