DAY 14
Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Love, Marriage, and a Baby Carriage
SERIES: A Walk on the Wild Side (2016 Daily Dose)
AUTHOR: C.S. Poe
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 38 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2016
BLURB:
Theodore Reinhart is a young man looking for love. In San Diego. At a convention. For penguin shifters. WaddleCon is the go-to event of the year when looking for your life partner, but Theodore isn’t comfortable with the game they’ve turned dating into, nor does the convention provide for the gay community. A mistake in speed dating table assignments puts Theodore in front of Wesley O’Neill, a handsome and confident model who lets it slip that he’s definitely noticed the spark of attraction between them.
A perfect date ends prematurely when Theodore finds an abandoned egg in a bathroom trash can. Unable to leave it behind, Theodore and Wesley play a mad game of cat and mouse across the resort trying to keep it safe, all while growing closer to one another. Wesley may be the forever partner Theodore came looking for, but their relationship won’t work if they don’t make room for a little addition to the family.
REVIEW:
Theodore was convinced with masses of other penguin shifters that WaddleCon (so freakin cute!) was “The Way” to meet his forever partner penguin. Unfortunately, WaddleCon doesn’t exactly cater to the gay crowd, and Theodore plans to spend his time there drowning his sorrows in booze. Drawn into a few rounds of speed-dating against his will, he somehow finds himself seated at a table facing sexy, and coincidently bisexual, model Wesley. But their perfect date goes awry when Theodore discovers an egg abandoned in the rubbish. With a cuckolded husband, an angry mob, and determined security hunting them down, Theodore and Wesley must save the egg, evade capture, and find the time to get to know each other, especially since it seems they’re about to be daddies.
This right here is exactly what you want a short story to be. It was fun, and silly, and adorable and set over a twenty-four hour period, which kept the story moving at a brisk pace without skipping forward by huge time periods. Plus there was that little nugget of an epilogue at the end to round it all off perfectly and leave you squirming at the cute factor.
The instant connection between the characters was fast, even by shifter standards, but the author had no difficulties making me believe it. The setting was part of the fun and the chaos was easy to follow. And penguin shifters? I’m pretty sure the author should get bonus points for making that work really well, along with the novelty factor.
My favourite read of the daily dose collection so far!!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Dreamspinner Press – Collection
Dreamspinner Press – Single Story
Even though this Sharks fan weeps at the mention of penguins these days (sigh!), this does sound cute!
It sounds like a really funny one. And I’ve never read about penguin shifters! Another one to my TBR pile! 😉
Still at the top of my likes!
Penguins! There just isn’t enough of them. The blurb had me at Waddlecon >.<