Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
Cooper works at the Dreamy Creamery, an ice cream parlor on the main route to Disneyland. Drew, Cooper’s “hottie,” is a regular customer, always ordering strange combinations of ice cream topped with rainbow sprinkles.
In contrast to Cooper’s ordinary jobs at the Dreamy Creamery and working in a bar three nights a week, Drew is a cast member at Disneyland. Cooper is a California native, content with his life, particularly the ice cream making part. As an actor, Drew is in California for a reason and hopes that his various roles at Disneyland will lead to his big break.
After so many weekly visits to the Dreamy Creamery and subtle flirting, Drew finally asks for Cooper’s number and the pair go on their first date. Daily texting and a series of other dates follow, but when Cooper and Drew realize their serious feelings for one another, it seems that their different approaches to the future may just push them apart.
Rainbow Sprinkles by Anna Martin appeared to be a great choice for Opposites Attract Week. Not only am I a big fan of Martin’s, but the blurb suggests that Cooper and Drew are very different personalities. Drew is described as having his “head in the clouds” and Cooper as “his feet firmly on the ground.” However, I did not feel that this was communicated clearly in the book. Yes, Drew works at Disneyland and has aspirations of becoming an actor, but instead I felt that he was pragmatic; everything he does is for a purpose. Instead, to me it seemed that Cooper is the more indecisive of the pair. He has his own dreams of owning an ice cream truck and making his own brands of ice cream, but actually appears too apprehensive to make this a reality.
The fact that I disagreed with how Cooper and Drew were described in the blurb did not affect my enjoyment of Martin’s story. Both men are likable and together they make a cute couple. The quarrel they have, which causes their separation, was not enough to make me doubt their future together. The sweetness of Cooper and Drew’s daily texting and dates is combined with the intensity of the physical nature of their relationship. From Martin’s description of the first time the pair have sex, the reader is aware of the meaning it has:
Cooper thought this was the sort of sex you had when you thought you were possibly, finally falling for someone, when they were the person you saw yourself having a future with.
It wasn’t the sort of sex you have the first time out of the gate.
As far as the romance in this story goes, the only reservation I had was Cooper and Drew’s first declaration of love. I felt that this happened too soon and the suddenness took me by surprise.
Rainbow Sprinkles is part of Dreamspinners Press’ States of Love series. Obviously, Disneyland plays a large part in Martin’s story, focused on California, but given the limited length of Rainbow Sprinkles she also addresses other positive of the State. Cooper’s opinion of California is emphatic:
He’d left the state a dozen or so times in his life but was of the firm opinion that he lived in the best part of the whole country. He had some of the greatest cities in the world on his doorstep, along with beaches, parks, mountains . . . . .He could go surfing today and skiing tomorrow, and where else in the world could you claim that?
I loved the contrast of Drew and Cooper’s date at Venice beach, with their others at Disneyland, and Drew’s job as an actor captures at least a sense of the LA scene.
Rainbow Sprinkles is a cozy romance with a satisfying HFN ending. Though this is not my favorite of Martin’s stories, I found it a comfortable and entertaining read.
Note: We are giving away a copy of Rainbow Sprinkles and a ton of other great prizes in our big Opposites Attract Week giveaway!
A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.
