What Are Friends For?: Seasons in a Small Town, Book 1

By Patricia McLinn

Book Overview

Best friends always, lovers once ... and now?

Seasons in a Small Town - Spring

In small-town Drago, Illinois, Zeke came by his "the Geek" nickname honestly, more comfortable with algebra and algorithms than high school's social hallways. Though that didn't keep him from longing for the unattainable prom queen, Jennifer.

The one person who understood his out-of-the-box brain was Darcie, his best friend. For one night, Zeke and Darcie jolt from friends to lovers. Then he leaves town. Darcie knew her Zeke. He'd never look back, wouldn't ever see her feelings for him. Now, 17 years later, Zeke's a self-made tech billionaire, Darcie's a local cop, Jennifer's divorced and Darcie's best friend.

Their town is flagging, but Darcie has a plan. It starts with luring Zeke back to Drago for its annual Lilac Festival, then persuading him to boost the town's economy. Even if that means matchmaking him with the beautiful Jennifer. She'll do it for him, for Jennifer, for Drago.

Zeke swore he'd never come back to where he was miserable, other than his connection with Darcie. But maybe being back won't be so bad. Especially spending time with Jennifer ... and Darcie. Now why did he think of Darcie when things were going so well with Jennifer? Darcie's plan doesn't get off to the best start when she puts Zeke in handcuffs, but they can get past that. For Drago's sake, they have to. Just like she'll get past wondering what if...

What Are Friends For?, Book 1 of USA Today bestselling author Patricia McLinn's Seasons in a Small Town series, will captivate readers who love passionate contemporary romance with a spark of humor.

Praise for What Are Friends For?

"Loved this second-chance romance I liked the geeky-sorta-vulnerable Zeke and the loyal and capable Darcie and I LOVED them together." -5*

"You laugh, you angst, you maybe shed a couple tears or two ... and at the end of it you move immediately onto the next book because - unlike teenage Zeke - you don't want to get away, all you want to do is go back." - 5*

"Another hit. Loved exploring the background of the characters to see what led them to their choices." -5*

Praise for the Seasons in a Small Town series

"Funny and heart-wrenching at the same time" -- 5*

"The town of Drago has insinuated itself into my heart and I can only hope there is another installment with this small town as its setting." -- 5*

"Heartwarming -- Absolutely loved it " -- 5*

Get all the books in Patricia McLinn's Seasons in a Small Town series

What Are Friends For? (Spring)

The Right Brother (Summer)

Falling for Her (Autumn)

Warm Front (Winter)

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1944126554
• ISBN13: 9781944126551
• Release Date: August 2019
• Publisher: Craig Place Books
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Strong main characters.

Anton "Zeke" Zeekowsky left the dot on the map called Drago, Illinois, for the big city sixteen years ago. He never expected to return. Quite the opposite, he hoped to forget it even existed. Zeke founded the security software firm "Zeke-Tech". After toiling long and hard, he became a self-made billionaire. Even so, Zeke's mind is always churning away, always designing his next creation. Zeke's life is shaken when his assistant, Brenda, informs him of an invitation from his hometown and urges him to act upon it. Somehow, against his better judgement, Zeke finds himself back in Drago. He has committed himself to being the Grand Marshall of the Drago Lilac Festival Parade, head judge of the Drago Lilac Queen pageant, and guest of honor at the Drago Lilac Festival Dance. The only good thing about it all, other than getting a chance to see how his mother is doing, is seeing Darcie Barrett and Jennifer Truesdale again. Jennifer was the unattainable beauty as Zeke grew up. Darcie was his best friend. And man, how times have changed! Jennifer is now divorced and raising a twelve-year-old daughter, Ashley. Darcie is now a local police officer. Jennifer and Darcie hope to convince Zeke to help turn Drago's economy around. The town is on its last legs. Yet both know that Zeke has bad memories of the place. Darcie, having been closest to Zeke, is the one chosen to soften him up. Problem is that the last night Darcie saw Zeke was also the single time they made love. He was gone the next day. Her feelings toward Zeke has not changed. She tries to hand him off to Jennifer, but even her chief seems to be against her. Chief Dutch Harnett, a hard-nosed outsider who'd taken over Drago's police department almost a year ago, decides that Darcie should change her patrol schedule a bit and drive Zeke everywhere he needs to go. Anytime Zeke drives himself, he ends up speeding, and the chief thinks this arrangement should end the problem. Well Darcie may have to drive him around, but he would have to deal with sitting silently by as she makes her normal rounds. Darcie cares too much about the locals to miss checking up on them. Zeke is happy that his "vacation" will be spent mostly with Darcie, even if he did have to become a slight nuisance to the chief to do it. Perhaps he could even find a way to work some on his latest project. Zeke even brought a disk with his soon-to-be-announced gadget on it for Darcie. But someone else out there has plans for Zeke and the disk. **** Author Patricia McLinn has created a romance that will entice all those ladies out there who are not afraid of a mouse. A computer mouse, that is. No wimpy characters in this book. Zeke and Darcie are both strong characters with enough faults to make them human and real to the readers. I hope to see Jennifer get her own story told someday, in addition to Vanessa (Zeke's business partner). In the meantime, rest assured that more than what I mentioned in the synopsis is going on within THIS sto