About Cornfed
by Kiernan Kelly
192 pages / 53800 words
ISBN: 978-1-61040-166-1
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Jacob Yoder is a young Amish man on "rumspringa" (running around time,
an Amish tradition) in New York City. There he runs, quite literally, into
Fahd ibn Azar, son of a powerful Saudi Sheikh.
Fahd is smitten with Jacob, and brings the all-too-trusting Amish man to his
penthouse hotel suite, where he introduces a confused but willing Jacob to
the pleasures of the flesh.
Jacob feels guilty by indulging in his most secret (and forbidden) fantasies
with Fahd, but Fahd's situation is much more dire. Fahd's brother, Munif,
wants to be their father's heir and successor, and has decided to kill Fahd
in order to assure his place in the family hierarchy.
Forced to flee Manhattan without a penny to his name, Fahd accompanies Jacob
back to the family farm in Pennsylvania, where he hopes to hide out and
avoid Munif long enough to get political asylum. What Fahd doesn't count on
is falling hopelessly in love with his blue-eyed, blond, cornfed Amish
savior, or on Munif finding him in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country.
Coming from two vastly different cultures, Jacob and Fahd must struggle with
both dangerous outside forces and serious internal doubts to find happiness
in each other's arms, and neither is certain love will be enough to overcome
their adversities in the end.
Review
Jane Davitt, author of Hourglass, writes: There's always something
intriguing about two different worlds colliding and that's literally
what happens in this story, as a young Amish man, Jacob, knocks Fahd, a
Saudi prince off his feet and sets events in motion that change both
their lives.
Jacob's world is tightly bound by tradition and although it holds much
that's appealing in the way of love and loyalty, it's a narrow world and
one in which, though he doesn't realize it, Jacob doesn't fit. Fahd's
problems are similar in that he too comes from a family and a religion
that view the fact that he's gay with disapproval. When that disapproval
becomes something more deadly, the tempo of the story goes from a
whirlwind romance to a tense scramble to safety. The political intrigues
were interesting and added a nice spice to the sweet love story. It was
quite tense in places and I was caught up in the urgency of the events.
In some ways, the two men have a lot of common ground and I liked the
way that the book explored that. I also liked the fact that neither
world changes dramatically to welcome the two men. That wouldn't have
been realistic but the way the author resolves matters worked well for
me.
This was an entertaining retelling of the classic fairy story of prince
and farm girl. Jacob and Fahd were sympathetic, appealing characters who
both grow and mature during the book and deserve their happy ending.
Sample
Inside, the hotel held more gold and mirrors and shiny
crystal than Jacob had ever before seen in one place. He was afraid his head
would snap clean off his shoulders as it twisted this way and that, trying
to take everything in all at once.
“Come, come,” Fahd called, motioning toward him. Jacob had fallen behind,
gawking at the magnificence of the lobby, and needed to hurry to catch up.
Still, with every step something else caught his eye and slowed him again.
There was an enormous vase standing near the two-story windows, gleaming
with gold and silver and holding enough red roses to fill a garden. Sleek
velvet sofas were scattered about, and there were huge paintings of foreign
places on the walls. Men and women in elegant clothing strolled casually
through the lobby. Everything drew Jacob’s eye.
Fahd looked a little bit annoyed by the time Jacob caught up to him.
“I am sorry,” Jacob said sheepishly. He felt uncomfortable, as if caught
doing something he shouldn’t. “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”
Fahd blinked, and then laughed, putting Jacob at ease again. “It’s all
right, my friend. We are in the penthouse suite.” He nodded toward another
man in a fancy uniform standing just outside an elevator. The man pressed a
button on the wall, and a heartbeat later two gilded doors slid silently
open. The inside of the elevator looked as rich and gilded as the rest of
the hotel.
Jacob followed Fahd into the elevator, so different from the tiny, clanking
and clattering one at Jacob’s hotel. He’d refused to enter that one at all,
preferring to walk the fifteen flights up to his room, but this one looked
safe enough. Plus, he didn’t want to show his fear in front of Fahd.
The doors slid shut just as quietly and, happily for Jacob, aside from a
slight feeling of motion, it was almost as though they weren’t moving at
all. The doors opened again, this time into a short hallway. There was only
one door at the end of it, and it was to this that Fahd led him.
Fahd opened the doors and they stepped inside. Jacob was immediately
overwhelmed, and stood gaping again.
Fahd’s suite was by far the most extravagant, sparkling, amazing set of
rooms Jacob had ever seen. Every inch seemed to drip velvet, and the suite
was filled with furniture in rich, gleaming dark woods. There was even a
piano -- a huge, white, gracefully curved instrument that was bigger than
Father’s plow -- sitting squarely in the middle of the parlor. The only
other piano Jacob could recall seeing was the upright in the window of
Kurtz’s Antique Emporium, down on Main Street in Intercourse. As a boy,
Jacob used to like to look at it when he accompanied his father to the feed
store in town, but that piano had been nothing compared to this. He resisted
the urge to run his fingers along the intriguing, highly polished black and
white keys.
Through a pair of tall, gilded doors, Jacob could see Fahd’s bedroom. In it
was easily the largest bed Jacob had ever seen, and thinking of Fahd
sleeping between those shiny, satin sheets made his groin tighten
uncomfortably again. He felt himself harden, and said a brief prayer that
Fahd didn’t notice the bulge growing anew at the crotch of his britches.
“Please, make yourself comfortable, Jacob. There is a bar over there against
the wall. I wish to change out of these,” Fahd said, picking at the folds of
his robe. “I will return in a moment.”
Jacob swiped his hat from his head as he watched Fahd disappear into his
bedroom, then did as Fahd had requested. He placed his hat on the coffee
table, sitting down on the wide, soft sofa. Kicking off his shoes and socks,
he wiggled his toes in relief. He’d been on his feet all day, and they
ached. He carefully tucked his socks into his shoes and set them neatly
aside.
Folding his arms behind his head, Jacob closed his eyes as he waited for
Fahd to return, and had nearly nodded off when a low cough roused him.
Blinking he lifted his head to see Fahd standing before him.
Fahd was wearing a pair of thin, white silk pants and nothing else.
Jacob felt his heart seize in his chest. Now he knew what Fahd had been
hiding under the yards of fabric -- a body that was the stuff of Jacob’s
dreams.
The light picked out blue highlights in the thick, wavy black hair falling
to brush Fahd’s broad shoulders, and framed his handsome, regal features.
His arms were folded across his chest, arms that bulged with muscle and
sinew. His skin was deeply golden and as smooth as silk, except for a
dusting of dark hair across his wide chest and a trail of the same that
snaked down the middle of his taut abdomen. Jacob’s eyes followed the line
of hair until it disappeared into the waistband of Fahd's pants, and he
found himself yearning to see where it ended.
No doubt it ended at the same place inhabited by the substantial bulge that
was clearly outlined by the white silk of Fahd’s pants. Everything about
Fahd was incredible, impressive, and bigger than life, from the suite and
the piano to his erection. Jacob found himself wanting to run his fingers
over it even more than he’d wanted to touch the keys of the baby grand
piano.
Jacob swallowed hard, feeling his face burn, worrying that Fahd could read
his thoughts in his eyes. Och! What must he think of me?