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Daddy Issues
Sometimes love shows up where you least expect it—right next door.
A jaded twenty-something is stuck living at home, her life on pause, when a single dad becomes her new neighbor, and unexpectedly sets her life—and her heart—into motion in this modern love story from the bestselling author of You, Again.
At 26, Sam Pulaski expected to be thriving in her academic career, living on her own in some exciting city. Expectations, meet reality. She has massive student loans from studying art history, a dead-end service industry job, a situationship that’s equal parts intoxicating and toxic. And she’s been crashing in her mom’s condo—at least it’s not a basement?—for the last five years. If she can finally get accepted into a PhD program and get out of Ohio, the adult life that’s been on hold for half her twenties will finally begin.
Her mom’s new neighbor, Nick, is the ultimate grownup. His adult life began the moment his nine-year-old daughter, Kira, was born. Her happiness is Nick’s only priority, especially in the wake of divorce. There’s nothing he won’t do for Kira–including giving up his globetrotting career for something more stable…like managing a chain restaurant.
Sam has zero interest in an ultra-dependable guy pushing forty; frankly, she’s a little afraid of kids. But with just one thin wall separating the two condos, Nick proves difficult to avoid. His quiet confidence forces Sam to grapple with the other men in her her emotionally derelict friend-with-benefits and her actually-derelict father. As her unexpected connection with Nick heats up (and steams up his minivan windows), Sam finds herself falling fast for a man whose life is steady and settled–while hers is anything but.
A jaded twenty-something is stuck living at home, her life on pause, when a single dad becomes her new neighbor, and unexpectedly sets her life—and her heart—into motion in this modern love story from the bestselling author of You, Again.
At 26, Sam Pulaski expected to be thriving in her academic career, living on her own in some exciting city. Expectations, meet reality. She has massive student loans from studying art history, a dead-end service industry job, a situationship that’s equal parts intoxicating and toxic. And she’s been crashing in her mom’s condo—at least it’s not a basement?—for the last five years. If she can finally get accepted into a PhD program and get out of Ohio, the adult life that’s been on hold for half her twenties will finally begin.
Her mom’s new neighbor, Nick, is the ultimate grownup. His adult life began the moment his nine-year-old daughter, Kira, was born. Her happiness is Nick’s only priority, especially in the wake of divorce. There’s nothing he won’t do for Kira–including giving up his globetrotting career for something more stable…like managing a chain restaurant.
Sam has zero interest in an ultra-dependable guy pushing forty; frankly, she’s a little afraid of kids. But with just one thin wall separating the two condos, Nick proves difficult to avoid. His quiet confidence forces Sam to grapple with the other men in her her emotionally derelict friend-with-benefits and her actually-derelict father. As her unexpected connection with Nick heats up (and steams up his minivan windows), Sam finds herself falling fast for a man whose life is steady and settled–while hers is anything but.
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First published November 18, 2025
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About the author
Kate Goldbeck
2 books1,430 followersI write funny, emotional stories about the complexities of modern romance.
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January 4, 2026kate goldbeck 🤝 ali hazelwood
making me support age gap straight romances in the year of 2025
only THEY have this effect on me
making me support age gap straight romances in the year of 2025
only THEY have this effect on me
December 27, 2025
There’s something undeniably comforting about a romance that feels both wildly entertaining and emotionally grounded—and Daddy Issues delivers just that in the best way possible. Kate Goldbeck has written a messy, tender, sharply honest story about the in-between years—the ones where you’re old enough to feel the weight of missed expectations but still fumbling your way through what it means to really grow up.
At twenty-six, Sam Pulaski is stuck. Her dreams of academia and art have stalled under the weight of student debt and dead-end jobs. She’s back at home (okay, technically her mom’s condo), her love life is more chaotic than romantic, and her confidence is on life support. Enter Nick: the grounded, quietly attractive single dad next door whose world revolves around his daughter and the steady rhythm of responsibility. He’s everything Sam is not—and exactly what she doesn’t know she needs.
What unfolds is a story that glows with slow-burn intimacy and quiet revelations. The romance builds not with sweeping grand gestures, but with careful, thoughtful moments that feel real—sharing space, awkward first impressions, unexpected laughter, a minivan kiss that steams up more than just the windows. Their connection isn’t easy or instant—it’s earned. And it’s all the more satisfying because of that.
But what I loved most is how this book isn’t just about falling in love with someone else—it’s about figuring out how to love yourself when you feel like you’ve failed your own blueprint for life. Sam’s growth is deeply relatable: frustrating at times, hilarious in others, and ultimately full of heart. And Nick? He’s the dream—not because he’s perfect, but because he shows up, listens, and makes space for someone figuring it all out.
There’s a raw charm to Goldbeck’s storytelling, with witty dialogue, unexpected vulnerability, and just the right amount of steam. The dynamic between Sam and Nick never feels forced—it’s chemistry built on empathy, banter, and mutual healing. And while not every subplot lands perfectly, the emotional payoff is undeniable.
This is a second chance story—not just at love, but at life, purpose, and the belief that it's okay for dreams to shift as we do.
A very huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House | Dial Press Trade Paperback for sharing this heartwarming, extra sweet second chance romance’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts. I absolutely adored it, and I’ll be thinking about Sam and Nick long after the final page.
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At twenty-six, Sam Pulaski is stuck. Her dreams of academia and art have stalled under the weight of student debt and dead-end jobs. She’s back at home (okay, technically her mom’s condo), her love life is more chaotic than romantic, and her confidence is on life support. Enter Nick: the grounded, quietly attractive single dad next door whose world revolves around his daughter and the steady rhythm of responsibility. He’s everything Sam is not—and exactly what she doesn’t know she needs.
What unfolds is a story that glows with slow-burn intimacy and quiet revelations. The romance builds not with sweeping grand gestures, but with careful, thoughtful moments that feel real—sharing space, awkward first impressions, unexpected laughter, a minivan kiss that steams up more than just the windows. Their connection isn’t easy or instant—it’s earned. And it’s all the more satisfying because of that.
But what I loved most is how this book isn’t just about falling in love with someone else—it’s about figuring out how to love yourself when you feel like you’ve failed your own blueprint for life. Sam’s growth is deeply relatable: frustrating at times, hilarious in others, and ultimately full of heart. And Nick? He’s the dream—not because he’s perfect, but because he shows up, listens, and makes space for someone figuring it all out.
There’s a raw charm to Goldbeck’s storytelling, with witty dialogue, unexpected vulnerability, and just the right amount of steam. The dynamic between Sam and Nick never feels forced—it’s chemistry built on empathy, banter, and mutual healing. And while not every subplot lands perfectly, the emotional payoff is undeniable.
This is a second chance story—not just at love, but at life, purpose, and the belief that it's okay for dreams to shift as we do.
A very huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House | Dial Press Trade Paperback for sharing this heartwarming, extra sweet second chance romance’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts. I absolutely adored it, and I’ll be thinking about Sam and Nick long after the final page.
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
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September 27, 2025
I’m sad. I was so excited for this, there was so much potential for an amazing story here, I loved the author's first book, and the premise for this one sounded fantastic. Imagine my excitement when I got the arc. And now imagine my disappointment when this great premise got a not so great execution…
Let's start with something positive, though. I think the author really knows how to craft very real and complex characters. Sam felt like a real person to me, and that is no easy feat. I felt her depression as if it were my own. Which was great character work but also, well, depressing to read about. I kept waiting for her to get at least a bit better, to feel happier again and get some help, anything really. But all she got was this weird older guy and his insanely annoying child.
Nick was supposed to be the hot older guy here that I was supposed to root for. But all I actually did while reading was cringe and hope Sam would just wake tf up and run far away from him. She needed to concentrate on herself and not be pulled into his mess. Her mother even spelled it out for her:
“You’re young.” The hug turns too tight. Tense and stiff. “You have no responsibilities. Don’t trade that for someone who has no freedom.” I roll my shoulder and lean away from her. “I like Nick. He seems like a good guy. But divorced guys with kids? There’s a reason they want a young, single woman with no kids of her own. It’s easier for them. It’s more fun. They want to plug a young woman into the life they already have. His life gets better and yours gets exponentially more difficult. The stepparent makes all the sacrifices.”
Now that might not be the case for every relationship out there where a kid from a previous relationship is present, but it did feel exactly like that in this book.
Nick to me seemed like he just wanted to get laid on the regular and get himself a live-in nanny too. I did not like him at all, and there was no chemistry between them. I actively didn’t want them together. I wanted her far away from him, starting her own life, happy, and free from all the responsibilities he wanted to put on her.
Their relationship was also kind of insta-lovey and rushed. We spent half(!) the book with her and Hal (they aren’t in a serious relationship, but Sam kind of wants them to be), which made no sense to me, like why was he a topic for so long? And then we jumped straight into her thing with Nick. I genuinely did not understand the development of their relationship. Probably because there was no development. Like they had some normal interactions in the first half of the book, but definitely not enough to build up any sort of connection or tension for what happened in the second half. Because in that second half, all of a sudden she blows him in his car, then they eat waffles in his apartment, and then they are in a relationship. What? How? Why?
And since Nick had like zero appeal, it kind of felt like she latched on to the first person that showed some interest in her after Hal just so she had something to distract her from everything else and not for, you know, romantic reasons. I just didn’t buy her feelings for him.
The only part I actually liked were the last 10%ish when Sam was at university. Because that was literally the only time when she was at least remotely happy.
So while the whole story did feel very realistic, it just wasn't very fun to read and kind of missed the mark imo.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
___
Okay I need this now! Also I'm in love with this cover 😍😍😍
Let's start with something positive, though. I think the author really knows how to craft very real and complex characters. Sam felt like a real person to me, and that is no easy feat. I felt her depression as if it were my own. Which was great character work but also, well, depressing to read about. I kept waiting for her to get at least a bit better, to feel happier again and get some help, anything really. But all she got was this weird older guy and his insanely annoying child.
Nick was supposed to be the hot older guy here that I was supposed to root for. But all I actually did while reading was cringe and hope Sam would just wake tf up and run far away from him. She needed to concentrate on herself and not be pulled into his mess. Her mother even spelled it out for her:
“You’re young.” The hug turns too tight. Tense and stiff. “You have no responsibilities. Don’t trade that for someone who has no freedom.” I roll my shoulder and lean away from her. “I like Nick. He seems like a good guy. But divorced guys with kids? There’s a reason they want a young, single woman with no kids of her own. It’s easier for them. It’s more fun. They want to plug a young woman into the life they already have. His life gets better and yours gets exponentially more difficult. The stepparent makes all the sacrifices.”
Now that might not be the case for every relationship out there where a kid from a previous relationship is present, but it did feel exactly like that in this book.
Nick to me seemed like he just wanted to get laid on the regular and get himself a live-in nanny too. I did not like him at all, and there was no chemistry between them. I actively didn’t want them together. I wanted her far away from him, starting her own life, happy, and free from all the responsibilities he wanted to put on her.
Their relationship was also kind of insta-lovey and rushed. We spent half(!) the book with her and Hal (they aren’t in a serious relationship, but Sam kind of wants them to be), which made no sense to me, like why was he a topic for so long? And then we jumped straight into her thing with Nick. I genuinely did not understand the development of their relationship. Probably because there was no development. Like they had some normal interactions in the first half of the book, but definitely not enough to build up any sort of connection or tension for what happened in the second half. Because in that second half, all of a sudden she blows him in his car, then they eat waffles in his apartment, and then they are in a relationship. What? How? Why?
And since Nick had like zero appeal, it kind of felt like she latched on to the first person that showed some interest in her after Hal just so she had something to distract her from everything else and not for, you know, romantic reasons. I just didn’t buy her feelings for him.
The only part I actually liked were the last 10%ish when Sam was at university. Because that was literally the only time when she was at least remotely happy.
So while the whole story did feel very realistic, it just wasn't very fun to read and kind of missed the mark imo.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
___
Okay I need this now! Also I'm in love with this cover 😍😍😍
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 24, 2025
firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!
dnf @ 42%
i hated the author’s first book, and so i thought i would give her second book a chance, only to find i also do not like this book either.
i’m sorry, our fmc sam is the worst type of woe-is-me character; yes, as someone whose early 20s was disrupted by covid, i can understand how depressing it can be, but sam literally just. gave up? she’s completely selfish and takes everything for granted, so when her mom and partner tell her that they are moving abroad after their wedding and they will be renting their apartment, sam’s world crumbles because “oh no i don’t have a job or any life skills” — i also stopped reading here.
this was not the fun, smutty age-gap romance i thought it would be, especially when our fmc is just completely incompetent. not to mention the mmc is not really all that desirable anyways.
dnf @ 42%
i hated the author’s first book, and so i thought i would give her second book a chance, only to find i also do not like this book either.
i’m sorry, our fmc sam is the worst type of woe-is-me character; yes, as someone whose early 20s was disrupted by covid, i can understand how depressing it can be, but sam literally just. gave up? she’s completely selfish and takes everything for granted, so when her mom and partner tell her that they are moving abroad after their wedding and they will be renting their apartment, sam’s world crumbles because “oh no i don’t have a job or any life skills” — i also stopped reading here.
this was not the fun, smutty age-gap romance i thought it would be, especially when our fmc is just completely incompetent. not to mention the mmc is not really all that desirable anyways.
November 20, 2025
4.5 rounding up!!!💫⭐️ this surprised me in the best way! i went in with pretty low expectations because the cover makes it look like a very standard age gap romance, but it ended up feeling soooo much more thoughtful & grounded. it never falls into the usual formula, which made it stand out from a lot of the romances I have read this year 🤎
sam’s voice (the FMC) was the biggest win for me. she is funny and honest in a way that feels natural, and the writing genuinely feels like her. i connected with her right away! nick is also written as a very authentic guy. (and i loved his daughter too!) he is almost 40, a single dad, and manages a chili’s 🌶️ but something about that just made him even more real! he shows up, he communicates, and he felt really believable.
the only thing i found myself wanting was a visual element. comics are a big theme in the story, and there are moments where comic panels are described as if you are flipping through them. i kept wishing there were a few actual illustrated pages or even an online graphic component so you could follow sam’s creative vision as you read💥
overall, this was a very HUMAN romance! no contrived conflicts, just two people who are lost & finding their way. (and it’s not tied to any specific season, so read it anytime!) really solid and definitely recommend!!!
sam’s voice (the FMC) was the biggest win for me. she is funny and honest in a way that feels natural, and the writing genuinely feels like her. i connected with her right away! nick is also written as a very authentic guy. (and i loved his daughter too!) he is almost 40, a single dad, and manages a chili’s 🌶️ but something about that just made him even more real! he shows up, he communicates, and he felt really believable.
the only thing i found myself wanting was a visual element. comics are a big theme in the story, and there are moments where comic panels are described as if you are flipping through them. i kept wishing there were a few actual illustrated pages or even an online graphic component so you could follow sam’s creative vision as you read💥
overall, this was a very HUMAN romance! no contrived conflicts, just two people who are lost & finding their way. (and it’s not tied to any specific season, so read it anytime!) really solid and definitely recommend!!!
December 2, 2025
Tropes:
— age-gap romance
— single dad
— neighbors to lovers
— forced proximity
— failure to launch
This was my first time reading this author, and definitely not the last. This was such an amazing and relatable book with a great sense of humor.
The characters and life situations felt incredibly realistic, and I couldn’t help but see myself in the main character, someone going through a phase where it feels like everything around them is moving forward except them.
Who hasn’t engaged in a bit of self-sabotage at some point in their life?
And maybe some of us are still stuck in it.
This book is for you, and for me too.
Nick, our single father, understands Sam without a word. He sees the real her beneath the layers of depression she’s drowning in. I really appreciated how the author chose to tone down the romanticization of the single dad trope, choosing instead to show a different side of it—one that often goes unexplored in books.
Maybe the timeline of events, from their first meeting to the moment they confessed their feelings, wasn’t entirely clear to me, but that didn’t stop me from adding this book to my favorites shelf.
Thank you to Dial Press Trade Paperback and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
— age-gap romance
— single dad
— neighbors to lovers
— forced proximity
— failure to launch
This was my first time reading this author, and definitely not the last. This was such an amazing and relatable book with a great sense of humor.
The characters and life situations felt incredibly realistic, and I couldn’t help but see myself in the main character, someone going through a phase where it feels like everything around them is moving forward except them.
Who hasn’t engaged in a bit of self-sabotage at some point in their life?
And maybe some of us are still stuck in it.
This book is for you, and for me too.
Nick, our single father, understands Sam without a word. He sees the real her beneath the layers of depression she’s drowning in. I really appreciated how the author chose to tone down the romanticization of the single dad trope, choosing instead to show a different side of it—one that often goes unexplored in books.
Maybe the timeline of events, from their first meeting to the moment they confessed their feelings, wasn’t entirely clear to me, but that didn’t stop me from adding this book to my favorites shelf.
Thank you to Dial Press Trade Paperback and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 28, 2025
This novel is one of best age gap romances I have ever read! What initially caught my attention was the cover and the premise of the novel. It felt like I was reading about real life, not a fictional book. It was extremely realistic, chaotic at times and entertaining! It is emotional, funny, reflective, hopeful and lighthearted. I found that this novel had lovable characters in it and they were all very well developed. It is character driven and the flaws of the characters are the main focus.
I love how it put a twist on the single Dad trope in the story. I really enjoyed the female main character! She is strong and smart in this story! The only thing is I do feel like the story was a bit rushed. All in all, I had a lot of fun reading this story! Love really does show up when you least expect it!
“Daddy Issues” is a novel that centers around a woman named Sam, who is 26 years old. She started facing money issues and ends up living in the condo of her Mom’s house. When a new neighbor comes into town, whose name is Nick, Sam notices he’s older than she is and also a daddy! He appears to have it all together! Nick is pushing forty years old, so he’s not looking to settle down. His top priority is his child. As this story unravels, these two end up meeting one another and the heat between them turns up! Overall, I rate this book a 3.75 (rounded to a 4) out of 5 stars!
I think fans of authors Emily Henry and Ali Hazelwood, who love reading a great age gap romance, would really enjoy reading this book. Content warnings include sexual content.
Thank you to NetGalley, author Kate Goldbeck and Random House | Dial Press Trade Paperback for this electronic ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
This book is expected to be published on November 18, 2025!
I love how it put a twist on the single Dad trope in the story. I really enjoyed the female main character! She is strong and smart in this story! The only thing is I do feel like the story was a bit rushed. All in all, I had a lot of fun reading this story! Love really does show up when you least expect it!
“Daddy Issues” is a novel that centers around a woman named Sam, who is 26 years old. She started facing money issues and ends up living in the condo of her Mom’s house. When a new neighbor comes into town, whose name is Nick, Sam notices he’s older than she is and also a daddy! He appears to have it all together! Nick is pushing forty years old, so he’s not looking to settle down. His top priority is his child. As this story unravels, these two end up meeting one another and the heat between them turns up! Overall, I rate this book a 3.75 (rounded to a 4) out of 5 stars!
I think fans of authors Emily Henry and Ali Hazelwood, who love reading a great age gap romance, would really enjoy reading this book. Content warnings include sexual content.
Thank you to NetGalley, author Kate Goldbeck and Random House | Dial Press Trade Paperback for this electronic ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
This book is expected to be published on November 18, 2025!
October 28, 2025
This book will be so relatable to so many people, especially for those whose lives took a drastic turn after the pandemic.
The story follows Sam Pulaski, who was set up for greatness… until reality hit hard. Five years later, she’s living at home with her parents and feeling like her life is on pause. Then enters her hot single-dad neighbor, Nick 😏, whose life hasn’t stopped since his daughter was born, but once they meet, the attraction is very much there (and just as thin as the wall they share 👀🔥).
Personally, this book was a 3⭐️ read for me until about 92%, when a side character spoke to Sam and it hit me right in the feels 😭 That SINGLE moment made me cry and bumped my rating up to a 4⭐️. YES I AM LIKE THIS DON'T JUDGE!!!
I also want to shout out the author’s writing style, which is why I love her so much it’s so casual and direct, which makes it super easy to read 💕
he downside of this book for me were a couple things that again is just MY EXPERIENCE, but the plot and the character development I know some people will love it:
The age gap - she’s 26 and he’s pushing 40… I just couldn’t click with him 😅 I don’t mind an age gap trope, but if it’s that big, give me some micro-tropes that make me wanna swoon like I do for Bella’s dad from Twilight (iykyk) 😩
The kid - don’t get me wrong, the daughter being 12 makes sense, but damn her personality and attitude 😬 she was so annoying for me lol
Sam’s situation - she was truly stuck. I know life can be hard and motivation comes and goes, but with my personality, I just couldn’t connect with her everything’s fine mindset 🫠
Still, I love that not all romance stories are rainbows and fairytales 🌈✨ This book gives a realistic take on how two ordinary people can fall in love as well how one's life can be on pause, but that the feeling isn't forever.
I hope my review doesn’t deter you if your taste in books is similar to mine, you might find this one more realistic than what we’re used to. Either way, I adore Kate and will definitely keep reading her books!!!
tropes
🧡 age gap romance
🧡 neighbors
🧡 single dad
🧡 comics theme
🧡 forced proximity (thin walls)
Thank you Dial Press and Netgalley for my eARC
⋆. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁⋆.⋆. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁⋆.
➳ 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱｡ꪆৎ ˚⋅ single dad. siiiiiingleeee daaaaaadddddd.
The story follows Sam Pulaski, who was set up for greatness… until reality hit hard. Five years later, she’s living at home with her parents and feeling like her life is on pause. Then enters her hot single-dad neighbor, Nick 😏, whose life hasn’t stopped since his daughter was born, but once they meet, the attraction is very much there (and just as thin as the wall they share 👀🔥).
Personally, this book was a 3⭐️ read for me until about 92%, when a side character spoke to Sam and it hit me right in the feels 😭 That SINGLE moment made me cry and bumped my rating up to a 4⭐️. YES I AM LIKE THIS DON'T JUDGE!!!
I also want to shout out the author’s writing style, which is why I love her so much it’s so casual and direct, which makes it super easy to read 💕
he downside of this book for me were a couple things that again is just MY EXPERIENCE, but the plot and the character development I know some people will love it:
The age gap - she’s 26 and he’s pushing 40… I just couldn’t click with him 😅 I don’t mind an age gap trope, but if it’s that big, give me some micro-tropes that make me wanna swoon like I do for Bella’s dad from Twilight (iykyk) 😩
The kid - don’t get me wrong, the daughter being 12 makes sense, but damn her personality and attitude 😬 she was so annoying for me lol
Sam’s situation - she was truly stuck. I know life can be hard and motivation comes and goes, but with my personality, I just couldn’t connect with her everything’s fine mindset 🫠
Still, I love that not all romance stories are rainbows and fairytales 🌈✨ This book gives a realistic take on how two ordinary people can fall in love as well how one's life can be on pause, but that the feeling isn't forever.
I hope my review doesn’t deter you if your taste in books is similar to mine, you might find this one more realistic than what we’re used to. Either way, I adore Kate and will definitely keep reading her books!!!
tropes
🧡 age gap romance
🧡 neighbors
🧡 single dad
🧡 comics theme
🧡 forced proximity (thin walls)
Thank you Dial Press and Netgalley for my eARC
⋆. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁⋆.⋆. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁⋆.
➳ 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱｡ꪆৎ ˚⋅ single dad. siiiiiingleeee daaaaaadddddd.
November 18, 2025
happiest happiest pub day to one of my favorites of the year!!! yall go read this 💫
this book has my whole entire heart 🥹 kate goldbeck writes for the burnt out millennials and i love her all the more for it
thank you to netgalley and dial press trade paperback for the arc!
this book has my whole entire heart 🥹 kate goldbeck writes for the burnt out millennials and i love her all the more for it
thank you to netgalley and dial press trade paperback for the arc!
November 5, 2025
Never has a title been more perfect for a book!
I have Daddy Issues™ and I’m not afraid to admit it, it’s probably why I like dad romances. Sam also has Daddy Issues™ but she accomplishes that vital character growth that I’ve yet to manage myself. She also gets to live happily ever after with a Hot Dad ™ and here I am still waiting for a sexy single dad to move next door. But wait, this is supposed to be a book review, not a therapy session…
THIS BOOK IS GOOD!
Actually it’s great. It is laugh out loud funny, relatable af, has complex characters, emotional depth, a swoony romance, and one of the most realistic and satisfying third act conflicts I’ve ever read in a romance.
The FMC is a mess, struggling, and honestly I feel her struggle. She was wildly relatable, even as someone who is not 26 anymore. While other authors may have made Sam an immature and clueless FMC, Kate built a character that is mature & smart but struggling. She is fully aware she’s making mistakes but makes them anyway and i don’t know about you, but i’ve been there and done that and it was refreshing to see in a romance book. Self-aware AND self-sabotaging.
I could probably go on and on about how layered this romance book is but I don’t think y’all care so just go read the book.
Whats to love…
- age-gap romance
- single dad MMC with a “regular” job
- failed to launch FMC
- characters that are complex and get all the satisfying character growth we crave.
- laugh out loud funny
Whats not to love…
- I am so confused by the comic scenes… Are these going to be actual comics in the finished book? As is they were basically skippable and added nothing to the story for me.
🌶️- Open door but not very in depth.
4.5⭐️ | IG | TikTok |
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted book. All opinions are my own.
I have Daddy Issues™ and I’m not afraid to admit it, it’s probably why I like dad romances. Sam also has Daddy Issues™ but she accomplishes that vital character growth that I’ve yet to manage myself. She also gets to live happily ever after with a Hot Dad ™ and here I am still waiting for a sexy single dad to move next door. But wait, this is supposed to be a book review, not a therapy session…
THIS BOOK IS GOOD!
Actually it’s great. It is laugh out loud funny, relatable af, has complex characters, emotional depth, a swoony romance, and one of the most realistic and satisfying third act conflicts I’ve ever read in a romance.
The FMC is a mess, struggling, and honestly I feel her struggle. She was wildly relatable, even as someone who is not 26 anymore. While other authors may have made Sam an immature and clueless FMC, Kate built a character that is mature & smart but struggling. She is fully aware she’s making mistakes but makes them anyway and i don’t know about you, but i’ve been there and done that and it was refreshing to see in a romance book. Self-aware AND self-sabotaging.
I could probably go on and on about how layered this romance book is but I don’t think y’all care so just go read the book.
Whats to love…
- age-gap romance
- single dad MMC with a “regular” job
- failed to launch FMC
- characters that are complex and get all the satisfying character growth we crave.
- laugh out loud funny
Whats not to love…
- I am so confused by the comic scenes… Are these going to be actual comics in the finished book? As is they were basically skippable and added nothing to the story for me.
🌶️- Open door but not very in depth.
4.5⭐️ | IG | TikTok |
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted book. All opinions are my own.
November 22, 2025
sadly this was such a bummer. the cover is absolutely stunning, and the story idea was genuinely exciting. but the book just didn't quite pull it off when it came to the actual reading.
May 6, 2025
OH THIS?! A single dad and age gap romance done SO BEYOND WELL where they know how to communicate!! Absolutely needs to be on everyone’s TBR because I could not put this down and wanted to spend every waking moment consuming its entirety! More in depth review closer to review!
4.5⭐️
4.5⭐️
November 12, 2025
The two stars are for the cover alone. The story without it would be 0 stars.
This is a hard review to write for several reasons. I loved You, Again with a passion and I consider it one of my favorite books of all time. That catapulted Goldbeck to the top of my "will read anything" list for authors. Her penchant for writing relatable, raw, and lost characters such as Ari and Josh, while making a romance story one that I so badly yearned for made her earn this spot. Imagine my delight when her next release (which, mind you, I checked netgalley/goodreads for constantly because I had heard nothing about another one!!) was titled Daddy Issues and I am indeed a girl with malignant, ugly, horrible daddy issues. Then, imagine my surprise when I can barely get through chapter one the first time I pick it up, then struggle the second and third to even get to chapter two again a few months later. Finally, I just pushed myself through those first few chapters but I found that the book as a whole was extremely underwhelming. I'm incredibly intrigued to see how the general response to the book will be since You, Again was generally low rated, and I think this book is substantially worse. It definitely is a book! It has words. That's for sure!
The biggest change I noticed was our location switch. We went from magical NYC to bumfuck Ohio. And I don't know who lives there, genuinely, but anybody I could imagine living in Ohio is probably as plain and mundane as all of the characters in this book. 🥱🥱
I truthfully struggled to root for Samantha. I'm a die hard Ari apologist but something about Sam just never clicked for me. Samantha, a burnt-out 26 year old whose life was uprooted because of the pandemic, all but gave up on her future and her dreams 🙄She's lived with her mom and her mom's partner for 5 years, and then gets upset when they suggest that they are going to move somewhere and she will be all alone (since they are getting married! and have lives of their own! and when Samantha realized that perhaps she was encroaching on her mom's personal privacy and not the other way around, what did she do?? nothing). Where Ari showed abandonment and attachment issues, Samantha just screams spoiled brat. She's an art history major, and yet is surprised at her lack of success in her field? And throughout the entire book, complains and waxes poetic about how hard it is to find a job in her field... Why did you pick the most useless field imaginable? 🤡🤡🤡 Her mom suggests several times to find something a little more viable in the meantime, and Samantha doesn't even try to listen to reason. SAMANTHA IS 26 WITHOUT A LICENSE. like I can't stress enough how embarrassingly stinted her existence is. (Which Nick helps her with learning how to drive ofc!) Sam just exuded a privileged brat "woe is me" personality the entire book which is not my type of heroine, who thinks her entire life's problems are everybody's else's fault but her own. Blaming her lack of everything on the pandemic. girl you have to move on. 🤡🤡😹 Samantha also had no friends which is a major red flag and hung out with her cousin, whose entire existence was to educate Samantha on dating in some weird scientific and data based manner, with literal powerpoints. I also just could not care about the comic jargon. Her mind was messy and not in a good way. And that whole thing with Hal... Goodbye🥴 She's telling him "You knew I wanted to be exclusive" and yet never said the words to him aloud... Ima hold your hand when I tell you this babe but you're a problem.
While I know people with daddy issues is not a one size fits all, the daddy issues that Samantha struggled from in the book were not akin to my own, and I found it unreasonable for her to be so attached to the comics/graphic design dream that was so closely interwoven with her dad when he was otherwise completely absent in thought and impact. Now, he left, her parents divorced, right? Hasn't spoken to her in years. But like... that's it? 🤥Most of the time, the daddy issues present are just her talking about how she can't sell the comics that her dad only acquired because he wanted to sell them. I think she went the whole art history route to appease and appear likeable to her dad, which, fine, I understand! But like girl... You go to therapy and you're still this delusional??? There was no moment where her dad proved himself to be a genuinely horrific person. I was expecting a little more on that part. And I'm not saying that people whose dads left them don't have valid experiences because of that, but I don't think Goldbeck did a good enough job at showing their relationship for her to have felt his absence as much as she did. It felt like an outline of an idea without the meat itself, which is insane considering it's the title of the damn book. Her mom tells Sam that her manipulation really scares her [the mom] sometimes because it reminds her of her dad. But WHERE in the book were any displays of that manipulation??? THEY NEVER TALK ABOUT IT. Like the few times that Samantha even remembers to be upset about her dad is because he would skip a weekend in seeing her or because he got mad teaching her how to drive.
This moves us onto Nick.💀💀💀
He is the blandest, plainest guy I've ever read about. He's the general manager at Chili's (hi welcome to Chili's), is a nerd about Star Trek (eyeroll--they spent a whole half chapter divulging in discussion around the movie for some time, which was just so cringey I cannot, reading how Goldbeck wanted to relate these movie characters to her own made me internally burn), and has no personality. I have always commended Goldbeck for her ability to make the mundane beautiful, but in this book, the mundane is simply just a millennial grey house. Neither character had vivacity to them at all. Their romance was lackluster. The hot, minivan, makeout scene? While it was rooted in a raw reality of trust, which I respect (she disassociates and they stop), it was just... so bland? It was over within a page? And this is THE scene that is depicted on the cover of your book??? 🫠
Furthermore, their relationship felt icky to me because she would just think about her dad the entire time they were together and she would constantly compare the difference in parenting techniques. And I KNOW WHAT THE TITLE OF THE BOOK IS. That part makes sense. Trust me it makes sense to me! But you can't expect me to root for a couple when all she does is compare him to her dad and how different they are, even right after doing the nasty (which is over in .5 seconds btw, this 40 year old can't last that long??)
Now, he wasn't THAT bad, if just unseasoned, until we got to a part where he reveals HE'S STILL MARRIED!!!! while fucking Samantha!!!!🤢🤢And he's asking Samantha to babysit at the last minute while he's still married, and the next day he's going out with his WIFE because she's not an ex (since they just never got around to filing!) and her family. Samantha is a mistress, a homewrecker, by all means. That was so gross??? And you expect me to believe THIS is our hero??? Divorced dad isn't even truthful. He's straight up cheating. His literal daughter tells Samantha that she doesn't want her dad to cheat on her mom. I found this weird until I kept reading and learned that he was indeed cheating on her the entire time. 🤧What a slimeball!! Gross.
Issues aside, I genuinely didn't even think they made a good pairing. Sharing your nerdy qualities with someone does not mean you should be together. Nick, still being married and with a kid, and a 26 year old loser who doesn't know what to do with her life is not a good match. This is a book couple that I think will break up 2 weeks post book ending. Their relationship as a whole moved very quickly. He’s mature, so he’s telling her that he “likes” her pretty early on, and then they’re doing the nasty and stuff right? But I don’t even feel like they spent that much time together???? And he’s professing he loves her by the end and Im like why or how??? The way Samantha was SO ready to pass up an opportunity in New York to teach because she wanted to stay in bumfuck Ohio with cheating Daddy baffled me.
The other main issue I had was the fact that it was so centered around the pandemic. Anybody who knows me knows I hate when the pandemic is mentioned in a book especially when it serves zero purpose to the story. For this book, I suppose it was meaningful to include, since I'm sure several can relate to Samantha's burnt-out-ness because of the pandemic, but like??? Sam just never got a freaking grip. I seriously needed somebody to slap her. And that kid. Fuck that kid too.💀By the time this ends, there seems to be zero resolution in anything. The kid is never properly talked to about their relationship, nor is the issue with the wife ever present. We don't even meet her! Not once! This just felt incredibly lazy and like a first draft before the details got added in. There simply wasn't enough to convince me of their lives or romance.
I wouldn't go as far as to say I hated this book, even though I don't think there was anything I liked about it. Most of my anticipated releases this year were total flops, and I'm sad to add this to the list of one of them.
This is a hard review to write for several reasons. I loved You, Again with a passion and I consider it one of my favorite books of all time. That catapulted Goldbeck to the top of my "will read anything" list for authors. Her penchant for writing relatable, raw, and lost characters such as Ari and Josh, while making a romance story one that I so badly yearned for made her earn this spot. Imagine my delight when her next release (which, mind you, I checked netgalley/goodreads for constantly because I had heard nothing about another one!!) was titled Daddy Issues and I am indeed a girl with malignant, ugly, horrible daddy issues. Then, imagine my surprise when I can barely get through chapter one the first time I pick it up, then struggle the second and third to even get to chapter two again a few months later. Finally, I just pushed myself through those first few chapters but I found that the book as a whole was extremely underwhelming. I'm incredibly intrigued to see how the general response to the book will be since You, Again was generally low rated, and I think this book is substantially worse. It definitely is a book! It has words. That's for sure!
The biggest change I noticed was our location switch. We went from magical NYC to bumfuck Ohio. And I don't know who lives there, genuinely, but anybody I could imagine living in Ohio is probably as plain and mundane as all of the characters in this book. 🥱🥱
I truthfully struggled to root for Samantha. I'm a die hard Ari apologist but something about Sam just never clicked for me. Samantha, a burnt-out 26 year old whose life was uprooted because of the pandemic, all but gave up on her future and her dreams 🙄She's lived with her mom and her mom's partner for 5 years, and then gets upset when they suggest that they are going to move somewhere and she will be all alone (since they are getting married! and have lives of their own! and when Samantha realized that perhaps she was encroaching on her mom's personal privacy and not the other way around, what did she do?? nothing). Where Ari showed abandonment and attachment issues, Samantha just screams spoiled brat. She's an art history major, and yet is surprised at her lack of success in her field? And throughout the entire book, complains and waxes poetic about how hard it is to find a job in her field... Why did you pick the most useless field imaginable? 🤡🤡🤡 Her mom suggests several times to find something a little more viable in the meantime, and Samantha doesn't even try to listen to reason. SAMANTHA IS 26 WITHOUT A LICENSE. like I can't stress enough how embarrassingly stinted her existence is. (Which Nick helps her with learning how to drive ofc!) Sam just exuded a privileged brat "woe is me" personality the entire book which is not my type of heroine, who thinks her entire life's problems are everybody's else's fault but her own. Blaming her lack of everything on the pandemic. girl you have to move on. 🤡🤡😹 Samantha also had no friends which is a major red flag and hung out with her cousin, whose entire existence was to educate Samantha on dating in some weird scientific and data based manner, with literal powerpoints. I also just could not care about the comic jargon. Her mind was messy and not in a good way. And that whole thing with Hal... Goodbye🥴 She's telling him "You knew I wanted to be exclusive" and yet never said the words to him aloud... Ima hold your hand when I tell you this babe but you're a problem.
While I know people with daddy issues is not a one size fits all, the daddy issues that Samantha struggled from in the book were not akin to my own, and I found it unreasonable for her to be so attached to the comics/graphic design dream that was so closely interwoven with her dad when he was otherwise completely absent in thought and impact. Now, he left, her parents divorced, right? Hasn't spoken to her in years. But like... that's it? 🤥Most of the time, the daddy issues present are just her talking about how she can't sell the comics that her dad only acquired because he wanted to sell them. I think she went the whole art history route to appease and appear likeable to her dad, which, fine, I understand! But like girl... You go to therapy and you're still this delusional??? There was no moment where her dad proved himself to be a genuinely horrific person. I was expecting a little more on that part. And I'm not saying that people whose dads left them don't have valid experiences because of that, but I don't think Goldbeck did a good enough job at showing their relationship for her to have felt his absence as much as she did. It felt like an outline of an idea without the meat itself, which is insane considering it's the title of the damn book. Her mom tells Sam that her manipulation really scares her [the mom] sometimes because it reminds her of her dad. But WHERE in the book were any displays of that manipulation??? THEY NEVER TALK ABOUT IT. Like the few times that Samantha even remembers to be upset about her dad is because he would skip a weekend in seeing her or because he got mad teaching her how to drive.
This moves us onto Nick.💀💀💀
He is the blandest, plainest guy I've ever read about. He's the general manager at Chili's (hi welcome to Chili's), is a nerd about Star Trek (eyeroll--they spent a whole half chapter divulging in discussion around the movie for some time, which was just so cringey I cannot, reading how Goldbeck wanted to relate these movie characters to her own made me internally burn), and has no personality. I have always commended Goldbeck for her ability to make the mundane beautiful, but in this book, the mundane is simply just a millennial grey house. Neither character had vivacity to them at all. Their romance was lackluster. The hot, minivan, makeout scene? While it was rooted in a raw reality of trust, which I respect (she disassociates and they stop), it was just... so bland? It was over within a page? And this is THE scene that is depicted on the cover of your book??? 🫠
Furthermore, their relationship felt icky to me because she would just think about her dad the entire time they were together and she would constantly compare the difference in parenting techniques. And I KNOW WHAT THE TITLE OF THE BOOK IS. That part makes sense. Trust me it makes sense to me! But you can't expect me to root for a couple when all she does is compare him to her dad and how different they are, even right after doing the nasty (which is over in .5 seconds btw, this 40 year old can't last that long??)
Now, he wasn't THAT bad, if just unseasoned, until we got to a part where he reveals HE'S STILL MARRIED!!!! while fucking Samantha!!!!🤢🤢And he's asking Samantha to babysit at the last minute while he's still married, and the next day he's going out with his WIFE because she's not an ex (since they just never got around to filing!) and her family. Samantha is a mistress, a homewrecker, by all means. That was so gross??? And you expect me to believe THIS is our hero??? Divorced dad isn't even truthful. He's straight up cheating. His literal daughter tells Samantha that she doesn't want her dad to cheat on her mom. I found this weird until I kept reading and learned that he was indeed cheating on her the entire time. 🤧What a slimeball!! Gross.
Issues aside, I genuinely didn't even think they made a good pairing. Sharing your nerdy qualities with someone does not mean you should be together. Nick, still being married and with a kid, and a 26 year old loser who doesn't know what to do with her life is not a good match. This is a book couple that I think will break up 2 weeks post book ending. Their relationship as a whole moved very quickly. He’s mature, so he’s telling her that he “likes” her pretty early on, and then they’re doing the nasty and stuff right? But I don’t even feel like they spent that much time together???? And he’s professing he loves her by the end and Im like why or how??? The way Samantha was SO ready to pass up an opportunity in New York to teach because she wanted to stay in bumfuck Ohio with cheating Daddy baffled me.
The other main issue I had was the fact that it was so centered around the pandemic. Anybody who knows me knows I hate when the pandemic is mentioned in a book especially when it serves zero purpose to the story. For this book, I suppose it was meaningful to include, since I'm sure several can relate to Samantha's burnt-out-ness because of the pandemic, but like??? Sam just never got a freaking grip. I seriously needed somebody to slap her. And that kid. Fuck that kid too.💀By the time this ends, there seems to be zero resolution in anything. The kid is never properly talked to about their relationship, nor is the issue with the wife ever present. We don't even meet her! Not once! This just felt incredibly lazy and like a first draft before the details got added in. There simply wasn't enough to convince me of their lives or romance.
I wouldn't go as far as to say I hated this book, even though I don't think there was anything I liked about it. Most of my anticipated releases this year were total flops, and I'm sad to add this to the list of one of them.
September 25, 2025
3.5 stars
I’m not going to lie, I picked this one up based on the title alone. I love a good single-dad romance, and Nick was amazing. He was an exceptional dad, boyfriend, and all-around person. Sam had a lot of growing to do, and by the end, she did have that much-needed growth. Overall, I liked this one, but I didn’t love it.
I’m not going to lie, I picked this one up based on the title alone. I love a good single-dad romance, and Nick was amazing. He was an exceptional dad, boyfriend, and all-around person. Sam had a lot of growing to do, and by the end, she did have that much-needed growth. Overall, I liked this one, but I didn’t love it.
October 28, 2025
something so romantic about reading, watching, or partaking in the thing the person you love cares about
January 6, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️/5
This was actually really good. Like so good to the point where it was actually shocking to read a rom com that couldn’t be anymore more relatable to yourself and just down right hysterical with how accurate it is to not only to be an adult and try and navigate your life, but how it is to date men in this day and age.
I never laughed out so much reading a romcom. And not like a little giggle, I was full on ugly laughing at some situations with Sam because she was not only hilarious without even trying to, but she was so relatable. Because if you didn’t spend hours in your bed watching video after video, feel like a waste of space because you are still trying to figure everything out, WHILE living at home in your 20’s, you are lying to yourself.
This book was definitely so much more than a romance. It was about learning to cope with abandonment issues from a parent, learning to move on from a life that “could have been” while making a new future for yourself, and going for the nextdoor-neighbor-older-single-semi divorced dad, who just really gets you.
🌶️🌶️/5
This was actually really good. Like so good to the point where it was actually shocking to read a rom com that couldn’t be anymore more relatable to yourself and just down right hysterical with how accurate it is to not only to be an adult and try and navigate your life, but how it is to date men in this day and age.
I never laughed out so much reading a romcom. And not like a little giggle, I was full on ugly laughing at some situations with Sam because she was not only hilarious without even trying to, but she was so relatable. Because if you didn’t spend hours in your bed watching video after video, feel like a waste of space because you are still trying to figure everything out, WHILE living at home in your 20’s, you are lying to yourself.
This book was definitely so much more than a romance. It was about learning to cope with abandonment issues from a parent, learning to move on from a life that “could have been” while making a new future for yourself, and going for the nextdoor-neighbor-older-single-semi divorced dad, who just really gets you.
Read
May 28, 2025veeeeery charmed as always - interesting seeing the reviews and seeing the way people react to the fmc - difficult, irrational, the comedy of the hero’s job at chilis. i think it reveals a lot about how contemporary romance attempts blissful ignorance about class and its role in romance.
kate’s writing occasionally provokes discomfort, but i wish there was more reader discernment about how purposeful and impactful that discomfort is. she’s walking a knife’s edge that i find familiar because of therapy- to make someone just uncomfortable enough as to produce something fruitful and novel in them. it’s extraordinarily clever and difficult to do. i think i’ll like her work forever and ever
kate’s writing occasionally provokes discomfort, but i wish there was more reader discernment about how purposeful and impactful that discomfort is. she’s walking a knife’s edge that i find familiar because of therapy- to make someone just uncomfortable enough as to produce something fruitful and novel in them. it’s extraordinarily clever and difficult to do. i think i’ll like her work forever and ever
January 16, 2026
𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡ ── 2.25 stars
well this sucked!
i don't even remember the characters names, that's how unmemorable this book was. our fmc is so childish and selfish i really didnt care about her at all. i get that this was supposed to be a relatable story for people post covid but it could have been executed better. obviously not all people have their lifes together by their mid twenties, but could we have some more emotional intelligence?
one part i found somewhat endearing was the connection between the fmc and the mmc's daughter, they were sort of friends ish yk and had a nice bond.
overall i don't recommend this!!
𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡ ── pre-read
i am obsessed with this cover and i love single dad romances!!! after reading reviews and hearing updates from mutuals i'm hesitant, but hope it's decent !! and maybe the narrators will make it better
↪ started jan 13
↪ finished jan 14
well this sucked!
i don't even remember the characters names, that's how unmemorable this book was. our fmc is so childish and selfish i really didnt care about her at all. i get that this was supposed to be a relatable story for people post covid but it could have been executed better. obviously not all people have their lifes together by their mid twenties, but could we have some more emotional intelligence?
one part i found somewhat endearing was the connection between the fmc and the mmc's daughter, they were sort of friends ish yk and had a nice bond.
overall i don't recommend this!!
𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡ ── pre-read
i am obsessed with this cover and i love single dad romances!!! after reading reviews and hearing updates from mutuals i'm hesitant, but hope it's decent !! and maybe the narrators will make it better
↪ started jan 13
↪ finished jan 14
November 24, 2025
4.25 ★— Daddy Issues sounds like the kind of book that would lean hard into a heroine falling for a much older man and turn the whole thing into a tantalising, slightly forbidden sexy thing, but it actually gave me one of the healthiest depictions of an age-gap relationship I’ve seen.
I should have expected this, because Kate Goldbeck already subverted so many romance clichés and character archetypes with her debut You, Again. Her doing the same here feels completely on brand, and just like her previous book, it really worked for me.
I enjoyed Sam’s inner monologue, and her childhood, which is closely connected to her love for comics through her comic-book-collecting absent father, was depicted in a very interesting way. As a reader you get comic book panels, references to actual comic storylines (which I appreciated as a comic book girlie), and so much authentic nerdy bonding between her and Nick.
I felt like this story flowed like butter. Reading it was fun and easy, and the many real pitfalls of older men with kids dating younger women were addressed in a way that was both hilarious and actually very relatable.
Sam herself was someone with very human issues. Her sort of frozen crossroads moment of not knowing how to move forward into a career after years of schooling, and her feeling so stuck in life, coupled with a hefty dose of shame and guilt, were portrayed well and felt incredibly grounded.
The book also managed to make me like a kid character, which is rare for me. I thought Nick’s daughter actually acted her age, wasn’t annoying, and I really liked that Sam was hesitant about how to interact with her. I also liked how the boundaries were handled once things became more serious between Sam and Nick.
The ending felt necessary, and everything came together neatly. Kate Goldbeck seems to be a master at depicting messy humans and the realities of life, whether they are good, bad, embarrassing, or achingly human. That, combined with her clever prose and deep love of nerddom and pop culture, made me feel right at home.
And while I really enjoyed the ride that was this book, I wouldn’t recommend it to someone looking for a swoony, escapist kind of romance, because this isn’t escapist. It is messy and human, but also very funny and self-aware in a way that’s deeply charming.
I should have expected this, because Kate Goldbeck already subverted so many romance clichés and character archetypes with her debut You, Again. Her doing the same here feels completely on brand, and just like her previous book, it really worked for me.
I enjoyed Sam’s inner monologue, and her childhood, which is closely connected to her love for comics through her comic-book-collecting absent father, was depicted in a very interesting way. As a reader you get comic book panels, references to actual comic storylines (which I appreciated as a comic book girlie), and so much authentic nerdy bonding between her and Nick.
I felt like this story flowed like butter. Reading it was fun and easy, and the many real pitfalls of older men with kids dating younger women were addressed in a way that was both hilarious and actually very relatable.
Sam herself was someone with very human issues. Her sort of frozen crossroads moment of not knowing how to move forward into a career after years of schooling, and her feeling so stuck in life, coupled with a hefty dose of shame and guilt, were portrayed well and felt incredibly grounded.
The book also managed to make me like a kid character, which is rare for me. I thought Nick’s daughter actually acted her age, wasn’t annoying, and I really liked that Sam was hesitant about how to interact with her. I also liked how the boundaries were handled once things became more serious between Sam and Nick.
The ending felt necessary, and everything came together neatly. Kate Goldbeck seems to be a master at depicting messy humans and the realities of life, whether they are good, bad, embarrassing, or achingly human. That, combined with her clever prose and deep love of nerddom and pop culture, made me feel right at home.
And while I really enjoyed the ride that was this book, I wouldn’t recommend it to someone looking for a swoony, escapist kind of romance, because this isn’t escapist. It is messy and human, but also very funny and self-aware in a way that’s deeply charming.
July 16, 2025
what a waste of cute cover
i’m a dumb bitch for falling for it and even dumber bitch for requesting a single dad book of all things 😐 fuck me
despite the single dad thing i still tried to go into this with a open mind but fym you’re gonna make the mmc be a ex hoe (he just casually mentions tying up and peeing on previous hookups/gfs? plus too many mentions of his previous hoe and married life ) AND a middle aged single dad (. literal double homicide and nightmare. but somehow i managed to make it to like 70% mark until he dropped another bombshell 😐 he’s not even divorced from his baby mama/ex wife, just separated. the fuck.
and the author decides to pair this mess of a man with the underemployed twenty something yr old fmc who’s still living at home and figuring out her shit. mind you besides a 3 yr fwb type situation with an asshole man, she didn’t have any significant relationship experiences unlike him who’s been around the entire country (literally, he hoed around when he working on a tour) and wasn’t even sure if she wanted kids or not (she didn’t). the last thing she needed was to be thrown into his shit show when she needed sm growing to do. ON HER OWN. i was never convinced that the life the author forced on her was something she wanted, literally the entire time i felt like i was watching her knowingly run into a train wreck with multiple people screaming at her not to and her ass running even faster towards it
also at first i was side eyeing mom for how she made the fmc feel like an intruder and outsider and basically rushing her to move out bc she still lived at home (thanking god that i have ethnic parents who’d never make me feel that way) but i also got where she was coming from like the fmc was just too stubborn, close minded and complicit in her life being so stagnant. like i needed her to get off her ass and do something about her life besides sending in a couple of applications to phD programs. my favorite moment from whole book was the mom calling out the fmc
“He has a daughter, Sam. That means he’s tied to her mother for the next ten years. He can’t make any decisions about where to live or pursue other job opportunities without her agreement. His kid will come first. Always.” “Yes, kids come first. That’s how it’s supposed to be! He’s responsible and committed, and isn’t that the kind of person you’ve wanted me to be with?” “What about finding someone who’s committed to you? What about all your own plans? What about your life?”
“I’m speaking from experience here. It’s not enough.” She pauses, taking a deep breath. “Do you understand that he’s never going to have any firsts with you? Every big life step for you will be his second time around. You’re never going to be the most important person in his life.”
“You’re young.” The hug turns too tight. Tense and stiff. “You have no responsibilities. Don’t trade that for someone who has no freedom.” I roll my shoulder and lean away from her. “I like Nick. He seems like a good guy. But divorced guys with kids? There’s a reason they want a young, single woman with
no kids of her own. It’s easier for them. It’s more fun. They want to plug a young woman into the life they already have. His life gets better and yours gets exponentially more difficult. The stepparent makes all the sacrifices.”
WHERES THE LIE!! this was just so satisfying but the fmc’s stupid ass let it go out from one ear to the other 😐 i legitimately gave them a couple of years max, cause they ain’t lasting fs. it was especially frustrating bc this is literally a nightmare for me and i could tell it was for the fmc too but the author was hell bent on going giving them an hea. I would’ve given it five stars if she ended it, moved to ny and figured out what she wanted to with her life and then maybe started dating or even better freed herself from the shackles of dating like her cousin.
one thing i did like about this was how real the characters felt like the fmc was someone who went to school but didn’t work in her field or even close to it and was kind of in a limbo and the mmc was a chilli’s manager which like random but real ig. it was lowkey refreshing to read about a mmc who’s not a gazillionaire out of a elon’s musk fanfiction
i wouldn’t rate this if it was just the single dad thing bc that’s on me but the other stuff was just too much i hate my review to be amongst a bunch of closed minded ass bitches who ik are gonna be triggered that there’s a nonbinary side character and that the fmc had an abortion and the author didn’t demonize her for it. but i physically can’t rate this any higher
i’m a dumb bitch for falling for it and even dumber bitch for requesting a single dad book of all things 😐 fuck me
despite the single dad thing i still tried to go into this with a open mind but fym you’re gonna make the mmc be a ex hoe (he just casually mentions tying up and peeing on previous hookups/gfs? plus too many mentions of his previous hoe and married life ) AND a middle aged single dad (. literal double homicide and nightmare. but somehow i managed to make it to like 70% mark until he dropped another bombshell 😐 he’s not even divorced from his baby mama/ex wife, just separated. the fuck.
and the author decides to pair this mess of a man with the underemployed twenty something yr old fmc who’s still living at home and figuring out her shit. mind you besides a 3 yr fwb type situation with an asshole man, she didn’t have any significant relationship experiences unlike him who’s been around the entire country (literally, he hoed around when he working on a tour) and wasn’t even sure if she wanted kids or not (she didn’t). the last thing she needed was to be thrown into his shit show when she needed sm growing to do. ON HER OWN. i was never convinced that the life the author forced on her was something she wanted, literally the entire time i felt like i was watching her knowingly run into a train wreck with multiple people screaming at her not to and her ass running even faster towards it
also at first i was side eyeing mom for how she made the fmc feel like an intruder and outsider and basically rushing her to move out bc she still lived at home (thanking god that i have ethnic parents who’d never make me feel that way) but i also got where she was coming from like the fmc was just too stubborn, close minded and complicit in her life being so stagnant. like i needed her to get off her ass and do something about her life besides sending in a couple of applications to phD programs. my favorite moment from whole book was the mom calling out the fmc
“He has a daughter, Sam. That means he’s tied to her mother for the next ten years. He can’t make any decisions about where to live or pursue other job opportunities without her agreement. His kid will come first. Always.” “Yes, kids come first. That’s how it’s supposed to be! He’s responsible and committed, and isn’t that the kind of person you’ve wanted me to be with?” “What about finding someone who’s committed to you? What about all your own plans? What about your life?”
“I’m speaking from experience here. It’s not enough.” She pauses, taking a deep breath. “Do you understand that he’s never going to have any firsts with you? Every big life step for you will be his second time around. You’re never going to be the most important person in his life.”
“You’re young.” The hug turns too tight. Tense and stiff. “You have no responsibilities. Don’t trade that for someone who has no freedom.” I roll my shoulder and lean away from her. “I like Nick. He seems like a good guy. But divorced guys with kids? There’s a reason they want a young, single woman with
no kids of her own. It’s easier for them. It’s more fun. They want to plug a young woman into the life they already have. His life gets better and yours gets exponentially more difficult. The stepparent makes all the sacrifices.”
WHERES THE LIE!! this was just so satisfying but the fmc’s stupid ass let it go out from one ear to the other 😐 i legitimately gave them a couple of years max, cause they ain’t lasting fs. it was especially frustrating bc this is literally a nightmare for me and i could tell it was for the fmc too but the author was hell bent on going giving them an hea. I would’ve given it five stars if she ended it, moved to ny and figured out what she wanted to with her life and then maybe started dating or even better freed herself from the shackles of dating like her cousin.
one thing i did like about this was how real the characters felt like the fmc was someone who went to school but didn’t work in her field or even close to it and was kind of in a limbo and the mmc was a chilli’s manager which like random but real ig. it was lowkey refreshing to read about a mmc who’s not a gazillionaire out of a elon’s musk fanfiction
i wouldn’t rate this if it was just the single dad thing bc that’s on me but the other stuff was just too much i hate my review to be amongst a bunch of closed minded ass bitches who ik are gonna be triggered that there’s a nonbinary side character and that the fmc had an abortion and the author didn’t demonize her for it. but i physically can’t rate this any higher
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 22, 2025
You, again was one of my fav books of 2023 so when I saw the Daddy Issues cover drop and realized that Ali Hazelwood was ALSO writing an age gap romance, it felt like Jupiter’s moons had aligned.
There was a lot I liked about Daddy Issues, but the most important thing about a romance, cough the romance, I found lacking. I will explain more but know that no one is more disappointed than myself!
Sometimes I feel like rom coms make their female main characters Disney princess messy. They’re messy in a way that’s cute, in a way that’s relatable but ultimately harmless. Kate Goldbeck’s characters are messy in a way that’s ugly. In a way that’s complicated and blatant and true. I love it every time. You’re going to want to shake Sam. You’re going to die of embarrassment sometimes at her shenanigans. You’re going to be very frustrated. But you’ll understand her and you’ll also know from page one (Kate’s dedication note) than even unlikable people are lovable.
To be clear Sam is not always insufferable. She’s lost and she’s stuck in a way that a lot of people will relate to. And it’s not pretty to look at. But she has moments where her character truly shines (namely when she’s talking about art) that you can see what a fascinating person she is and you understand why recently divorced dad Nick would ever be interested in her. I do think they romantically made sense together. I get why Sam and him are drawn to each other. The issue is that I personally, was not drawn to Nick. Which unfortunately in a romance, I do want to be drawn to the love interest. He just kind of… gave me nothing? And it’s NOT because he’s a manager at Chilis. We need more normal people representation in the genre lol. There was just nothing much he did I found attractive (honorable mention to him being a Trekkie). He’s honest and upfront and dependable and boring. The butterflies were just not in the room with us. :(
I’ve probably lost you in this review already but if I could share one more thing that I loved. The book cover is very accurate to the creative choices Goldbeck made in the story. Daddy Issues is drippinggg with comic book aesthetic. And it was so awesomely done. Sam often sees the world through her art medium and in her narration you’ll get moments that are framed (textually) in the sequential panel style of comic. SO UNIQUE SO FRESH.
Back to my complaining. I think You, Again really benefitted from having the cinematic scaffolding / plot beats of When Harry Met Sally. I found the flow of the story compelling for that reason. Daddy Issues felt a bit meandering in comparison. Am I reading a personal growth story or a romance? Where are we going with this? What am I doing here? These were the questions I was asking myself. I ended up just having to trust the process, but I could see how someone might not have the most fun with this if they’re looking for a silly goofy romcom time.
So for the good and for the bad, it’s gonna be a 3 star. But I will still read Goldbeck’s next book no question about it this one just didn’t land for me in the way I was hoping it would.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this earc…i definitely begged for it in an embarrassing way.
There was a lot I liked about Daddy Issues, but the most important thing about a romance, cough the romance, I found lacking. I will explain more but know that no one is more disappointed than myself!
Sometimes I feel like rom coms make their female main characters Disney princess messy. They’re messy in a way that’s cute, in a way that’s relatable but ultimately harmless. Kate Goldbeck’s characters are messy in a way that’s ugly. In a way that’s complicated and blatant and true. I love it every time. You’re going to want to shake Sam. You’re going to die of embarrassment sometimes at her shenanigans. You’re going to be very frustrated. But you’ll understand her and you’ll also know from page one (Kate’s dedication note) than even unlikable people are lovable.
To be clear Sam is not always insufferable. She’s lost and she’s stuck in a way that a lot of people will relate to. And it’s not pretty to look at. But she has moments where her character truly shines (namely when she’s talking about art) that you can see what a fascinating person she is and you understand why recently divorced dad Nick would ever be interested in her. I do think they romantically made sense together. I get why Sam and him are drawn to each other. The issue is that I personally, was not drawn to Nick. Which unfortunately in a romance, I do want to be drawn to the love interest. He just kind of… gave me nothing? And it’s NOT because he’s a manager at Chilis. We need more normal people representation in the genre lol. There was just nothing much he did I found attractive (honorable mention to him being a Trekkie). He’s honest and upfront and dependable and boring. The butterflies were just not in the room with us. :(
I’ve probably lost you in this review already but if I could share one more thing that I loved. The book cover is very accurate to the creative choices Goldbeck made in the story. Daddy Issues is drippinggg with comic book aesthetic. And it was so awesomely done. Sam often sees the world through her art medium and in her narration you’ll get moments that are framed (textually) in the sequential panel style of comic. SO UNIQUE SO FRESH.
Back to my complaining. I think You, Again really benefitted from having the cinematic scaffolding / plot beats of When Harry Met Sally. I found the flow of the story compelling for that reason. Daddy Issues felt a bit meandering in comparison. Am I reading a personal growth story or a romance? Where are we going with this? What am I doing here? These were the questions I was asking myself. I ended up just having to trust the process, but I could see how someone might not have the most fun with this if they’re looking for a silly goofy romcom time.
So for the good and for the bad, it’s gonna be a 3 star. But I will still read Goldbeck’s next book no question about it this one just didn’t land for me in the way I was hoping it would.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this earc…i definitely begged for it in an embarrassing way.
December 15, 2025
This is a novel about a woman whose life stalled somewhere between impressive potential and a Target parking lot. Sam is twenty six, living in her mother's condo, sleeping on a daybed meant for a child, hoarding her absentee father's comic book collection like a shrine to male disappointment.
She has elite art world credentials, catastrophic timing, and a talent for turning ambition into paralysis. The pandemic did not help. Neither did her parents. Neither did capitalism. Everyone is at fault, including Sam, which the book knows and enjoys pointing out.
The plot runs on three tracks that keep crashing into each other like shopping carts with bad wheels.
Track one is Daddy. Dad is a charming reseller who taught Sam how to love objects more than people, then left. His legacy is not wisdom or stability but thousands of bagged comics that take up physical and emotional space. Sam learned early that affection arrives bundled with appraisal values and disappears when resale opportunities arise. That wiring will now run every relationship she has.
Track two is Sam's romantic life, which consists of an emotionally adjacent man she never officially dates, a flirtation with a literal neighbor dad, and a recurring urge to want commitment without ever requesting it out loud. Men appear, men half stay, men are examined like museum artifacts, and none of them solve anything because this is not that kind of book. Romance here is not a rescue boat.
Track three is Sam versus time. She is overeducated, underemployed, deeply online, and haunted by a version of herself who was supposed to be brilliant by now. She bartends at a tiki bar, doomscrolls, masturbates on a schedule, and narrates her own stagnation with enough self awareness to hurt. The humor is sharp because without jokes, this would be a medical pamphlet.
Everything is framed through comics logic. Panels. Gaps. What is shown versus what is skipped. Memory works like a splash page. Emotional beats arrive as visual metaphors. Life is a pile of adjacent scenes that never resolve.
This is a coming of age story for people who came of age and found nothing waiting for them except student loans, inherited baggage, and the dawning suspicion that being self aware is not the same thing as being free.
This is a brisk, competent YA romance wearing an adult trench coat. The prose is sharp, observant, and genuinely funny in places. Goldbeck can write. She understands rhythm, voice, and comic timing.
The cover that made pick this book up also sums it up. Cute colors. Sharp lines. The comic panel framing is not a device that develops. It is the premise. Once you understand it, you understand the book. A stalled daughter. An absent father. Men who hover but never arrive. Adulthood as a waiting room with fluorescent lighting. That idea works beautifully in a short form. Stretched across three hundred and fifty pages, it becomes a loop. The story does not advance so much as it refreshes.
The romance reads as YA because it follows YA emotional logic. Big feelings. Careful self narration. Endless interior monologue about whether a man sees her correctly. Sex happens, but it functions like PG 13 sex with better vocabulary. It signals maturity without really engaging adult stakes. No one loses anything they cannot recover from emotionally. Desire is safe. Conflict is gentle. Consequences are mostly theoretical.
The book wants to be about arrested development, but it is too comfortable inside it. Sam is stuck, but the narrative cushions her at every turn. Her inertia is framed as understandable, even charming.
The world is blamed. Timing is blamed. Men are blamed. Capitalism is blamed. All fair targets, but the novel rarely lets Sam own the cost of her own passivity. This is where the book loses adult weight.
The main message appears to be that feeling lost is normal and survivable, and that you are allowed to take your time becoming yourself. That is not a bad message. It is just an extremely familiar one, especially for readers who aged out of their twenties without a safety net or a cute narrative voice to soften the fall.
There is also a quieter message about inheritance. Not money, but emotional wiring. Fathers teach daughters how to measure love. Mothers teach daughters how to survive disappointment. Objects outlast people. Memory edits itself into panels. This is the strongest thematic thread, and the one that deserved either far more rigor or far fewer pages.
Why does it feel thin despite good writing? You recognize yourself. You nod. You smile. You wait for the turn, the deepening, the risk. It never quite comes. The four panel comic you saw on the cover is enough. The remaining pages annotate it without challenging it.
It is pleasant, clever, and readable. It knows exactly who it is for. But it stops just short of becoming necessary. The book is good at describing stasis. It never escapes it. I had fun, though 🤗
She has elite art world credentials, catastrophic timing, and a talent for turning ambition into paralysis. The pandemic did not help. Neither did her parents. Neither did capitalism. Everyone is at fault, including Sam, which the book knows and enjoys pointing out.
The plot runs on three tracks that keep crashing into each other like shopping carts with bad wheels.
Track one is Daddy. Dad is a charming reseller who taught Sam how to love objects more than people, then left. His legacy is not wisdom or stability but thousands of bagged comics that take up physical and emotional space. Sam learned early that affection arrives bundled with appraisal values and disappears when resale opportunities arise. That wiring will now run every relationship she has.
Track two is Sam's romantic life, which consists of an emotionally adjacent man she never officially dates, a flirtation with a literal neighbor dad, and a recurring urge to want commitment without ever requesting it out loud. Men appear, men half stay, men are examined like museum artifacts, and none of them solve anything because this is not that kind of book. Romance here is not a rescue boat.
Track three is Sam versus time. She is overeducated, underemployed, deeply online, and haunted by a version of herself who was supposed to be brilliant by now. She bartends at a tiki bar, doomscrolls, masturbates on a schedule, and narrates her own stagnation with enough self awareness to hurt. The humor is sharp because without jokes, this would be a medical pamphlet.
Everything is framed through comics logic. Panels. Gaps. What is shown versus what is skipped. Memory works like a splash page. Emotional beats arrive as visual metaphors. Life is a pile of adjacent scenes that never resolve.
This is a coming of age story for people who came of age and found nothing waiting for them except student loans, inherited baggage, and the dawning suspicion that being self aware is not the same thing as being free.
This is a brisk, competent YA romance wearing an adult trench coat. The prose is sharp, observant, and genuinely funny in places. Goldbeck can write. She understands rhythm, voice, and comic timing.
The cover that made pick this book up also sums it up. Cute colors. Sharp lines. The comic panel framing is not a device that develops. It is the premise. Once you understand it, you understand the book. A stalled daughter. An absent father. Men who hover but never arrive. Adulthood as a waiting room with fluorescent lighting. That idea works beautifully in a short form. Stretched across three hundred and fifty pages, it becomes a loop. The story does not advance so much as it refreshes.
The romance reads as YA because it follows YA emotional logic. Big feelings. Careful self narration. Endless interior monologue about whether a man sees her correctly. Sex happens, but it functions like PG 13 sex with better vocabulary. It signals maturity without really engaging adult stakes. No one loses anything they cannot recover from emotionally. Desire is safe. Conflict is gentle. Consequences are mostly theoretical.
The book wants to be about arrested development, but it is too comfortable inside it. Sam is stuck, but the narrative cushions her at every turn. Her inertia is framed as understandable, even charming.
The world is blamed. Timing is blamed. Men are blamed. Capitalism is blamed. All fair targets, but the novel rarely lets Sam own the cost of her own passivity. This is where the book loses adult weight.
The main message appears to be that feeling lost is normal and survivable, and that you are allowed to take your time becoming yourself. That is not a bad message. It is just an extremely familiar one, especially for readers who aged out of their twenties without a safety net or a cute narrative voice to soften the fall.
There is also a quieter message about inheritance. Not money, but emotional wiring. Fathers teach daughters how to measure love. Mothers teach daughters how to survive disappointment. Objects outlast people. Memory edits itself into panels. This is the strongest thematic thread, and the one that deserved either far more rigor or far fewer pages.
Why does it feel thin despite good writing? You recognize yourself. You nod. You smile. You wait for the turn, the deepening, the risk. It never quite comes. The four panel comic you saw on the cover is enough. The remaining pages annotate it without challenging it.
It is pleasant, clever, and readable. It knows exactly who it is for. But it stops just short of becoming necessary. The book is good at describing stasis. It never escapes it. I had fun, though 🤗
September 17, 2025
2.5 stars
with a stunning cover and a premise revolving around an older single dad, i was pretty much convinced the book was made for me. i went into it sure i would devour & love every inch of it. spoiler alert: i didn’t.
first of all, the fmc was authentic… maybe too authentic in some aspects that reflected back on me (i honestly don’t know if i can phrase it any better). but she was depicted in a way that made her feel crude, almost a love-to-hate character. i can understand the vision behind writing flawed characters who don’t magically resolve all their struggles, but in this case it felt too redundant. by the time the fmc finally “put her grown-up socks on,” it came completely out of the blue after five years of constant procrastination.
the narrative itself was underwhelming. for half the book, the fmc was fixated on her “fuck buddy,” constantly circling around the possibility of a relationship with him, only for things to suddenly shift: two one-on-one meetings with the single dad (mmc), and their relationship was instantly on fire, leading to love declarations just a few chapters later. it felt rushed, unearned.
the plotline also tried, at first, to sew in some connection between the mmc’s kid and the fmc. but that thread vanished quickly. instead, we got the scene where the fmc made the kid cry the very first time she watched her alone (because the mmc had an emergency).
it played out like this:
1. the kid asked if she was her dad’s girlfriend.
2. the kid added that she didn’t want him to cheat on her mom.
3. the kid deliberately messed with the fmc’s valuable comic book after being told not to.
4. the fmc yelled at the kid, made her sob, then got mad at the dad for telling her “not to yell at his kid” — right after he revealed he wasn’t officially separated from his wife (aka the mom).
imagine a 9-year-old having more moral compass and maturity than both mcs combined. technically, no divorce papers were even signed.
the fmc kept repeating that the kid was spoiled, but honestly, the only spoiled character in this book was the fmc. she was a grown-ass woman trying to invade a 9yo kid’s time with her dad, then getting mad at the kid even though the kid showed real signs of being reticent about the relationship while her parents were literally still married.
and as for the mmc… i don’t think there was enough substance to him to clearly fall in love with. he wasn’t fleshed out enough, which made the romance feel even weaker. and the fact he never took into consideration his kid’s sentiments regarding his relationship with a 25 years-something woman was a turn off.
all in all i pretty much think the fmc’s mom well-resumed the situation :
“I like Nick. He seems like a good guy. But divorced guys with kids? There’s a reason they want a young, single woman with no kids of her own. It’s easier for them. It’s more fun. They want to plug a young woman into the life they already have. His life gets better and yours gets exponentially more difficult.”
so while the premise and cover promised me everything i usually love, the execution was flat.
many thanks to the publisher for the eARC
with a stunning cover and a premise revolving around an older single dad, i was pretty much convinced the book was made for me. i went into it sure i would devour & love every inch of it. spoiler alert: i didn’t.
first of all, the fmc was authentic… maybe too authentic in some aspects that reflected back on me (i honestly don’t know if i can phrase it any better). but she was depicted in a way that made her feel crude, almost a love-to-hate character. i can understand the vision behind writing flawed characters who don’t magically resolve all their struggles, but in this case it felt too redundant. by the time the fmc finally “put her grown-up socks on,” it came completely out of the blue after five years of constant procrastination.
the narrative itself was underwhelming. for half the book, the fmc was fixated on her “fuck buddy,” constantly circling around the possibility of a relationship with him, only for things to suddenly shift: two one-on-one meetings with the single dad (mmc), and their relationship was instantly on fire, leading to love declarations just a few chapters later. it felt rushed, unearned.
the plotline also tried, at first, to sew in some connection between the mmc’s kid and the fmc. but that thread vanished quickly. instead, we got the scene where the fmc made the kid cry the very first time she watched her alone (because the mmc had an emergency).
it played out like this:
1. the kid asked if she was her dad’s girlfriend.
2. the kid added that she didn’t want him to cheat on her mom.
3. the kid deliberately messed with the fmc’s valuable comic book after being told not to.
4. the fmc yelled at the kid, made her sob, then got mad at the dad for telling her “not to yell at his kid” — right after he revealed he wasn’t officially separated from his wife (aka the mom).
imagine a 9-year-old having more moral compass and maturity than both mcs combined. technically, no divorce papers were even signed.
the fmc kept repeating that the kid was spoiled, but honestly, the only spoiled character in this book was the fmc. she was a grown-ass woman trying to invade a 9yo kid’s time with her dad, then getting mad at the kid even though the kid showed real signs of being reticent about the relationship while her parents were literally still married.
and as for the mmc… i don’t think there was enough substance to him to clearly fall in love with. he wasn’t fleshed out enough, which made the romance feel even weaker. and the fact he never took into consideration his kid’s sentiments regarding his relationship with a 25 years-something woman was a turn off.
all in all i pretty much think the fmc’s mom well-resumed the situation :
“I like Nick. He seems like a good guy. But divorced guys with kids? There’s a reason they want a young, single woman with no kids of her own. It’s easier for them. It’s more fun. They want to plug a young woman into the life they already have. His life gets better and yours gets exponentially more difficult.”
so while the premise and cover promised me everything i usually love, the execution was flat.
many thanks to the publisher for the eARC
November 15, 2025
“𝙞 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚.”
after the pandemic hit, twenty-six year old sam went from pursuing a PhD in art history to moving back in with her mom. in the haze of it all, five years have passed and she finds herself stuck working a dead end bartending job and still living in her moms spare office room. after meeting her moms new neighbor and his daughter, she discovers that maybe someone can love all of her, even the parts that she considers broken.
while obviously the focus of this book is the romance, it did feel like it was more than that. it felt a bit like a soul-searching journey and difficulty many twenty somethings have with accepting the realities of adulthood.
it seems like a lot of people dislike sam as a character but honestly i found her kind of refreshing in today’s world of romance books. she wasn’t perfect by any means and the author didn’t even try to portray her as so. the way that her life veered off track after the pandemic, and how she struggled to break out of her depression to pursue more for herself is relatable to a lot of people. i really appreciated that the author made a point that even though she was working towards getting her life back on track she didn’t magically have it all figured out.
overall this was a cute, solid 3 star read. is this a book couple i think could last forever? probably not but the realness of it all really kept me interested in the book.
𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘬, 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 / 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.
after the pandemic hit, twenty-six year old sam went from pursuing a PhD in art history to moving back in with her mom. in the haze of it all, five years have passed and she finds herself stuck working a dead end bartending job and still living in her moms spare office room. after meeting her moms new neighbor and his daughter, she discovers that maybe someone can love all of her, even the parts that she considers broken.
while obviously the focus of this book is the romance, it did feel like it was more than that. it felt a bit like a soul-searching journey and difficulty many twenty somethings have with accepting the realities of adulthood.
it seems like a lot of people dislike sam as a character but honestly i found her kind of refreshing in today’s world of romance books. she wasn’t perfect by any means and the author didn’t even try to portray her as so. the way that her life veered off track after the pandemic, and how she struggled to break out of her depression to pursue more for herself is relatable to a lot of people. i really appreciated that the author made a point that even though she was working towards getting her life back on track she didn’t magically have it all figured out.
overall this was a cute, solid 3 star read. is this a book couple i think could last forever? probably not but the realness of it all really kept me interested in the book.
𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘬, 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 / 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.
July 21, 2025
I’m really happy I got a chance to read and review this. I had zero expectations and was pleasantly surprised. That swoon-worthy cover caught my eye, and I requested this on a whim.
Sam is a twenty-something forced home by the pandemic and never left. Her PhD program was eliminated, which left her bartending for money and stuck in a friends-with-benefits situation that’s never going to pan out. She’s literally stuck. Plagued by a lack of confidence and overwhelming perfectionism, she thinks she knows what she wants but doesn’t know how to get there.
Enter Nick, Sam’s new neighbor and single dad to Kira. He is Mr. Responsible, the opposite of Sam’s temporarily aimless youth. He radiates calm and care. I loved that he was the reliable, dorky dad with a minivan and a Star Trek obsession.
Their chance meeting and growing relationship bring about a lot of soul-searching questions and revelations for Sam. Comparing the tender, loving bond between Nick and Kira to her own one-sided relationship with her absentee father was beautifully written. It wasn’t immature, and Sam’s feelings were never unfairly projected onto Kira.
I think Sam’s journey is very relatable to most twenty-somethings who feel lost when the goals they set for themselves veer off track. She could definitely be frustrating, and you want to shake her out of her funk and help her get back on her feet. I loved that getting back on track for her didn’t mean having it all figured out. It meant remembering that it all starts with the first step forward.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy!
Sam is a twenty-something forced home by the pandemic and never left. Her PhD program was eliminated, which left her bartending for money and stuck in a friends-with-benefits situation that’s never going to pan out. She’s literally stuck. Plagued by a lack of confidence and overwhelming perfectionism, she thinks she knows what she wants but doesn’t know how to get there.
Enter Nick, Sam’s new neighbor and single dad to Kira. He is Mr. Responsible, the opposite of Sam’s temporarily aimless youth. He radiates calm and care. I loved that he was the reliable, dorky dad with a minivan and a Star Trek obsession.
Their chance meeting and growing relationship bring about a lot of soul-searching questions and revelations for Sam. Comparing the tender, loving bond between Nick and Kira to her own one-sided relationship with her absentee father was beautifully written. It wasn’t immature, and Sam’s feelings were never unfairly projected onto Kira.
I think Sam’s journey is very relatable to most twenty-somethings who feel lost when the goals they set for themselves veer off track. She could definitely be frustrating, and you want to shake her out of her funk and help her get back on her feet. I loved that getting back on track for her didn’t mean having it all figured out. It meant remembering that it all starts with the first step forward.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy!
November 24, 2025
Sam is def in my top 5 most relatable characters (other than the fact that she wanted to be with a single dad, which I never would've done in my entire life), but from her daddy issues to her feelings about kids/not wanting them to her hobies to her arguments with her mom to her humor to her choice of drink at the damn airport, I saw so much of myself in her. I do appreciate an age-gap romance when the older person isn't condescending towards the younger one at all, so props to Nick for that. I liked their chemistry and their intimate moments, and I'm glad the ending didn't involve things I was afraid of in romances... iykyk lol. speaking of the ending, however, I did feel like it was a bit rushed and underwhelming, but I love a full circle moment, and overall the kid wasn't that annoying to read about. I prefer Kate Goldbeck's debut, and this was a tad disappointing but only because it was my most anticipated release of the year and I expected a solid new all-time favorite, but 4 stars is great too!
December 7, 2025
This book’s strengths were its humor, and in my uneducated opinion, a realistic portrayal of being a hot mess twenty-something contemplating step motherhood. (As a semi-hot-mess-pregnant-twenty-something)
However, I had issues with the pacing, the Insta love, and an MMC I just did not connect with.
overall, I really do think that Kate Goldbeck has a strong idea of who her characters are and the message she wants to get across on her books. I just preferred her debut to her sophomore.
However, I had issues with the pacing, the Insta love, and an MMC I just did not connect with.
overall, I really do think that Kate Goldbeck has a strong idea of who her characters are and the message she wants to get across on her books. I just preferred her debut to her sophomore.
May 31, 2025
I absolutely loved Daddy Issues. Here's a review in bullet points:
► I adored the voice of this novel. I feel like moreso than other novels, romance novels live and die by their narrative voices. If you find a character's voice to be grating or dull or inane, you won't be able to get onboard with the romance. Too little voice and the character sounds generic and flat, too much and the tone starts to feel contrived and distracting. I say all of this to preface the fact that the narrative voice in this novel was perfect to me. I just immediately clicked with it. Our main character Sam's voice has got VERVE: it's so funny and so fully animated by her--it is every inch her voice. It's not writing from her point of view, it's writing that's just her.
► This is a novel that takes a really thoughtful approach to its age-gap romance. I think sometimes with these romances the younger-older dynamic becomes a fixation of the narrative, an end in and of itself. But that's not the case here. The characters in Daddy Issues have had different life experiences, and that's exactly what the novel is interested in exploring: their experiences. Sam is having a quarter-life crisis and feels lost in her life; Nick is a divorced dad trying to coparent his daughter. Both these characters' experiences colour what they think is important, what gives them purpose and their life meaning. Not in a highfalutin, philosophizing-for-the-sake-of-philosophizing way, but more like: what keeps them going, day in and day out.
► Given that this is a romance, I feel like it would be remiss of me not to discuss the romance. And I would like to confirm that the romance in this romance novel is, in fact, great and romantic! The novel's narrative voice immediately sold me on Sam, and Nick was a perfect complement to her: more grounded, steady, but also very much able to go toe-to-toe with her when it comes to banter and back-and-forths. (Again, this novel's sense of humour was so spot-on for me.) Also, it seems like such a simple thing, but I loved how upfront and frank Nick was with Sam. He didn't beat around the bush, and that was perfect for a character like Sam who's always waiting for the other shoe to drop in her relationships.
► Another thing that maybe doesn't seem like a big deal but that makes this novel especially stand out to me: its characters are very...regular people. They live pretty small lives--Sam is unemployed and has been living with her mom since the pandemic, Nick is a dad and manager at Chilli's--and the novel doesn't at all make it seem like their lives are any less valuable or interesting because of that. (Honestly, not every character needs to, like, start an app or be some kind of high-powered, career-oriented girlboss.) Sam, especially, is a down-on-her-luck character, a self-professed Charlotte Lucas with no money, no prospects, a burden to her parent, and she's frightened! Not everyone who reads this novel is going to love her--she can be selfish, stubborn, and often has tunnel-vision when it comes to her relationships and goals--but I certainly did. I don't know what it says about me that I often relate most to characters who are considered unlikeable or annoying, but I am owning up to it with pride. Really, I think the novel's dedication says it all: "For anyone who has ever felt unlikeable. You are lovable."
► This is a novel about the slow, difficult work of picking yourself up from the ground and trying to move forward. It's slow, difficult work, but there are always people around who make it easier, with whom the load is lighter, even if just that tiny little bit. For me, that's what romance as a genre is all about: romantic relationships not as a solution to all a character's problems, but rather a fount of support, trust, openness, care--all things which help a character stand that much more firmly on their own two feet.
► I adored the voice of this novel. I feel like moreso than other novels, romance novels live and die by their narrative voices. If you find a character's voice to be grating or dull or inane, you won't be able to get onboard with the romance. Too little voice and the character sounds generic and flat, too much and the tone starts to feel contrived and distracting. I say all of this to preface the fact that the narrative voice in this novel was perfect to me. I just immediately clicked with it. Our main character Sam's voice has got VERVE: it's so funny and so fully animated by her--it is every inch her voice. It's not writing from her point of view, it's writing that's just her.
► This is a novel that takes a really thoughtful approach to its age-gap romance. I think sometimes with these romances the younger-older dynamic becomes a fixation of the narrative, an end in and of itself. But that's not the case here. The characters in Daddy Issues have had different life experiences, and that's exactly what the novel is interested in exploring: their experiences. Sam is having a quarter-life crisis and feels lost in her life; Nick is a divorced dad trying to coparent his daughter. Both these characters' experiences colour what they think is important, what gives them purpose and their life meaning. Not in a highfalutin, philosophizing-for-the-sake-of-philosophizing way, but more like: what keeps them going, day in and day out.
► Given that this is a romance, I feel like it would be remiss of me not to discuss the romance. And I would like to confirm that the romance in this romance novel is, in fact, great and romantic! The novel's narrative voice immediately sold me on Sam, and Nick was a perfect complement to her: more grounded, steady, but also very much able to go toe-to-toe with her when it comes to banter and back-and-forths. (Again, this novel's sense of humour was so spot-on for me.) Also, it seems like such a simple thing, but I loved how upfront and frank Nick was with Sam. He didn't beat around the bush, and that was perfect for a character like Sam who's always waiting for the other shoe to drop in her relationships.
► Another thing that maybe doesn't seem like a big deal but that makes this novel especially stand out to me: its characters are very...regular people. They live pretty small lives--Sam is unemployed and has been living with her mom since the pandemic, Nick is a dad and manager at Chilli's--and the novel doesn't at all make it seem like their lives are any less valuable or interesting because of that. (Honestly, not every character needs to, like, start an app or be some kind of high-powered, career-oriented girlboss.) Sam, especially, is a down-on-her-luck character, a self-professed Charlotte Lucas with no money, no prospects, a burden to her parent, and she's frightened! Not everyone who reads this novel is going to love her--she can be selfish, stubborn, and often has tunnel-vision when it comes to her relationships and goals--but I certainly did. I don't know what it says about me that I often relate most to characters who are considered unlikeable or annoying, but I am owning up to it with pride. Really, I think the novel's dedication says it all: "For anyone who has ever felt unlikeable. You are lovable."
► This is a novel about the slow, difficult work of picking yourself up from the ground and trying to move forward. It's slow, difficult work, but there are always people around who make it easier, with whom the load is lighter, even if just that tiny little bit. For me, that's what romance as a genre is all about: romantic relationships not as a solution to all a character's problems, but rather a fount of support, trust, openness, care--all things which help a character stand that much more firmly on their own two feet.
November 25, 2025
Here I was, expecting some fun, cute and steamy age-gap romance, but that’s not what I got. I picked this up because one of my subscription boxes is going to feature this title, but after finishing it, I decided to skip because I don’t want to waste any more money on this book.
I found both main characters to be either flat and uninteresting (Nick) or completely insufferable (Sam). I was also in my 20s when covid hit, I get how much it sucked and disrupted lives. But I still managed to finish my degree, get a full-time job, buy an apartment and get a dog.
Sam just gave up, moved in on her mother’s couch (sorry, daybed) and slept and masturbated all day. Even though she did absolutely nothing with her life, she still just complained when her mother tried to help and motivate her. She refused to take on any opportunity because it was not the “perfect job” or “in her super-niche field”. Yes, but that’s the reality when life throws you a curveball, you must take on things you hadn’t planned for. It’s a hell of a lot better than sleeping the day away and being a bartender. Maybe you could learn a life skill and stop being so incompetent.
I also didn’t care for the romance. Nick came across as boring and flat and I didn’t understand what Sam found so desirable. It was also rushed beyond belief. When Nick stated that he liked Sam and was attracted to her, I made a note that said, “based on what?”. They had like two conversations at that point and the first intimacy came when Sam was really drunk (which she had a habit of being).
The character of Kira, Nick’s daughter, may be written as a believable child-characters. But holy hell, I found her completely insufferable. She acted like a spoiled brat and Nick was a doormat when it came to raising her and it was just infuriating reading about her destroying shit, shoving people, “apologizing” in a sarcastic voice and complain constantly.
Whit the benefit of hindsight, I should’ve DNF this.
I found both main characters to be either flat and uninteresting (Nick) or completely insufferable (Sam). I was also in my 20s when covid hit, I get how much it sucked and disrupted lives. But I still managed to finish my degree, get a full-time job, buy an apartment and get a dog.
Sam just gave up, moved in on her mother’s couch (sorry, daybed) and slept and masturbated all day. Even though she did absolutely nothing with her life, she still just complained when her mother tried to help and motivate her. She refused to take on any opportunity because it was not the “perfect job” or “in her super-niche field”. Yes, but that’s the reality when life throws you a curveball, you must take on things you hadn’t planned for. It’s a hell of a lot better than sleeping the day away and being a bartender. Maybe you could learn a life skill and stop being so incompetent.
I also didn’t care for the romance. Nick came across as boring and flat and I didn’t understand what Sam found so desirable. It was also rushed beyond belief. When Nick stated that he liked Sam and was attracted to her, I made a note that said, “based on what?”. They had like two conversations at that point and the first intimacy came when Sam was really drunk (which she had a habit of being).
The character of Kira, Nick’s daughter, may be written as a believable child-characters. But holy hell, I found her completely insufferable. She acted like a spoiled brat and Nick was a doormat when it came to raising her and it was just infuriating reading about her destroying shit, shoving people, “apologizing” in a sarcastic voice and complain constantly.
Whit the benefit of hindsight, I should’ve DNF this.
November 17, 2025
this was SO GOOD. so good. and felt like such a fresh, REAL, and honest take on a single parent romance that makes it feel so different from any other single parent romances I've read.
that being said, this book REALLY hurt my feelings!!!ll! if you're also in your mid-late 20s, living with your parents, maybe feeling like a bit of a failure because covid halted your life at such a pivotal point and then you blinked and 5 years have passed and your life hasn't really restarted and you don't know what tf you're doing, this miGHT HIT A LITTLE TOO CLOSE TO HOME AND HURT YOUR FEELINGS. it's a gorgeous, GORGEOUS book, but goddammit that was a gut punch. 5 stars.
that being said, this book REALLY hurt my feelings!!!ll! if you're also in your mid-late 20s, living with your parents, maybe feeling like a bit of a failure because covid halted your life at such a pivotal point and then you blinked and 5 years have passed and your life hasn't really restarted and you don't know what tf you're doing, this miGHT HIT A LITTLE TOO CLOSE TO HOME AND HURT YOUR FEELINGS. it's a gorgeous, GORGEOUS book, but goddammit that was a gut punch. 5 stars.
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