Play Dates by Maggie Wells was a cheeky little romance about a single dad and a woman he thinks is a single mom from their one encounter on a playground. While it was fun and sexy, it had a serious side with both the hero and heroine doing some soul searching to get to a happy place.

Colm Cleary’s son Aiden is the bright spot of his life despite the fact his wife died shortly after his birth. Finding out his wife was not who she was left him raw and unable to trust easily, hence why he has been celibate for the last four years with only one encounter a year after his son’s birth. He has his work and his two best friends who also have custody of their children as well. Saturday mornings are park time followed by pancakes, pretty routine until a woman he doesn’t recognize from their usual park days and her daughter find his son’s Princess Clarissa doll. Colm’s libido comes roaring to life and he asks her for a date, something so far out of his wheelhouse of late that Monica Rayburn doesn’t get a chance to explain that Emma is her niece not her daughter, but since its only one night does it really matter?

I absolutely loved the interaction between Colm and Monica and how in tune they were with each other sexually. While I hated that they didn’t spend a lot of time talking allowing Monica time to come clean, I could also understand that alone time between them was at difficult to find so they did very little talking. I loved watching Colm reclaim his sexual side and realize that why he was completely dedicated to his son, having someone else in his life made it better. Seeing Monica begin to realize that while she loved her life, it was lonely and learning to open her heart to the possibility of not only a man but a little boy in her life while scary was worth it. I was a bit disappointed in both Colm and Monica for the way they handled various situations, but it wasn’t unexpected given their backgrounds and history. I was completely happy with the way this book ended, but would have loved more time with Colm and Monica as a couple, but I’m hoping as the other Saturdaddies get their stories we’ll see more of them.

I have to give big props to author Maggie Wells and Kensington Publishing for producing a series about men who are full time single fathers, it is past time they are given the attention they deserve.

This was my first book by Maggie Wells. It was a good book but I had troubles liking the characters and connecting with them. The story line was good. I am rating this book 3 stars but I would recommend it to others.

Well written and an enjoyable story. I really enjoyed reading this book and look forward to reading more by this author.

Monica babysits her niece Emma at the park when she meets Colm and his son Aiden. He sure is a great catch, a single parent, a doting father and a super dad, if you think about it. Monica is captivated. When Colm assumed she was Emma's mom, she doesn't correct him, instead she continues dance around him, leading him on until she gets him to her bed. A trip to the dentist soon breaks Monica's happy dance and she is never the same mighty snarky Monica again.

This was a good read, preferably while watching your kids play at home or in front of the TV. I read this while I was with my youngest son, him playing his Pokemon cards and yours truly had set my automatic washing machine and decided to read while waiting. In just a couple of hours, everything was finished and I was done reading Play Dates. Monica and Colm sure were a complicated couple, but I'm glad it ended quite differently.

It was hard to like Monica though. I understand how she lied at first to Colm and his son, but dragging the story because of her reluctance made me weary of her. Because of that, I didn't think she'd grow some balls and own up to her mistakes. I much preferred Pablo and Carita actually, the owners of a Mexican restaurant that catered to the dating couple. Now, Colm on the other hand, was a little too stubborn for my taste. While I understand how hurt he's been, first by his late wife and now, Monica, I frowned when he repeatedly ignored Monica's calls and apologies. I thought he was a hard man to please.

In the end though, I was the one pleased because both parties cleared the air and succumbed to their true feelings. While I may not have been thrilled with Colm, I liked Aiden a lot. That kid easily wormed his way to my heart through his cuteness and kissing tendencies. Now, if I can get my hands on Mike's story soon, I would certainly be more than willing to babysit the Saturdaddies. LOL.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  
    Colm is a single dad who takes his son Aidan to the park like he does every Saturday.  When Monica Rayburn’s niece  (Emma) finds a lost toy in the park she simply has to find the owner. Which leads them to Colm and Aiden.  Colm is struck by this new single mom..  Monica agrees to a date with  Com who still thinks that Emma is her daughter.  
    I liked the story but it fell a little short of what I was expecting. I thought that there would be more of Aiden.  The physical relationship between Monica and Colm moved really face and their communications skills are a complete zero.   It seemed a little short I would have liked a little more, but it did have its cute moments.

Monica Rayburn is a woman that knows what she wants and what she wants is Colm Cleary. But the only way she believes he'll consider going out with her is because he thinks she's a mother. However, when the lies become too much and there's more and more chance of Colm uncovering her deception, will Monica be able to make things right between them or will she lose her chance at happy ever after?

Although I really liked how this book started and things getting out of control quickly with Monica's lies adding up, I found there were moments where I had to put this book down, as I couldn't handle the heroine's drama. Her obsession with being a workaholic and avoiding relationships was understandable because of her past, but with things turning out well for her sister in finding love, why wouldn't Monica want the same? However, in saying that, I absolutely loved the hero, his son and the hero's friends.

As for the dialogue, it was entertaining due to the main characters back stories, especially that of the hero, because of how he ended up a single dad. Yet, it was also entertaining due to the remarkable bond Colm and his son have as well as the strong bond Colm shares with his friends that has them teasing each other about women and setting each other straight when it comes to the mistakes they each believe the other is making. Then there's the close relationship Monica and her sister have and I could certainly understand why Monica's sister was concerned about what the heroine was doing. Will the heroine listen to her sister before it's too late?

Overall, this book offered plenty of promise in the beginning with the meet cute between Monica and Colm, but there were moments where I wanted to shake the heroine to knock some sense into her. Really, as if her lying wasn't going to backfire and what a way it did end up backfiring on her. It made me feel sorry for her, but in saying that, it also helped her realize what she wanted -- a future with Colm and his son. The way this story ended had me liking how desperate the heroine was to get Colm to give her another chance, yet it was how things turned out for them that made the ending of this story the best part because of what the hero does. Then again, I can't forget how adorable Colm's son was either. What a little cutie! I would recommend Play Dates by Maggie Wells if you enjoy the opposites attract trope or books by authors Sara Portman, Virginia Taylor, Allison B. Hanson and Kate Clayborn.

Favorite Quote:

He yelped when she yanked, pulling his hair until she could look him in the eye. “Come.” One word and the woman completely unraveled him. Biting his lip, he closed his eyes and emptied every bit of loneliness and longing built up over the week into her.

I stumbled upon this author earlier this year when I joined a Facebook group for Seasoned Romance, aka romance that features characters over 40. I don't think either MC in this book were over 40, possibly in their 30’s, but I don’t recall it being stated, in case that matters to you. What mainly had me interested in this book was that the hero is a single father. I think we see a lot of single moms in romance, so this was something a little different.

The hero, Colm, is raising his son Aiden alone after Aiden’s mother died right after giving birth. Aiden has been his primary focus for six years and as a result hasn’t dated. When he meets Monica at the park they have instant attraction and he asks her out. Colm is a great dad to Aiden, he is the type of dad that doesn’t mind that his son’s favorite toys is a princess.

Monica is at the park with her niece and she spies the “Saturdaddies”. The group of women mistakenly think these guys are part time dads, but when she meets Colm, she learns he is in fact a full time dad. When they first meet, Colm wrongly assumes that the little girl with Monica is her daughter. She tries to correct him, but it doesn’t work.

Colm is very family focused and because of this, thinks that Monica will also understand the plight of the single parent and he asks her out. Monica decides since this is going to be a one and done situation, she isn’t going to correct his assumption. They go out but fast forward to the sexy times. I didn’t do a page count, but I felt like this sex scenes were pretty long and detailed, but not too graphic. For a non-erotic romance, I thought the scenes were lengthy and it felt different, in a good way.

This book had a fair amount of humor in it and it worked for me. Monica is reluctant to enter into a relationship with Colm but I never really understood why. There was no big or traumatic event or breakup in her past or anything else, so I didn’t quite get her hang ups. The first half of the book is heavy on the physical relationship and then quickly the MCs are in disagreement and then love. It felt a bit rushed to me. I wanted a little more of them exploring an out of the bedroom relationship so I could truly believe in their love story. Looking at the description it comes in at 160 pages, so no wonder it felt like something was left out.

The author definitely sets the stage for future books in this series, with Colm’s two best friends also being single, full time dads. I liked Monica, for the most part, she knows who she is and what she wants. She isn’t perfect, but flawed. I did believe in their story, I just wanted more. I will definitely check out any future books in this story. I also want to mention that Amazon seems to have this tagged under Romance >Inspirational, that is not correct. There is sex on the page. And lots of it. Don’t let Amazon’s weird tags scare you away. This book is heavy on sex and humor, but just a smidge shy of actual story.

Grade: C

I was a little underwhelmed by this story. It started out well with a good premise, but then just kinda...meh. I felt like major things were alluded to that never got explained on either Colm's or Monica's side - things that maybe could have better explained their personalities or maybe helped move the story along better. In any case, this was a first read for me by Maggie Wells and I'm on the fence about reading more.

This was a really good read I am a sucker for a good single dad romance and this one was really good, I just loved Colm he was such a great dad to his son Aiden and they were so damn cute together you cannot help but love them.Monica, on the other hand, I did not really like I kind of hoped I would warm to her as the book went on and I did a little but not much she just was not very likable.Other than that it was a super read and I enjoyed it.

When I was reading the blurb of this book, I thought it sounded so interesting. However, upon reading it, there were a lot of little things that impaired my enjoyment of the story.

Monica was a very difficult character for me. On one hand, I absolutely hated her for how much she lied to Colm, seeming to want to never come clean about it. On the other hand, I truly enjoyed her journey from Single Career Woman to committed relationship status. She really dragged the story down for me. Colm was a bit of a wash for me, too. His attitudes grated on me at times, and I just didn't want to cheer for him in the relationship. I also didn't find the secondary characters interesting enough to want to see them get their own story.

All things considered, this is a story that was worth reading once, but not purchasing, or continuing, should a series be made out of it.

He's a single dad (widower) and he thinks she's a single mom.

This one was just okay for me. When I requested to read this book I didn't realize that Monica would lie for most of the book. I assumed there would be the assumption of her being a parent and then her come clean about being clueless the first time someone gets a dirty diaper. Instead she made endless excuses and lost all credibility with me. Also, if the roles had been reversed and he'd been the one lying about having a child, just to get some tail, we'd all be calling him very unpleasant words. If it's not cool for a guy to do it, it's not cool for a lady either.

There is a fair amount of smoking hot sexy times and witty banter, so if that's your jam and the lying business doesn't bother you, you'll likely enjoy this read.

I received an ARC of this book, from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

play dates starts off with an adorable meet cute in the park. monica rayburn is watching her niece, emma, when she first catches a glimpse of the saturdaddies. when emma finds a discarded princess toy on the playground, they go around asking the other girls at the park if it's theirs.

they should have asked the boys, as it turns out to belong to colm cleary's little boy, aiden. as the kids play, colm and monica get to talking. and for the first time in a long time, colm decides to take a risk. when monica realizes that colm thinks that emma is her daughter, she tries to tell him but he is distracted by his son and doesn't realize what she is trying to say.

at first monica thinks it will likely be a one-time thing so there's no reason to admit that emma isn't her daughter. but one time isn't enough and soon the truth that emma isn't hers starts to become this big deal that it shouldn't be. there are plenty of clues that monica isn't a mom, but colm is so caught up by her that he doesn't think about those things too carefully.

eventually the truth comes out, and colm makes monica really work for his forgiveness. but as everyone points out to him, they have incredible chemistry and her not having children actually means that their dating is less complicated. and when you have kids, the less complicated the better. this was a really sweet contemporary romance, and as the start of the series, i can't wait to see what lies in store for the other saturdaddies.

Play Dates by Maggie Wells was a cheeky little romance about a single dad and a woman he thinks is a single mom from their one encounter on a playground. While it was fun and sexy, it had a serious side with both the hero and heroine doing some soul searching to get to a happy place.

Colm Cleary’s son Aiden is the bright spot of his life despite the fact his wife died shortly after his birth. Finding out his wife was not who she was left him raw and unable to trust easily, hence why he has been celibate for the last four years with only one encounter a year after his son’s birth. He has his work and his two best friends who also have custody of their children as well. Saturday mornings are park time followed by pancakes, pretty routine until a woman he doesn’t recognize from their usual park days and her daughter find his son’s Princess Clarissa doll. Colm’s libido comes roaring to life and he asks her for a date, something so far out of his wheelhouse of late that Monica Rayburn doesn’t get a chance to explain that Emma is her niece not her daughter, but since its only one night does it really matter?

I absolutely loved the interaction between Colm and Monica and how in tune they were with each other sexually. While I hated that they didn’t spend a lot of time talking allowing Monica time to come clean, I could also understand that alone time between them was at difficult to find so they did very little talking. I loved watching Colm reclaim his sexual side and realize that why he was completely dedicated to his son, having someone else in his life made it better. Seeing Monica begin to realize that while she loved her life, it was lonely and learning to open her heart to the possibility of not only a man but a little boy in her life while scary was worth it. I was a bit disappointed in both Colm and Monica for the way they handled various situations, but it wasn’t unexpected given their backgrounds and history. I was completely happy with the way this book ended, but would have loved more time with Colm and Monica as a couple, but I’m hoping as the other Saturdaddies get their stories we’ll see more of them.

I have to give big props to author Maggie Wells and Kensington Publishing for producing a series about men who are full time single fathers, it is past time they are given the attention they deserve.

This was a very enjoyable read although I must admit Monica, the lead female character, was not very likeable. In fact she drove more than a little crazy. I love Colm though. Single dad to adorable little Aiden, He's totally committed to his son He's careful who he dates but when he meets Monica in the park with her daughter (actually her niece) he's sure she's someone who can understand his life and the demands of single parenthood. At this point Monica should have come clean about who Emma really was. She didn't. Now they start a relationship with lies between them. Can this possibly work when the truth comes out?

I would recommend this one.

3.5 - "You're turning into quite the liar..." Stars!

Maggie Wells begins her new Play Dates series set around three single Daddies with a story that begins as miscommunication, then sits in the withholding the truth bracket for a little longer than this reader really likes.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed the writing style, the banter between Colm, and his business partners and single-parents Mike and James was great, and the sexy-times between him and Monica were smokin’ hot, but this book lost a star for the fact that the apparently confident and independent Monica couldn’t balls up, and admit to him that his initial assumption of her being a single mother wasn't true.

For once in her life, she didn’t want to weigh the risk and rewards…

Once again I found myself wishing (as I do with many books with this trope) that she had come clean and then read of a story where they work on a relationship around her being unused to children and both of them learning how to balance a relationship with each other around that, rather than her spend 75% of the book lying and trying to justify the fact even though she knows she’s going to end up hurting Colm (and herself) because of it.

"I’m not nearly through with what I want to do with you…"

That-said it was a pretty quick read so I didn’t have a huge amount of time to get overly frustrated with her, but then because of the quick nature of the read, I also found Colm’s forgiveness awfully speedy in it’s delivery too. These are minor gripes though because in general it was a pretty decent story.

"I hope you like the natural look..?"

My first book by this author, but I will definitely be looking too read Mike’s book; Easy Bake Lovin’ due for release in March 18.

If only Monica hadn't lied to Colm. Seriously, single moms deserve huge props and pretending to be one in order to get a little romance from a widower dad is not the sort of person I like to spend time with. I tried to enjoy this as it's well written but the relationship that was most endearing was better Colm and his son Aidan. This novel was a rare fail for me. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

There were some parts where I felt that the author might’ve forgotten about continuation, it felt very rushed and the two main characters could’ve saved themselves a lot of trouble by just communicating. Guess there is a life lesson that can be learned from this.

If you like corny romantic comedies with some one-liners, this is the book for you.

This story is about Colm Cleary, and Monica Rayburn. Colm is a widower with a young boy, who with his two friends and business partners, also single dads, meet on Saturdays at the park. This time , Colm meets Monica. Monica, a commodities trader with an A type personality, is there with her niece Emma. Colm assumes Monica is Emma’s mom, and when she doesn’t correct him, the lies start as well as an unexpected affair.
Colm was easy to like, but Monica, not so much. Mostly because she kept on with the deceit .
Will she be able to get herself out of the mess she has created, or will Colm be unable to forgive her, since he already has been lied to by another women?
In addition to these two, the secondary characters were well developed. I suspect Colm’s friends, Mike and James, will have a story of their own in the future.
For me it was a 3.5 ,but I suspect it’s partly because I am not fond of those who lie.. Which means, the author truly accomplished her aim , so it will be rated a 4 star.
I was gifted this copy by Netgalley. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

If you don’t mind a heroine who lies, or at least lies by omission, to the guy she’s interested in, then you’ll enjoy this book. I did find the heroine a little exasperating since, as her sister points out to her, it wouldn’t have been a bit of a problem to tell the hot guy she meets at the park that the kids she’s with is her niece, not her own. Instead she is so attracted to the hot, single dad, Colm Cleary, that she lets him think that she’s a single mother. Actually, she’s a commodities trader who is devoted to her job and thinks that she’d make a terrible wife and mother.

She will grow during the book and become less annoying. What really makes the book is Colm and his fellow bachelor daddies who work together and also have regular poker nights where they play for high stakes of gummy bears and cookies. Who doesn’t love hot, single daddies who will do anything for their children?

I was given a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

TL;DR: UNDEVELOPED HEROINE BUT CUTE LOVE STORY NONETHELESS

THE STORY:
When Monica Rayburn strikes up a conversation with a hot "Saturdaddy" at the park, she gets more than she's bargained for. Colm asks her out to dinner and she accepts, but he makes a strange request: they don't talk about their children and they keep it no-strings. Monica makes a half-hearted effort to correct his misconception—Emma is her niece, not her daughter—but then decides not to. After experiencing a super hot night together, Monica feels conflicted about the deception, although she believes that based on their agreement, she'll probably never see him again. But Colm has decided that he likes Monica a lot, and wants to pursue things.

The main conflict here is that Monica is keeping something from Colm that affects how she feels and acts around him. She's wracked by guilt over it, but she still doesn't want to come clean. Her reasons didn't really resonate for me, and that's part of the reason that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped. Colm, on the other hand, made sense. His character was well developed and his backstory made sense with all the things that he was going through—sort of. (This hedges on spoiler territory so I'll make it brief. The "big secret" that Colm's late wife had was not that big of a deal. It could have been, but it was literally the best case scenario of any double life scenarios I could think of. It's only if you think illegal immigrant immediately equals horrible, nasty, untrustworthy person on par with weapons smugglers that it has any impact at all.)

TECHNICAL ELEMENTS:
The writing itself was mostly clear although I noticed that there were many long segments of exposition set in between action scenes (and by action, I mean, in the middle of getting his kid lunch or something, it wasn't fast-paced suspense, but there was something going on). This really broke up the flow of the story. I also don't particularly like giant chunks of exposition, but that's a personal preference.

Monica herself is very shakily developed. It sounds like she has a very specific type of personality, but we never actually see it. Her rigid type-A-ness is immediately jettisoned by Colm's arrival, so while she continually thinks "I'm never like this", the reader has no proof of that, only that of her immaculate home. I also would have liked a little of what maybe a family unit with Monica, Colm, and Aiden would have looked like, perhaps a few months in the future.

I also found it slightly unbelievable that three friends would all end up single dads through weird circumstances. It would have made more sense to me if three single dads would have found each other somehow and THEN became friends, but it seems as if they all accidentally found themselves in the same boat after knowing each other awhile. I imagine in future follow-ups in this series, we'll meet the other 2 single dads.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I was a little disappointed with this book. Normally, I very much enjoy Maggie Wells, but I had a hard time being invested in this story, mostly because of Monica's shallow development. Much of the parenting-related mini-plots were highly related, however, and I commend Wells on her heartwarming and accurate portrayals of parenthood and kids.