3.25 stars

Kyle Fenton returns home to Red Creek with his six-year-old daughter, Caroline, after the death of Caroline's mother. He temporarily lives with his Dad, working from home, while trying to do his best raising his daughter. Adam Hathaway is Caroline's first grade teacher, who is trying to keep his personal live private after a bad situation at a private school that also forces him to move to Red Creek. Both are tentatively working on their issues while figuring out how to deal with being attracted to one another.

The Pick Up is both a debut from Allison Temple and a start of a small-town romance series with two more books coming within this year and next from Riptide Publishing. I will try to give what works and what doesn't for me about this one.

First of all, this one is a SLOW BURN romance. Yes, SLOW BURN. Now, I do love my slow burn. My early experience with romance is Harlequin, where they keep the sex scenes between the hero and heroine near the end; sort of a 'reward' after going through the 'getting to know each other' phase.

UNFORTUNATELY, for me, the slow burn in this book is more of a result of the two men NOT talking rather than a natural progress of relationship. Adam and Kyle keep A LOT of things from each other, and to that extent from this reader as well.

For example, it isn't until around 1/3rd of the book that I find out that Kyle and Olivia never married. Or about 2/5th of the book where Kyle has sudden panic attack, and apparently THAT had happened before.

Even until the end I still have questions about how Kyle and Olivia ended up together. Kyle does talk to Adam about her but it's more like snippet. Olivia was part of Kyle's life for seven years, and I wonder what attracted Olivia to Kyle and vice versa. While in Adam's case, I don't know ANYTHING about the bad experience until almost half-way.

Another thing I wish to be more explored is Kyle's relationship with his father. I understand Kyle's pride takes a hit, having to come back to Red Creek. However, I don't feel like Kyle's father contributes to him staying away at Seattle for all those years either. So what happens? Is it just that logical situation where one wants to stay away from their parents when they grow up? I wish Kyle's father have more scenes in the book!

What I do enjoy from this book is the domesticity and slice-of-life fragments of being a single father, being a hot-single-teacher, as well as being part of a small town community. Okay, I'm not sure how REALISTIC it is because I don't live in a US small town, but it feels like so.

I like the exploration of Kyle's issue. I can totally understand Kyle feeling sort of like a failure ... returning home to live with his father, while before he was living independently in Seattle, making his mark on the world. Going back to Red Creek feels like a step back for Kyle, and I liked how the Temple writes how he deals with that.

I'm a bit ambivalent about Adam, though. Adam acts quite like a jerk in the beginning towards Kyle... and I can't say that I'm warming up to him because he acts a bit hot and cold, and that argument near the end doesn't help Adam to win my heart either.

All in all, I think this is a pleasant romance from a new-to-me author. I look forward to the next book in September.

The Pick Up is not a fast paced story; instead, it's cute and slow burn romance where the main character's, Kyle and Adam, are introduced with time. It's easy to get to know both of them, their thoughts and situation, which is something I loved. Kyle particularly is so sweet, although a little bit headstrong and a little bit lost, because he recently lost his best friend and the mother of his child and now he has to take care of his young daughter as a single parent.

I love how family orientated the story was. Kyle's daughter Caroline and his father had a large part and even Adam's sister Rebecca had a quite big role. It was refreshing after picking up so many M/M romance which didn't involve the main character's families. I'd say this one had a nice balance of Kyle and Adam's romance, and the scenes where they spend time with their families. It was also nice to see how Adam got involved with Kyle's family, which was important as Kyle had a child and he was temporarily living with his father, who helped him take care of Caroline. I liked how Kyle and Adam took their time to get to know each other and to get over the initial dislike they had going on. It was a slow burn, but there's a great deal of cute chemistry.

The Pick Up is a cute, slow burn romance with its share of miscommunication and a bit of angst as Kyle tries to find his place in Red Creek. If you're up for a little bit slower romance that still gets your heart beating, then I'd definitely recommend The Pick Up for you.

After the death of Kyle Fenton's best friend Olivia in an accident he finds himself raising their six year old daughter Caroline alone. Not really able to make ends meet, when his father extends an offer of help, Kyle moves from Seattle back home to Red Creek - a place he'd much sooner have never returned to.

Adam Hathaway teaches grade school and keeps his private life very private, especially after a relationship gone bad cost him his job at private Newcastle Academy.

After clashing with Kyle several times, the two find themselves gravitating to one another, which isn't optimal to either of them. Adam, because of his past relationship mistakes, and Kyle because Olivia has been dead less than a year and his father doesn't seem that keen on Kyle's bisexuality.

After a very slow start the two finally gain a groove and work their way through some miscommunication to open up to one another and embrace a relationship.

This is a slow burn with a lot of false starts. Since both Adam and Kyle have their own pasts and challenges to overcome they basically fight their attraction to one another, and later any kind of relationship, the pacing of the story was particularly slow going, and I didn't feel like the HFN was an adequate pay off for getting through it all.

There were some things I liked about the story, like the way Kyle and Adam were with their families, and the depiction of small town life, but I wanted more romance between Kyle and Adam. I wanted a better connection, more chemistry, and better relationship arc.

I also wanted to know more about Kyle's relationship with Olivia, which wasn't really explained, because while I'm calling Kyle bisexual here, the word wasn't used once in the whole book, and his "relationship" with Olivia was a bit mysterious.

But, mostly, I just wanted them to stop being jerks to each other long before they actually did and get on with the romancing.

Unfortunately this one was a miss for me but YMMV.

Really enjoyed this story of two men finding each other in the most unexpected place: the first grade after school pick-up line! After Kyle loses his wife in a tragic accident, he and his young daughter move back to his hometown to try to pick up the pieces. Adam left his position at a private middle school after a messy and public breakup. After a couple of years teaching first grade at Red Creek Elementary, he has found a community he is comfortable in, but he's not yet ready to get emotionally close to anyone. Temple does a great job of making these men real and easy to relate to, and packs the book with a great supporting cast. A great start to a promising new series.

3.5 stars. I'm a sucker for stories with adorkable, nerdy guys and Allison Temple certainly nailed it on the head with Kyle and Adam. Perhaps a bit too long but overall an enjoyable read.

Kyle is a single dad and a widower. He has returned home to Red Creek to try and rebuild his life and recover from a devastating bereavement which has left him bringing up his six-year-old daughter on his own. Life has not worked out the way he thought it would and he has come home realising that, not only is he bereaved and single, he also hasn't made the kind of progress that he wants. Instead he drives a battered old van, lives at home with his dad and takes care of his little daughter Caroline. Kyle doesn't really think about the future. Life for him means just taking one day at a time, trying to fill the gap left by the tragic death of his partner Olivia.

Kyle is quite surprised when he finds that he is recovering from his grief, or at least recovering enough to recognise the feelings of attraction that he has for his daughter's class teacher Mr Adam Hathaway.

Adam is attracted to the father of his young student, but he is also very wary because he has been burnt by a previous relationship and he certainly doesn't think that it is professional of him to date the father of one of his students. Thankfully love cannot be thwarted. Red Creek is a small town and when Kyle joins his friend's basketball team he is surprised to see Adam there as well. In this very small town the two men get to see each other at other social events and at the school gates and a friendship develops, and then something deeper begins to grow between them.

Both men have different challenges to overcome. Kyle is still grieving and seeking to make a new life for himself and his daughter. Adam has been hurt in the past and despite his deep attraction for Kyle he is reluctant to get involved again, especially with a parent.

And so in this lovely story, two men each have to overcome the tragedies and difficulties of the past and move forward into new lives with new hope and although it sounds nice it isn't easy.

This is a nice romantic story and very well written. I didn't feel that it was gripping enough for me. I felt it was a bit slow, but for anyone wanting a nice, gentle romance this is perfect.

Copy provided by Riptide Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This was a cute story. There were somethings I wish would of been put into the story. There were unanswered questions about Olivia and why Kyle chose to be with her (of course I know for his daughter) but I’m more on the lines of his attraction to men and wondering how the relationship worked. I love that the story wasn’t
So fast paced. The author took their time in letting you get to know each of their personalities. I feel that Kyle and Adam fit well together. I was secretly hoping that In the pick up line Adam would come around and kiss Kyle.

I’m giving the book 3 stars because I wish there was more information in it. Overall, Adam and Kyle Were super cute.

I enjoyed this one. Adorkable dads and cute kids. What's not to like? It was well written and I would strongly recommend.

I enjoyed this one, I just felt like it was a little long and a smidge redundant in places. I'd continue with the series. I'd give it 3.5.