Sam, a girl in her 20’s ,living at her mom’s apartment is struggling with being an adult. She works a job as a bartender ,but has a passion for comic book drawing. She meets a single dad who she has a connection with. Seeing her get her life together, fall in love and navigating dating someone with a child. I loved this book. If you love reading about stories about personal growth, finding love, and embracing new family dynamics then this is the book for you

Definitely recommend. Thank you NetGalley!!

I'm not a fan of the single dad trope (or romance novels with kids at all) and You, Again was a four-star disappointment but somehow everything in this came together to be what might become my favorite romance of the year. Delicious.

I thought the premise was cute, but I found the main character to be very whiny and had a hard time connecting to her in order to root for the romance of the story. As graphic novels were such a big part of this book. It would’ve been nice to include some visuals.

LOVED it. a very refreshing ready with a unique voice. i couldn’t put it down. A BANGER! so so great.

I think it would be a challenge for any author to follow up on the success of "You, Again", and there are lots of little things to like here that show Goldbeck is still a force to be reckoned with in contemporary romance. Her commitment to dealing with "difficult" characters is front-and-center, as is her interest in finding realistic ways for characters to overcome trauma and break patterns together. The conceit of the main character frequently "thinking" in comic books worked for me without feeling hokey, and I appreciated the book's wrestling with parenthood, adulthood, and self-fulfillment, especially the various ways in which those ideas can intersect or conflict.

However, the pacing of the book was off for me — it felt like both plot and emotional developments were happening too quickly, without enough time or detail lavished on any particular aspect of the main character's experience. I think if the book had been considerably tightened up, it could have been an extremely compelling novella, and if it had been allowed to hit its stride, it could have been a satisfyingly nuanced journey in the vein of "You, Again." Its current length/pacing greatly diminishes its strengths, which is a shame, given the ambition of Goldbeck's scope here. I would consider this a good recommendation for fans of Rachel Lynn Solomon's "Weather Girl", which wrestles with similar core concepts, but whose pacing is more even.

I loved this one! Kate's writing is immaculate but you can't beat a single dad/age gap romance. This is an auto-read when it comes out.

I’m not typically a romance reader, but I genuinely enjoyed reading this one. I thought it had creative elements that I don’t see often. I felt like the characters were fleshed out and believable.

This book is objectively well crafted but Sam was not likable enough (or maybe just too realistically written as a down on her luck sad person??) to be driving the story. I did not enjoy her as the narrator. I also know nothing about comics so those aspects of the book went over my head.

I do think the author’s writing style is extremely distinct and strong. I can see myself loving one of her books one day. But without characters you care about, it is hard to stick with a book.

Solid 3.75 stars that I rounded up to 4.

No spoilers. I feel this book could’ve been a solid five, but due to pacing issues and some of the conflict surrounding the MCs it just didn’t quite reach that far.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. The book did a good job of setting up several conflicts and giving our FMC an opportunity to really get out of her depression and jump start her life. She feels stuck in her mom’s office, with no real space to call her own. I feel that. The FMC has daddy issues given the name of the book and that is a single dad romance lol.

To me, this book walks the line of Women’s fiction and romance. It definitely qualifies as romance, but the overall issues and focus on the FMCs growth makes me liken it to women’s fiction more.

It reminds me of Definitely Better Now by Ava Robinson. The main things that threw me off were the pacing. I thought her mom’s wedding was months away and then all of sudden it happens? And a few other factors that just paced weird.

There was almost just a tad to much conflict coming from so many sides that when everything wrapped up, it just seemed really fast and the FMCs growth felt forced.

It just didn’t flow naturally to me, but that is my opinion. I liked the characters, and overall story.

𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲 𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐤

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 rounding up!

Thank you NetGalley & Random House for this ARC. 💥✍🏼🦸🏻‍♂️

This was my first Kate Goldbeck read, and she did a wonderful job portraying an artist trying to make it in an over saturated industry. I also want to mention how beautiful the cover is to this book. It matches the story perfectly. ✨

One thing I loved was Sams love for the arts, and comics were so unique and interesting. I actually learned so much from reading this. I will say it was hard for me to relate to Sam at times because I had my children very young (never married) and I have a type A personality. I’m not as strung out on research/statistics like Romily but do I like me some structure.

With that being said I could relate to her in regard to her parents. I had a father just like hers who dipped when I was in HS. I felt the same need to be perfect to garner a sliver of affection and it really does mess with your mental health. And a mother who just knew no boundaries. It’s a hard line to walk with parents like these so I understand her struggles trying to find her footing in the world.

As for the romance, I really enjoyed this. The single dad, age gap just hit the spot for me. Nick was almost too perfect, a hot older man that nerds out, AND is a GM at chilis? Seriously, too damn good. Not to mention how well they communicated with each other. Normally we get the miscommunication trope, so I’m so glad we didn’t in this book. I’ve never thought about what it would be like as a single parent, and Kate put alot of things I’ve never thought about in perspective.

Overall, a great read following a young woman trying to find her own path after the pandemic put a halt to so many things.

If you’re wondering what happened to those pandemic graduates who immediately had to move back in with their parents and couldn’t find meaningful jobs, look no further than Sam. She refuses to admit that she’s living in her mom’s spare room, even though it’s been five years at this point. She’s going to graduate school, as soon as she stops getting rejections. Meanwhile, she’s slinging drinks at a tiki bar in a coconut bra and in a messy situationship with her coworker.

Enter Nick, new neighbor and divorced single dad. He’s older, he’s got his life together, and Sam’s mom keeps trying to set him up with everyone but Sam. And yet he seems only to be interested in the woman he can hear through their thin shared walls.

This is an accurate representation of what it’s like to be a college grad in your 20s and unsure of your next step. The romance felt warm-not-hot, but also like it was exactly what both characters needed. The comfort of a warm bath and someone to share a blanket on the couch, and not the push/pull drama of someone who won’t admit you’re dating.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to Dial and NetGalley for this eARC!

It took me a little minute to adjust to the writing at the beginning of this one, but I liked it! Sam and Nick are incredibly well-drawn, and their feelings about life sometimes hit a liiiiitle close to home (this is set in our post-lockdown Covid era). ANYWAY, it's a good book! People are trying to self-actualize! There are comics!

Sorry, age gap romance where the FMC is relatable because she's messy and makes you full body cringe sometimes? Yes, don't mind if I do!

I ate this up. The parent/adult child relationship was one piece that deeply stood out to me, and I really did love Sam, even if I didn't always like her. Some reviewers are saying they didn't see the sparks between Sam and Nick, but I disagree. I think there was a lot of tension there from the very beginning, and in the context of him having a child to think of, some of the slower moments made sense to me. Genuinely enjoyed this one deeply and will be recommending!

Following the pandemic, Sam finds herself in a kind of failure to launch position. She has an exact idea of the path forward and it isn’t really working out (academia is notoooriously a cool and easy field to get into, especially in the arts.)

i have seen a few reviews state that they wanted more romance and like sure, i get it. But it isn’t Nick’s story, it’s Sam’s. The romance does take a backseat at some points but it has a function, and that’s for Sam to figure things out, in relation to both her career and her romantic life. I think that Sam will feel relatable to anyone who has ever felt a little lost. this is not a "light fluffy romance" romance is a whole spectrum people!!! , but neither was You, Again so i feel like this author has set her tone in novels pretty well.

While this is a “single dad romance”, Sam also has a complicated relationship with her Dad so there’s a lot of layers and discussions around parents, parenting, dating a parent, do i ever want to be one?? I also LOVED the incorporation of comics and comic drawing / writing into this book.

I just love the way that Goldbeck writes. It’s so relatable and real, and the way that she writes dialogue?? I’m obsessed. With two Pride&Prejudice references AND two old man yells at cloud meme references?? A woman after my own heart.

Thank you to Dial Press & Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

PS: i will post a review on my bookstagram @yeahimreading closer to pub date, probably first week of November :)

thoroughly enjoyed this single-dad romance and will be purchasing the physical copy when it comes out. thank you so much NetGalley and Dial Press for this ARC🫶🤌✨

Kate Goldbeck poured her heart into this one, you can tell. Not everyone will love the down on her luck, stuck in her own head heroine, but I found her to be realistic and refreshing. We deserve messy heroines making mistakes. The romance itself was warm, realistic, and fraught with issues many readers will relate to.

I wish I liked this more…. It had such a strong premise and zoomed out, I really did like it. The bones were strong. I just didn’t love when you zoom in. Nick really didn’t give me much other than being dependable and into Star Trek. Sam didn’t give me much other than being a burnt out 26 year old with, you guessed it, daddy issues. I liked the bits and pieces I got of her, but I felt like the pacing was way way off, and again, I didn’t see much in Nick that made me connect with him as a romantic interest!

Thank you netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book has official secured Kate Goldbecks place on my insta buy list. I loved both MCs so much and related to Sam in so many ways. Even though it was a single POV I still feel like I got the complete story. I loved the way that Sam thought everything like a comic book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing this ARC!
This was my first book by Kate Goldbeck and I will definitely be reading more. I could not put this book down. The problems Sam faces and her faults make this story feel grounded in reality. Nick is an adorable nerd and that is my favorite type of MMC. The romance is sweet and I loved that the conflict was realistic. The communication between the two main characters was *chef's kiss*.

Kate Goldbeck’s you, again was one of my favorite books the year I read it so I was so excited for her new book, but even though I wanted to love it I stopped at 25% because I just could not get into it at all. Sam was too stalled in her life and not in a cute quirky way. And Nick was fine but I just didn’t buy their flirting and the whole set up just didn’t work for me at all. Most of the characters felt like stereotypes of characters and not real people.