5! Kate Goldbeck writes some of the realist characters I have ever read. Sometimes when I read fiction, I feel like it’s easy to fall into the trap of viewing certain characters as perfect because we are not fully shown their flaws. Goldbeck writes characters who are going through real-life issues, and does not sugarcoat their feelings or situations. Reading can be a form of escapism, but sometimes it's comforting to read characters who might have similar issues. Reading through their journey can bring some clarity.

I saw a lot of myself in Sam, which I could appreciate. At the age of 26, she’s working a job she does not enjoy and lives with her mother. To her, it's just a bump in the road and something she is going to leave behind once she gets accepted to a PhD program. However, that is until she meets Nick, the new neighbor next door. This newfound connection not only has her questioning other relationships in her life, but also the way her life has been progressing.

I know seeing a single dad neighbor automatically makes a reader think of the single dad trope, and while it is that, Goldbeck takes a different approach to the trope. In other books, the FMC usually automatically takes on a stepmom role, and the child is usually excited for this. However, when it came to Sam and Nick’s daughters, this was not necessarily the case. We get to see conversations between Sam and Nick regarding this that are very real and necessary questions to ask. Sam expresses her nerves on whether it is something she wants and how she should approach it, which is only human. Nick was also very understanding of Sam and never patronized her. I appreciated that both characters were very realistic and honest with one another, which contributed to why their relationship progressed so quickly.

Overall, I took so much away from this book, but most importantly, I took away that not following a so-called perfect plan is okay. It is a difficult thing to process, and it is something that we see Sam’s character come to understand. I highly recommend this book, and everyone should check it out on release day!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Dial Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

you, again was one of my favorite romance reads in 2023 so i was so excited to be approved for this one. unlike goldbeck's debut, daddy issues just doesn't have enough tension for me. don't get me wrong, i loved reading about sam and her journey with being a creative, especially in how she frames her interactions through comic books which are easier to understand (on the surface) (this is coming from a life long comic lover). however, it just felt like sam is settling for nick, the single dad who doesn't have much going for him besides being dependable and understanding (as well as really into star trek). the discussion of being a single parent and being in an age gap relationship did the heavy lifting. however, i am so excited to read whatever goldbeck writes next. romance doesn't always need angst and the unconditional support was refreshing.

i don't think i've ever related more to an FMC more in my life than i did while reading this book! i loved this one! i loved sam! i loved nick! i loved kira! HOWEVER. all throughout the book i couldn't help but feel like something was missing or that i was reading two completely different books. it felt as if i was reading a litfic book about a young woman who's trying to sort out her life for a few chapters then it would switch to a romcom for a few more chapters, it was a bit too back and forth. in the end, this was an enjoyable read and i can appreciate seeing some "woman in her late 20s who's still living at home and has no clue wtf she's doing with her life so she just watches youtube videos all day" representation in a book where everything works out in the end!

Loved this one! I appreciate a FMC that is real and o loved her wit and sarcasm. The Ohio shoutouts were great! Love reading about my state

*3.5
Wow I never thought my extensive knowledge of Marvel lore would be useful when reading a romance book, but here we are! Plus the Pride and Prejudice (2005) references?? I was definitely the target audience for this one.

Regarding the writing, some things didn’t fully work for me. There were multiple scenes where things happened and I didn’t understand how we got there. Also, there were some character interactions that I feel like would’ve played out differently in real life, so that kind of threw me off a bit. But I did enjoy how real the characters felt. We got to see them deal with a variety of things — like navigating family dynamics, single parenting, job hunting, and more — that made them feel really grounded.

Unfortunately, I was left wanting a little more from the romance. A lot of what we did get was great, but other parts of it felt like they were rushed or kept at a surface level. However, I did appreciate how Sam and Nick constantly expressed themselves to each other and there was no unnecessary miscommunication!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

3.5 stars rounded up

Admittedly You, Again was going to be a tough act to follow. Kate Goldbeck's Nora Ephronish first book is quite literally my favorite romance book of all time. While Daddy Issues does have some notable moments, it alas was unable to replicate that lightning in a bottle feeling, bogged down by pop culture references and a shift in writing style that left the story feeling a little too "product of the current times" and a lot rushed.

For those considering reading this, it's worth mentioning that the romance is very much a secondary plotline throughout the story. I've seen some of the lower reviews perhaps unfairly deducting stars because their expectations for a hot, romance centric book were not met. For me personally, the central arc of a woman stuck in arrested development since the pandemic and struggling to pull herself out of limbo is where the book really shines. Sam is buried under a mountain of student debt, sleeping on a daybed in her mom's apartment while she applies to PhD programs by day and bartends at a tiki-bar by night. She's also in a toxic situationship with an aspiring lit bro and is hanging on to an impressive comic book collection in the hopes that her absentee father will re-enter stage right.

Instead, she meets Nick, a single dad pushing 40 who moves in next door with his daughter Kira. He's newishly separated, is a general manager at Chili's, and Sam immediately hones in on his large, strong, hands. This is not a storybook romance - both Sam and Nick are kind of a mess (jury's out on who is more chaotic as they both have their moments) and their path to a relationship feels authentic and true to life. Where the book lost me a little, is there's simply not enough of them together. A lot of time is spent by Sam grappling with the idea of taking on a stepmom/dad's girlfriend identity, so much so that key moments in her romance with Nick felt rushed and underexplored. I had no issue with the romance being second to Sam's journey out of her mom's apartment and into real life as a functional adult - but if felt like this arrested development arc in addition to the stepmom saga was too much for the story to effectively handle. The author's notes at the end of the book make it clear that aspects of both major storylines were borrowed from real life experiences, and I think both may have been better served by being developed across two separate books. In retrospect the stepmom/dad's girlfriend arc in particular read as though some cathartic demons were being exorcised behind the scenes that the reader wasn't really privy to. Fixating on that journey and saving some of the "what am I doing with my life?" angst for another book would have left the book feeling more focused. While I rooted for Sam and Nick, they felt kept at arm's length and I wish we'd gotten to know them better.

There's still some classic Kate Goldbeck banter, thought it felt a little more guided by the romance tropes that crowd out the genre these days. The intimate scenes in particular felt like a bit of a step down from You, Again. Ali Hazelwood fans - I think you may appreciate this change in direction more than I did, but stylistically these changes weren't really for me.

Long story long, despite my quibbles, I'll still be first in line to read whatever Goldbeck puts out next, and Daddy Issues is absolutely work picking up on November 18th!

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

While this is my first Kate Goldbeck Novel, I liked her writing and characters. I feel like both the MMC Nick and the FMC Sam are fleshed out and relatable to the audience, the romance is believable and I do like how the main characters communicate and listen to each other without a breakup scene. As someone who has graduated and feels stuck in what to do in one's life this book feels like a letter to all of us who dont have it 100% figured out and know that it'll be ok! 5/5
stars ! Thanks Netgalley, Kate Goldbeck and Dial Press Trade publishing for an EARC in exchange for a fair reveiw! :)

Everyone is a mess but they are working on it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There is so much good communication throughout. I love how genuine every character felt. Flaws and all.

At times the romance felt a bit rushed but we follow Sam’s journey of getting herself out of the rut she’s fallen in to over the past 5 years, so there’s a lot of ground to cover. I just loved how real and candid everything felt.

And I loved Nick. Sweet and sexy.

I enjoyed reading the author’s letter detailing her own experiences and inspiration for the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC. I sure do love Kate Goldbeck’s writing.

I genuinely loved this book so much!!! The writing was amazing so unique, the characters were perfect, I loved the comic book aspect of the story, it just felt so real it was refreshing to read a story like this, 100% recommend this to everyone!

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing, and Kate Goldbeck for the eARC!

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this. While on one hand, I had read Kate’s first novel and loved every single thing about it…. The other hand held a single father trope- which kids in books aren’t my cup of tea. I still wanted to give it a chance, though, because I love Kate’s writing and thought maybe the age gap trope would redeem things in my eyes. And it did! I wasn’t bothered at all by the presence of a kid and I think it’s because of how Kate wrote the entire scenario. It was refreshing and the perfect read for millennials.

I very much enjoyed the overall plot and love story in this. I did find some of the characters extremely irritating. I wanted Sam and Cara's relationship to be a little bit more effortlessly normal because the beginning of the book felt like it was setting it up for them to be easy BFFs.. I also felt like Sam was very infuriating in some of her conversations and was wishy-washy with the character of Hal. I did absolutely love the character of Nick. He seemed so lovable and so perfect for Sam. I felt like maybe they could have had some ending with Sam's dad although it probably is realistic that she wouldn't. Overall, a 4 1/2 in my eyes.

Kate Goldbeck has such a unique way of writing! Her characters feel like real people falling into real love.

I devoured Daddy Issues in a day—Kate Goldbeck’s sophomore novel delivers a fun, spicy, emotionally layered romance with well-developed, relatable characters. Sam and Nick’s dynamic is both tender and electric, and the writing shines with humor and heart. I was fully invested in their story, especially the honest exploration of family baggage and growing up in your late twenties. I appreciated Nick's maturity a lot. That said, I really wish there had been an epilogue—the abrupt ending left me wanting more.

there were a few distracting typos and some jarring formatting issues (repeating dialogue?) that will need to be fixed before print.

I absolutely loved this book. I read it in a day! It was so great just like You Again. I loved how loving and understanding and normal Nick was as a character.

i'll start with a disclaimer: i'm a renowned hater of motherhood books. i won't get into it. but i think it's safe to say my aversion extends to books with children in general, so the fact that i still mostly enjoyed this book says a lot.

sam is a directionless 20-something whose dream job falls apart during the pandemic, sending her back home to live with her mom. her depression is palpable but never melodramatic, and i really appreciated how real her emotional stasis felt. i also appreciated that nick, the love interest, isn't a billionaire or a sexy brooding recluse. he's a manager at chili's. he hates his job. he's a single dad with a star trek obsession. i loved that.

but this book isn't without friction. sam's relationship with her dad is a major thread, tied to a shared love of comic books, but it's clear he doesn't actually see her. that hunger for connection to an absent parent felt deeply relatable. on the flip side, her mom is present but weirdly manipulative, dismissive, and never held accountable. the storyline about her marrying a nonbinary partner is great on paper but underdeveloped, and her treatment of sam is framed as helpful when it's honestly just controlling.

there are a few questionable moments with the daughter, kira that, in a more realistic book, would've had major fallout. sam yells at kira for accidentally ruining one of her comic books. this is a full-volume, unfiltered adult outburst at a minor, in front of her father. and yes, nick says "don’t yell at my kid," but that's it. it's brushed aside so quickly it's almost surreal. like, we're just going to pretend that didn't happen? that sam didn't completely lose it on a nine-year-old? and then there's the moment where sam drunkenly dms kira on discord and rants about how men suck, another action that would realistically have huge consequences, especially for someone trying to form a relationship with that child's father. it's never mentioned again. not by kira, not by nick. it disappears into the void. i'm not saying i needed a long redemption arc, but the silence around both events felt off. the book otherwise aims for emotional realism, so these moments felt like a break in tone, like they should've been louder, messier, more complicated.

i did love sam's hero moment with kira near the end. i also liked that she never forces herself into a step-parent role she doesn't want. she doesn't pretend to be maternal, and no one makes her feel guilty for that. she fits herself into the 'cool friend' role instead, and that felt like a small but important victory for agency.

the writing was excellent, funny, sharp, and compulsively readable. i usually struggle with focus and tend to read audiobooks instead, but i devoured this. this was still a success for me, despite its issues. the portrayal of someone feeling directionless in a post-pandemic world felt incredibly accurate. and sam's obsession over the comics, her desire to hold onto the one thread she shared with her dad, really hit. even though i didn't like her mom’s actions - and honestly think her mom is just as bad as her dad in a quieter, more insidious way - i appreciated that neither parent was framed as perfect or even all that redemptive. i liked that nick admits he hasn't always been a great dad either. he owns up to how easy it is to default to traditional gender roles, how hard parenting really is.

pretty much all of my issues with this book might’ve been resolved with 100–150 more pages expanding the secondary characters. the bones were there. i just wanted more time in the mess.

This book dragged me out of my slump, and I inhaled it all in one sitting. Daddy Issues follows Sam, a twenty-six-year-old working a dead-end job as a bartender for the Lōkahi Lounge who has been staying at her mother’s apartment for the past five years after graduating from college, and Nick, a single father and manager at Chili’s, who moves next door to Sam’s mother’s apartment. Sam lives a stagnant life while dealing with the uncertainties of her professional and personal life. As she haphazardly navigates through the unpredictabilities of her life’s journey, she finds something stable and solid within Nick, who mirrors the same sentiment towards Sam.

Kate Goldbeck crafted a stunning yet gritty story that was vulnerable, raw, and realistic, though exceptionally hopeful and considerate. Sam is relatable. She is written realistically and thoughtfully. Her messy, monotonous, and aimless life is something a majority of undergraduates would be able to relate to after graduating from college. On the other hand, Nick is steady and secure; however, he also feels lost and unfulfilled despite having a stable career and a daughter he loves. Both Nick and Sam complete the parts of each other that they find inadequate within themselves, especially regarding their age group. Their acceptance of each other and the way they allowed themselves to be vulnerable with each other, and the way they genuinely saw the best of each other, all while being gentle yet firm when needed to, was tenderly written and emotional.

Daddy Issues is for people who are lost in life and don’t know where to turn to. It’s for the people who think love isn’t for them after being let down and left behind by the ones who were supposed to matter the most to them. Additionally, it’s far more than just a love story. It’s about rekindling your passion, rediscovering yourself, and taking on the courage to challenge yourself in all aspects of life. I loved You, Again by Kate Goldbeck, but Daddy Issues far exceeds my feelings for her debut novel. This book stayed with me even long after I finished it, and it’s something I’ll hold, keep, and reside within me for a long time. And whenever I’m feeling lost or dejected, I’ll take this special magnificence of a book out, and I’ll read it all over again, knowing the comfort it’ll bring me. I absolutely adore this book with everything in me, and it has exceedingly become one of my top ten best reads of 2025. As of yet, this is fundamentally Goldbeck at her best, and I cannot wait to read more of her writings in the future.

Thank you so much to Dial Press Trade and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

I loved Kate Goldbeck’s “You, Again” and I admit I started this book with high expectations. I felt the ending was a bit abrupt, but on second thought, this is a rom com, obviously it’s not going to show the behind the curtains, the hard parts, the messiness of co-parenting.

I also found it an interesting choice to never have Sam’s father show up, he’s just mentioned. I did kind of hope for some major confrontation where he gets how shitty of a person he was, but realistically, who has the time or energy for something like that?

Personally, I like “You, Again” better but I still recommend “Daddy Issues”. The relationship between Nick and Sam is sweet and genuine and omg the competence porn.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

3.5/5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed the comic book references and use in Sam's narration. It gave us a glimpse into one of the deeper parts of her character and made for a unique and interesting storytelling tool. Sam is flawed and a victim of having her life upended by something completely out of her control which I think is relatable for a lot of people.

However, the romance never quite clicked for me. The age gap was done well and the communication was clear and mature between our two main characters, but I never fully believed they were in love.

Overall, this is a solid and quick read with some really fun elements.

3.75 stars.
As a Midwest girly, I really appreciated that this was set in Columbus, it gave the story a grounded, relatable vibe that I don’t often see in romance. I enjoyed the premise and thought Sam’s character was well done in her uncertainty and growth. The relationship with Nick and his daughter was sweet, and the parenting and step-parenting themes was cool to see.

I will say I had to adjust to the post-COVID setting, it hit a little close to home at times LOL and felt more real-life than I usually look for in a romance. The pacing also dragged in places, and while the chemistry was cute, it didn’t always feel fully developed for me.

Still, this is a great read for those who like second chances, single dad storylines, and characters figuring it out in their mid to late 20s. A solid read!!
Thanks to Dial Press and NetGalley for this eARC!

Daddy Issues is not the book you think it is, and that’s what makes it so freaking good. Sure, there’s steamy truck moments and making out in the Chili’s kitchen (iconic), but it also hits way deeper than you'd expect. Sam is stuck in her hometown, in a toxic situationship, in her own head and Nick, the hot single dad next door who reverses like a pro with one hand on the wheel (and owns actual DVDs??), somehow ends up being exactly what she didn’t know she needed. This book had me laughing, blushing, and trying not to cry in public. It’s a breath of fresh air in the congested romance genre we’ve got going on, and it’s just so Kate Goldbeck! It’s sharp, heartfelt, and unexpectedly tender. Also, shoutout to Perry, my favorite little scene-stealer. If you’re expecting fluffy, think again: this one’s got depth, sass, and Cajun pasta ;)