There’s something incredibly comforting about the tone of this book. It doesn’t pretend that love solves everything, but it does show how it can anchor you, even when the rest of your life is a mess. I loved every quiet, hopeful, yearning second of it.

*arc review*

This is definitely not my usual read but it was fun! The story did take me awhile to actually get into and I almost felt like I was watching a tv show and not so much reading so that was a different feeling but I enjoyed the FMC and MC although I do wish we could’ve got to see more of Kira. Some characters I felt were just kind of useless and brought no proper plot to the story but overall it wasn’t a bad read, I had fun.

I couldn't get into this story. I felt like I was reading a collection of chaotic diary entries. Maybe I'm too old for this young woman's story.

I genuinely liked Goldbeck’s debut novel but I had a difficult time adjusting to the tone/voice of the FMC. She was distracting in a way that wasn’t productive and I just couldn’t find it within myself to care about the couple. This was disappointing.

The cover is great & I really wanted to like this, but unfortunately I found it be pretty dull. The quirkiness of the characters felt kinda forced. I’m not sure if I just wasn’t in the mood for this or what.

“Daddy Issues” by Kate Goldbeck is not just a single-dad/age-gap romance. This story explores the trauma left behind from failed parent-child relationships even those who stuck around and who it affects those children as adults. Sam is a 27 year old leaving her my mom’s office for that last 5 years when the pandemic shut down her art history internship. Sam is the stuck trying to achieve her goal of graduate school and has a hard time thinking of how else she can achieve her career goals. When a new neighbor, Nick, moves in with his daughter sparks fly and her “daddy issues” come to the fore as she witnesses both Nick’s love for his daughter and his love for her.


I both loved and did not love this book. I felt the chemistry between the main characters, but I think a lot of the relationships weren’t well developed. I am having a hard time putting a finger on what exactly annoyed me, but while I read I was invested and then I found it hard to get back into the story.

I think many readers will enjoy this story. It is definitely more a character study with a side of romance than a romance on its own. Thank you, NetGalley for this eARC!

I was very excited to get a copy of this as I loved Kate Goldbeck's debut novel, and I was excited to see more from her! Full honestly, I would not have picked up a book with this premise if it hadn't been from an author I knew I liked. Single father romances with a side of messy situationship would not appeal to me generally, but Kate wrote this beautifully. The characters felt so real - like they could walk off the page. As someone who had a life altering event that drove me back to living with my parents, Goldbeck portrayed those feelings beautifully. And she did an excellent job of really showing the true difficulties and potential pitfalls of a woman being with a man who already has a child. Most stories I've read like this portray the children as little darlings who create this deep and meaningful relationship with the new girlfriend quickly, and Goldbeck didn't fall into that trap. She did an excellent job showing how children can be quirky and wonderful and also how they can get on your last nerve. I enjoyed the comic book element woven into it as well.

SPOILERS AHEAD! READERS BEWARE!

I appreciate that all of Sam's dreams didn't suddenly come true at the end of the book (because that's not real life), but that she did start moving forward and figuring herself out! Also, the way that Sam cut off her situationship was deeply, deeply satisfying to read about. This book also made me think. I was asking the people in my life questions that the book made me consider like "Do you like other children better when you have your own?", which led to some very thoughtful conversations. There are only a couple of things I would really change. One is the last meeting Sam had with Hal. It felt unnecessary since she'd closed that chapter so well already - it felt unnecessary and regressive for her to meet up with him. The other is, I don't know that Nick would have forgiven Sam so quickly for yelling at his kid based on the father he's been shown to be. Yes Kira messed up and Nick should have held her more responsible, but it didn't work for me that Sam took it so far and Nick was like "Hey, it's not a huge deal." There were just a few moments like that and sometimes the absolute messiness of Sam got to me a little bit, but overall this was an excellent read that I loved.

Thank you to Random House, Dial Press Trade, and Netgalley for this e-arc!

Sam had big PHD plans for her life until the pandemic hit which catapults her into slogging through life working at a bar instead of towards her artistic academic dreams. Enter in her new single father neighbor who is completely steady and also many years older. Romance unfolds!!!


This rom is for people who love:
-Single dad trope
-Comic books and art
-Quirky 9 year old daughters
-Girlie trying to figure out her life

I thought aspects of Daddy Issues was fun and tender and I loved how the MMC is a straight shot with our girlie (she deserves one person to be forward with her!!!!). Lots of familial navigating in this one! I was not in love with so many comic book and comic references and I thought the beginning was overboard on the down on her luck vibe. Very doom and gloom and stuck (and annoying).

Not my fav single dad book (hello Cade Eaton exists), but it wasn’t bad either.

This book was full of warm fuzzies, healing your inner child, and growing pains. I loved Kate's previous book, so I was excited to dive into this one. The interactions were so lovely with Kira and I was just rooting for these imperfect characters to live HEA.

An untraditional romance between a single dad, a younger woman and what it means to move on with your life when you’ve idled for too long. Nick, his daughter Kira and Sam navigate the untraditional route to becoming a family. Down to earth story telling with a spicy twist between Nick and Sam. Celebrates nerd culture.

There were actually quite a few aspects of this book I liked but unfortunately I realized pretty early that I just did not care that much and then I spent much of the rest of the book oscillating between being bored and actively hating it.

Sam is a 20 something living in her mother's office, on a tiny futon. Where she's reminded every day as her alarm goes off that her life and dreams ended when the pandemic ended her dreams of continuing her PHD. And since then, she's done the same thing every day. Bartend at a crappy Tiki Bar, masturbate at exactly 9:15 am when her mother leaves the apartment, and go to pool of her mother's elderly infused complex to watch YouTube on her phone. Until one day she meets Nick, a single dad who's moved in right next door.

Sam deals with her baggage of failed dreams, her love for comics that only came from trying to be important in her own fathers life, and seeing how the people around her are moving on while she seems to be stuck in one spot.

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I can't decide if I liked this because it reminded me of myself and my own "daddy issues", being a 20 something during the pandemic, or Sam's general feeling about children mirroring my own. Or if I didn't like it for those exact reasons...call it "Triggering"...

I also can't get past Nick being the general manager of Chili's.....I'm sorry it's just not hot to me. And his daughter was annoying as hell, yet he excused her attitude at every turn. It seemed Nick and his daughter's relationship really only pointed out how bad of a Father Sam had. All in all, Sam needed to go back to Therapy to deal with her daddy and mommy issues. In my opinion her mother is just as much of a "villian" as her dad. The romance aspect felt bland and lack luster. That car scene??? First she wants to give him a B. Job and then she's uncomfortable?? Make up your mind!

I did read this very quickly though. I think I was holding out hope that maybe I would like the ending, but it never really happened.

I read this one and liked liked it. It was a romantic age gap that I felt reading. The emotions were touching to me.

Giving this author a second chance since I wasn't really a fan of 'You, Again' and I'm starting to think this style of writing is just not for me. I felt like this book lacked depth and the characters were dry, sarcastic and didn't make me feel anything emotional. The storyline has great potential as a woman navigates life after putting hers on pause during the pandemic and falling for a much older man, despite her mother being unsupportive.
There were a lot of parts in this book that I didn't feel were realistic, like conversations between adults and a child. Overall I wouldn't recommend this book.

Not for me! Less of a fun, witty rom-com and more of a somber romance focused on a woman in her twenties reaaally trying to figure her shit out. I wouldn't handsell this to everyone who loved You, Again -- the tone feels completely different. You have to really be interested in an age gap relationship and the step-child equation in its success.

After loving You, Again, I had high hopes for Daddy Issues, and Kate Goldbeck absolutely delivered. There is something about the way she writes that just clicks for me. Her characters are complicated, messy, and often make choices that frustrate people, but that is exactly why I find them so believable. Real people are not always likable, and Goldbeck leans into that in a way I really respect.

In Daddy Issues, I was fully drawn into Sam’s world from the start. Her struggle to move forward after being emotionally stalled by the pandemic felt incredibly relatable. Her relationship with Nick, a single dad trying to figure out how to open his heart again, was tender and layered in the best way. Their dynamic felt refreshingly adult without losing that spark of charm and chemistry.

Goldbeck continues to prove that she understands character development better than most. These people felt like they could walk off the page. I laughed, I winced, and I rooted for them all the way through. I know some readers may not love her brand of realism, but for me, it is what makes her stories shine.

I am already looking forward to whatever she writes next. This one is a standout.

The way a few tweaks and this would've been a five starrer. So much potential!

𝘿𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙮 𝙄𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚𝙨 follows Sam who's not moved out of her mother's spare room I five years or started living her life fully.
She's been existing in monotony for the past half decade until a very stable single dad moves in next door with her sweet but very nine year old daughter and shakes up both her heart and the way she concieves her precarious relationship with her own dad.

All that I loved:
The open discussion of feelings!!! He likes her and she likes him back! Truly what is the need to hide what's in our heart? The contrast of experience between Nick and Sam both in bed and life, made for a balanced dynamic which is usually missing from most stories I've read recently. I think the age gap plus the dad experience added up to it.

What I think the story missed:
Very un-confrontational. It definitely needed some heavier discussions on the dad front. Maybe a call or something!
For how much I liked the romance, I didn't like the way it was very quickly wrapped up, needed a little more stretch and figuring things out. And it was certainly an insta love (for any, who don't like that trope).

~

3.78 / 5 ★

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unfortunately, this one was not for me. I really loved Kate's book, "You, Again" and was so invested in their characters but for some reason I could not connect with Sam and Nick,

DNF. I really wanted to like this book! I just couldn't get past the personality of the main character or Kira, the daughter. Also, it didn't seem like the main characters would be interested in each other if this was real life. This book felt forced to me with too many issues that I just couldn't get past.

I liked this book. I liked Sam’s journey. Nick—I loved him. I love how he was direct sharing his feelings with Sam. Kira drove me a bit crazy at times (as 10 year-olds sometimes do), but then the dialogue and relationship between Sam and her was pretty cute. I will say, as a parent, I got annoyed a few times with how Nick responded to his daughter’s behavior. I liked the acknowledgment of step parent struggles and people starting relationships with single parents.

I am not a comic book reader, so it took me a minute to understand the comic book panel format. I did love the “in-between the panels” idea and how the author juxtaposed that with real life moments.

The end seemed a bit rushed and I would have loved an epilogue!!

3.5 stars for me…extra .5 for the cover!