I truly love Kate Goldbeck's writing. She creates such fleshed out characters that feel a little too relatable at times. Sam's abandonment issues and, well, daddy issues, influence nearly all her decisions and has shaped her into the person she is. She has a hard time creating meaningful relationships, especially romantic ones, and it's difficult for her to accept Nick's interest in her at face value.

I really enjoyed Nick and Sam's relationship with each other. There is a lot of self exploration that comes of it and they both end up becoming better versions of themselves because of their romance. Nick struggles a lot with his identity as a parent and being a good enough father. He worries that he is not enough and that he will fail his daughter. Sam helps him to see that he is more than enough in that department which I liked since she also discovered that she deserved more from her father after seeing how much Nick cares for Kira.

I do wish that there were more fluffy romantic scenes between Nick and Sam. They had a few soft moments but I would have loved to see more of that.

Overall, I liked this book a lot and will be recommending it to my followers!

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Kate Goldbeck's You, Again is one of my favorite books of all time. The way she writes characters who are deeply human and learning how to be themselves is honestly awe-inspiring, and it is no different here in Daddy Issues. The empathy Goldbeck has for her characters is palpable, but she never uses that as an excuse to leave them where they are, and the ways Sam grows and reflects shows that clearly. I absolutely loved reading the conversations between Sam and Nick - There may not be anything hotter than someone who is straightforward and earnest about being in love. 4.25/5, this was great!

This was cute! Good chemistry and the romance didn’t feel too rushed, but wasn’t drawn out unnecessarily. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

This novel is one of best age gap romances I have ever read! What initially caught my attention was the cover and the premise of the novel. It felt like I was reading about real life, not a fictional book. It was extremely realistic, chaotic at times and entertaining! It is emotional, funny, reflective, hopeful and lighthearted. I found that this novel had lovable characters in it and they were all very well developed. It is character driven and the flaws of the characters are the main focus.

I love how it put a twist on the single Dad trope in the story. I really enjoyed the female main character! She is strong and smart in this story! The only thing is I do feel like the story was a bit rushed. All in all, I had a lot of fun reading this story! Love really does show up when you least expect it!

“Daddy Issues” is a novel that centers around a woman named Sam, who is 26 years old. She started facing money issues and ends up living in the condo of her Mom’s house. When a new neighbor comes into town, whose name is Nick, Sam notices he’s older than she is and also a daddy! He appears to have it all together! Nick is pushing forty years old, so he’s not looking to settle down. His top priority is his child. As this story unravels, these two end up meeting one another and the heat between them turns up! Overall, I rate this book a 3.75 (rounded to a 4) out of 5 stars!

I think fans of authors Emily Henry and Ali Hazelwood, who love reading a great age gap romance, would really enjoy reading this book. Content warnings include sexual content.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Kate Goldbeck and Random House | Dial Press Trade Paperback for this electronic ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This book is expected to be published on November 18, 2025!

This was such a cute read, I love a single dad trope and this was exactly what I needed.

Sam’s life is off track, thanks to the pandemic. She’s living with her mom again and bartending, she feels like she’s going nowhere. That’s until Nick moves in next door, the single and very reliable dad. This makes her face everything, her daddy issues and figuring out what she wants in life. Her character growth was phenomenal, I really recommend this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this!

Absolutely love this book! If you like single dad and age gap romances you’ll definitely want to pick this up. The connection between the two main characters is so well written. Communication is also on point for it being an age gap romance. The characters are very relatable to real life which I feel you don’t find often in romance. The personal growth of the female main character Sam stuck with me throughout my reading. I enjoyed that the author went into depth of family dynamics besides just her dad.

I loved this little second chance romance and romcom vibes. This spoke to my cold dead millennial heart in the best way.

Huge thank you to NetGalley, Kate Goldbeck, and the publisher for the chance to read this ARC!

I was super excited to receive this ARC and I was initially intrigued by the premise and the incorporation of comic tropes and stylized writing in the novel; however, I ended up DNF'ing this book at the 44% mark. I found the pacing to be very slow and I was frustrated with Sam's stagnation. While I knew of the incorporation of the comic references, I didn't know how they would be used, and I found them to be really jarring.

The highlight of the portion of the novel that I read was definitely Kira! I thought that she was so precocious and that she brought a level of joy and levity to the novel.

I loved this one! Single dad age gap romance is one of my favorite tropes and this book does it so well! I really loved the writing style and thought it was poignant sweet

3.75💫

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.

This book was not what I thought it would be but I am not mad at it. The pacing was a bit weird to me but overall I enjoyed it. I teared up several times. I feel like this book will resonate with certain people for certain reasons. For me it came at an alarmingly perfect time in my life. I could relate to Sam so much. Being a woman in her twenties, living at home still, feeling like her life is going nowhere. This book gave me hope and as someone who is terrified of change it was a small push for me to want to try new things.

I also loved the writing style. It was easy to read a bunch of this book in one sitting.

Points taken off for the odd pacing (mostly the way the relationship developed between Sam and the love interest, it felt rushed) as well as the multiple references to Starbucks and Target.

Oh snap! Kate did it again, put all the inside thoughts, quirks, and banter into a book with real experiences and feelings (expressed and guarded). This book is so well-done! Thank you for letting me read and review it early. I loved it. A 5star read for the year. This was such a genuine approach to the lived experience of many struggling to find their place, right their thoughts, and find connection again. Hope.

Daddy Issues✨

This book was so cute, and I am truly grateful to receive this arc! I went into this book thinking one thing and came out with something totally different.

Sam is a 27 year old just trying to make it after the Covid shut down. Living with her mom, dealing with a situationship and on top of that she is working at a job she didn’t picture herself in at this point in her life. Reading how she navigated through this time of her life was kind of a breath of fresh air. It felt so realistic. I truly can see this happening in IRL.

Now, this is a romance and there is an age gap, single dad trope but I truly felt like this book wasn’t about their relationship. To me it was watching the journey of a young woman find self love and get out of a depressing time. Definitely recommend.

Publishing date: 11/18/2025

Kate Goldbeck does it again with this incredibly witty and entertaining age-gap, single dad rom com. Sam is having a quarter life crisis. Stuck in her mom’s condo since the pandemic, she’s working a dead end job, has crushing student loan debt, and is in a friends with benefits situation she wishes would become more but she knows it never will.

Enter Nick, the single dad who moves in next door. He’s what she didn’t know she needed, a steady, calm, cool, collected, reliable guy with a slight obsession for Star Trek and a mini van. Their connection doesn’t feel instant, but more organic, the way you might see a romance start in real life rather than a romance novel.

I was between a 4 and a 5 star on this book initially but I’m going with 5 because the more than I think about this book, the more that I love it. This book had some real, raw, emotional, messy moments and had real growth for the characters. I truly cannot wait to read whatever Kate Goldbeck writes next!

Thanks NetGalley, the author, the publisher, etc for the advance e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

Kate Goldbeck’s writing is one of the freshest in contemporary romance. She takes these big messy feelings we have about things like accomplishment and perfectionism and wanderlust and depression and throws them into these equally messy and complicated characters. She lets us watch them grow and process and ultimately find their person.

Daddy Issues was watching a depressed, people pleasing, perfectionist cope with her actual daddy issues through art and finding a single dad to blow in the parking lot of Chili’s. This had me laughing and wanting to cry and wishing my husband managed a Chili’s.

I LOVED this.

Some romances sweep you off your feet into another world. Billionaires buying their girlfriends an entire private island, fated mates, both characters ending the book in love with adorable, rare, quirky dream jobs. This was not that type of romance. This book was a startlingly realistic story. Set in middle America, neither person ends the book with their dream job, but Nick has a job that puts food on his kid’s table. Neither character has all their shit figured out by the end. Sam and Kira don’t magically become BFFs for life, just because she’s dating his dad. But Sam and Nick fall in love. They find someone who makes them feel seen and heard and safe. They start traditions as a new little unit. If I went to the Chili’s in Columbus, Ohio I’d expect to see Josh there, that’s how realistic this love story felt.

Kate Goldbeck… you have done it again.

Such an amazing follow up to her very memorable debut! I enjoyed this thoroughly.

My favourite thing about her writing, which I fell in love with when I read You, Again, was that it felt like a real, grounded romance. While I enjoy my usual (and very unrealistic) romances, Kate Goldbeck is able to write characters and stories that feel realistic to me. The characters aren’t flawed in ways that still makes their lives feel so unbelievably unattainable and perfect to the very average reader (me).

I enjoyed reading about Sam’s very relatable struggle of being the lost twenty-something, struggling to catch up to everyone around her and unable to grasp the reality of a miserable capitalist hell hole she’d have to give up her dreams for.

Ending this review the same way I ended my last Kate Goldbeck review with: I loved and connected with this book in a way that I’m not able to with many romances and cannot wait for whatever she’s blessed us with next.

Turns out, resolving your trauma is way more fun when it involves a hot single dad who lives next door.

I ate up every word of this book!! As someone in their early 20s who graduated during a pandemic and have daddy issues this book was *chefs kiss*. I never thought I’d find a Chili’s worker hot, but here we are.

I love messy, real protagonists, and Sam is exactly that. I really enjoyed how this leaned into Sam's inner life instead of just fully absorbing readers in the romance. I laughed, cried, and related to Sam throughout this perfectly paced book.

As someone in the throes of applying for grad school (for the first time), I felt a certain kinship to Sam in her struggle to "launch" from her mother's apartment (as someone who currently lives with their parents).

The romance was genuine and Goldbeck delivers another vulnerable narrative that tugs on readers' heartstrings, while also emphasizing how life doesn't have a set plan.

4.5/5 ⭐️

Single dad, and age gap…two of my FAVORITE things. And this one was done so unbelievably well. And the slow burn was everything I needed it to be. It was so stinking good and I cannot wait to tell everyone to read it and add it to their TBR’s

A age gap / single dad romance done the RIGHT WAY! I couldn't put this down! Add to your TBR immediately!