A Father for Daisy

I received and copy of this story from NetGalley for an honest review.

I give this story 3 1/2 stars

I found this story to be interesting and I enjoyed the writing but story lacked depth for me, and it's too bad because I think if it had more depth I would have given it more stars. The story is kind of all over the place, you start of with Daisy talking to her mom about her dad, a man her mom doesn't remember who it is because she had gotten drunk one time at her senior prom. You go on to find out that the punch was spiked, she ends up pregnant and her mother kicks her out. She now is coming back because her mother is dying, so far I'm good with the story but this is where it all starts to break down for me, it actually get quite convoluted and all over the place, yet funnily enough I finished story but it could have been so much more. Do I sound confused probably because I was not because the story doesn't come to a happy ending because it does, just because I don't know how to describe my experience.

This is my first read by the author and I really enjoyed it. The big mystery in the book is who is 12 year old Daisy's father and we don't get the answer until the very end. I wish it had come out sooner and we got to see them together more but I did enjoy how we have to try and figure out who it is.

Gillian at 18 was thrown out of her mothers house when she was found pregnant. She ran off to NY and raised her daughter Daisy and had a good life. Now 13 years later she gets a call that her mother is at deaths door and so they come home.

Her mother is horrible even as she lies dying but Gillian finds her best friend, former high school crush, the class bully and her girl friends who she gets to know again. I really enjoyed her journey and along the way she gets a few surprises.

Aside from mother, everyone else were wonderful and I really enjoyed the story. This book has some really big spoilers so I am not spoiling it. I wish we could have seen more of Daisy. For a lot of the book Daisy is off by herself as Gillian goes around town. But aside from that it was a very good story. Very clean with only one sex scene and no bad words.

Gillian returns to her hometown when her mother is dying. What Gillian is not looking forward to is having to answer her daughter's question about who her father is because Gillian doesn't know. The town's doctor and Gillian's old best friend Andrew is looking forward to Gillian's return as he has harbored feelings for her since they were young. Gillian soon discovers that she has always loved Andrew. While at home, Gillian gets all of her questions answered.

This was a good read. I loved the connection between Gillian and Andrew. He was a true friend to her. Although the ending was predictable I liked how things played out.

an ok read

I received an ARC from NetGallery in exchange for an honest opinion. I've given this 3 stars because the elements were there for a good story but the way they were put together caused me problems. I had trouble with the wishy washy actions of 4 of the characters. After Gillian returned from NYC to her dying moms bedside, we meet Andrew, Luke & Candice. We learn about Gillian's teenage crush on Luke & how she threw herself at him all the time even though he wasn't interested. My problem with the plot was we bounced around all over the place. Gillian ended up being portrayed as a totally self absorbed teenager who was sheltered & innocent until the senior prom. Rachel's mom thought Luke got her pregnant & threw her out of the house. The rest of the plot is circling around the secrets of the town & who Daisy's father is since Gillian was drunk & doesn't remember anything.

If the characters are developed more & more background is provided to explain the friends actions, I really think this could be a good book. The premise is solid & some twists keep you interested, just not so many twists you get lost in them. I gave it three stars for a good story & some entertainment value but only average. I don't think I'd read it again but would still try the next book published by her to see if she has grown in her writing. She has good imagination & can set a scene well.

I was hooked on this book from the first chapter. There were so many twists and turns. I didn't even see most of them coming. I definitely didn't have Daisy's dad figured out until the end. And the minister in the story, yeah I definitely did not see that one coming. So many mysteries. This book tugged at just about every emotion possible. Jennifer Wenn did an amazing job with each and every character in this book. I think Andrew was my favorite by far! He is what every woman hopes to find. I am excited to read more from Jennifer!

This review will be posted to my blog, FB blog, amazon, and goodreads starting 6/17/16.
Blog - https://hockeygirlsbookreviews.wordpress.com/2016/06/17/a-father-for-daisy-a-barnesville-novel-by-jennifer-wenn/

The Wild Rose Press and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of A Father for Daisy, in exchange for an honest review.

Gillian Crane has raised her 12 year old daughter Daisy on her own thus far. When Daisy's birthday wish is to know who her father is, Gillian, in a moment of weakness, tells her daughter the truth. Little does Gillian know that she and Daisy would end up where it all began. With the support of her childhood best friend Andrew, will Gillian be able to make peace with her past before it is too late?

To be honest, I am not completely sure how I feel about A Father for Daisy. Considering the facts of Gillian's past, which led her mother to turn her out, the author decided to take a light hearted approach to a serious subject. The bitterness and animosity on behalf of Gillian's mother was over the top, especially in light of the fact that she was harboring serious secrets. Although the author explained how the main characters relate to one another in the past, I did not feel their connection. A Father for Daisy was a fast paced novel and I would recommend it as a beach read for those who like romance.

The author has written a story of a young girl who on the cusp of adulthood has a crush on the local bad boy and which keeps her blinded to the real love her best friend, Andy, has for her. When rejection leads her to drink heavily the consequences are more than she could have imagined. The author brings her full circle when she brings her home to face the very life she was forced to leave. With surprising secrets and a bit of humor over who exactly is Andy’s “wife” is, leaves our character completely overwhelmed and shell shocked. We do get a happy ending and answers to many questions, except for one. Who is Luke’s Mother? This is a great read that takes us down a path of pain but brings us back to love and new beginnings.

hooked from the start couldnt put it down a super read

Although it took me a bit to get the characters straight, once I did I really enjoyed this story. It's funny how the past has a way of changing our POV as we become adults. Of course as a teenager we all knew differently, but the story here was touched all along by the past, and the ones who viewed it through their own lens. Great story, and I liked the twist with Luke's story. Makes me curious to see if he will have his story next with his waitress. A touching and sweet story of love and forgiveness that makes a wonderful summer read. Highly recommend.

High School is always a difficult time in all teenagers lives. I don’t care if you come from the finest of families or the wrong side of the tracks. You have so many hormones taking over your body at once of course no one’s love life or lack of one is more important than yours.
Which was exactly true for Gillian Crane a senior in high school and madly in love with Luke Walker. Of course Luke was not a boy that was approved of by what Gilly called the “Barnesville Hyenas.” The Ladies of the Church who like to belittle you. So when she was asked to the senior prom by her best friend ever Andrew Marshall she thought perfect.
You see she used countless hours with Andrew telling her woes him and his mother Alma. You see Rachel her mother was not a loving mother at all. Very bitter really. Along with the complaining the talked about how in love she was with Luke. The thing was the whole time Andy had a secret crush on her. So once they got to the prom they parted because she was all caught up in professing her love to Luke and that made Andy mad. Not knowing any better Gilly drank the punch and it was spiked so she got really smashed. All she remembers is the next morning is waking up really sore knowing she had lost her virginity. Yet, she didn’t feel violated. She assumed it was Luke. She is sent away because she finds out a few weeks later that she is indeed pregnant. And that she is unmarried so that is a reflection on her mother and she can’t have that now can she? So her mother gives her all the money she has on hand in the house and puts her on a bus and sends her away telling her never to come back.
Fast forward thirteen years. The same extremely cruel mother that sent her away at eighteen pregnant and alone was dying from heart failure. Which I would have thought was hard to do when you didn’t have one but anyway. She packed up her beautiful daughter and left for the home she swore she would never go back to again. The nurse had called and said she had wanted her daughter there when she got there she said she didn’t say such a thing. She says mean and awful things to her all over again. It turns out her doctor is none other than Andrew Marshall.
The catch up and he has her go to lunch with him to see the gang letting her know that Luke is back in town now too. She doesn’t want to go but he talks her into it in an almost morbid way of hurting himself. When sparks start to fly so does the action in the story.

I totally enjoyed the story as well as the characters. They are well developed and full of life and a lot of humor. I love family drama and this didn’t disappoint at all. Her mother was a real winner and yet you can’t help in a way feel sad for her that she allowed the ways of others to dictate her lost time and the love of her one and only daughter. I give this 5++++ stars. Provided by netgalley.com. Follow us at: www.1rad-readerreviews.com.

Sweet read.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book but I was pleasantly surprised! I really enjoyed the pieces of the past coming together and finding out the story of who Daisy's father was. Her mother's heartlessness was heartbreaking but I was glad to read her finding some peace in the situation by learning more about her mother's history as well.

This book is more like finding a father for Daisy.

Gillian is back in Barnesville with her daughter after leaving right after her high school. She is back to spend some time with wretch mother who never shown any affection and threw Gillian right after finding out she was pregnant. What a mother. Gillian is not happy to be back in town where she doesn’t ver fond memories. But she is back still wanting her mother’s love in her death bed. High school life is brutal if you are not in “it” crowd. Gillian was definitely was not in it crowd so she asked her best friend to go to prom with her. But she was too drunk to remember what happen to her. She doesn’t even remember who she slept with. So she is piecing her prom night together with help of all her friends. She was head over hills for a towns bad boy Luke who now turned into a pastor. Even though she doesn’t feel right but she pursues Luke after all these years. She thought he was Daisy’s father but later she finds out he can’t be Daisy’s father. There are so-called ‘Hyenas” in town who makes everybody else life miserable and they still do. One of the wonderful character was her best friend Andrew who has been there for her when she was growing up. He was the only one she could trust but too blind to see he was in love with her. Plus there is another character “Wife” who Andrew has but that takes couple of chapters. Gillian was really all over the place. She says she is finding a father for Daisy but it seems more like she is looking for a companion for herself more than a father for Daisy. I wish it would have more back story to Luke and all the other characters including those hyenas. It seems it was missing that.

I enjoyed this story very much. It was a sweet story of friends turned to more.

Gillian had been raised in a small town by a mother who didn't really seem to love her at all. She was rude and cruel to her and when Gillian's life became pregnant as a teenager, she kicked her out and told her to never return, so Gillian hadn't. . .until her mother was dying and she received word that her mother wanted her to come home to care for her. So, she went to her mother's side along with her almost teenager daughter, Daisy. Daisy wanted to find her father, but Gillian didn't know who it was. She couldn't remember anything from the night of her senior prom but Daisy was determined to find him, nonetheless.

Gillian had been friends with Andrew their whole lives. He had always been her best friend. Luke had been her love interest. She was so wrapped up in her love for Luke she couldn't see what else might be around her.

This story was an opportunity for Gillian to come to terms with the events of her life and to answer several questions she had always had about her mother's love, or lack of, for her. Who was her father. Who was the father of her child? Who did she really love?

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gillian is a single mom of 12 year old Daisy. Daisy has not idea who her father is and Gillian has never told her. Their life is about to change when they get a call from her mother's nurse in Barnesville. She is dying and wants Gillian to come home and see her. Gillian left there 13 years earlier and has never been back, but she packs the car and she and Daisy head for home to visit the grandmother that Daisy has never met. You see, when Gillian became pregnant at 18, Rachel kicked her out and told her never to come back. Unfortunately, when they arrive, Rachel, Gillian's mom, is just as honery and miserable as she was when Gillian left and her friends are even worse. Thirteen years has changed her and the people she grew up with. When she meets up with Andrew, her best friend and confidante growing up, she tries to slip back into life in Barnesville, but there are so many stumbling blocks. She knows that while she is home she must find out who her daughter’s father is. What she doesn’t count on are her feelings and who dominates them. Can Gillian solve this mystery that has overshadowed her life?

I am on the fence with this one. There were parts of the story I really liked and parts that I didn't. I like Gillian, Andrew and his mom. Some of Gillian's friends were wonderful and some not, just like in real life. I also liked how the friends had changed as they grew up, yet in some ways were still the same. I really started to get into the story and suddenly, everything wrapped up and it was over. I felt cheated, like there should have been more details and information. This is a romance and at times all of the unrequited love and how it took many of the characters years to finally tell the other person how they felt seemed like such a waste of so many years. Overall, I feel that this story was enjoyable and gives you good feelings. I might try another in this series, especially if it wraps up some of the loose ends from this one. If you like a somewhat sappy love story you will like this book. If you had an unrequited love story as a teen you will love this story. Pick it up it is a relatively quick read.

I do like mystery books but I didn't feel that it suited this one as it was more of a romance and family drama and the mystery shouldn't have been in it as much.

2,5 stars, which, because this author is fairly new, will round up.

The focus of the story is fully on the heroine, single third person POV. It is about the heroine coming to grips with being back in the town she grew up in, unraveling secrets that made no sense to her as a teenager preoccupied with her own life, and dealing with the results. The writing style was good, the sentences flowed well and the pace was fast, which I like. The characters were interesting, though not all that fleshed out. Oh, and the girl stayed in the background for most of the story (unlike the cover suggests).

Well, reading this book was a strange experience yet (and I’m quoting Despina, another reviewer here) “funnily enough I finished story”. I found two reasons, both stemming from curiosity.

First reason: I wanted to know! I wanted to know what she would discover.
Second reason: (*this is me saying sorry to the author here*) is that I wanted to know how many secrets the author would be able to throw into the mix, how many misunderstandings she would be able to create and how long these misunderstandings would be allowed to exist. And those misunderstandings, well, I hate them in stories. Truly. Passionately. The only excuse is if the reason for the misunderstanding to exist and to continue is very, very valid. And that valid reason in this story was lacking. And for those readers who want to know more about this, click open the spoiler sign.

This paragraph will be hidden: In this case the big misunderstanding starts on one of the first pages. I’m still not sure if the author meant it to be so very clear (and by that making the heroine be kind of stupid), or that it was meant to be a secret for all readers throughout the book (and by that making me the smart one). Anyway, this particular misunderstanding continued until the last quarter of the book, and all the while more clues as to the real situation kept piling up, and none of them were picked up by the (then in my eyes increasingly stupid) heroine. The secrets I just didn’t believe could have existed for all that time in such a small community. And with regard to the resolution, well, I’ll put that bit behind a hidden spoiler for those of you who don’t want to know. It just seems very unlikely, and I did a quick google search on the subject, that two blond parents (with one of them coming from a long line of blond parents) could have created a girl with dark (black) hair. My google search tells me it just doesn’t work that way. And if anyone reading this knows for sure google told me wrong, please correct me. But know that I won’t believe stories about my parents were dark and I am blond… because well, having read this book you know that doesn’t prove anything.

All in all it became a kind of slapstick-stuff happening but in tone serious romance. In the end, all ends well, the truth is discovered and they will all live happy ever after. Having gotten to the end, and having been able to vent my frustration with regard to the resolution, the story leaves me kind of… blank. I think if the characters had been more fleshed out, if the whole story wouldn’t have revolved around a silly misunderstanding and several secrets, but had been more about the people slowly connecting again (instead of the mild case of instalust/-love) it could have been very good. The basic premise reminded me a lot of the movie ‘Love Rosie’, and that was done rather nicely.

So, sad to say, this book wasn’t for me. I do hope the author will focus more on the relationship and character and less on plot devices to get people moving away or together. Until that happens, I won’t be recommending this book to other readers.