Having heard much about Kate Goldbeck's previous title, I picked up DADDY ISSUES. It sounded cliched, yet I gave it a chance and wouldn't say I was very wowed by the story or the writing. Before I sound too negative Nelly, I'd like to tell you my reading experience. DADDY ISSUES is about a young woman, Sam, living in her mother's spare room, who falls for her noisy neighbor, single dad Nick. Sam is on a sabbatical of sorts, waiting to get admitted to her preferred college so she can finally do her PhD and get her dream job. She wants to get away from Ohio, away from her mother's home and follow the path of her idea of a dream job, a dream life - basically wanting to live her idea of a life and job. Nick, a single Dad wanting to stay close to his daughter while he shares custody with his ex-wife, moves into the apartment complex next door to Sam's mother's condo. Their first meeting is a bit short of a meet-cute, where she meets the single dad and his opinionated little girl, who soon has Sam playacting with her by the poolside.
As the neighbors get to know each other, their lives cross paths whenever the other is in need of a helping hand. They are soon sharing secrets, helping each other, becoming friends and falling for each other. As they grow closer, they shed their old habits, friends and situationships before deciding to split up. During their time apart, they realize they are not taking anything away from each other or shortchanging themselves and decide to get back together and give love/life together a chance to form their own little happy modern family. The story sounded promising and had so much that would have been done well; however, some plot lines came up short for me. The heroine, Sam's focus and trajectory on her unemployment status, dependency on things falling in line while she waited for everything to be perfect for her to start living her dream life, was simply not relatable to me. She could have had a lot going on for her and while I understand sometimes people get stuck in their lives, Sam in this story had a very limited life. Her life was portrayed in a manner that I felt she was put in a box, which she ended up loving to be in. The whole character was just not for me. And that's the reason I couldn't enjoy the story as much as I wished. If you are a fan of Kate's, do pick up the book. I will be giving her future books another chance, though, to see if any of her upcoming stories are more to my liking. Happy reading!
A jaded twentysomething is stuck living at home, her life on pause, when a single dad becomes her new neighbor and unexpectedly sets her life—and her heart—into motion in this modern love story from the bestselling author of You, Again.
Sometimes love shows up where you least expect it—right next door.
At twenty-six, Sam Pulaski expected to be thriving in her academic career, living on her own in some exciting city. Expectations meet reality: She has massive student loan debt from studying art history, a dead-end service industry job, a situationship that’s equal parts intoxicating and toxic. And she’s been crashing in her mom’s condo—at least it’s not a basement?—for the last five years. If she can finally get accepted into a PhD program and get out of Ohio, the adult life that’s been on hold for half her twenties will finally begin.
Her mom’s new neighbor, Nick, is the ultimate grown-up. His adult life began the moment his nine-year-old daughter, Kira, was born. Her happiness is Nick’s only priority, especially in the wake of divorce. There’s nothing he won’t do for Kira, including giving up his globe-trotting career for something more stable . . . like managing a chain restaurant.
Sam has zero interest in an ultra-dependable guy pushing forty; frankly, she’s a little afraid of kids. But with just one thin wall separating the two condos, Nick proves difficult to avoid. His quiet confidence forces Sam to grapple with the other men in her life: her emotionally derelict friendwithbenefits and her actually derelict father. As her unexpected connection with Nick heats up (and steams up his minivan windows), Sam finds herself falling fast for a man whose life is steady and settled—while hers is anything but.
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