I absolutely loved Daddy Issues. Here’s a review in bullet points:
โบ I adored the voice of this novel. I feel like moreso than other novels, romance novels live and die by their narrative voices. If you find a character’s voice to be grating or dull or inane, you won’t be able to get onboard with the romance. Too little voice and the character sounds generic and flat, too much and the tone starts to feel contrived and distracting. I say all of this to preface the fact that the narrative voice in this novel was perfect to me. I just immediately clicked with it. Our main character Sam’s voice has got VERVE: it’s so funny and so fully animated by her–it is every inch her voice. It’s not writing from her point of view, it’s writing that’s just her.
โบ This is a novel that takes a really thoughtful approach to its age-gap romance. I think sometimes with these romances the younger-older dynamic becomes a fixation of the narrative, an end in and of itself. But that’s not the case here. The characters in Daddy Issues have had different life experiences, and that’s exactly what the novel is interested in exploring: their experiences. Sam is having a quarter-life crisis and feels lost in her life; Nick is a divorced dad trying to coparent his daughter. Both these characters’ experiences colour what they think is important, what gives them purpose and their life meaning. Not in a highfalutin, philosophizing-for-the-sake-of-philosophizing way, but more like: what keeps them going, day in and day out.
โบ Given that this is a romance, I feel like it would be remiss not to discuss the romance. And I would like to confirm that the romance in this romance novel is, in fact, great and romantic! The novel’s narrative voice immediately sold me on Sam, and Nick was a perfect complement to her: more grounded, steady, but also very much able to go toe-to-toe with her when it comes to banter and back-and-forths. (Again, this novel’s sense of humour was so spot-on for me.) Also, it seems like such a simple thing, but I loved how upfront and frank Nick was with Sam. He didn’t beat around the bush, and that was perfect for a character like Sam who’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop in her relationships.
โบ Another thing that maybe doesn’t seem like a big deal but that makes this novel especially stand out to me: its characters are very…regular people. They live pretty small lives–Sam is unemployed and has been living with her mom since the pandemic, Nick is a dad and manager at Chilli’s–and the novel doesn’t at all make it seem like their lives are any less valuable or interesting because of that. (Honestly, not every character needs to, like, start an app or be some kind of high-powered, career-oriented girlboss.) Sam, especially, is a down-on-her-luck character, a self-professed Charlotte Lucas with no money, no prospects, a burden to her parent, and she’s frightened! Not everyone who reads this novel is going to love her–she can be selfish, stubborn, and often has tunnel-vision when it comes to her relationships and goals–but I certainly did. I don’t know what it says about me that I often relate most to characters who are considered unlikeable or annoying, but I am owning up to it with pride. Really, I think the novel’s dedication says it all: “For anyone who has ever felt unlikeable. You are lovable.”
โบ This is a novel about the slow, difficult work of picking yourself up from the ground and trying to move forward. It’s slow, difficult work, but there are always people around who make it easier, with whom the load is lighter, even if just that tiny little bit. For me, that’s what romance as a genre is all about: romantic relationships not as a solution to all a character’s problems, but rather a fount of support, trust, openness, care–all things which help a character stand that much more firmly on their own two feet.
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