Twenty-six-year-old Sam Pulaski is living what many would call a nightmare: sleeping in her mother’s office, stuck in a dead-end bartending job, clutching an art history degree that’s gathering dust alongside her dreams of academic glory. Her romantic life is equally stagnant, anchored to Hal, a pretentious manchild who treats their situationship like an experimental film nobody asked to watch. Sam’s life has been on pause for five years, and she’s running out of excuses for why she hasn’t pressed play.
Enter Nick Martino, the new neighbor who arrives with a toolbox in one hand and a nine-year-old daughter named Kira in the other. He’s everything Sam isn’t looking for: pushing forty, divorced, and decidedly settled. He manages a chain restaurant, drives a minivan, and spends his free time watching Star Trek reruns for comfort. But Kate Goldbeck’s sophomore novel, Daddy Issues, proves that sometimes the person who disrupts your carefully maintained dysfunction is exactly what you need.
The Beautiful Mess of Dating a Single Dad
Goldbeck doesn’t romanticize the challenges of falling for a parent. Through Sam’s eyes, we experience the awkwardness of bonding with a curious child who asks uncomfortable questions, the sting of never being anyone’s first priority, and the terrifying realization that loving someone means accepting their entire world, not just the parts that fit neatly into yours. The author captures these complexities with refreshing honesty, drawing from her own experience as “dad’s girlfriend” to create a narrative that feels lived-in and authentic.
The relationship between Sam and Nick unfolds with genuine chemistry and believable hesitation. Their connection develops through small moments: making Enterprise-shaped waffles, watching old episodes of Star Trek, and navigating the minefield of introducing a new romantic partner to a child. Goldbeck excels at showing how attraction builds not through grand gestures but through the accumulation of shared vulnerabilities and quiet understanding. Nick sees Sam’s potential when she can barely see herself, while Sam recognizes the sacrifices Nick makes daily for his daughter’s happiness.
What sets this romance apart is its willingness to interrogate difficult questions. Can a twenty-six-year-old with no fixed address commit to someone whose life revolves around custody schedules and school pickup times? What does it mean when your partner’s ex-wife will always be part of family holidays? How do you navigate falling in love when you’re still figuring out who you are? Goldbeck doesn’t offer easy answers, and that’s precisely what makes the story resonate.
A Portrait of Stalled Adulthood
Sam Pulaski is not a conventionally likable protagonist, and that’s her greatest strength. She’s messy, directionless, and prone to self-sabotage. She masturbates at 9:16 AM because it’s the only time she has privacy, sets multiple shame alarms she never obeys, and romanticizes a toxic relationship with a man who treats her like an intellectual experiment. But beneath the stagnation lies someone achingly real: a woman grappling with abandonment issues, imposter syndrome, and the crushing weight of unfulfilled potential.
Goldbeck uses Sam’s obsession with comic books as both character development and narrative device. The novel incorporates panels describing key scenes as if they were sequential art, complete with visual shorthand and SFX notes. This technique isn’t just stylistic flourish; it reveals how Sam processes her life by reducing it to manageable frames, controlling the narrative when reality feels overwhelming. Her father introduced her to comics before he disappeared from her life, leaving her to chase his approval through a shared language that never quite bridges the gap between them.
The supporting cast adds depth without overwhelming the central romance. Sam’s mother delivers tough love rooted in her own experience as a single parent, warning her daughter about the sacrifices that come with dating a divorced father. Romily, Sam’s academic friend, approaches relationship problems with PowerPoint presentations citing peer-reviewed studies on friends-with-benefits arrangements. Even Kira, Nick’s daughter, feels like a real child rather than a plot device—curious, occasionally bratty, and emotionally perceptive in ways that surprise the adults around her.
The Prose and Pacing
Goldbeck writes with a conversational ease that makes the pages fly. Her dialogue crackles with pop culture references that never feel forced: Star Trek metaphors illuminate relationship dynamics, comic book collecting becomes a meditation on value and loss, and even a discussion about Fruity Pebbles Bundt cake reveals emotional truths. The author trusts her readers to follow allusions to Watchmen, Daredevil, and When Harry Met Sally without over-explaining, creating an insider feeling for fellow nerds while remaining accessible to those unfamiliar with the references.
The novel’s structure mirrors Sam’s scattered mental state. We jump between present-day scenes and comic panel descriptions, Discord conversations with Kira, and flashbacks to pivotal moments with Hal. This fragmentation could feel chaotic, but Goldbeck maintains control, ensuring each thread contributes to our understanding of Sam’s psychological landscape. The pacing accelerates in the novel’s second half as Sam confronts both her romantic future and her complicated feelings about fatherhood, children, and her own arrested development.
Where “Daddy Issues” by Kate Goldbeck occasionally stumbles is in its resolution. After spending hundreds of pages building tension around the practical obstacles facing Sam and Nick, certain conflicts resolve a bit too neatly. Goldbeck earned her reputation with “You, Again,” and readers expecting the same level of will-they-won’t-they tension may find this story follows a more traditional romantic arc.
When Good Intentions Collide With Reality
The book’s greatest achievement is its unflinching examination of stepparent dynamics. Goldbeck includes an author’s note acknowledging the challenges stepparents face, particularly childfree women entering relationships with single fathers. She doesn’t shy away from the reality that stepparenting is difficult, that children can feel like obstacles to intimacy, and that the “dad’s girlfriend” often makes more sacrifices than her partner.
Sam’s journey involves confronting her fear of children and her lack of maternal instinct. When she snaps at Kira for ruining a valuable comic book, the scene is uncomfortable precisely because it feels true. Not everyone naturally connects with children, and pretending otherwise does a disservice to readers navigating similar situations. Goldbeck respects both perspectives: Nick’s unwavering devotion to his daughter and Sam’s struggle to envision herself in a parental role she never wanted.
The exploration of Sam’s relationship with her absent father adds emotional heft. Her fantasy of confronting him at a flea market with boxes of comics speaks to the futility of seeking closure from people who’ve already moved on. Nick’s presence forces Sam to reckon with what healthy fatherhood looks like, making her realize that her baseline for parental devotion was catastrophically low.
For Readers Who Love
“Daddy Issues” by Kate Goldbeck will appeal to fans of:
- “The Unhoneymooners” by Christina Lauren – For readers who enjoy banter-heavy romance with flawed protagonists finding love while their lives are in chaos
- “Beach Read” by Emily Henry – If you appreciate romance that tackles deeper emotional wounds through witty dialogue and genuine character growth
- “People We Meet on Vacation” by Emily Henry – For those drawn to friends-to-lovers stories where timing and life circumstances create obstacles
- “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood – If you enjoy nerdy heroines with specific interests and age-gap romances with caring male leads
- “Red, White & Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston – For readers who love pop culture references woven seamlessly into romantic narratives
Readers of Goldbeck’s debut “You, Again” will recognize her signature voice while appreciating how she tackles different relationship dynamics in this sophomore effort.
The Verdict
“Daddy Issues” by Kate Goldbeck succeeds as both a romance and a coming-of-age story about finding yourself at twenty-six when you thought you’d have everything figured out by now. Goldbeck writes with empathy for her characters’ flaws while holding them accountable for their choices. She understands that love requires more than chemistry; it demands vulnerability, sacrifice, and the willingness to envision a future that looks nothing like what you planned.
The novel won’t satisfy readers seeking pure escapism or those who prefer their romance without complicated family dynamics. But for anyone who has felt stuck, unlikeable, or perpetually behind their peers, Sam’s story offers recognition and hope. Sometimes growing up means accepting that your life will never look like the highlight reel version you imagined. Sometimes it means falling in love with someone whose baggage comes with actual suitcases and a custody schedule.
Kate Goldbeck proves she’s not a one-hit wonder. She’s a romance author willing to excavate uncomfortable truths about modern relationships while delivering the emotional payoff readers crave. “Daddy Issues” by Kate Goldbeck is smart, funny, and refreshingly honest about the messiness of adult life. It’s a reminder that the person who helps you find yourself might come packaged with complications you never anticipated—and that accepting those complications might be exactly what you need to finally press play on your own life.
