The Single Daddy Club Series / Donna Fasano

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Genre: Romance

Approximate word count:

Derrick 50-55,000 words

Jason 50-55,000 words

Reece 50-55,000 words

Availability   

Derrick

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Jason

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Reece

Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: NO Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Donna Fasano started self-publishing her back list books as she slowly regained control of her once traditionally published works. She has painstakingly rewritten parts and updated these works to be more contemporary. Her books have sold over 3.6 million copies worldwide and been published in nearly two dozen languages. “Donna Fasano is a three time winner of the HOLT Medallion, a CataRomance Reviewers Choice Award winner for Best Single Title, a Desert Rose Golden Quill Award finalist, and a Golden Heart finalist.” Check out her website for more info about her books, she also enjoys posting delicious recipes.

Description:

Three single dads band together to offer support for each other in raising their children single handedly, each being in this situation for very different reasons. They are proud of their single status and vow to be loving, nurturing parents. They also state that although female companionship would be nice, they will not marry solely for the sake of their children. Their motto is “Fatherhood forever!”

Derrick: When Naval officer Derrick Richmond was given custody of his godson, five-year old Timmy, he resigned his full-time status and joined the Naval Reserves so he could raise Timmy in a secure stable environment. Derrick enlists the help of Timmy’s kindergarten teacher Anna when Timmy starts acting out at school.

Jason: Widowed police officer Jason Devlin seems to be having trouble keeping a babysitter for his baby girl, twenty-month-old Gina. When Katie Smyth shows up on his doorstep looking for a nanny position he thinks he has hit the jackpot, not only is she beautiful, but she is willing to keep the house clean too. What Katie doesn’t know is that Jason’s previous in-laws live right next door. What Jason doesn’t know is that Katie is hiding out and keeping a very big secret.

Reece: When divorced Reece Newton, a senior claims adjuster for an insurance company, is asked to reevaluate a claim by Maggie Dunlap, he gets more than he bargained for. When he learns she is being terrorized by an unknown assailant, he offers her a place to stay while his eight-year-old son Jeff is off at summer camp. They believe they have two weeks to solve the mystery.

Appraisal:

Derrick:

The story opens with Derrick being summoned for parent/teacher conference because of behavior problems Timmy is having at school. Derrick is very defensive and protective of Timmy and doesn’t make the best first impression with Anna. He is overbearing and head strong, but realizes he needs help. Anna reluctantly agrees to help him with parenting lessons. She is a smart woman and is able to pinpoint some of the problems immediately after joining them on a Saturday outing. The chemistry between Derrick and Anna is immediate and she wastes no time putting up defenses to protect her heart. It is clear she has been hurt in the past and has resigned herself to an unrealistic fate. Luckily, Derrick is a smart sensitive man and has full intention of straightening her attitude out.

I love the journeys this author takes us on in each of her stories. They are always realistic, heartwarming and a bit heart-wrenching. The prose draws you in quickly and you feel her character’s pains, agonies, and joys thoroughly. The kindergarten room scenes were a lot of fun. The author has captured the kids and their dialogue perfectly. I found the last scene in the classroom a little hard to read, the tears in my eyes kept blurring the words, of course that wasn’t even the end of the story. The ending was even better.

Jason:

I really liked Jason and my heart ached for him and his situation. Not only for the loss of his wife, but for the fact that his previous in-laws lived next door. No wonder he was having such a hard time keeping a baby sitter. Katie was the perfect woman for Jason, she was smart and kind-hearted, but she was keeping some very big secrets from him. The struggles she had with her lies were very revealing of her character; you can tell this author has a very good understanding of human nature in many situations.

In each of the books of this series, there is at least one chapter devoted to the guys getting together to talk about kids, women, or whatever else is going on in their lives. The conversations between these three friends were very entertaining, they have known each other for several years and they don’t hesitate to poke the bear, whoever that may be at the time. I found the dialogue realistic and quite funny.

The story moved at a nice steady pace and I found the dilemmas being faced real and quite engrossing. I love the way Ms. Fasano is turning up the heat in her stories. I am finding them very satisfying and I didn’t want to put the book down.

Reece:

I was worried I would not like Reece as well as I liked the other dads in this series. Reece suffered a bad marriage, it soured his opinion of all women, and he never failed to express these opinions to his friends. Not surprisingly, his eight-year-old son mirrors his father in this regard and his attitude gets him sent home from summer camp after the first week. With Maggie now living in the extra room, Reece is forced to face his son’s attitude problem head on. I don’t think Maggie or Reece made it clear to the author that neither of them is looking for a relationship, because the attraction between these two is hot.

Maggie is a strong, intelligent, and independent woman with a career as a Private Investigator that has been temporarily put on hold. She agrees to try to help Jeff see women in a more positive light while babysitting him this week he was supposed to be away at camp as repayment for giving her a safe place to live. She also informs Reece that Jeff has more than likely learned this behavior from him. The conversations that ensue are realistic and enlightening, as Jeff, Reece, and Maggie all start to see the light. It is a hard road to unlearn bad habits and attitudes and learn to trust, depend on, and love again. This is an intelligent unique story that never lags. I LOVE the journeys Donna Fasano takes her characters and her readers on.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five stars