Hot Single Dad

Book Boyfriends, Book 3

By: Claire Kingsley

Narrated by: Savannah Peachwood, Rock Engle

Reasons I need to stop fantasizing about Linnea:

One: She’s too young for me.

Two: She’s my daughter’s nanny.

I could stop there, couldn’t I? I’m already a cliché. The single dad who’s hot for the nanny. But it gets worse.

Three: She’s my sister-in-law.

My wife died when our daughter was a baby, and Linnea was just a quiet teenager. I barely knew her. When my in-laws insist she move to Seattle to be my live-in nanny - after a string of caregivers who didn’t work out - I reluctantly agree.

I wasn’t counting on the smoking-hot blonde with sinful curves, kissable lips, and a shy smile.

Linnea is perfect for my daughter - fun, patient, and kind. She might be perfect for me, too, but I can’t think that way. She needs to live her own life, not be saddled with my insta-family.

Being around her is a special kind of torture, but I have to keep this infatuation to myself. I can’t fall for my daughter’s nanny. But it might be too late.

Hot Single Dad is a stand-alone romance with a make-you-swoon HEA. It contains explicit language and content and is intended for a mature audience.

©2017 Claire Kingsley (P)2018 audiOMG!

An unexpected forever

I enjoyed this single dad, age gap, forbidden, nanny romance. It had a great mix of humor, heartwarming love, real life issues, painful pasts, family drama, and spice. Caleb is an ER surgeon and a widower with a 6 year old daughter, Charlotte. His wife died when his daughter was a baby and his focus is his daughter. Linnea is the much younger sister of Caleb’s deceased wife. She is a pianist and she hopes to get a position in a symphony. Linnea’s parents “decide” she is going to be Charlotte’s nanny while practicing for any auditions so she moves to town to live with Caleb and Charlotte. They have not seen each other since before his wife died when Linnea was a shy teenager. There is instant chemistry and attraction but circumstances keep either of them from acting on it. Once a scary moment causes their feeling overflow, the journey to their HEA begins in earnest and what follows is a wonderful journey of baggage unpacking, inner voice finding, and life course correction. The book was well written with three dimensional characters that grow and an interesting storyline. I have enjoyed this series.

Savannah Peachwood and Rockwell Engle did a good job narrating the story and characters into life with enough change of inflection, tone and cadence to voice multiple characters quite convincingly.

Good story ruined by male narrator

The male narrator unfortunately took all of the steamy parts and made them gross. He should not be narrating this type of book. It’s cringy. I do love all stories by Claire Kingsley!

Light hearted story

This poor guy doesn't know which way is up. He seems to be out of practice in the romance department, but his heart is in the right place.

This pair is as different as can be, however slowly but surely, they make things work.

They get their sweet HEA!

I liked the story. Easy to listen to with no excess drama.

Such a beautiful story

I adored this amazing story! Wonderful story telling and great narration. Definitely recommend to all romance enthusiasts.

Cute story

I love all of Claire Kingsleys book they are just so cute and sweet with the right amount of angst. I loved it!!

Perfect End to an amazing Series!!

I’m such a sucker for Single Dad romances and I couldn’t wait to listen to this one. I was pretty familiar with Rock Engle from previous books and he is absolutely perfect for this, not only does he capture Caleb but also little Charlotte! Loved it!

Love Book Boyfriends

I've listened to all 3 books in the series & this was as good as the others. Although the other books caused me to laugh more, the story plot of this book was well written & performed.

Loved it!

Such a sweet story with it’s of sexy times. Good writing, great narration, and the dialogue is believable (not at all cheesy!)

Recommend!

DILF Indeed!

Overall 4.5 stars
Performance 5 stars
Story 4 stars

I've been waiting for Caleb's story since meeting him in Book Boyfriend. Thanks to whispersync, I both read and listened to the audiobook, narrated by Savannah Peachwood and Rock Engle. You don't need to read the previous books to enjoy this one, but the series is interconnected, so previous characters do appear.

Caleb was just as sweet and loving as he was in the previous books, but getting to finally be inside his head helped to understand how he struggled to balance his home and professional life. I loved his relationship with his daughter Charlotte and his family. His confusion and hesitation regarding pursuing a relationship with Linnea was honest and realistic. I was amazed that it was Weston who actually gave the best advice in the book. I also really liked Linnea and felt that her kind and nurturing personality complemented Caleb very well. She definitely grew throughout the book, but sometimes her age and naivete were very apparent.

One of my favorite moments in the book was their first kiss. Emotions were running so high and this is where listening to the audio really took it to another level. Rock Engle was amazing as sexy and vulnerable Caleb! He gave such an emotional performance and I could feel all of Caleb's confusion, anger, longing, desire, and love. Engle's enthusiasm during the more intimate scenes will have you fanning yourself too! I also really enjoyed Savannah Peachwood's performance, and her narration as the shy and youthful Linnea was excellent. Engle and Peachwood complemented each other very well and of the three books in this series, this was my favorite narrating duo.

I will admit that though I really enjoyed the book, it took me a bit to wrap my head around a few things due to personal preference/feelings. First, I'm not usually a fan of the dead spouse trope. It takes me longer to be on board with the romance when I know in the back of my mind that the previous relationship/marriage either wouldn't have ended or wasn't given a chance to end naturally. Second, the heroine happens to be the hero's former sister in law. Linnea is Charlotte's aunt, but will Charlotte call her mom? Will it be confusing for Charlotte that her future siblings will actually be her cousins too? Having sisters myself, this was a really tough pill to swallow. Third, the heroine is about a decade younger than our hero. The ten years isn't as big of an issue for me, as the actual age of our heroine is. It's just hard when the characters are in different stages of their lives (especially with Caleb settled with a daughter and Linnea a recent college graduate). Many readers/listeners will have no issues with these items, but for me it definitely gave me pause. I think what helped me understand the story most was the Afterword at the end of the ebook. Honestly, it is such a shame that these Afterwords from the author are not included in the audio versions. They give so much insight into the thought process of the character and that, coupled with the advice Weston dispenses in the book to Caleb, really helped me put my personal feelings aside and just enjoy the story.

The epilogue brought a huge smile to my face and seeing all the former couples as well as Mr. Lawson a little into the future was perfect. The end of the ebook also includes a bonus chapter from Weston's POV and his adjustment to fatherhood (Gah! I love him so much!), as well as a link to a short story featuring Caleb's daughter Charlotte and her friend Noah in the future. Definitely recommend this series and I'm sad that it's come to a close.

Hot Single Dad

Audio: Savannah Peachwood is quickly working her way into my favorites list, she does such an amazing performance with every narration and although this was a first listen with Rock Engle, he did a wonderful job with the narration. I felt like they each gave the characters extra personality.

Story: I absolutely LOVED Caleb, Linnea, and Charlotte. Caleb is not only a widowed single dad trying to make sure his daughter has everything she needs and doesn't feel like she is missing out on anything, but he is also a doctor in emergency surgery. Linnea was Caleb's sister in law, and is Charlotte's aunt. She is also much younger than Caleb.

One of the best things about Linnea is that even though she is young, she knows what she wants. She may not be able to get that across to her mom, and struggles through the majority of the book trying to stand up for herself, but she's never portrayed as naive, or anything similar just because of her age. The only thing I didn't like was that throughout a lot of the book she was described as the nanny first and then if it was brought up she was the aunt second. I felt that it kind of put a damper on the connection between her and Charlotte. It was a minor thing that didn't really change my love for the book and the series but it was sort of a huh ?!?!? thing that kept popping up in my mind every time it happened.