Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Bad Daddy
SERIES: Unexpected Daddies Book 3
AUTHOR: Victoria Sue
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 185 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 3, 2021
BLURB:
Bad so bad.
Caleb DeLuca knew that tattooed, scarred ex-cons didn’t usually get trusted with anything precious. He’d spent the second half of his forty-three years atoning for the lives he had destroyed in the first half and was shocked to get invited to the club his brother-in-law owned. Especially when he found out what type of club it was.
Max was too young, too beautiful, and too fragile for Caleb to get any ideas they could ever be more than friends. Besides which, Max was searching for a man that would inflict the pain he craved, and Caleb was done with hurting people.
Even if that was what they wanted.
Bad Daddy is the story of a man who doesn’t believe he deserves anything good and the boy who finds out sometimes the best things come in most unexpected packages.
REVIEW:
Bad Daddy is the third entry in Victoria Sue’s Unexpected Daddies series. It’s a complete standalone, very different from the prior books in this series. Caleb DeLuca is a 43-year-old man who has spent half of his life behind bars. Significant family issues drove him to make poor choices with lasting repercussions. He is a sweet, kind man at his core, though. He takes on more than his fair share of responsibility for his actions and choices.
Caleb is now starting his life anew and restoring his relationship with his younger sister. However, other people’s snap judgments and prejudices based on his appearance plague him. No matter that he is a very different man from that kid who got sent away. Caleb is a walking contradiction. Large, muscled, and tatted up, Caleb outwardly looks like a mean, scary dude. Inside, he’s a marshmallow of a man who just wants to quietly live his life and make other people happy. Try as he might, though, the stigma of his past follows him. Caleb can’t forget his past mistakes and doesn’t believe he deserves anything good in his life as a result. Certainly not the love and companionship of a beautiful, fragile man half his age.
Max is a fascinating character. With family problems of his own, although of a very different variety from Caleb, Max is the picture of wound up tension and perfectionism. Everything he does needs to be done right. His mind never stops going, perseverating, running him in circles and making it impossible for him to make friends, interact with his surroundings, or even sleep. Max also struggles with an eating disorder and still grapples with its effects. (TW: While most of Max’s struggle happened in the past, if this is a trigger for you, please note that it is discussed and some aftereffects are seen on page.)
Max believes that finding a Dom who will inflict pain on him will get him to subspace so he can get out of his head, at least for a while. However, his attempts so far have only resulted in single scenes without subspace effect. He rejects any suggestion that he doesn’t need a Dom, and that a Daddy could make him happy instead. So while he’s drawn to Caleb and his kind, caretaking, “Daddy” demeanor, Max pushes Caleb away because he doesn’t believe Caleb can give him what he needs.
Ms. Sue has crafted a complex, unexpected romance that presents two men trying to find themselves, identify their own needs, and convince themselves they deserve to have them met. The dynamic between Caleb and Max is touching, albeit frustrating at times due to Max’s misguided actions and unintentionally callous responses to Caleb’s demonstrations of kindness and support. As the story progresses, though, they slowly begin to dispel misconceptions about what they want and what they can have. They learn to trust each other and begin to heal past hurts.
Overall, Bad Daddy delivers a heartfelt, sweet, sexy romance with layered and thoughtful character development. It is a short, enjoyable read that will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy by the end.
RATING: 
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