He hated me. Well, guess what, buddy? The feeling was one hundred percent mutual.
Single dad, Cal Hogan, is trying to hold it all together. He’s balancing two jobs and trying to raise his young son solo. The last thing he has time for is taking on the role of co-leader to his son’s scouting group but no one else was up to the task, he couldn’t say no. Even if that meant working alongside his arch-nemesis Russ Ettinger. Russ, also a single dad, seemingly has his life together and isn’t afraid to point out all of Cal’s shortcomings. But as they spend more time together leading their sons’s troop, they realize their perception of the other may not have been entirely accurate. When the hate ebbs away, what’s left may look a whole lot like love.
His eyes blazed into me with smugness, and sarcasm, and a dash of heat. Why the fuck was I feeling any heat from Russ?
Sweet homosexual Jesus. Was I flirting with him?
First and foremost, this book was hilarious! From the first chapter, it had me laughing out loud a lot. There are so many funny quips and inner thoughts, particularly from Cal. Once Russ lightened up, he was quite funny too. I loved the way Cal and Russ sparred, even when they started to like one another, they still teased and joked. It was a lot of fun!
I had what felt like a strange craving deep in the pit of my stomach to hear his voice and see his smile.
What was that about?
I must’ve had too many snacks.
The story was also very sweet. It’s always fun in an enemies-to-lovers story when they start to soften toward one another. Seeing Russ, who was very anti-Cal at first, start to realize he actually liked him was cute. I love that he was the first one to make a move! They balanced each other well, Cal helped Russ lighten up a bit and Russ helped Cal gain some structure in his life. On paper, it looked like Cal was a hot mess and Russ was very put together but when you peeled away the facade, Russ wasn’t quite as put together as he seemed. He still had quite a bit of lingering trauma from losing his husband a few years earlier. It was very touching seeing Cal help him through that. Likewise, seeing Russ come to the defense of Cal in the face of the judgy parents in their town was quite heartwarming.
Everyone should be looked at this way at least once in their life. I was tired, so I didn’t try to fight it.
And the truth was, I didn’t want to.
I really didn’t want to.
They were also both great dads who were just trying to give their sons a good life. Their boys were cute and I loved their friendship too. I also enjoyed the rest of the Single Dads Club and look forward to continuing with the series to see how the rest of them find their HEAs!
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Better than okay. I’m happy.”
I rested my head on his shoulder. “I felt like I’ve been silently struggling for years, but with you, I can breathe.”
The Book Boyfriend Addict 