The Single Dads Club Series
- Jun 15
- 3 min read
The Single Dads Club Series
Author: A.J. Truman
Rating: A-
Vibe: Four cozy, funny, low-stakes M/M romances that know exactly what they are and never once pretend otherwise. Comfort reading at its most reliable.
A.J. Truman has figured out something a lot of romance writers either forget or are too scared to try, which is that the fantasy doesn't have to be a twenty-five-year-old with abs and a trust fund. Half these guys are pushing forty-five, fully convinced the romance ship sailed without them, and busy with kids, exes, and a mortgage. I read all four in about a week and emerged a calmer, happier man.
These are standalone romances about a friend group of single dads in one small town, and the joy is that Truman keeps changing up the recipe. One book is two dads who can't stand each other getting stuck sharing a tent, and reader, the tent is small. One is a mayor fake-dating his straight best friend, which goes exactly as platonically as you'd guess. One hands a grumpy bar owner his daughter's ex-boyfriend as a new hire, which should raise every red flag and somehow only raises the temperature. You always know how it ends. That's not a flaw, it's the whole reason you showed up. Nobody opens one of these biting their nails over whether love prevails.
The dads feel like real people. They're in their forties, they're tired, they've got dad bods and divorces and zero patience for nonsense, and Truman writes all of that like it's the sexy part, because it is. As a gay reader who's been quietly informed by the genre that desirability expires around thirty-two, I find this borderline radical. He'll pair an older, bear-ish dad with some younger guy and never once act like the dad should apologize for existing. He's the catch. More of this, please.
The books are funny. The banter is quick, the dads are self-deprecating in all the right places, the kids land jokes, and each book had moments of cheerfulness that genuinely made me grin. The tropes get run with full affection and zero irony. You can feel that he likes these people, and it's contagious.
Are they formulaic? Obviously. The stakes stay low, the drama resolves before anyone's blood pressure climbs, and by book four you could probably call the beats from the couch. But that's the contract. You don't order comfort food and then complain it didn't challenge you. I wanted four books that wouldn't break my heart and would absolutely deliver the guy getting the guy, and that's what I got, with warmth, a great sense of humor, and a refreshing lack of shame about the horny bits. Pull up a chair. Solid A- for the set.
The books, in order:
The Falcon and the Foe — Chaotic, always-late Cal gets roped into co-leading a kids' scout troop with his nemesis, rigid widower Russ, and a too-small tent handles the rest. The only one where both leads are dads. Enemies-to-lovers.
The Mayor and the Mystery Man — Mayor Leo, mid-reelection and parenting teenage twins, fake-dates his charming, supposedly straight best friend Dusty after a leak nukes his campaign. Fake dating into friends-to-lovers.
The Barkeep and the Bro — Gruff fortysomething bar owner Mitch, daughter grown and getting married, reluctantly hires her cocky, freshly-fired-from-Wall-Street ex, Charlie, who's younger, shorter, sunnier, and exactly the complication Mitch swore off. Age gap, size difference, boss-employee, and a very happy bi-awakening.
The Fireman and the Flirt — Real estate agent Cary, still dragging his high-school-pariah baggage around, lands his old crush Derek as a client when the widowed former hockey jock moves back to town needing a house for himself and his kid. Brother's best friend meets nerd-jock, low angst, easy charm.
