Recommendation

Single Dad Romance Books

There’s something about single dad romance trope that just hits different… If you have a thing for a good single dad finding love in romance books, check this list out! 

Ignite 

by Melanie Harlow

Cloverleigh Farms #6

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • age gap
  • grumpy & sunshine
  • small town
  • man in uniform
Blurb:

My new neighbor is a firefighter—and a scorching hot single dad—but I swear I didn’t set off that smoke alarm on purpose.

(And I was beyond mortified when he rushed in and saw me naked.)

Nothing happened, of course—because I, Winnie MacAllister, romance junkie and owner of a constantly broken heart, have sworn off men for one solid year.

Even protective men with chiseled jaws, bulging biceps, and deep brown eyes that make my breath come faster. Even former SEALs with broad chests and strong hands that make my skin sizzle. Even gorgeous, grumpy guys who have their hands full raising two adorable little girls and claim they don’t believe in love.

Until Dex kisses me one night, and I drop all my defenses.

(Also my underwear.)

He says he’s not gentle, and he’s right. He says I should take the dream job I’m offered in another state, and he’s right. He says he’s too old for me and could never be the man I deserve.

He’s wrong.

Dex and I might be twelve years apart, but the fire between us is the kind that will never burn out.

How can I convince him to give happily-ever-after with me a chance?


*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°

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Heartless

by Elsie Silver

Chestnut Springs #2

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • nanny
  • age gap
  • grumpy X sunshine
  • opposites attract
  • small town
Blurb:

Working as a nanny for the world’s grumpiest single dad should have been simple. Except I can’t keep my eyes off him. And he can’t keep his hands off of me.

Cade Eaton is thirteen years older than I am and barely looks my way. Until I get him into the hot tub one night for a game of truth or dare. Then all bets are off—and so are our clothes.

He’s gruff, a little rough around the edges. But broad-shouldered ranchers with calloused hands and filthy mouths are this city girl’s kryptonite. So who am I to resist?

But it’s in our quiet moments together that he softens. It’s when he takes care of me that I realize his hardened exterior is just a façade. It’s when I watch him go all sweet with his little boy that I really fall for him.

Someone convinced him once that his best wasn’t good enough. But I’ve never felt more cherished than I do in his arms.

My contract may say this arrangement is only for two months.

But my heart says this is forever.


*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°

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All Rhodes Lead Here 

by Mariana Zapata

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • age gap
  • slow burn
  • grumpy & sunshine
  • man in uniform
Blurb:

Losing people you love is hard. Aurora De La Torre knows moving back to a place that was once home isn’t going to be easy. Starting your whole life over probably isn’t supposed to be. But a small town in the mountains might be the perfect remedy for a broken heart. Checking out her landlord across the driveway just might cure it too.

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Coach 

by Devney Perry

Treasure State Wildcats #1

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad
  • workplace
  • small town
  • friends to lovers
  • second chances
  • sports romance
  • football 
Blurb:

Football star. Single dad. And once, a long time ago, mine.

I’ve spent the better part of a decade forgetting Ford Ellis. If he had just stayed away from Montana, I might have erased the memory of his striking blue eyes and rugged smile forever. Avoiding him was easy when the only place I saw his face was on ESPN—and a remote control could fix that problem.

Except my boss just hired Ford as the new head coach for the Treasure State Wildcats. Not only will I be stuck watching him on the sidelines this season, but avoiding him will be impossible now that we’re working together.

Maybe I haven’t forgotten Ford. Maybe I still dream about what we might have been. Maybe he hasn’t forgotten me either.

Except those maybes won’t change the fact that we were never meant to be. Maybe he was mine once. But as of today, the only thing I’ll be calling Ford Ellis is Coach.


*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°

GOODREADS | AMAZON

In a Jam

by Kate Canterbary

➥ Romantic Comedy

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • marriage of convenience
  • friends to lovers
  • grumpy & sunshine
  • small town
  • slow burn
Blurb:

When Shay Zucconi’s step-grandmother died, she left Shay a tulip farm—under two conditions.

First, Shay has to move home to the small town of Friendship, Rhode Island. Second—and most problematic since her fiancé just called off the wedding—Shay must be married within one year.

Marriage is the last thing in the world Shay wants but she’ll do anything to save the only real home she’s ever known.

Noah Barden loved Shay Zucconi back in high school. Not that he ever told her. He was too shy, too awkward, too painfully uncool to ask out the beautiful, popular girl.

A lifetime later, Noah is a single dad to his niece and has his hands full running the family business. That old crush is the farthest thing from his mind.

Until Shay returns to their hometown.

CW/TW: absentee parent(s), brief mention of parent death, brief mention of parent chronic illness, mention of incarceration, mention of temporary foster care placement, reference to teenage teasing/bullying (not detailed, not explicit), brief incidence of fat-shaming, living with a neurodivergent child

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Look the Part 

by Jewel E. Ann 

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • enemies to friends to lovers
  • pregnancy
  • tortured hero
Blurb:

Flint Hopkins finds the perfect tenant to rent the space above his Minneapolis-based law office.

All the t’s are crossed and i’s dotted on Ellen’s application. Her references are good. And she’s easy on the eyes.

Until …

Flint discovers Ellen Rodgers, Board-Certified Music Therapist, plays music. Bongos, guitars, singing—not Beethoven administered through noise-cancelling headphones.

The cut-throat attorney serves up an eviction notice to the bubbly, constantly humming redhead who’s too sexy for her own good. But luck is on Ellen’s side when Flint’s autistic son, Harrison, takes an instant liking to her. A single dad can’t compete with guitars—and rats. Yes, she has pet rats.

This woman …

She’s annoyingly happy with a constant need to touch him—adjust his tie, button his shirt, invade his space, and mess with his mind.

Still …

She must go.

Their lust-hate relationship escalates into something beautiful and tragic. This sexy, romantic-comedy explores the things we want, the things we need, and the impossible decisions parents and children make to survive.

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Stuck-Up Suit 

by Vi Keeland & Penelope

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • secret child
  • rich hero
  • ceo
  • sassy heroine
  • grumpy hero
Blurb:

It started out like any other morning on the train.
Until I became mesmerized by the guy sitting across the aisle.
He was barking at someone on his phone like he ruled the world.
Who did the stuck-up suit think he was…God?
Actually, he looked like a God. That was about it.
When his stop came, he got up suddenly and left. So suddenly, he dropped his phone on the way out.
I might have picked it up.
I might have gone through all of his photos and called some of the numbers.
I might have held onto the mystery man’s phone for days―until I finally conjured up the courage to return it.
When I traipsed my ass across town to his fancy company, he refused to see me.
So, I left the phone on the empty desk outside the arrogant jerk’s office.
I might have also left behind a dirty picture on it first though.
I didn’t expect him to text back.
I didn’t expect our exchanges to be hot as hell.
I didn’t expect to fall for him―all before we even met.
The two of us couldn’t have been any more different.
Yet, you know what they say about opposites.
When we finally came face to face, we found out opposites sometimes do more than attract―we consumed each other.
Nothing could have prepared me for the ride he took me on. And I certainly wasn’t prepared for where I’d wind up when the ride was over.
All good things must come to an end, right?
Except our ending was one I didn’t see coming.

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The Gravity of Us

by Brittainy C. Cherry 

Elements #4 

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • friends to lovers
  • grumpy & sunshine
  • angst 
Blurb:

The Gravity of Us blew me away. You know when you finish a book and you have all these thoughts to get out? You have all these feelings you want to put on paper. You want to explain it in a way that will make everyone want to read it, but not give anything away. That’s where I am. So I decided not to write anything at all, and I will just let you experience it yourself. Enjoy the ride!!


*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°

GOODREADS | AMAZON

Written with Regret 

by Aly Martinez

Regret #1, Duet

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • secret child
  • age gap
  • mystery
  • rich hero
  • angst
  • second chances
Blurb:

Every little girl dreams of the fairytale. The one where the white knight rushes in to save her from the clutches of evil. They fall in love, have babies, and live happily ever after.

By that definition, my life should have been a fairytale too.

When I was eight years old, Caven Hunt saved me from the worst kind of evil to walk the Earth. It didn’t matter that I was a kid. I fell in love with him all the same.

But that was where my fairytale ended.

Years later, a one-night stand during the darkest time imaginable gave us a little girl. It was nothing compared to the pitch black that consumed me when I was forced to leave her with Caven for good.

At the end of every fairytale, the happily-ever-after is the one thing that remains consistent. It wasn’t going to be mine, but there hadn’t been a night that passed where I hadn’t prayed that it would be hers.

I owed Caven my life.
However, I owed that innocent child more.
And that included ripping the heart from my chest and facing her father again.

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Transcend

by Jewel E. Ann

Transcend #1, Duet

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • love triangle
  • angst
  • bikers
  • age gap
Blurb:

“In another life, she was my forever.”

An unexpected tragedy leaves Professor Nathaniel Hunt a widower alone with a newborn baby.

He hires a nanny. She’s young, but well-qualified, with a simple life, a crazy name obsession, and a boyfriend she met at the grocery store.

Over time, he discovers she knows things about him—things that happened before she was born—like a hidden scar on his head, his favorite pizza, and how he cheated on a high school Spanish test.

She speaks familiar words and shares haunting memories that take him back to over two decades earlier when he lost his best friend in a tragic accident.

“I’m afraid of what’s going to happen when you realize I’m not her.”

Transcend is a sexy, mind-bending journey that uncovers possibilities, challenges beliefs, and begets the age-old question: is there life after death?

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Sweet Temptation 

by Cora Reilly

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • age gap
  • arranged marriage
  • rich hero
  • virgin heroine
  • mafia
  • possessive hero
  • alpha male
Blurb:

The first time I met my future husband, he terrified me so much I called him “Sir“.
My parents decided to give me to him to secure my father’s dwindling power.
Because if Cassio is one thing, then it’s powerful.
He’s also much older than me and the single dad to two small children.
I don’t know anything about raising kids or being a wife.

Cassio wants a nanny and someone to warm his bed. He doesn’t want a relationship on equal footing.
My mother warned me that men of power, like Cassio, don’t tolerate insolence, but I’m sick of being treated like a nanny with benefits.
But there’s a reason why Cassio never talks about his dead wife and how she died, and I fear the dark secrets I might uncover will break my heart.

A dark arranged marriage romance with an innocent heroine and an over-the-top possessive and jealous hero.

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Egomaniac 

by Vi Keeland 

➥ New Adult

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • alpha male
  • sassy heroine
  • workplace
  • friends to lovers
Blurb:

The night I met Drew Jagger, he’d just broken into my new Park Avenue office. I dialed 9-1-1 before proceeding to attack him with my fancy new Krav Maga skills.  He quickly restrained me, then chuckled, finding my attempted assault amusing.   
 
Of course, my intruder had to be arrogant. Only, turned out, he wasn’t an intruder at all.   
 
Drew was the rightful occupant of my new office. He’d been on vacation while his posh space was renovated. Which was how a scammer got away with leasing me office space that wasn’t really available for rent. I was swindled out of ten grand. 
 
The next day, after hours at the police station, Drew took pity on me and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. In exchange for answering his phones while his secretary was out, he’d let me stay until I found a new place. I probably should have acted grateful and kept my mouth shut when I overheard the advice he was spewing to his clients. But I couldn’t help giving him a piece of my mind. I never expected my body to react every time we argued. Especially when that was all we seemed to be able to do. 
 
The two of us were complete opposites. Drew was a bitter, angry, gorgeous-as-all-hell destroyer of relationships. And my job was to help people save their marriages. The only thing the two of us had in common was the space we were sharing. And an attraction that was getting harder to deny by the day. 

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To Hate Adam Connor 

by Ella Maise 

 Love & Hate #2 

➥ Romantic Comedy

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • celebrity
  • actor
  • enemies to lovers
  • rich hero
  • possessive hero
  • alpha male
  • funny
Blurb:

So you may ask, who is Adam Connor? He is the recently divorced, Academy Award-winning actor who just moved in next door with his kid. He also happens to be an exquisite male specimen and the most infuriating sly bastard I’ve ever come across.

Let’s be honest here, wouldn’t you wanna take a peek over the wall to catch a glimpse of him, hopefully when he is naked? Wouldn’t you melt away after watching him work out as his five-year-old kid cheered him on? Do I even have to mention those abs, the big bulge in his pants, or that arm porn? Oh, wait, you would never spy on him? Sure…

While I was being thoughtful by not breaking and entering and was actually considering going over to offer him a shoulder—or maybe a boob or two—to cry on (y’know, because of his divorce), instead he had me thrown in jail after a small incident. Jail, people! He was supposed to grant me countless orgasms as a thank you, not a jail cell.

After that day, I was mentally plotting ways to strangle him instead of jumping his bones to make sweet love. So what if my body did more than just shiver when he whispered dirty little things in my ear? I can’t be held responsible for that. And when was the last time he’d kissed anyone anyway? Who’d enjoy a kiss with a side of heart attack?

Even if he and his son were the best things since sliced bread—and I’m not saying he was—I couldn’t fall for him. No matter what promises he whispered on my skin, my curse wouldn’t let us be. I wasn’t a damsel in distress—I could save myself, thank you very much—but deep inside, I still hoped Adam Connor would be the hero of my story.

*Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18*


*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°

GOODREADS | AMAZON

Miscounted

by Penelope Douglas

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • age gap
  • forbidden love
  • rich hero
  • angst
Blurb:

Former tennis player Easton Bradbury is trying to be the best teacher she can be, trying to reach her bored students and trying to forget her past. What brought her to this stage in her life isn’t important. She can’t let it be. But now one parent-teacher meeting may be her undoing…

Meeting Tyler Marek for the first time makes it easy for Easton to see why his son is having trouble in school. The man knows how to manage businesses and wealth, not a teenage boy. Or a young teacher, for that matter, though he tries to. And yet…there is something about him that draws Easton in—a hint of vulnerability, a flash of attraction, a spark that might burn.

Wanting him is taboo. Needing him is undeniable. And his long-awaited touch will weaken Easton’s resolve—and reveal what should stay hidden…

(*STANDALONE, NO CLIFFHANGER*)

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The True Love Experiment

by Christina Lauren

DNADuo #2 

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • forced proximity
  • workplace
  • sassy heroine
  • old mature characters
  • reality TV
  • forbidden love
Blurb:

Sparks fly when a romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the perfect Hollywood love story and take both of their careers to the next level—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script.

Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.


*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°

GOODREADS | AMAZON

You & Me

by Tal Bauer

➥ Contemporary Romance

Tropes:

  • single dad romance
  • friends to lovers
  • bi-awakening
  • sports
  • mm romance
Blurb:

A single dads, friends-to-lovers, bi awakening MM Romance.

We’re a puzzle made of two pieces.

Landon Larsen is the envy of all the dads in Last Waters, Texas. He’s cool, confident, and put together. He and his son—the high school’s all-star quarterback—have the perfect father-son relationship. He’s such a Super Dad, it’s almost sickening.

I’m not cool, or confident, and my relationship with my son couldn’t be worse. He’s barely speaking to me, and a year after my wife died, we’re both clinging to the wreckage of our family.

Landon’s son and mine are best friends and—of course—Landon is the football Team Dad. And though I know nothing about football, Landon convinces me to volunteer to be closer to my son. Volunteering might give him and me a chance to rebuild what’s broken between us. Now I’m spending all my free time with the team—and with Landon—and the more we’re together, the deeper our friendship grows. My son is opening up, too, little by little. I think I’m getting him back.

There’s just one giant problem.

I’m head over heels for Landon.

I’ve never been attracted to men in my life… until him. Landon draws me in without even trying, and the harder I fight this, the deeper I fall.

Crushing on my son’s best friend’s father must be my biggest parenting failure ever, but I can’t get enough of Landon. Falling for him puts each fragile moment I’ve rebuilt with my son at risk. What would he think if he knew I craved his best friend’s dad? I’m playing with fire, but I can’t turn off these feelings Landon has unlocked inside of me.

Of course, a guy like Landon could never fall for someone like me. It’s pointless to even imagine we could be something together.
So why did I just kiss him?

***

You & Me is a single dads, friends-to-lovers, bi awakening MM romance, full of dads and their exasperating teenage sons, high school sports shenanigans, and #FoundFamily. Come for the epic love, stay for the forever feels.

GOODREADS | AMAZON

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