The Single Dad's Guide to Recreation

Karen Grey pens another fabulous novel, a small town romance that warms your heart and captivates your attention the entire time. “The Single Dad’s Guide to Recreation” is the first book of her new “Welcome to Climax” series and it is set in the same world as the amazing “Farm 2 Forking” series, a not-to-be-missed multi-author series, one of my favorites series, so it is great to be back in that world again. I loved everything about this book, from Grey’s wonderful writing style to the characters and storylines she created, to the perfectly cast narrators who bring it all to life, from the pages to your ears. I adored the two lead characters, Avery and Josh, who are realistic, easy to relate to and I was rooting for them all along. Avery has a lot on her plate since returning to her hometown of Climax, NY, and childhood home, wearing multiple hats at her job at Climax’s Parks and Rec and helping her parents while her mom battles chronic illness. Josh, a single dad and newcomer to Climax, working for a company that is looking to reorganize and re-structure Parks and Rec so it could run more efficiently, and the program her mother founded may be on the chopping block. The two are bound to bonk heads, she wanting to save her mother’s program and he wanting to save the budget. I loved all the layers of this story and how it all played out, with the perfect balance of drama, witty dialogue and humor, heartwarming moments, heartfelt emotions, and a steamy romance. The complexity of these characters, their growth and development, the plotting and world building are all fantastic and add depth to the story. Karen Grey, thank you for another wonderful story and emotional roller coaster ride.

🎧📚🎧 And for the amazing audiobook narration, Carly Robins and Grayson Owens gave stellar voice performances, perfectly embodying each character. Exceptional in the two lead roles, Robins aced it as Avery, perfectly showcasing every aspect of her personality and demeanor. Grays did the same as Josh and was just as fabulous. Both were fantastic performing the roles of the side/secondary characters too. Their pacing and tone were just right for the story and they captured all the characters’ emotions and had you feeling them all. They made a great team, with voices and talent that complemented each other and a performance that riveted you to the story. As storytellers, they are entertaining and a delight to listen to.

The Single Dad’s Guide to Recreation is so . . . so . . . so Karen Grey. If you are a long-time fan like I am, you’ll see it right away. It’s not that all her stories sound alike, they most certainly do not, but it’s an almost indescribable feeling you get. The story just seems to blossom and unfold before your eyes: the setting becomes alive and vibrant, the characters are developed dimension by dimension and the plot just rolls along, gathering emotion, humor, will-they, won’t-they to its very satisfying conclusion.

We come to Climax, New York via author Grey’s contribution to the Bedd Fellows Farm four-book series. Familiar characters and animals and we had just a little peek at Josh Harmon.

Josh’s life blew up about a year and a half ago when his wife Lisa died. He’s still overwhelmed and he’s come to Climax so his parents can help with his two small children. Avery Mills was born and raised in Climax but left to work in the big city. After a brutal betrayal she came back to heal, and when she realized the state of her parents’ health she stayed to care for them. When they meet, it’s typical Grey: touching, sweet, funny. Josh has been stumbling and slumbering through his life, more asleep than awake until the first time he sets eyes on Avery, or more accurately when she literally falls into his arms. It’s like a bucket of ice water to the face – he’s awake now. And Avery? It’s as if she looked up and Prince Charming was standing there, except instead of curtsying like a princess would she tripped and fell into him. One look, and one feel of those arms around her, and her life is suddenly Before Josh Times and After Josh Times. She sees a ring and thinks he’s married, then that he’s still wearing the ring because he’s still grieving, but her pesky subconscious won’t let that attraction go. What is wrong with her? And Josh wonders what is wrong with him. He can’t decide whether to take that ring off or not, but there was a lot of turmoil and sadness in his marriage and these emotions he’s feeling around Avery are new to him. Maybe he has Before Avery Times and After Avery Times?

Josh needs his job. Avery needs her job. And Josh’s job is to get rid of Avery’s job. This isn’t going to be conflict-free, is it?

His job is the only thing Josh feels certain of, capable at, and he needs it to support his family. Avery’s “big city” dreams went away when she decided to stay in Climax and her job at Climax Parks & Rec, her friends, her family are everything to her. And especially important to her is the parent-toddler class called Playgroup, created and run by her mother before she became too ill to continue.

Josh works for Trede Corporation, founded by Elijah Ransom (maybe a little hook there for the next book?) who spent time as a young man in Climax and decided to establish headquarters there and invest in the community, but part of the deal is to upgrade facilities and programs and make improvements to serve the entire community. Playgroup is very valuable and very popular – but serves only a tiny portion of the community, and logically it should be first on the list of cuts. This makes Josh and Avery enemies – but they’re not. Not when those clock tower bells ring whenever they are close together. In fact, they are very, very compatible except for the Playgroup thing.

Grey expertly populates the story with colorful family and friends, relationships that have gone awry, tough decisions that have to be made and with humor and tenderness and a whole lot of spice running through it all. Imagine those bells, Avery’s hilarious word substitutions to avoid using naughty words around the toddlers, an exciting, sexy work trip (yes, you heard me) and scene after scene of pure reading enjoyment. If you can only take one trip this year, take it to Climax. You will love your time there as much as I did. I received an advance copy of The Single Dad’s Guide to Recreation from the author. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

This story was entertaining with excellent banter! Circumstances relatable & realistic with a sprinkle of small town shenanigans at almost every turn. It’s a story full of laughs, hope and love!