Yes, Daddy caught my attention with its description as a "scorching modern gothic" exploring themes of classism, power dynamics, victimization and complicity. I was immediately hooked! So many red flags flying everywhere as the main character, Jonah, strikes up a relationship with an older playwright Richard. Jonah, himself an aspiring playwright struggling to make ends meet in NYC, accompanies Richard to the Hamptons where he finds himself struggling to fit in. The story opens with a rape trial in 2011, where Jonah has been asked to testify against Richard, and then goes back to 2009 and the beginning of Jonah and Richard's relationship. The writing, like the plot, is intoxicating.

This is a gripping examination of the intersection of trauma, faith, sexuality, healing and forgiveness. It’s a lot to take on, but I think it was well done. The nightmarish horror sequence in the Hamptons was difficult to read, and I hate to think that it was based on a real-life situation. However, as we continue to find out in this “me too” era, people in positions of power get away with all kinds of abuse. I also found the exploration of what it means to be gay and Christian refreshing; not many contemporary novels are willing to address faith-based issues in such a direct, realistic way. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dark and haunting, intensely gripping, terrifying. I felt like I was taken through so much reason this book, my responses to what was happening swinging left and right. I’m not quite sure if I “like” all of it. But it was good and I couldn’t stop reading, so that’s saying something about Parks-Ramage’s writing for sure. I’m sure this book will sit with me for a good long while.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of Yes, Daddy. This book was really well written and dealt with extremely heavy subject matter. Parts were hard to get through due to some personal triggers but after recollecting myself a few times, I was able to power through and am glad that I finished it. I would definitely warn people to be aware of potentially triggering content before reading, but I think the description of the book does a good job of letting readers know what to expect (though the book does get much more graphically detailed than I had anticipated, and delves deeply into the psychological state of the main character in ways that can feel shocking at times). Overall the author realistically portrayed trauma, and I think that is so important. Great book from an Own Voices author, who delves into abuse, trauma, religion, and the Me Too movement, while depicting something that so often gets ignored - that men can be and often are victims of violence and abuse.

Trigger warnings for rape, sexual abuse, physical abuse, self-harm and suicide follow. Also, spoilers.

Wow… this dark novel of fantasy gone horribly wrong hits the ground running and never stops. The novel gets dire quickly and continues on a brutal path until the very end.

Jonah is a broke young man, barely making it as a waiter in an NYC restaurant known for its closeted-celebrity clientele. His boss is an asshole, and his job thankless. He is expected to deal with the patrons whose hands stray across his body or even outright grab him, all in the name of making these celebrities feel at home.

However, Jonah, who is also a budding playwright, engineers an encounter with Richard, an older openly-gay playwright whom Jonah believes can give him a leg up in the industry while also pro diving him with love and comfort and a life of luxury.

How wrong he is.

I don’t wish to spoil the rest of the novel, but the trigger warnings above are not to be taken lightly. This novel is painfully dark and will make your skin crawl.

That is not to say anything poor about the writing - it is superb! and the story is unlike any other that I have read before. I expect this book to be a success and I expect that we will be hearing a lot more from Mr. Parks-Ramage.

This book is hard to rate, because it is in three distinct parts. It's also a bit tricky to review, because almost anything feels like a spoiler.

The first part (which is the first 2/3 of the book) is a distinct gothic horror, an escalating sense of unease and building tension. It is sad, and frustrating and moving. It focusses on Jonah, a gay man living in New York who has an evangelical Christian upbringing and what happens to him when he gets involved with a famous playwrite. (5/5)

The second part gets very Christian very fast, and then rolls to an abrupt and shocking conclusion. It started to feel to me like the author had not planned how to resolve the issues from the first part. (3/5)

The final part was the shortest, but also strangest. The book had been slowly turning epislotolic and it completes that transition, although writing letters that will never be sent is basically like writing in a diary. This section also just tells a whole story about Jonah's Dad that I didn't need to know, and that does not feel consistent with the rest of the book.(2/5)

So it was a bit of a roller coaster. I would definitly read another book by Jonathan Parks-Ramage, because this started out very strongly. I wish it had kept up that level of plotting and writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the free copy in exchange for an honst review.

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Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage is a thrilling, subtly gothic, and at time terrifying novel of trauma, and the lengths people will go to to survive that trauma. I loved this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a dark, queer, and quick read.

Following Jonah, an aspiring writer who is down on his luck and at risk of falling through the cracks of Ney York City's constantly moving creative machine, the novel centers on Jonah's ambition to raise himself up toward stardom by conveniently crossing paths with Richard, a high-level writer and producer. Little does Jonah know, this meeting with change the course of his life forever and in ways he cannot fathom.

The primary focus of this novel is its elements of gothic terror. I was genuinely unsettled by this book and its subtle and overt elements of horror. The moments of intense terror are bright and startling, with the more insidious elements of emotional and psychological manipulation being subtly chilling.

As a queer novel, Yes, Daddy was a phenomenal look into the structure of the gay scene in New York and the ways in which queer male power dynamics manifest themselves. As a thriller/horror novel, however, those power dynamics are ultimately skewed in the direction of the grotesque, the horrifying, and the violent. Mystery abounds in this novel, and like any good writer, Parks-Ramage leaves unsettling clues for the reader that all is not what it seems before his main character realizes the danger he could be in.

Parks-Ramage's representation of mental illness (anxiety/depression/PTSD) was exceedingly striking. As much as this novel exhibits the exaggerated horror of the Gothic, the text is grounded in the real. Taking his ques from real events, Parks-Ramage tells a story of complicated victimhood, and of the systemic issues that abusers take advantage of when searching for people to victimize. However, Yes, Daddy is also a story of redemption and rising above suffering in ways that are unexpected.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's a book about a dumb twink and his relationship with a sugar daddy, and we know it's going to end poorly because the very first scene is a flash forward. The book tries to be three different things at the same time: a drama about abuse, a thriller, and a porno, but isn't convincing as any of those. ⁠
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The book doesn’t even attempt to gently imply Richard's real nature, it just slams it in your face: he acts abusively every once in a while and Jonah pretends it's perfectly normal. ⁠
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Thriller-wise, I was hoping for a big reveal in which Jonah turns out to be even sneaker and worse than Richard, but it doesn't come--the plot is exactly what the blurb says it is. Throughout, I kept remembering that awkward couple from "Meet my daddy" videos people were talking about a while back on YouTube. ⁠
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The only thing I enjoyed were the elements of second-person narration and Jonah speaking directly to the other victim. It kind of grounded the story and made it slightly more realistic. My point is, I feel like the story dramatized abuse and made it this big organized Hollywood thing with secret basements and evil parties and conspiracies instead of portraying it realistically. ⁠
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I was hoping Jonah would grow as a character and do something (anything). Quite early in the book, after a very serious scene of group rape, he decides to get back together with Richard because it's easier than figuring out how to get home and pay rent?! His narration becomes overly logical, and yet I don't understand what his motivation is. I don't think the author knew, either, it was just a good enough reason to just continue with the plot. What about some psychological tension between Jonah and Richard, then? Nope. ⁠
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It's nice that they go SHOPPING though 🤷 ⁠
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All in all, I expected a balanced and realistic story of a relationship turning abusive OR a summer thriller but what I was offered instead was a mediocre porn script with an ending that attempts to be deep. If survivors of abuse keep being portrayed like this, we will never get over that 'blame the victim' culture.

I have never read a book like this before. It’s very dark and very disturbing. How much misery can one person take? Jonah is a gay man living in New York hoping to find love. He has formulated a plan and he is going to go after what he wants. But what he finds is some thing no one would have imagined.

I was captivated right from the beginning of this book. It is heartbreaking and devastating. It’s such a fast book to read. Once you start you just don’t want to put it down.

This book has multiple trigger warnings. Rape, domestic abuse and violence.

Thank you NetGalley for this ebook.

I didn’t have any expectations going in to this book. The cover is gorgeous and the synopsis sounded intriguing. This book was so much more then I expected. From the very first chapter I was hooked.

This book was about a young man named Jonah and his story that begins with meeting a rich older playwright and the torture he goes through at his hands. There are definite trigger warnings for sexual assault, so make sure to look them up if you need to.

Overall, I loved this story. The middle does get a little long, but I think it was needed in order to get to where we do at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC for my honest review.

4 Stars!

I really cannot believe this was a debut. Talk about some smart, witty, and powerful writing. From the moment I came across this book on NetGalley, I was intrigued. At first, from that title, I assumed it was going to be about some M/M BDSM naughtiness... and there definitely is some of that in here, but this book is soooo much more than that. Fans of My Dark Vanessa should DEFINITELY have this book on their radar.

"...In a building that had been advertised on Craigslist as a 'hip artist loft in the heart of Bushwick,' although 'gutter-trash shithole in the ass-crack of hell' seemed a more apt description."

We meet Jonah who is an aspiring writer trying to make it on his own in NYC. He's barely making ends meet...like, he struggles to make his rent on a monthly basis despite working as much as he can and picking up extra shifts. He comes across Richard Shriver online who is a wealthy screenwriter, author, and successful playwright, and is quickly able to surmise that he is exactly Richard's type. So, he devises a plan to seduce him.

That's about all I'm going to disclose. What ensues from there is a plan gone horribly wrong and an unfolding of events that kept me glued to the pages and invested in these characters.

I usually don't mention triggers but I think I will here. For this book, they include: homophobia, sexual abuse, mental illness, suicide.

In this #metoo era, this is a look from another angle of the issue and a crucial one. This book shook me to my core and made me wonder fear how much of this happens in real life.

I do wish that we could have seen Jonah [ find love in a relationship for himself. (hide spoiler)] For me, this would have been the final piece of the puzzle in his journey towards healing.

I saw on the author's IG page that Amazon will be adapting this story into a television series and I cannot wait!! It will make a fantastic one.

Yes, Daddy is a raw story about victimhood and what can follow. The author pulls no punches in this stunning debut with his razor sharp writing and storytelling ability. My heart broke for Jonah and the other men of the compound. I am still thinking about this book days after finishing it. Jonathan Parks-Ramage is an instant author to take notice of and I cannot wait to read more of his work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for this Advanced Review Copy which I received in exchange for an honest review.

This is definitely not the book I thought it would be based on the description. I thought this would be a modern Gatsby type story, but it’s nothing even remotely close.

I read 67% and then I had to stop. It is too graphic for me and it does not have any redeeming qualities. The writing is mediocre, I can’t stand any of the characters, and it just disgusted me, completely.

I did enjoy the first part of the story - the “I’m stalking a famous playwright so he’ll fall in love with me” part. After that, it went downhill - and quickly.

A propulsive, scorching modern gothic, Yes, Daddy follows an ambitious young man who is lured by an older, successful playwright into a dizzying world of wealth and an idyllic Hamptons home where things take a nightmarish turn.

“Wow. Jonathan Parks-Ramage’s debut novel, Yes,Daddy, is thought-provoking, disturbing, and emotional commentary on the power dynamics in a relationship and how easy it is to find yourself powerless. It’s a fascinating look at #MeToo from a gay man’s perspective.”

Jonah Keller is a young man, who moves to NYC from a small Illinois town, with the dreams of becoming a playwright.
Richard Shriver, a famous and award winning playwright. Jonah orchestrâtes a way to meet him. Hoping to seduce the older man and possibly jumping starting his own career with Richard by his side.

Jonah’s well researched plan works and they begin a lustful and turbulent affair, although Richard is a mercurial man to deal with. When summer comes around his invited to spend the summer with Richard and his famous friends in the Hamptons. Things intensify, there’s alcohol, waiters who are all young, beefy gay men and drugs. What could go wrong?

Things take a dark turn when Richard breaks up with Jonah. He realizes that there is something far more sinister happening at the compound and finds out why he is really invited in the first place. Jonah can’t stop thinking about dangerous revenge.

“The book is not even out yet, and Amazon Studios has announced an adaptation.”

“Riveting, unpredictable, and compulsively readable, Yes, Daddy is an exploration of class, power dynamics, and the nuance of victimhood and complicity. It burns with weight and clarity–and offers hope that stories may hold the key to our healing.”

Perfect for fans who loves K.M. Szpara writing style with a dash of Adam Silvera.
Can’t wait for Parks-Ramage’s new work 🙌🏻

Jonah is a young waiter, struggling with aspirations of being a writer. He sets out to meet Richard, a famous playwright, who appears to have a history of dating younger men so Jonah decides to shoot his shot. As the relationship progresses, soon the perfect boyfriend and couples trip turns into a nightmare of epic proportions.

There were some very heavy subject matters in this book so be mindful to read the CW first.

There were moments I had to step back from the brutality and realness of it all. It was, at times, difficult to read but I haven’t read a book like this before and it has stayed with me and opened my eyes to things I couldn’t have imagined. I appreciated the take on the MeToo movement highlighting the difficulties young men face when speaking out against their abusers.

This book is so well written and powerful. It’s not an easy one but I feel like it’s an important one.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free arc. All opinions are my own.

QUICK TAKE: fair warning, this book is extremely dark and provocative. Following a young playwright who sets his sights on climbing the industry ladder by any means necessary who gets in way over his head when he makes a move on an older, established playwright. The book is full of graphic sexual content, including sexual assault, but is also a complex look at a story and characters that feels closer to real life than it should. The last 1/3 of the book gets a little bogged down in religious undertones and redemption that seem to be prevalent in a lot of queer fiction, but ultimately I found myself thinking about this book long after I finished.

Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage is a disturbingly dark, powerful, and emotional novel which follows Jonah, an aspiring playwright trying to make ends meet in NYC.

Not only is Jonah struggling to pay his bills and rent, he’s also having a difficult time making connections that might help jumpstart his writing career. Enter the wickedly famous playwright Richard Shriver. Jonah orchestrates a chance meeting with Richard and the two quickly become romantically involved. After several weeks of wining and dining, Richard invites Jonah on a trip to his home in the Hamptons. It seems that Jonah’s luck is starting to look up until that fateful weekend takes a sudden horrific turn.

I don’t want to go into much more about the plot but be aware that this novel is difficult to read at times. Trigger warnings: rape, physical and emotional abuse, drug abuse. Jonah and several other characters in the book experience extreme sexual and emotional trauma and I think Parks-Ramage did a great job handling such a difficult topic.

If I could rate the first 50% of this book, I’d give it 5 stars. However, around the 70% mark, the storyline became choppy and the ending felt rushed. Overall, I’m rating this book 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. This book is both a queer psychological thriller and a meditation on how religion can profoundly impact our identities and relationships, particularly for those in the LGBTQ community. At times, the story felt incredibly dark and disturbing, with the propulsive plot and twists of a thriller, and at others the writing was contemplative and insightful in tackling the grief and trauma that define this narrative. This book totally surprised me, and I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. I'm grateful for the author's voice and the respectful way he tackled the issues in the story.

Please research the trigger/content warnings for rape, sexual assault, conversion therapy, substance abuse, and suicide before reading if you think that will be important for you ⚠️.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC!

I thought I knew what I was signing up for with this book, but in no way was I prepared. This was DARK.

Jonah is a poor NYC transplant with dreams of being a playwright. He works at a restaurant with just a terrible human for a manager, and his finances are basically nonexistent. Then he meets Richard.

Richard, a very successful playwright some thirty years his senior, and Jonah begin a relationship that is pretty dark from the get-go. Richard convinces Jonah to come with him for a weekend to the Hamptons, and shit gets real bad, real quick.

This book was not an easy read, but I could not stop reading it. I couldn't believe what was happening and had to know what was going to go down next. Jonah is not exactly a likable character, yet I could not stop rooting for him. I wanted him to succeed and do better and STOP PUTTING HIMSELF IN TERRIBLE SITUATIONS.

As other reviewers have noted, the back half of the book hits hard on religion. I, however, thought it fit with where Jonah's headspace was and didn't necessarily mind the story going there. Also, this is a debut novel? So, like, damn. I can't wait to see what else JPR does!

This was a hard one to rate because it deals with such heavy themes. So, saying I enjoyed all this feels like the wrong words, but I did read it in less than 12 hours, so. It was a very intense reading experience, and if you can handle dark and gloomy and all the mentioned triggers above, give it a go!

TWs: rape, victim-blaming, gaslighting, abuse, super toxic relationships, conversion therapy, homophobia, drug abuse, a whole lot of religious stuff, mentions of child sexual abuse and incest, suicide, basically sexual slavery

Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage is a difficult book to read. I certainly can't say that I enjoyed it but it was thought-provoking. Books like this are integral to Society moving forwards and I feel as though they should always be promoted and read.

Jonah comes from an extremely religious family ... and his escape route was to create a lie that would ruin his father. This book is about Jonah and his relationship with Richard. Richard happens to be a powerful, wealthy, successful playwright while Jonah is an aspiring writer. Jonah sets his sights on Richard; he thinks he's attractive and he wants to meet him. What he doesn't expect is the way their relationship begins to quickly erode the control he has over his own life.

Jonah goes from "finding a boyfriend" to being sexually and physically assaulted constantly while being held captive on a compound. Jonah is a very interesting character. He isn't always likable and I can't say that I even understood all his decisions. There were definitely times when I was angry with him, times when I was frustrated - but I think that's a nod to Jonathan Parks-Ramage's writing. But isn't this how we deal with our trauma?  We think we have it all figured out and often we do the exact opposite of what we should.

Jonathan Parks-Ramage has written an important piece of work. This is a definite exploration into the way that a power imbalance in a relationship can be weaponized. Because of the events in Jonah's past, he lacks confidence and a secure foundation. By dating Richard, Jonah is trying to create a world in which he has love, a home, and security. Sadly, Richard is just the kind of vile kind of human being who will take advantage of someone like Jonah.

The plot is revealed through Jonah's POV. I did find it a bit disconcerting when he was addressing a character simply referred to as "you". But, the author has done a great job of unraveling the story in a way that makes it intriguing in spite of how disturbing and frightening it is. 

This book is difficult to read because of the subject matter, perhaps made even more poignant by the fact that the Queer community has long dealt with the issues that are depicted within. The #MeToo movement may have lost a bit of its value to the press but these types of stories will always be important and valid. This book wasn't what I expected but it has certainly left an impression on me that will be long-lasting.

Wow...I don't...really know what to say about this book...? It's dark...and twisted...and grabs ahold of you. You keep wondering where the book's going after that opening moment. Will it be a revenge tale? Will it have a sad ending or an uplifting one? It's 100% a page turner. But...

...it falls a bit flat, probably because of the expectations I had going into it. Is it timely? Oh yes. Is it deep? Yep...there's a lot to unpack here. It had me right up to the point where (non spoiler here, as you know it happens from the moment the book starts) where Jonah escapes. Then it just...flounders. You think it's going to go one way, then it zags in a different, unnecessary religious direction that ultimately goes nowhere and thus feels like filler to get to the end point, which seems rushed and convenient. What you want to happen doesn't, and then it's over, and it's a bit disappointing. Not enough to write off the story being told, but...enough to make you want to give it 3 stars instead of 4, if you know what I mean. And it's such a dark story, I can't really see myself ACTIVELY handselling it..but if someone asks about it, I can tell them my thoughts.

Overall, a solid book with a not-so-great denouement.