This was a cute read about a dad trying to understand his teenage daughter and trying to bond with her by taking her to this dad/daughter camp. As a daughter it was interesting to follow this book through the dad’s perspective. I liked the other dads and the overall journey that the group went on!

This was such a heartwarming tale about a father and daughters relationship. I flew through this book it was fun fast paced and so heartwarming. The writing was easy and engaging and fast paced and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest opinion.

I'm not sure I'm the audience for this sweet, humorous look at father-daughter relationships--and one specific father who is trying to cling to precious moments with his girl before she heads into 6th grade. Gentle wackiness ensues at Camp Triumph, where a cohort of dads and their daughters try to bond over archery, s'mores, and camp songs.

Is this dad comedies a genre? I feel like this has the energy of a Kevin James ensemble movie, maybe with Adam Sandler. Anyway, if this is your jam, or if you are dad about to send your daughter off to middle school, you will probably enjoy this.

<i>I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley for an honest review.</i>

I'm one of the first ones to admit that I don't give dad's near enough credit, especially in fiction. They get cast so easily as the villain, or even forgotten.

In Dad Camp, John has noticed a gap growing between him and his daughter Avery. They used to do everything together, he's always been her buddy and there for her, but as she gets ready to enter middle school, he feels like he's being pushed farther and farther away. So he signs them up for a summer camp - and also manages to get her away from the try outs for the traveling soccer team that he can't follow her to.

John's expectations of the camp are that there will be plenty of activities for him and Avery to bond over. To have time away where they can spend quality time, and remind her of how well they work together. Instead, other than one group activity a day with the girls, John finds himself pushed into activities with his worst nightmare - the other dads.

A look into different relationships that can develop between dads and daughters. The different ways they can let them down. The saving grace, the realization that it's not too late and things can change. The ways dads can be there for their daughters.

Like I said, it's so easy to overlook the time and role dad's can have in their children's life, especially their daughters. Parents give so much when their children are born, and they don't always understand the needs that come with different ages as their child grows up. This was such a sweet book, with such an earnest dad.

Thank you to Penguin Group for the ARC through NetGalley! I would have missed this one if you hadn't recommended it for me, and I would have been sad to miss out on this gem!

Dad camp is as the title suggests, campy. It’s a story about a dad trying to hang on to his fun filled adventurous relationship with his preteen daughter. As a last ditch effort to strengthen this bond he enrolls them in a week long retreat that turns out to be a lot more soul searching than he bargained for. John and the other fathers are forced to confront their own views of fatherhood and reckon with how they relate to other men as much as to their daughters.

This was a cute book and I think the descriptions encapsulated a lot of the meat of the story. I could tell the author was a man (and a dad) pretty quickly and it seemed like he was almost writing his own story, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I felt like John, the main dad was just floating by and not always fully in the story at times. I would have liked the book more if you actually had different perspectives from the other dads, beyond just their letters home. Overall, it was a cute read and enjoyable.

This was so sweet ❤️
I adored John and Avery’s relationship, and I found both of them really relatable and realistic.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator was great. It felt like he really was John.

I wish I had more to say about Dad Camp. I enjoyed it, just don’t have a lot to mention specifically since it’s not the romance books I normally read lol.

This was a very sweet book examining father daughter relationships. I really enjoyed this one. I thought the author did a good job of developing his characters, even the side characters of the other dads at the camp. It gave perfect summer camp vibes, and I felt like I was right in the cabin with John and Avery. It was heart warming, showing the struggles that fathers can have relating to their daughters and it was touching at the end how each of the dads in John's group seemed to grow because of the camp. It was a bit cheesy at time, but overall I found it to be quite charming and I appreciated this book. I would recommend for anybody who loves books with a summer camp vibe, young parents, and who appreciate developing strong father daughter relationships

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for an advanced reading copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

Dad Camp is a unique twist on the standard coming-of-age story in that instead of the pre-teen discovering themselves, in this case the focus is on the dad, John and his struggle to find his identity after his eleven-year-old daughter Avery suddenly doesn't want to spend all her time with him. In a last-ditch effort to save his relationship, he books a weeklong stay at a Daddy/Daughter summer camp.

Although this book is saccharine sweet and delves deep into the emotional bonds that dads have or in the case of some of the side characters, don't have, with their daughters during the tween years, I felt that not only Avery acted a bit too old for her tender age of 11 and would have been better aged up by a year to 12, but I also felt John was the most vanilla of vanilla dads and husbands. I found his humor to be extremely juvenile and his observations to the world around him were without substance. I was expecting a lot more humor and funny scenes, but instead got a lot of feel-good situations that felt a bit too neatly wrapped up with a bow.

I'm not quite sure who the audience this one is writen for. Dads are unlikely to read it as it is a family drama and moms aren't going to be able to relate to the dads so much as the moms on the sidelines putting up with their idiot husbands. It was an enjoyable read, however and as a mom of 2 teenagers, there are many insights that prove to be very true with wanting to hold on to your babies for as long as possible, but also wanting them to be independent. I would recommend this book for fans of Fredrik Backman if you like a feel good book, but don't expect to laugh out loud.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dutton, and Evan S. Porter for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

I started out fairly frustrated with the predictability of this book but, I stuck with it and it got better. When you start rooting for "Dad" to stop making stupid decisions you are hooked. A little bit sappy in places but it gives you all the feels. Nice afternoon read.

I thought this was a really fun story about a father, John, who in an effort to reconnect with his daughter, Avery, signs them up for a father-daughter summer camp.
I personally didn’t find John’s character very likable, but he did redeem himself somewhat towards the end.
Overall, I thought this was a heartwarming story, with a simple plot that was well written.

I love a book set at a camp, and this was an interesting twist on the typical camp set-up. It took a while for the main character to grow on me, but I did end up liking him. The dad-daughter relationships were interesting, but I feel like more could’ve been done with it.

This was such a great summer read full of heart. This was a great change of pace from summer thrillers and had great characters.

While I'm sure this book resonates for adult men who have never been to therapy, anyone who has ever been therapy adjacent or has met an eleven year old girl before is going to cringe so hard that it is physically painful. I didn't find this heartwarming, I found it frustrating.

Both the daughters and the dads were one-dimensional. The supporting cast of children did not feel like kids, they felt like the stereotypes of kids that adults make. Avery was written way too old for her age - while I know she was supposed to be overly mature, it was way too much. Opportunities the author could have taken to flesh out the supporting cast, including taking an intersectional look at parenting, were missed in favor of another description about how terrible everything was. The brightest spot for me were the letters home, as those were particularly poignant. Otherwise I felt like this book was very flat.

It seems I'm in the minority here, but I would be remiss if I did not give my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC, sorry that this one didn't really work out for me.

Dad Camp is a sweet preteen, father-daughter story. For those who with kids, who are just starting to dive into the early stages of puberty this book will resonate with you. This story is nostalgic and tender. That has heavy themes in fitting in, workaholic syndrome, and family relations. It's a sweet read for the summer.

I saw this title while pregnant with my beautiful daughter who is now 4 months old. I thought the plot sounded cute, and I wanted to get a glimpse at what my husband’s relationship with our baby might look like one day.

Perhaps I went in too hopeful?

This book was… just okay. I did not feel attached to the characters, and really did not like our main dad, John. We really did not see much of the campers’ day to day, which was weird? Maybe it wasn’t, but I expected more CAMPISH CONTENT? To be fair…. So did our cast. This poor place really needed a makeover. Which reminds me of the end of the book when the dads all band together to save the dilapidated cabins. In a single afternoon? Not a chance. I don’t know. I think this book could be someone’s cup of tea for sure, but it wasn’t mine.

That’s all my two remaining brain cells can conjure up to say, folks. As stated above, I have a four month old baby.

Dad camp is a book about John who is a Stay-at-home dad to his daughter Avery who is 11 years old and athletic. John is clearly out of touch with his daughter and his wife. He is overly obsessed with his daughter. As he feels there is a gap growing between him- he signs the two of them up to Dad camp and surprises his daughter with the trip.
At camp he meets other dads also struggling with relationships with their daughters and it tells of their struggles. To be honest – I almost liked the other dad’s as characters more than John. I did like that John finally realized what he needed to do to repair relationship with his wife and daughter. Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the advance reader copy.

I am kindly giving this 3 stars, rounded up from 2.5. I did not like it. I considered DNF'ing at 25% but continued on. I did finish it, but feel more annoyed than relieved.
<i>Dad Camp</i> started off with the impression of a man continuing his own generational trauma. It was dripping with the desperation of a dad who feels like he is losing touch with his 11 year old daughter and wanting nothing more than to rekindle their relationship. Not just desperation, it read like cringey, pathetic desperation.
My hope with continuing to finish this book was that the dad would redeem himself from selfishly making decisions on his daughter's behalf for his own benefit. Kids are smart. They pick up on the shifts that parents put on. I'm glad Avery, his daughter, was intelligent and not afraid to finally speak her truths.

I ended up not finishing this book unfortunately. I couldn't get into the story and the characters didn't grab my attention.

I read Dad Camp by Evan S. Porter, and I had a great time with it. The book follows a dad and his daughter who spent the week before school at a summer camp.

I first heard about this book several months ago when Matthew Norman, an author whose books that I love (Charm City Rocks, Last Couple Standing, and We’re All Damaged to name a few.) promoted it on… His Twitter, I think. (Note: I will never call it X.) I thought that the book sounded up my alley and wanted to give it a chance.

I was rewarded with a funny and charming book that brought me to tears on one occasion.

Dad Camp is basically exactly what you’re envisioning. John feels his always-tight relationship with his daughter Avery slipping as she’s gearing up to enter middle school. So what does he do? He does an incredibly risky thing and signs the two of them up for a father-daughter camp which is obviously exactly what a preteen wants to do with their dad for an entire week in the summer.

Porter does a great job of giving the book heart and the characters truly feel alive. All of the main quartet of dads in this book feel like people I’ve met. And, in the midst of this book about father-daughter bonding, a terrific lesson in masculinity is presented by our Quad Dads when they think they are drunk. It’s a hilarious and heartfelt scene.

I really like this book and think you should give it a read.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thank you @netgalley and Penguin Group - Dutton for the opportunity to read and review this e-ARC.

What a sweet story about the relationship of fathers and daughters. Definitely made me miss mine.

The relationships among the different dads and daughters were perfect. The way they were able to work through their problems and build stronger bonds was inspiring. Playful and witty banter made it even more enjoyable. Definitely a quick, sweet read.