ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀

ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: 𝑫𝒂𝒅 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒑 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫-𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐰-𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞. 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬—𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞—𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤!

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝐸𝓋𝒶𝓃 𝒮. 𝒫𝑜𝓇𝓉𝑒𝓇, 𝒫𝑒𝓃𝑔𝓊𝒾𝓃 𝒢𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓅 𝒟𝓊𝓉𝓉𝑜𝓃, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Dad camp
By Evan S Porter
3.5/5⭐️


Dad camp focuses on dad John and daughter Avery who is 11 and having a hard time talking and connecting with her dad like she used to. On her last week of summer break her dad surprises her with a trip to a camp 2 hours away for dads and daughters hoping to help get their relationship back on the right track. They meet other dads and daughters who have bigger problems than John and Avery so he believes they don’t belong there and they should leave. They do end up staying and nothing goes particularly right. As the week goes on their relationship seems to strain even more. Can they get back on track with where they were before the week is over?

Dad camp was overall a very cute book. It does highlight the difficulty of being a parent. I enjoyed all the funny hijinks the characters got into. The “men’s group” scene was funny. I enjoyed the message that this book showed.

Thank you to the author Evan S. Porter, the publisher Penguin Group Dutton and Netgally for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This fun, feel good story, was a quick read that held my interest. You can see the parent/child relationship from both sides and see how this dad and his daughter deepen their relationship through their time together.

I don't have kids and preteens and teenagers terrify me a bit, so I went into this book cautiously. Though there is a healthy amount of teen attitude, this is a sweet and meaningful book about a dad trying to connect with his daughter. I loved the unique point-of-view and I loved the way John connected with the other dads as well. This is my idea of a perfect summer read.

John decides he needs to spend more time connecting with his eleven-year old daughter and take her on a camping trip. They used to be best buds, but now Avery is an eye-rolling preteen. The week long camping trip takes them far from civilization and every attempt to connect seems to push Avery further away. Between toxic dads, cheesy forced father-daughter activities John is determined to win back his daughter. This is a super sweet father-daughter story.

A dad wants to reconnect with his 11 year old daughter, so he books them for a father-daughter summer camp. What he thinks will be a fun adventure turns into a week of self-reflecting and growth.

Dad Camp is a light family drama. I do enjoy a story about dads trying to connect with their kids and be better parents. I was hoping for more humor, and it got a little too sappy for me.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very adorable, charming read. While I'm a mom rather than a dad, I felt like it really captured the struggles of parenting - the push and pull of maintaining your identity as a person and your marriage, while also giving everything you can to the human you created. Especially as they get into the tween/teen years, and start pulling away. My youngest is fifteen now, and I definitely mourn how cool he used to think I was!

I do think that John was awfully smug at times after his parenting skills versus the other dads, but some of the journey was realizing he shouldn't be. But his wife is a much more patient person than I am, because I would have told him off for keeping secrets from our daughter! I loved that you got to see different types of dads and daughters work together. I enjoyed this, and think anyone who has teens or tweens of their own would enjoy reading this story. It also made me miss my old summer camp! It was also nice to get to read something like this from a man's perspective. We often talk about how difficult being a mother is (and it is!), but it's rarer to be focused solely on dads as parents.

What a fun summery book about then ups and downs of a father daughter relationship. I really enjoyed getting to read this book. I liked getting the background and story on each of the 4 main dads and their relationship with their daughter and family. I really enjoyed how they all came together to give them the experience they wanted and leave nothing unsaid. I think this book did an amazing job and digging into the complicated emotions that go along with a dad daughter relationship. Truly a great read!

What happens when a hands on dad feels his almost eleven year old daughter slipping away? He signs them up for Dad Camp. John and Avery have always had a close, special bond, but lately Avery wants nothing to do with him. When John sees an ad for a dad and daughter away camp, he immediately signs them up. John waits until the last minute to spring the news and Avery is none too happy. After all he’s ruining the last week of summer and perhaps the rest of her life. Upon arrival John quickly sees that this camp is nothing like the nostalgic camps of his youth, the facilities are outdated, the food is barely passable and the other dads just aren’t what he was expecting. Soon he’s dreaming up ways to escape the week and head back home with Avery in tow, but circumstances prevent it. Buckling down he’s giving his all to enjoy it and mend his relationship with Avery. As the week progresses Avery seems even more distant and the harder he tries the more he fails. He’s sure she’s hiding something from him, but he’s keeping something from her as well, something big and the further they drift apart the harder it is to tell her. Days go by and the other dads and daughters seem to having some major breakthroughs, but John’s last ditch effort to make them friends again might just be too late. This was a delightful, heartwarming story filled with both humorous and poignant moments. A book that should be at the top of the list for all girl dads! Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Any parent who has tried their best with a child will, I think, relate to this father-daughter story. John has been a very devoted dad. However, as his daughter is now a pre-teen, she is distancing from him. Of course John misses what he had and does not want to lose his connection with Avery.

John decides that he and Avery will attend a week long camp together. However Camp Triumph is not exactly as it was described. How will the two fare? Will their relationship survive? Strengthen? Read this one to find out and get to know these two characters well. Readers will also meet many other daughter-dad dyads and see how they interact with each other.

I enjoyed this author’s writing style. It was one that drew me right in from the opening ball game.

This is a good choice for a summer read. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group-Dutton for this title. All opinions are my own.

In Dad Camp, a father took his tween daughter to a dad camp for a week where dads and daughters are there to reconnect. I loved the premise, I loved seeing these dads try and be there for their daughters and just better themselves as parents and I loved the camp vibes and competitions like capture the flag and archery. It was very sweet and bittersweet at the same time - that turning point when your kids are becoming more independent and don’t need you nearly as much. Time is fleeting and the years go by fast. Seeing these dads look back and analyze the prior years was very emotional. The one thing that bothered me was the dad withholding info from his daughter about a soccer team - maybe because my kids are soccer players but I yelled at the book anytime it came up (which was probably the point so it was effective on me). But setting that aside, this was a charming book about the love between dads and daughters.

I enjoyed this. Obviously I’m not a dad but I found the softball coach/parent of a pre-teen parts to be very relatable. I also liked the dad perspective that I don’t always think about. I also thought it was a nice variety of dads.

I don't often read books told from the dad's point of view, so this was a little bit different for me (in a good way, as it turns out)! John takes his daughter Avery to "Dad Camp" for a week to strengthen their bond. I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would- the pace of the novel was good, and saw quite a bit of character development/self-realization within a week.

Thank you Dutton, for the invitation to read this book, and to NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

A sweet story of a dad and preteen daughter with a little cheesy humor sprinkled around. This is a sweet story about the ever changing dynamics as our kids get older and need us less and less. It will make you laugh, cringe a little and tug at your heart strings. Thank you Net Galley and Penguin Group Dutton for the advance copy.

I feel guilty about not finishing this book before its pub day almost two weeks ago, but sometimes life just gets ahead of us. Nevertheless, I still want to spread plenty of love for it here on booksta because it was such a sweet, thoughtful, hilarious ride, and I think many of you will love it.

The premise of this book is pretty unique (see 2nd slide), and I was immediately hooked reading the description. It doesn’t hurt that I’m A) a sucker for summer camp novels, and B) a somewhat new parent myself, so novels exploring the various stages of parenthood are exactly my jar of jam right now.

I loved watching the relationship between John & Avery develop on the page, and visiting his memories of her as a younger child as he reflects on what he wishes he’d done differently. The author perfectly captures the bittersweet mixture of heartbreak and pride that comes as your children grow more independent.

I wasn’t fully expecting John’s relationship with his cabin mates/dad buds to be such a big part of the narrative, but it turned out to be an unexpected surprise. Each of them are struggling with fatherhood in their own way, and it was sweetly satisfying to see them help each other move past their insecurities and try to do better. I thought the depiction of grown men overcoming their reluctance to be emotionally vulnerable with one another was extremely well done. Maybe it’s because many of the novels I read have female MCs, but I don’t often see men’s mental health addressed so explicitly on page, which was refreshing.

I adored the humor in this book. Some of my favorite novels in recent years (The Guncle, Big Gay Wedding) utilize humor to process much heavier and complex emotions – particularly regret and grief – and this book is no exception. At times the writing did not feel quite as developed as I would have liked, but it is still an outstanding debut.

Bonus: I listened to the last third or so on audio to help me finish more quickly, and the narration was great. So I’d recommend reading this book via any medium!

This book made me want to call my dad & talk about things. Not sure that a week at a summer camp can fix allllll of that but damned if this book didn’t give it a try.

I enjoyed John’s process during his week at Dad Camp, especially when he realizes that his “problem” with his daughter wasn’t that they don’t spend enough time together - it was that he wasn’t giving her space to grow into her own person without him. My dad had his faults, but he always made a point to emphasize that we are individuals in addition to being a daughter, a sister, a partner, etc.

Overall this was a heartwarming story and I enjoyed my time at Dad Camp.

Thank you to NetGalley, Evan S Porter, and Dutton for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

As John's daughter grew up, she grew away from him. A week at Dad Camp was John's last ditch effort to restore the connection between them that was once so strong.

I always associate camp books with summer fun, and there were a multitude of laugh out loud moments in this book, but the heart of this story was a father's love for his daughter as he tried to cope with the way their relationship was changing.This book may be told from the point of view of a father, but I found is very relatable as a mom. I was a single mother and remember how all my interests and hobbies took a back seat to caring for my daughter. As she grew, her activities dominated the calendar, so it was easy to lose myself in parenting. It's a rude awakening when your only child leaves for college and you are sitting around with all this time not knowing how to fill it. Do I regret it? No and that's the impression I got from John, too.

Though John wasn't quite at the empty-nest point, he had made Avery the center of his world. Therefore, this new pre-teen version of her was causing him a lot of stress, and he was desperate to stay a part of her life. I appreciated his effort, but even more so, I appreciated how much he learned about himself, Avery, and fatherhood during his time at camp.

Camp Triumph may have been a bit rundown but it was a beacon for those dad's who wanted a place to spend time with their daughters. These dads all had different motivations - divorced dad, workaholic dad, stay-at-home dad, and they all had different things to teach John. I loved the process of them growing together, and all the different parenting styles/types that were put on display. It was done with a lot of heart and a lot of humor which are two things I adore in a story.

Overall, I found this be a rather heartwarming story which I feel portrayed the challenges of parenting and also the rewards in a fun and endearing way.

Dad Camp...

Hmm?

Judging by the title? What are you going to get yourself into here?

Is it general fiction? drama? thriller? romance?

Im here to tell you!

This is a heartwarming story between Father and Daughter. You'll laugh, you'll cry but above all, you will feel the love and lengths this father will go to, to give his daughter a life she deserves.

Now tell me, what little girl on the brink of becoming a teenager would want to spend a week at summer camp with her Dad?

I mean I would have, but this book isn't about me!

Dad Camp is a book compared to The Guncle and Cheaper By the Dozen, and I couldn't have heard a better comparison.

I typically gravitate toward thrillers or romcoms but Dad Camp, is a book that will be loved no matter what your preferred genre is.

Check out this teaser :

After his daughter, Avery, was born, John gave it all up—hobbies, friends, a dream job—to be something more: a super dad. Since then, he’s spent nearly every waking second with Avery, who’s his absolute best bud. Or, at least, she was.

When now eleven-year-old Avery begins transforming into an eye-rolling zombie of a preteen who dreads spending time with him, a desperate John whisks her away for a weeklong father-daughter retreat to get their relationship back on track before she starts middle school.

But John’s attempts to bond only seem to drive his daughter further away, and his instincts tell him Avery’s hiding something more than just preteen angst. Even worse, the camp is far from the idyllic getaway he had in mind. John finds himself navigating a group of toxic dads that can’t seem to get along, cringe-worthy forced bonding activities, and a camp director that has it out for him. With camp and summer break slipping away fast, John’s determined to conquer it all for a chance to become Avery’s hero again.

It took me a few days to truly evaluate my feelings for this book. I feel indifferent. I did not hate it but I would not say I loved it either. At times, John seemed a little overly obsessed with his daughter Avery, blowing off job opportunities, friends, and his wife. I am not a parent yet so I will not claim to know what it is like; however, it just seemed over the top extreme at points. It made me stop reading and not want to continue at some points.

There were definitely some heart warming parts between John and Avery, the girls, and the dads. I do appreciate how the book ended and think there was generally an okay plot line.

Thank you to NetGalley and Evan Porter for allowing me to read an advanced reader copy of this book.

I received an advanced copy of Dad Camp and really enjoyed being taken back to those fond summer camp memories! What a great summertime read and getting to relive those feelings of enjoying time at summer camp!