Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Yes, Daddy

In Yes, Daddy, Jonah dances the line between rags and riches, climbing the ladder of wealth the only way that many of us working class queers can: through our bodies. Parks-Ramage does a brilliant job conveying just how quickly survivors start reasoning away the abuse in an effort to stay sane and hold on to their life. The constant internal dialogue of “i’m doing this to survive” and “this isn’t fucking normal”, back and forth, over and over again, that damaging spiral of mental turmoil that just chips away at your mental health. He also explores the way that evangelical christianity is woven into our culture and often follows us long after we’ve left, even sometimes calling us back before falling out again.
As a trans, queer, sexual assault survivor with religious trauma and a plethora of daddy issues, this book got to me in a way I wasn’t fully expecting. But it brought words to the things that I’ve only ever kept to myself or told few friends. So thank you. Here’s to my fellow survivors. Let’s knock ‘em dead.

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lucajgrainger's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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asreadbykhyla's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was an easy 5 stars for me!!! While it was a heartbreaking story, I felt like there was so much pure truth in it as well! It was heartbreaking but also shined a light on how truly fucked up people with power can be! And while Jonah is an incredible flawed character, I really enjoyed how honest he was with us as the readers! Mace deserved better!

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wrenl's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book is a punch to the gut. It’s dark and gritty with characters you root for even though they make horrible decisions. I can’t say if I like this book because Jonah is a hard character to love. He makes so many bad decisions, but they’re mostly because of trauma and not because he’s a bad person. I gasped and gaped with each chapter. Although this book starts off slow, it throws you into the deep end with all of the drama and outright crimes that happen. I’m not totally sold on the book’s message, mostly because Jonah is a tough character to love. But I believe in its perspective about trauma and recovery. Therapy is great, y’all, but you need to be open to it for it to work. I just wish this wasn’t wrapped up in some seriously fucked up shit. But that is the point too. So I feel very torn about this book. It’s graphic, but it needs to be, somewhat, to make its point.

There are some very explicit and graphics scenes, so you’ve been warned. There’s a lot of religious trauma too.

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arbramirez's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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bmcdaniel1993's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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mgann1's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

SPOILERS**

This book felt like trauma-porn and a Frankenstein’s monster of genres that went every which way. The main plot ended about 60% through and the rest was just insufferable.

I would have enjoyed this book more if the author had expanded on the relationship between Jonah and Richard for a few more chapters. Building up some sort of emotional connection between the reading and the MC before devolving into the madness and abuse. Instead, the relationship was expedited and shallow, and the abuse began immediately before the MC could really believably become drawn to the abuser. In turn, there was no stakes and instead the reader watched as the MC knowingly put himself in harmful situations.

It easily could have ended after Jonah and Mace escaped and it would have been a satisfying ending to a thriller. Instead, the capture and escape happened within chapters of each other, and then the book continued for another 100 pages of internal dialogue, MORE trauma, and weird church propaganda.

I really wanted to like this book, but between the unlikeable MC and the copious amounts of rape, I really disliked it through and through.

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axelgrcia's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

i was absolutely ENTHRALLED with this debut novel! jonah as our MC made me want to cry and fight for him (super obvious red flags aside!), especially since it gets pretty dark and each chapter im just waiting for the next sucker punch. just go in with an open mind, especially since this novel really does a good job at providing a dark lens into how predatory some relationships can be, and how especially vulnerable queer youth can be. on that note i can’t wait to see what other stories this author comes out with!

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