Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Yes, Daddy

A dark novel that carefully and thoroughly explores how the powerful can trap their victims, Yes, Daddy loses steam once it has to deal with the aftermath. The detailed horror in the first half stands stark against the sparse way the latter half explores the aftermath. A central relationship between the lead and the person his narration speaks to is also thinly drawn. Ultimately, Yes, Daddy seems far more interested in the traumatizing moments than what comes after.

Content Warnings

averyarnold's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was a -lot- y’all.

With a title like Yes, Daddy you’d probably expect a steamy, smut filled, gay book. However, only one of those adjectives apply to this book.

I’m having a hard time deciding if I liked it and what to rate it.

Parts of the book were quick, and suspenseful, and sucked you in. But other parts were the exact opposite. It felt like I was both reading a work of fiction about the world of wealth, class, and the darkness that lies (literally) beneath those things. But also at the same time reading the journal of the author as he worked out his past and his trauma. It felt like two books in one, and only one of those were a book I should have been reading.

The scenes at the Hamptons, which was maybe 1/3 of the book?, had a nice steady descent into darkness and misery. It felt well paced, even if it was deeply uncomfortable to read, which was obviously the point. However, the way in which the MC was able to escape felt very unlikely. Not that really anything up to that point felt super realistic, but if these men were going to such lengths to keep these boys on the property….one of them would have at least followed the two to the hospital.

It was the last half of the book that…is where I’m struggling to nail down my feelings. The last half, or maybe 1/3rd of the book was dedicated to Jonah’s healing and overcoming his trauma. Which is good and necessary, obviously. And from the POV of the writer, I understand that it’s important to bring the reader back down to a somewhat neutral level after slowing building up the tension and discomfort. Plot structure and all of that, I get it.

But my problems are really with two things:
1- We took a very hard left into religion. Which I understand, as someone who grew up southern baptist, I understand the trauma of being gay in that scenario and the going back to God when times get really bad. I truly understand. And especially someone with the trauma inflicted on him by Christianity, I understand the longing to reconcile that and how, sometimes, reworking your relationship with all aspects of Christianity can help. However, I guess it was just because the book is called Yes, Daddy that I wasn’t expecting such a hard shift into religion. And then, well, the r*pe scene that ended Jonah’s new found religious healing felt very unnecessary, and then negated the entire chapter or two. The book could have been just fine without it, especially because when he starts mending his relationship with his father at the end, he also starts mending his relationship with Christianity and it could have been saved for that. But also, that moment with Matt (I think was his name) is never brought up again, at least to my memory. So it just felt like a “aha! See, Christians are bad and don’t want to help you!” sort of a thing that the author wanted to put in there.

And 2- It didn’t feel like I was reading a book. It felt, quite literally, that I was reading the inner workings of a journalists perspective of the role that social media played during the #MeToo movement. The writing just felt very different, at least to me, during the chapters involving Jonah’s new Twitter infamy. Knowing that the author was/is still a journalist/writer for media networks really added to the sense that he just needed to vent and decided to use the book as a way to do that and just forgot to make it fit into the story. Not that I think anything said during those chapters and moments wasn’t important and didn’t need to be said, the opposite, really. But it just didn’t feel like it connected to the book.

And I guess, maybe I have a third thing: I wished that the other boys that were there with Jonah were given as big of roles in the ending as Mace was. Because, those boys experienced worse pains then either Jonah or Mace (Not that trauma is a game…but they, ya know, didn’t escape and didn’t have the freedom to come and go.) I don’t remember if we were ever told how/when they got out. Nor, did the plot ever really seem to care about them after they did. The story also never seemed to care about finding out what happened to Evan. And, I get it, Jonah is working through a lot of trauma, he probably wouldn’t. I understand, but a lot of the story just -happened- to him so, it could have just been a passing headline that a body of a young man was found on the compound, or something. I wanted more closure with those boys then the author wanted to give. I understand why Mace was singled out, because of what happened at the trial and everything, so I understood that. But I just wanted Jonah to, somehow, find the emails of the other boys and reach out to them. I wanted the story to show them the same kindness and compassion Jonah and Mace were given. I know, I know: The World doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes one person is given more compassion then someone else. I know. But this is fiction. The world can be anything you want it to be. And I just wanted it to be kinder to the boys who had to endure the Hampton’s for months, and didn’t have the freedom that Mace had to come and go, or the opportunity to escape that Jonah had. I wanted them to, at least, be sent on their way somewhat happy and mended. They are in my head, so, that’s nice.

((I’m also not going to sit here and say that a lot of the ending didn’t give me major ending of Gerald’s Game vibes because…it did. Now that’s a story about sexual trauma and healing that really is 10/10 Grade A Eggland’s Best.)

And yes, some people do have a problem with the way the entire book does feel like a letter, but I didn’t mind it. In fact, I actually thought it worked well during the scenes at the Hampton’s because it added a nice level to the trauma we were reading, knowing that it was only temporary.

I know I said that the book felt very much like the author was using it to work out his feelings on certain subjects. Which is very much what I’m doing.
And while, at the end, I think we understood what the authors feelings were about certain things….this author is still very much undecided about his feelings.

Did I enjoy it? Yes.
Did it make me feel the things it wanted me to feel when it wanted me to feel them? Yes.
Did I like the characters I was supposed to like? Yes.
Did I hate the characters I was supposed to hate? Yes.
Did I like the book?

Content Warnings

johneepixels7's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I.. I’m speechless. But I can’t tell if in a good way or just an extremely shocked way. I did tell myself once that I need to start reading TW/CW before I start books and I failed to do that again here with Yes, Daddy.. going in without knowing anything except for the synopsis on the inside of the dust jacket. Honestly, I’m actually glad I didn’t know because I don’t know if I’d have mustered up the courage to read this book if I had read the TW before.

First of all, if someone were to ask if I would recommend - I’d strongly suggest that everyone should consider reading the TW/CW before deciding. Or if you think you can handle some pretty heavy, effed up, intense, and basically horrific content.. then just dive right in.

Secondly; I read this book in basically two days. I was in a weird reading slump since the beginning of the month and needed something different (and yes, this was not the different I was expecting, but alas I sped through it).

The writing is actually pretty amazing and very immersive. For a first novel, Jonathan Parks-Ramage is very talented and I dig his writing style. The pace was consistent and fast throughout, which is why I got through the book quickly. However I did find the pacing in the last quarter of the book to drag a teeny bit.. But also, at that point of the story, I think I was also just needing some sort of reprieve from what I was reading.. but the frustration and angst just kept piling on!

The characters are.. well, I can’t say any of the main ones are likeable. The one that would be most down to earth and likeable would be Rashad. Though, I also see that this story is not intended for us as readers to like the characters. And despite not liking them, it didn’t affect my choice to continue reading.

I did however, question whether I should continue reading this book after around Ch 9/10. I literally had to put the book down after feeling quite physically ill from what I had just read.

Some of the traumatic scenes were just so vile and disgusting on a human level. I wasn’t sure if it was dialled up just for shock value, or whether it was essential as glue for the plot/story, especially since it did serve as a plot device for the rest of the book.

This is also one of the first books I’ve read where it’s not marketed as horror, but the scenes described in this can actually very much pertain to being “horror” or “horrorific”, in which case I would label this as a horror novel.

I’m torn at how to rate this one. I love the authors writing and the dialogue,m, and scene building was top notch IMO. I felt like I could envision everything, which is a two sided sword since the vile scenes were just so much more vivid and again, just so sick.

The story itself is a slog of shocking moments and depressing moments, which I think is what the author intended the story to have and do. It did it’s job! I think I need to justify that my rating is based on a lot more on this being true to itself (including the writing style) rather than a reflection on the specific content that is in the book itself.

This book will probably haunt me for the next few days!

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