One Baby Daddy by Meghan Quinn

Romantic Comedy. 3rd in an interrelated series of standalones.

Meghan Quinn has spent the last couple of years at the very top of my favorite author list. Every single book (and there is a lot) was pure gold to me. Three Blind Dates, the first in the Dating by the Numbers Series was probably my favorite book ever by Meghan (see my review), and I absolutely loved the follow-ups Two Wedding Crashers (my review) and the spin-off novella Back in the Game (my review). So I was so excited to read One Baby Daddy! I loved Hayden Holmes, and couldn’t wait for his HEA. Unfortunately, for me, One Baby Daddy didn’t live up to the others in the series.

The events in this book actually start before Three Blind Dates, and I admit, I felt a little lost at first because I was confused about this until Hayden actually went to California and we got to see the scenes with Noely from Aiden’s POV (I loved that). When Hayden meets Adalyn through his friend Racer (Binghamton Series crossover) I loved it. I loved how confident and swoony he was. He knew Adalyn was his one.

“No doubt in my mind she’s someone you only come across once in a lifetime, and fuck if I’m not nervous to take that next step, to see if my gut reaction is right, that this girl is my game changer.”

Hayden wants to make sure he does everything right. He wants to keep Adalyn for life, and jumping into bed isn’t the way to do that.

I want the depth of trust and friendship I’ve seen in my parents’ marriage . . . How is that possible so soon? God, I want inside her, but I think I need inside her heart more than in her body.
Yes, I’m certifiable.
Completely.

Holy hell, the build-up and sexual tension! It was so good!

“You’re going to be waiting a long time, so saddle up and enjoy the slow burn, because the man is the master at it.”

But Adalyn may not be ready for the same commitment he was, even when she finds out she is pregnant! I thought Adalyn was so freaking selfish and hurt two really good men in her selfishness. While I liked the first half, once Adalyn showed who she really was, I just never thought she was good enough for Hayden. He deserved so much more than her, and she never fully redeemed herself in my eyes. Hayden did nothing but show that he would be an amazing husband and father, and he didn’t deserve to be treated the way Adalyn treated him.

Likes:

Loved the crossovers to the Binghamton Series.
Meghan Quinn’s humor always gets me.
Sigh….Hayden. I love his restraint.
Seeing the scenes from Three Blind Dates from Hayden’s POV.
There was a lot of emotion. I was bawling my eyes out at one point.

Dislikes:

I was confused about the timeline at first, since it starts before Three Blind Dates.
I hated Adalyn and never got over it. In fact I hated her more and more as the book went on. Loving Meghan’s heroines are why I usually love her writing.
Meghan’s books are usually pretty flawless grammatically but I noticed quite a few errors.
The title gave away too much of the story!
Usually Meghan’s books surprise me, but I found this book to be very predictable.

The Down & Dirty:

My feelings for One Baby Daddy are mixed. I think there are a few reasons it wasn’t my favorite Meghan Quinn book, but the biggest was that it just felt like a typical surprise baby/hockey romance. There was nothing unique about it. Also, my expectations were very high. This had been my favorite series by one of my favorite authors, and it had a character I already loved. For me though, usually I need to love the heroine to love the book, and I never loved Adalyn. That being said, I still liked the book. There were parts I absolutely LOVED. But to me, One Baby Daddy almost seemed rushed to publication. It was just missing the unique quality that makes Meghan’s books so special. She is still absolutely a top favorite author, but you can’t love every book equally, and that’s OK, because I know some said this was their favorite of the series.

PS: I still bought a signed copy to complete my series set, and I do recommend reading it if you read the series and want to know what happened to Aiden.