I. D. Johnson

Melody planned to spend Christmas with her mother so they could "be sad together," grieving for the loss of her father. Melody's mother seems interested in another man. Melody does not particularly want a stepfather, but she's distracted from meddling in her mother's life by meeting six-year-old Michael, who says things like "I asked Santa to bring me a new mother." Michael strikes me as spoiled and manipulative; Melody adores him. She likes his father, too, and appreciates his concern that anyone he dates be the right stepmother for his son.

If you are among the romance readers who've made formerly tabooed single fathers into a popular subgenre of romance fiction, here's a reasonably well written sample of the genre.… (meer)