REVIEW: A Sugar Pine Christmas by AD Ellis (Single Dads All the Way #1)

A SUGAR PINE CHRISTMAS

Single Dads All the Way - Book One

by AD Ellis

Release Date: November 4, 2025

Review

A second chance wrapped up in holiday goodness and a project to help save their small town.

It’s a pretty sweet story. Mattie and Sam had the potential for something, but life happened. Now, with a bit of meddling, they have the chance to finally find out what they could be.

They are both good guys who deserve to find something special. As they navigate their reunion they also join forces to bring a renewed sense of community to their small town, mixed with some fun interactions with Sam’s nephew. Whom he raises part-time with his sister when she’s on deployment.

I really liked the nephew addition. He adds an element of focus for them to bond over, and he perfectly captures a teenager - sweet and distant in equal measure, and a little cheeky.

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Synopsis

Mattie Blackwell is a different man than the one who left Sugar Pine all those years ago. He has high hopes his return will allow for a bit of wound licking, a boost to his art career, and the chance to settle down. He hasn’t allowed a certain someone to be included in those plans. After all, Mattie doesn’t even know if the man in question is still in town.

Sam Benton loves his unconventional life. He didn’t dream of being a work-from-home single parent to his twin sister’s kid for several months at a time, but the setup works just fine, thank you very much. Sure, he wonders if there’s more to life than web design, a snarky teen, and the endless torture of deciding what’s for dinner but, for now, there’s nowhere he’d rather be than raising Toby in Sugar Pine.

When Sam and Mattie find themselves thrown back together, it’s the perfect time to revisit the past. Sam feels bad about the way things played out, but both men recognize it wasn’t the right time for them back then. Now though? Well, that’s a whole different story.

A Sugar Pine Christmas is a standalone novella as part of the multi-author collaboration Single Dads All the Way. Expect friends-to-lovers, second-chance M/M holiday romance with an artist who is all-in with this whole settling down thing and a single dad-slash-uncle torn between longing for something more while mourning the passing of time as his little one moves full-steam ahead toward adulthood.

About AD Ellis

Escape into addictive, sexy, emotional M/M romance.

A.D. Ellis is an Indiana girl, born and raised. She spends much of her time in central Indiana as an instructional coach/teacher in the inner city of Indianapolis, being a mom to two amazing teens, and wondering how she and her husband of over two decades haven't driven each other insane yet. A lot of her time is also devoted to phone call avoidance and her hatred of cooking.

She loves chocolate, hot tea, sweet wine with friends, pizza, and naps along with reading and writing romance. These loves don’t leave much time for housework. Who would pick cleaning the house over a nap or a good book? She uses any extra time to increase her fluency in sarcasm.

A.D. uses she/they pronouns.

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