To be honest, this was a little much. There's "gentle homage to rom com movies" and then there's "shove coincidences down your throat", this was the latter. While it's undeniably well written, I lacked an emotional connection to the characters, and had no sympathy for them.

Part of that was the fact that they never had an honest conversation. How do you go four years without talking about important subjects like marriage, children, etc.? I get that they were saving themselves for marriage which, in this day and age, was quite refreshing, but these were 30-something individuals, not college graduates. If Caddie is a manager of her department, surely she's learned a thing or two about effective communication?

And that's another thing, I was not prepared for the strong religious aspects of this story. Yet, it almost wasn't strong enough. The author would go many chapters without mentioning God or The Lord, so when it was brought up again it was jarring and threw me out of the story. Did having it in the story add anything? Not really. The story would have been fine without the guilt.

Which leads me into my next point: Caddie's parents. Much was made about Caddie's fear of disappointing them, and that she was pretty much terrified of her mother. Yet, when we meet them, there is nothing to substantiate or justify her fears. Her mother was also presented as being this paragon of perfection and exalted almost god-like (I know, blasphemy) religious icon, but when we meet her on the page she's anything but. I couldn't help but be reminded of the show Leave It to Beaver, when Beave and Wally would warn each other about their dad beating them for whatever mischief they'd been up to. Only Ward never raised his voice to the boys, let alone his hand.

And for them to have meddled to heinously in their daughter's life really was a sore spot for me. Again, not really the actions you would take with an adult child. If Caddie had been in her early 20's, maybe. But meddling parents really gets my back up.

Overall, while the book had some great characters and humour moments, I just couldn't find it within me to care. Maybe I'm not the target audience, but then that should have been clearer in the book's information. Because as someone who adores both baseball AND romantic comedies, this should have been the perfect book for me. Sadly, it just wasn't.

I had a hard time putting Wooding Cadie McCaffrey down! It was interesting how the groundwork was laid, not in chronological order, but done to follow the last part perfectly. The movie references were so much fun! But most importantly, the heart of this book was wonderful. The struggles that couples face with their own expectations, their parents and God’s, were all fleshed out so realistically. I laughed and I cried, so I know my emotions were fully engaged. I just finished it, but I look forward to re-reading it, so it’s a book for my keeper shelf! And I think it will be fun to watch all the romance movies it references while I read through it the next round!

I received a copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

Bethany Turner's Wooing Cadie McCaffrey takes us on an adventure of discovery. Cadie has decided some things on her thirtieth birthday and they dictate her future choices. We can all relate to how one decision, or a belief, shapes us. Cadie is no different and we journey with her as she sorts out her relationship with handsome and endearing, but sometimes clueless, Will Whitaker. I don't want to spoil anything for you but I was delightfully surprised at the twists and turns these characters take, flavored with movie pop culture and romantic gestures that are meant to win the girl. By the title, you may have already presumed that Cadie is being wooed, and she is, but the circumstances around said wooing may surprise you. I devoured this book and laughed and cried with Cadie. It's tenderhearted, funny and under all of that challenges us to be our most honest selves and to learn to love others with intention.

I got a copy of this book on NetGalley from the Publisher, my opinions are my own.

Four years after Cadie met Will she knew the relationship was in trouble. She had met him on the day of her thirtieth birthday and they had went out that night to celebrate her birthday. She hadn’t taken a photo of Will in about a year. She had to go back six months to find a photo of him at all- on her phone. He had given her a non-committal brush off for her birthday/their anniversary. She can’t remember the last time he had been in time for a date with her. Tonight he had canceled on her completely and that didn’t happen at all before tonight. If they weren’t building toward something it had to end. Work would be awkward but neither of them had much reason to visit the area where the other worked. She wondered what was it about her that would never be enough for him? Cadie didn’t know how her heart would handle finally knowing Will didn’t love her quiet enough to give her his heart. Cadie’s best friend was darby and she didn’t believe Will was breaking up with cadie. Will came to Cadie and said they were to have dinner> When he got to her home he told her why he had canceled on her birthday and her anniversary and than for the first time they had sex. Cadie had wanted to wait until marriage to sleep with a man- her husband. Will had given his life to God in grad school and stopped sleeping around he planned the next woman he slept with would be his wife until that night with Cadie. Cadie told darby when she went back to work she had sex with Will at first darby didn’t believe hre. She should have know darby would never judge heror force her to focus on her failures. She knew cadie would doing that quiet well on her own. Than Will proposed to cadie but she said no that she fell out of love with him.
I loved this book. I loved Will and Cadie together and how they interacted. I loved the ending. This was an easy read. I read this in one setting. I didn’t want to put this down. I loved the pace and the plot. This caught my attention right from the start and held it until the very end. I loved the relationship Cadie and Darby had. This had faith and belief in God in it - which I loved. I was upset with Cadie’s parents for standing in the way of will proposing two different times. Although I did understand the second time but they should have just went ahead and gave their blessings and let Will and Cadie iron out their own problems. They had interfered with their daughters happiness and made her doubt Will and be so unhappy that last year. She had almost given up on the man she loved and who truly loved her. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I highly recommend it.

Oof. I should have looked closer at this. I didn't realize it was a Christian fiction book, which is fine, but it's something I don't seek out. All of the pre-marital sex guilt was not something I anticipated. It was very hard to have good feelings about this book after that. And the lack of basic sex ed was upsetting. The writing was fine. The content was not something I personally enjoy.

Oh my heart!
Bethany Turner's sophomore offering shows that she is a force to be reckoned with in the Christian romantic comedy market. Her voice is so absolutely fresh and appealing that reading her books is an absolute delight.
That's not to say that this book doesn't deal with some tough issues, because it absolutely does. There are some serious matters that the author handles with such grace. Christian fiction books often take one of two roads--either too sickly sweet and prudish or ignoring the real mess of life altogether. Turner does neither of those things, she approaches life's stumbling blocks with a realistic, yet wholly godly outlook.

There were many times throughout the reading of this book that I was so frustrated with the characters and wanted to shake them and make them talk to each other. And then I came upon this line:
"Just think of what might have happened if we'd actually talked."
I think so many relationships could use that piece of advice. As irritating as it is to read about, it's much more common than I want to believe.

I adored Cadie and Will and just cannot wait to see what Bethany Turner comes up with next.

Maybe this is my fault, but I thought this would be nice modern romance. I had no idea it was Christian fiction. That was my DNF point.

I honestly have mixed feelings about Wooing Cadie McCaffrey by Bethany Turner. So, I'll try to share all my conflicting emotions and let you decide for yourself whether or not to read this book. I just want to let everyone know that I love the cover. The cover is what made me interested in this book. Now on to the content. There were parts that were so funny I was laughing out loud. There were parts when I wanted to hug the characters and tell them everything would work out just fine and others when I just wanted to yell at them because they were making stupid choices. There were parts when I almost stopped reading because I thought things got a little too inappropriate for Christian fiction. The writing itself was superb in characterization and humor. The inappropriate content though is was dropped what would have been a four or even five star book down to only three. Maybe I'm just too picky, but I don't think that some things should be mentioned in a Christian fiction book. However, my mixed feelings on this book are caused by appreciating the fact that even though the characters sin in an immoral way, they do realize they sinned and call it what it is, sin. That is what kept the stars at three instead of lower.

I would recommend this book to someone if she were looking for a Christian romantic comedy with the notice that there is some some inappropriate content.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Likeable enough to most but I found the he Christian preachy tones overbearing, might be a cute romance if it wasn’t for this but for me personally I don’t like to be preached at in a book I read for romance and entertainment so no , just no from me.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

What a story! Bethany Turner definitely has her own original style in what she writes. I predict that this contemporary Christian fiction romance by Bethany Turner is going to be all over the place as far as reviews go. It’s definitely different from the typical romances in this genre. Some readers will likely think it’s too preachy, and others will probably be on the other side of the spectrum and think it’s ‘way too liberal. So before I start reading other reviews about this, I want to share my own thoughts so I’m not influenced by other reviewers. I usually do not include spoilers in reviews, but I am going to include one in this review so be aware of that if you read further:

There’s some sweet, truly funny stuff in this story. After Will and Cadie break up, Will resorts to using tactics from romantic comedies to win her back. Not all of these go as planned, and if you like those kinds of movies, you’ll smile at some of the things he tries to duplicate.

But here’s the more serious part of the story and the part that’s going to be polarizing for some readers: Even though Will and Cadie are believers, they get caught up in their passion one night and go too far. Both immediately feel guilty about this, and this leads to their breaking up. This part of the story reflects their journey to seeking God’s forgiveness individually for their sin and forgiving each other. Some readers are going to think that this part of the story is “too preachy” and others will think that it’s not a subject for Christian readers.

So what do I think? I think the author did a nice job of telling the story of two young adults who got too caught up in their jobs and each other and were truly remorseful for their sin and setting God on the sidelines of their lives. I think she did a good job of showing their regret; the inner turmoil it caused; and the damage it did to their relationship. This story has its truly funny moments, but it never excuses their sin. God’s mercy, love, forgiveness, and grace runs all through this story. I enjoyed the book and loved this author’s unique writing style.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Wooing Cadie McCaffrey was a sweet, funny story about love, redemption, and misunderstandings.

Cadie and Will have been dating for 4 years. Through a misunderstanding, Cadie breaks up with Will in the hopes to move forward with her goals in life. In a desperate attempt to get her back, Will repeats scenes from some of Cadie's favorite romantic comedies in the hopes that she will be swept off her feet and come running back. All does not go as planned, and Will and Cadie both must come to terms with learning to live apart from the one they don't want to live without.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was a fun, quick read. I laughed out loud a lot and even cried a little at one point. The characters are likable, especially Will, and the ending was really romantic and sweet. The "misunderstanding" was something we didn't really find out until the end, and I thought it was believable. I didn't see it coming, but I could see how a more observant reader might. I felt like there were not enough crazy grand gestures on Will's part as the book description promises. The things he did do were brief and overlooked. Some of them were too cliche for me, and the sentiment was lost. There were deeper, Christian-based elements of the story as they both came to terms with their own mistakes in the relationship and with their faith in God. I thought those parts were very thoughtful and inspiring. In all, a cute story with a lot of laughs and a few tears.

I really wanted to love this book and with the blurb for it, I thought I would. It has rom-com fun written all over it. For the first 2/5 of it, I was having a great time reading it. I liked Cadie and Will. I liked their office mates, especially Will's boss Kevin who cheerfully admits that his wife is smarter than he is and that he doesn't have a problem with that. The "feel' of the office, that her male, sports mad colleagues liked and admired her without any sexist attitudes, was refreshing. I also adored the chapter headings.

Then it's four years later and everything has gone sour in what had been Cadie and Will's insta-love relationship. It's then that the major conflict rears its head and like several other reviewers I began to have problems. Suddenly, we're told that Cadie and Will had made a "no sex before marriage" pact and that (SORRY, SPOILER HERE) breaking it has now sent Cadie into Deep Shame. Thankfully, that wasn't the only reason that Cadie breaks off the relationship. But, like others, I wondered why this was all we saw or heard of Cadie or Will's spiritual life. Cadie has a long history of religious life as we see when her parents are discussed while Will is born again but up until the heaping helpings of shame that Cadie lashes herself with, zip ... nothing.

I guess I'm just not invested enough in their relationship - since I didn't see much of it starting - to want to keep reading and I find Cadie's feelings hard to believe in this day and age.

I was so excited to get an ARC copy from NetGalley! The cover grabbed me right away. This was a sweet story of the relationship and love story between Cadie McCaffrey and Will Whitaker (love alliteration names!). While at times I struggled with Cadie's character development, I thought Will was a very interesting and complex character. He was the star in this romance novel. Cadie fell flat for me and I don't think that was the intent, but as a reader, I hated that her chapters weren't as captivating. I'll never understand the types of girls who are not their own advocate and speak up in relationships, especially after dating for 4 YEARS. How does the topic of marriage never surface?? I struggled to connect with her and for those reasons, I struggled with the book! Don't get me wrong, Will was just as at fault with why their relationship started to coast after years of dating. The last 1/3 of the book was easily the most entertaining and well written. You could really see Cadie turn a corner when she realized what she wanted most in life.

Now that was an entertaining book! This is a Christian contemporary romance, focus of the characters and the romance. This was a fun book to read. The banter and chemistry between these two was so great! This book told a great story with some really good growing and learning moments with Christianity throw in. Forgiveness and love at its best. This author did a great job of mixing all these elements into a fun believable story. I am excited to read more from this author.

We’ve all waited for forever for that guy to make his move. I’m Wooing Cadie McCaffrey she is done waiting and her boyfriend Will finally realizes he’s losing her. So he does everything he can to keep her. Some things great, some not so great. But in the end love prevails. Enjoy this wild ride through romance!

Bethany Turner has done it again!

She knocked it out the ball park. Seriously, I devoured the book. I was hooked from the meet-cute prologue all the way to the epilogue. Ms. Turner had my emotions on a roller coaster. I couldn’t read fast enough and not slow enough either. You know how you want to know everything at once but also want to savor every single word? Well that’s how I felt reading #WooCaM.

I highlighted my favorite passages. I messaged my reader friend who already read the book. I had to! Some chapters stopped my heart, others had me holding back tears, and others had me fussing at the characters as if they could actually hear me.

This book also touches on a subject that is absolutely needed in the Christian world. I loved the way Ms. Turner handled it and some of my favorite quotes came from it.

I’m dubbing Ms. Turner the queen of CF romcom and I cannot wait until her next release. Until then, I’ll go ahead and reread #WooCaM and smile through all my favorite parts and savor the truth of the beautiful message. Love is worth it!

* I received a complimentary copy via NetGalley. My review was not required nor influenced.

Thai is just yet another run of the mill romance novel. It didn’t bring any twists or surprise or anything new to the table. You like that? You’ll love this.

Cadie's in a four year relationship with a man that she loves... trouble is she doesn't know that he loves her.  Will is gorgeous and amazing, but is he thinking of forever?  She doesn't think so.  A year of miscommunications and misunderstanding has left her nervous and unsure.  

          All Will ever wanted was to be the man that Cadie needed him to be.  Taking questionable advice from friends and really bad romance movies, he is all in to woo back the love of his life.  What could go wrong?

          First, I have to say that this was a very sweet story.  Tender and respectful while also being pretty damn funny.  It wasn't over-the-top explicit... in fact, that wouldn't have suited our duo at all.  Cadie is over-the-top religious- she is, in fact, saving herself for marriage.  Will is a born again Christian as well so they have more of a sweetness to their exchanges.  There is some discussion and a sex scene, but it is extremely tame.  

           I really liked the characters too.  Will and Cadie were easy to love even if I didn't always agree with what either of them were doing.  It wasn't hard to be pulled into the drama and big gestures.  I especially liked the side characters.  For me this is a four star book.  

           On the adult content scale, it is very tame.  Light language and tame sexual content.  I give it a three.

       I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Revell Romance in exchange for an honest review.  My thanks!

Wooing Cadie McCaffrey is a smart, funny romance novel. The writing is crisp, the dialogue snappy and laugh-out-loud funny more often than not, and the characters are engaging. When a BIG misunderstanding sets the very strong-willed and determined (for better or worse) Cadie down one path, and her misguided but well-meaning boyfriend Will bungles it all, over and over, it sets the stage for big fun.

And while yes, there are some big laughs here, there are also moments that have real depth and feeling to them, too. This is a story about finding your worth, about trust, and about what chaos can happen in a relationship when you don't communicate with one another.

This IS Christian romance, but it's edgy. And then it's not, and that's the only bit that hung me up. I love the Christian romances that Revell finds because as a whole, they aren't heavy handed or preachy, and that *mostly* holds true here with one exception. I found the plotline where they were saving themselves for marriage, and then broke that promise, and then the heavy shame and browbeating that Cadie experienced following it was handled awkwardly. And while that aspect was uncomfortable and awkward, the rest of the story made up for it.

Turner's side characters are as delightful and quirky as the main characters. I think this is one area where she really excels in her writing.

If you can be forgiving of how the "saving myself for marriage" storyline was handled, this is one romcom that will delight.

DNF @ 35%

I was a bit surprised at this title, not realizing from anywhere in the description that it was a Christian Fiction title. I have read Christian Fiction before and enjoyed it, but the shame felt after an illicit act in the book was, to me, very heavy handed. I read a review from another reviewer on Goodreads that mentioned that for them the title was difficult because aside from the mention of God and the shame that they felt due to their relationship with God, nothing else really was present showing their Christian faith - I recall no mention of church and the first of prayer that I got was right as I DNFed. For NetGalley purposes, I am rating 2.5 stars - all of the above aside, I don't know that the book had enough going for it.

I know that this title does have an audience, but unfortunately it's not me. For those interested in Christian Fiction and like it to be clean, I have also read reviews that state that the romance was a bit too much for them. It appears as though Wooing Cadie McCaffrey is looking for a very specific niche audience - I hope it finds it.