The Dating Charade

Score: 2/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 0/5

I read The Dating Charade by Melissa Ferguson as part of a buddy read for #FlirtyFebruary, and went into it expecting something very different. Having just finished The Friend Zone, which I really enjoyed, (about a sassy female lead with baggage and a hunky firefighter) the start of this book felt very familiar. The lead, Cassie Everton runs a girls youth center, and via a dating app (and some meddling friends) meets up with a cute firefighter she went to school with. But that’s where the similarities end...

I’m sure it’s my fault for not reading reviews ahead of time, but I had seen it classified as a rom-com, so that’s what I was expecting. What I got was a mostly-serious novel about a failed foster-care system and neglected children…with a side of an almost, on-again-off-again, chaste romance that didn’t look like it was even going to get off the ground. The cover is super cute, and so is the title…but I felt like both were misleading when compared to the content. Especially because there is very little dating that actually goes on, and the only ‘charade’ is that they’re actually keeping some major secrets from each other.

Despite my incorrect expectations going into it, the story-line ultimately fell quite flat for me and the dialogue felt really stilted and un-natural. I wanted to feel something for the main characters but they felt like hollow shells of people I couldn’t bring myself to really care about, despite their obvious good intentions and morals.

Not to kick a book when it’s down, but I listened to this on audiobook and didn’t particularly like the narration…on top of a story that didn’t draw me in, that was really the kiss of death.

If you think you might enjoy it more than I did, you can grab a copy by clicking on the button below.

Synopsis:

Cassie Everson is an expert at escaping bad first dates. And, after years of meeting, greeting, and running from the men who try to woo her, Cassie is almost ready to retire her hopes for a husband—and children—altogether.

But fate has other plans, and Cassie’s online dating profile catches the eye of firefighter Jett Bentley. In Jett’s memory, Cassie Everson is the unreachable girl-of-legend from their high school days. Nervously, he messages her, setting off a chain of events that forces a reluctant Cassie back into the dating game.

No one is more surprised than Cassie when her first date with Jett is a knockout. But when they both go home and find three children dropped in their laps—each—they independently decide to do the right and mature thing: hide the kids from each other while sorting it all out. What could go wrong?

Melissa Ferguson’s hilarious and warmhearted debut reminds us that love can come in very small packages—and that sometimes our best-laid plans aren’t nearly as rewarding and fun as the surprises that come our way.