Thank you #netgalley and publisher for the eARC in exchange for a honest review.

I have barely put a dent in my contemporary romance TBR stacks the last few months due to focusing on thrillers. I am so glad I switched gears to read the Dating Charade!

Cassie and Jett have become my two favorite people! A story of how two single individuals each becomes a foster parent and learning the ropes of how to juggle life, kids, and love.

I think one of the reason I enjoyed this novel so much was because it's not just romance. Melissa Ferguson brilliantly ties in infertility and the ups and down of life and fostering. This novel will have you laughing out loud, shed a few tears, and feel the love of all the characters!

Thanks heaps to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book was not what I was expecting at all, I thought I was in for a light hearted romcom but this book was so much more. While still having funny moments it delved into Forster care definitely pulling on my heartstrings many times.
I was a big fan of Cassie and Jett as individual characters however I wasn't really feeling their chemistry/love story, They really didn't spend much time together at all in this book. I did however love the friendships Cassie had with Bree and Jett with Sunny and the sweet moments they had with the kids.
This book is a sweet summer read that will make you laugh one minute and be close to tears the next!

The Dating Charade is a cute and fun read where the characters are so endearing. Cassie is a strong character with a heart of gold who is unlucky in love until firefighter Jett comes into her life. I love how realistic Cassie is about love and doesn’t just jump in at the first sign a guy shows interest. She makes him work for it. I loved the twist of the addition of the children for both parties. My favorite characters that steal the book are the two old ladies, Donna Jean and Edie who insert themselves into Cassie and Jett’s love story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Thomas Nelson, through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I have been following Melissa's excitement over this book for months, so naturally, as soon as I saw it available for review on NetGalley I jumped at the opportunity to request it.

The author, Melissa Ferguson, has done a remarkable job of taking what should be a light and fluffy romance story, but entwining it with deep and meaningful life issues. After their first date, Cassie and Jett are both ready to put their all into making their relationship long lasting. However, they are both confronted with obstacles that does not allow for this to be as easy as they imagined.

This book not only deals with romance - or dating as the title suggest - but deals with the heartbreaking realities of "the social services system" and the effects that addiction has on the rest of the family.

The Dating Charade is a beautifully written, captivating, sweet page-turner that warms the heart until the very last word.

I would highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more from Melissa Ferguson.

Okay, so first; WOW!!! I've loved books and I've laughed reading books but never so much as this one. This book? I have no words! It was messy, sappy, happy, and wonderfully one of the best books I have ever read! Laughing so hard my jaw and stomach hurt I couldn't put it down, which is why I'm writing the review at two in the morning. Yeah, I'll sleep after I finish sighing over this one of a kind book. It's truly one of my favorites, maybe one of my top five favorites all time other then the Bible. Coming in third after Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and A Forgotten Truth by Chautona Havig, so pretty high up there!
The kids were adorable, their little antics of toothbrushes, toilets mixed with toddlers, jumping from couches, waking their Godfather Sunny, and everything else was so adorable especially the part with the bathroom. 😉
The older ladies . . . Edie and Donna were the best fictional matchmaker EVER! Truly!!! The suit? Oh my goodness that was hilarious! The beginning was funny enough but it kept getting better and better with every scene. I'm not sure if the kids or the ladies were cuter and more mischievous.
My only complaint would be that the spiritual content was slightly lacking but that was all right since I think the author was trying not to seem too preachy which it wasn't.
Yes, there is a lot of hard content but that's all right. It was never too bad but there are many mentions of abuse, abandonment, running away and other things.
And that Valentine's miracle, that was spectacular! I just can't say about enough to give this book the credit it deserves! The romance was sweet and sappy, the plot hilariously purposeful cliche and wonderful.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review and I'm truly happy to provide it.

This book was really cute! I might have even giggled a time or three..

Loved the writing style, the characters and the story line. Loved the alternating viewpoints, which is my favorite way to enjoy a story. The characters were great, and seemed like someone i would like to hang out with in real life.

Thanks to the publisher and #netgalley for the advance copy, which did not affect my review.

This book sounds really sweet! I personally don’t like Christian romance novels. They aren’t my favorite genre. But I’ve heard gold things about this title.

I was laughing so hard while reading this! Seriously, it is priceless. I loved almost everything about it and I could fangirl forever about this book.
Oh wait, you want an actual review?
Fine.
This book is everything you could hope for in a contemporary adult romance. The Dating Charade is super sweet with perfect moments scattered throughout. (Don't worry, the kids manage to ruin every single one.) It is set during Christmastime when both Cassie and Jett start taking care of three children. Neither expected to become guardians and the solutions made this book what it is! All of the characters are lifelike and fleshed-out. I felt as if they were in the room with me.
I especially enjoyed the children, who wrecked havoc on anything and everything they could.
All and all, this is a fantastic novel to curl up with this Christmas season that will keep you reading late into the night.
Rating: 5 Stars
Content: 4 Stars
*I received a complementary copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own and a positive review was not required.

The Dating Charade is being tagged as a Christian Romance or a romcom, but it read more like women's fiction with a side of humor.
It open's with a funny online first meeting date, but the story moves on fairly soon to the highs and lows of fostering abused and abandoned children. The descriptions of the process were both realistic and heartbreaking. The hilarious examples of Jett being in charge of an infant and toddlers provided the much needed comic relief.
The relationship between best friends Cassie and Bree was great, and Jett and Sunny acted like guys would really act towards each other. Even Cassie and Jett's relationship to their kids felt very authentic, but I really needed more page time between Cassie and Jett if I was to believe their attraction had moved on to love. Three dates does not a romance make.
There were some plot holes that I really couldn't get past. For example, seeing her crush do something heroic and never contacting him at all, and letting days and days go by? Just didn't ring true to me. The ending was cute, but again, more family fiction than romance.
All in all, a good debut for Melissa Ferguson. I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through Netgalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Cassie has had it with the dating scene. She has a well thought out system in place where she takes dates to the aquarium for dinner along the sea wall. Where coincidentally her best friend works and can create a scene if the date is a dud.

She has a date with a guy from high school, not that she remembered him when she saw him again. But he remembered her. Cassie sends the signal to her bff Bree to create chaos, leaving Jett to wonder. But Jett keeps popping up all over town and he's so charming.

Life throws curve balls to Cassie and Jett. Can their 3.10 dates make it through? This book was fun, all too relatable with the parenting woos and even tear jerky emotion at the heartstrings.

This is the first book of Ferguson's that I've read but I would happily read more! The cover is gorgeous. I received an ebook from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Cassie has had so many bad blind dates that she has a full escape plan in place. She is ready to walk away from the dating scene when Jett Bentley shows up and decides to pursue her, the girl who he admired from afar in high school. Each has stated up front that they're not interested in having kids, but it's not quite the whole truth for either of them. When complicated situations leave each of them with 3 kids in their individual custody, they must decide how to, or whether to, fill the other one in, with the risk of scaring them away for good.

This is one of those cases where I almost let a cover and title keep me from reading a good book; I was expecting the whole book to read like the introduction - a woman running from disastrous dates, a firefighter rescuing old ladies. While that beginning was humorous, and would have made for a fun light-hearted book, but instead, the story got much much deeper. Touching on infertility, foster care, child abuse and neglect, and unmet dreams and expectations, Jett and Cassie traveled a very emotional path both separately and together. With well-placed revelations about each of the characters, the story blended past hurts and current struggles. My one disappointment was that when Jett and Cassie came to a seemingly impassable argument, there was no real work to resolve it; somehow, it magically became a non-issue.

I give this book 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. I loved this book for all of the tough topics it tackled, but I did wish that the characters would have reflected a little more on how to work through some of them. I have not been closely involved with foster care, but I did appreciate that the book didn't make it all seem perfect and peachy, for either the parents or the children.

(This is her debut novel, and I'm looking forward to more from her!)

I received a digital copy of this book, via NetGalley, from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

The author’s writing style was engaging and the characters were well developed. I enjoyed the relationships between Bree and Cassie, and Jett and Sunny respectively, but didn’t completely believe the chemistry between Cassie and Jett. Some of the plot lines were rushed or had holes (specifically at the end) leaving me with a lot of questions. I don’t feel the ending was believable. But I enjoyed the writing so much that I would still read another book by this author, even if the story left me wanting more.

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

I loved this book. It was funny, touching and the emotions have stayed with me. 'The Dating Charade' touches on many difficult subjects, but they are all handled with such love that the overwhelming feeling was one of warmth and positiveness. I would give it more stars if I could! I will happily look forward to many more from Melissa Ferguson.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

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

2.75 stars
The premise of this book was pretty interesting and fun. But I did not enjoy this book as much as I hoped to. I felt the main characters lacked chemistry - there just weren't enough interactions between them. While I did like Cassie and Jett as individuals, I still feel like I do not know them enough. My favorite parts of this book were the scenes with Jett and the toddlers. Those were hilarious and fun to read. I laughed out loud a couple of times. Cassie's relationship with her kids was also cute but not as interesting. I dd not like Star much. I understand she was going through a lot but she seemed too whiny and ungrateful. This book definitely had its moments but it just didn't appeal to me.

The book was an interesting meet cute premise. The writing was very well done, nothing that tripped me up or caught my eye and pulled me out of the story.

I wish there had been more interaction with the two main characters, it might have made their ultimate connecting a little more relatable and less, “here’s all this slapstick near-miss” and then BOOM, they are in love and settle in for their happy ever after.

If you are a fan of cheesy Hallmark Channel movies, you would enjoy this. ((I am a fan of those type of movies)).

Jett is a fit fighter who reconnects with an old classmate via a dating site. Sparks fly and all of that cute stuff. Also there is a bunch of children involved. It was cute.



~I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.~

What an absolutely delightful book! Cassie's character had me hooked from page 1. She is such a fun, real-life person that I'd love to have as a friend! Her story is set in beautiful Gatlinburg, TN and mingles with firefighter Jett's story. Each of them face personal struggles that complicate but add richly to their lives. This book is difficult to put down once you begin!

THE DATING CHARADE by MELISSA FERGUSON is, on the surface, a rollicking romantic comedy, but underneath is the heartbreaking situation of children who have been badly treated and even abandoned by their parents.
Cassie Everson works at Girls Haven, where she gets very involved with the teens and their families. Afraid she is never going to get married, she joins a dating site, and, after a series of bad first dates, she meets up with Jett Bentley, a fireman, who was actually at school with her. Jett feels responsible for his drug addicted sister's children.
It is a story about love, commitment and families.
I am not going to tell you any more, except to say it is a lovely read with great characters, and is very amusing in parts.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Thomas Nelson. The opinions in this review arecompletely my own.

The Dating Charade completely took me by surprise. I was expecting a light-hearted romantic comedy, but was met with a deep and powerful exploration of what it means to have children, and to have a family.

Cassie Everson is in her mid-thirties, afraid she will never find true love and ready to escape from every date gone wrong. Jett Bentley is a firefighter who has never prioritised love before, but when he spots his high school crush (Cassie) on a dating app, he pursues her.

I absolutely loved Cassie. She was such a kind individual, trying not to let her infertility and romantic failures get her down. I thought it was a lovely touch that her profession was working with disadvantaged girls; it immediately eluded to the type of person that she as a character was. Both her and Jett, early on in the book, run into situations that leave them as foster parents to separate families, and are too scared to tell the other one of their newfound children in case it messes up the early stages of their dating. The children that they foster, and the situations that lead them to it, are both parts heart breaking and eye opening. Star especially is a character I will not forget easily.

Instead of a rom com, The Dating Charade is a book examining - tactfully - what it means to be a foster parent, and in Cassie's case, the heartbreak of infertility. I loved how carefully thought out their plots were, and the twists and turns that kept you guessing throughout.

I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to read about fostering and the unconventional, but ultimately full of love, family. The only qualm I did have was that it made me uncomfortable 'how often the fire brigade was called out unnecessarily - these people aren't playing around, and their services are important!

I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
This was a heartwarming romance that tackles the challenges of taking on child care during a budding relationship. Cassie and Jett are absolute goals, but I wish there was more development put into their relationship. It was more told to us that they were perfect for each other than shown why. The children are quite a handful, but we don't get a lot of development from Cassie and Jett feeling so overwhelmed that they can't handle them to not being able to live without them. But still, it was a very sweet story that I thoroughly enjoyed!