Written by Bethany Turner
Review written by
Diana Iozzia
It has been an
incredibly long journey to find a favorite romantic comedy in book form. There
have been many terrible tropes I’ve read through, manipulative characters, and
tiring pop culture references that make the characters seem funny. While “Wooing
Cadie McCaffrey” has some of those misery-inducing tropes, this book flips them
and shows how romantic comedies can be sweet and hilarious, without boomboxes, hundreds
of flowers, and chasing down romantic conquests in New York City. This was
easily the most enduring romantic comedy written as a book, that I have ever
read. This is instantly a new favorite for me, and I plan to read it many times
in my life.
When I first was
offered the chance to read this book, I was hesitant, as I had noticed it was
from one of the Christian publishing imprints from Harper Collins. As an atheist,
I was expecting something from Nicholas Sparks’s caliber. However, don’t let
the publishing imprint scare you off. There’s a little bit of praying and there
are characters discussing their abstinence and chastity beliefs. Other than
that, the main focus was elsewhere: on one of the sweetest and most honest
relationships I’ve seen in years.
This romantic comedy
has all of the wonderful aspects that I look for in this type of book or movie.
The characters should be good people. I am tired of a love interest being
awkward and creepy in their conquests, hunting women down and beating up other
men to win the heart. I have been tired of women or men lying about themselves
or manipulating to win the person over. Nora Ephron’s films have always been a
favorite, but there’s always a small element of deceit. There’s no deceit here.
Every character truly cares about each other. Our main characters, Cadie and
Will, are so genuine and so hilarious! Man, the meet-cute is easily the best
part of the book and frankly had me laughing out loud, which is something that
very rarely happens when I read.
Let’s speak about the
premise. The alternating time jumps and the perspectives allow for an interesting
narration technique. We jump back and forth in time of Cadie’s and Will’s
relationship. Cadie explains to us that she absolutely loves Will, but she
feels he will never be ready to reach the next step of their relationship:
marriage. After losing their virginities to each other, four years into their
relationship, Cadie and Will are devastated, as they wanted to wait until
marriage. Cadie loses sight and love for Will, so she decides to break up with
him. Will seeks out help from their friends (who are GREAT side characters) to
win and woo Cadie back. This occurs in an endearing way, not in a psycho “why
don’t you love me? I’m going to make you love me” way.
This book is so
refreshing and so sweet. I felt it was heartwarming, honest, cute, and exhilarating.
I loved watching Cadie and Will miss each other and find ways to catch up with
each other, knowing that they would find their way back to each other.
I personally believe this
is a new favorite. I cannot explain any more how much this book amazes me. I would
love to see this as a film. I feel like every favorite aspect of romantic comedies
is mixed in here. Even some of the cheesier tropes, like the big, crazy Hail
Mary of an apology. I’m also begging for a sequel and to read every book by Bethany
Turner.
P.S. What an amazing
epilogue.
P.P.S. I love all the
baseball and sports stuff! It’s so great to see well-fleshed out career
settings in a rom com.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes.
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