The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
Published by Berkley on January 30, 2018
Pages: 320
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A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel.

Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist.

On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend...

After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other...

They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want...

I went a smidge out of order with these books. Ok, 100% out of order. I read The Proposal first, and I’m very thankful that I did (because I’m not sure I would have if I had started with The Wedding Date). Note for those of you who haven’t read either – start with The Wedding Date if you’re concerned with spoilers, because (1) an MC of The Proposal is introduced in TWD, and (2) post-story plot stuff for the MCs of TWD in The Proposal.

“Stuff like this never happened to her. Note the stuck-in-the-elevator thing – her life was full of minor crises like that. No, it was being stuck in an elevator with a hot guy that was the unusual part. She was always the one sitting on an airplane next to a chatty toddler, or a knitting grandma, or a bored college student; never a hot guy to be found.”

There isn’t anything seriously flawed with TWD. It is a nice book. It has an adorable meet-cute. I love an elevator meeting – although any elevator scene has me thinking of The Hating Game. Go ahead and just pause and think of that elevator “ride” …ahem. I also really love the premise of “fake date to a wedding,” and all the not-fake doing it afterwards. This book was warm and inviting – even if the sexy scenes are a little “fade to black” and leave me wanting more (because I’m used to reading some real smutty smut).

” I am not only a groomsman in the wedding of my ex-girlfriend and former best friend, but I am a dateless…My date bailed on me at the last minute, so I’m going to look pathetic, and I’ll probably get drunk and hit on a bridesmaid – the whole thing is going to be a nightmare.”

Guillory is so adept at writing a strong woman, especially one with a network of other strong women supporting her. I think it is her strongest suit and I give endless props for it. Guillory, you write badass ladies, and it’s clear from The Wedding Date and even more pronounced in The Proposal. Thank you for creating these amazing women. I want them to be my friends. I even want myself to live up to their awesomeness. Just, thank you.

“‘To recap: you met a great girl, you had fun with her, you liked her, she’s cute, the sex was good.’ Drew nodded. ‘And…you’re just never going to see her again?’ Hmmm. When you put it that way, it didn’t make much sense. ‘That was the plan, I guess so, yeah.’ Carlos stood up. ‘You’re such an asshole.'”

The part I had the most trouble with was the major conflict that separates our couple before their inevitable HEA. I already had foundational MC problems up to the point of the conflict. I never really liked Drew Nichols. There was just something smarmy-not-charmy about him, and it’s centered around his alpha qualities. He’s the kind of guy that I wouldn’t want my friends to date, or if he were a stranger and hit on me in a bar, I would give my friends that look of please come save me from this ass. I think the problems I have with Drew are compounded by how amazing Alexa is. I just kept thinking, girl, you can do better than this schmuck. There is one very spoilery thing that happens in the dialogue between Alexa and Drew during the conflict that made me recoil. (Even writing this review two weeks after I finished, it still bothers me.) After that point, I had a really hard time getting back on board with their romance, hence my mediocre rating. If my major problem is the romance, in a romance novel, that is kind of a BIG problem.

“Drew leaned over and smoothed out the furrow between her eyebrows with his thumb. She couldn’t help but smile when he did that. She almost asked him all of the questions in her head but decided against it.”

All of that said, I really do enjoy Guillory’s writing. She certainly does not have a sophomore slump on her hands with The Proposal. Even though I have two kind of meh+ ratings, I will still be on the lookout for future books. I can appreciate that she has something inherent and special, but she’s still working on the kinks in other areas.

XOXO