My Thoughts On: The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
Publisher: Berkley Books
Publication Date: January 30, 2018
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Source: ARC

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Synopsis: 

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 within 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…

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MY THOUGHTS

I really enjoyed this book. It was just like Mary Poppins, “practically perfect in every way.” This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2018. As soon as I read the synopsis I was hooked. Huge bonus points that it’s a romance by a WOC with the heroine also being a WOC. Waiting until it released seemed like torture, so I was so excited when I won an ARC through BookishFirst.

It really captured me right from the start. The characters of Alexa and Drew are warm and inviting. Alexa feels like she could be your best friend. She is committed to her career and has ambition. Drew is the nice and caring doctor you also want to be best friends with. They meet in a funny and unexpected way; when the hotel elevator they’re both in breaks down. Drew is in town to be in his ex-best friend’s and ex-girlfriend’s wedding, and Alexa is there to meet with her sister and celebrate her sister making partner at her law firm. One thing leads to another, and Drew, desperate to not attend the wedding alone, begs Alexa to be his date. She agrees and ends up pretending to be his girlfriend so he can save face.

Neither seems ready to say good-bye, and they end up flying back and forth from Berkeley and Los Angeles (where Drew lives), to see each other on the weekends. Quickly this ‘fling’ starts to turn into something much much more. It takes them both a while to come to terms with the fact that they both want it to be more than just a fling. They want commitment, or at least exclusivity and a long-term relationship.

The dialogue was fun and witty, and Guillory had me eating out of the palm of her hand immediately. I also loved that it did not shy away from tough and timely topics like white privilege and racism. They brought a needed dose of reality to this fun and sweet read. It added a wonderful layer to the story that made the characters more true-to-life.

If I had to pick one thing I would change, I would have to say that it just wrapped up too quickly for me. That seems to be a trend with the books I’ve been reading lately. They all leave me wanting more! I just felt like I needed a bit more at the end in order to give it that nice crisp lovely bow that wraps everything up with no loose ends. I just really wanted more of Alexa and Drew.

In the end, I really did love this book, and highly recommend you pick it up ASAP!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via BookishFirst in exchange for an honest review.

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About the Author

Jasmine Guillory is a graduate of Wellesley College and Stanford Law School. She is a Bay Area native who has towering stacks of books in her living room, a cake recipe for every occasion, and upwards of 50 lipsticks.

Follow Jasmine online: Instagram – Twitter