| Title | : | The Wedding Date (The Wedding Date, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 317 |
| Publication | : | First published January 30, 2018 |
| Awards | : | Audie Award Romance (2019), Goodreads Choice Award Romance (2018), RUSA CODES Reading List Romance (2019) |
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...
The Wedding Date (The Wedding Date, #1) Reviews
-
My rating makes me really sad because I had very high hopes for this novel.
I was debating whether or not to make it a bit higher, but if I'm being honest, I did not like this as a whole.
Basically, this book is about 30-something year old Alexa and Drew who meet on a stuck hotel elevator, get to talking, and agree that Alexa will attend Drew’s ex’s wedding as his plus one that weekend. That sounded to me like a recipe for the perfect guilty pleasure romantic comedy—I would 101% get sucked into this plot if it were a movie (like I did with the book). Unfortunately, it was a no from me.
Before I get into the problematic bits, I just want to acknowledge the really good parts of this book, because they existed too:
-An interracial couple as the main characters. I didn’t know this going into it, but I was really happy about the representation; I think that’s important! Why have I not read a book about an interracial couple before?!!!! (Can someone recommend me more?)
-Luke and Brendan. They were minor characters, but they were the only gay couple in the book. Again, I felt the representation was great.
-The switching narratives between Alexa and Drew. I usually don’t like that, but this was executed well in my opinion. When Alexa’s POV switched to Drew’s, and vice versa, the story would continue where the other person’s left off and it flowed perfectly.
-Carlos, Drew’s best friend. The scenes with him were my saving grace, honestly. Drew was an awful person to him for absolutely no reason though! If I learned one thing from this book, it’s that if your ‘friend’ yells obscenities at you (multiple times) and kicks you out of their house just because you try to get them to admit they like a girl, they’re a complete nutcase and you need to not be like Carlos and run as far away from them as possible, immediately. This review should just be a petition to get Carlos his own book, he deserved way better.
-The Pensive from Harry Potter was mentioned. Yup, that made it to my ‘good things about this book’ list. Not even going to explain why.
So, if I have a long list of good things then why did I give it such a low rating?
You need to understand that I went into this thinking that it would be cute. I mean, look at that cover; it’s adorable. What I got out of this was not cute, it was annoying. The first quarter centered on their meeting in the elevator and the actual Wedding Date. Beyond that, all that happened was long-distance, fly-back-and-forth-every-other-weekend, what-even-is-our-title, neither-of-us-wants-to-bring-it-up-even-though-we-both-know-we-like-each-other, nonsense. I wanted to read about mature adults... but what I actually read was the romantic biographies of every high school girl and boy I’ve ever met-and even they sometimes aren't this immature. This book exists because both of these people made things SO COMPLICATED.
The book should have been called Groundhog Day because every time they met, it would be the same routine: one of them flies out to the other, they pick up tacos or In N Out or pizza on their way home, they have sex a million times (I swear these people don’t even KNOW each other because that’s all they are doing, they barely speak), both of them think ‘I’m scared to ask what we are’, they fly back home and wonder what they are for the whole week but don’t bring it up, and they do this over again the following weekend. Don’t even get me started about what happened when it did finally get brought up.
I’ve never been this worked up by a book. I feel personally victimized by how it did a complete 180 from what I thought it was going to be.
Here are some quotes that made me cringe so much that I had to dog ear the pages to remember them:
“[Drew (through text)]: Great news! What did he say?
She made a mental note to reward him for giving her an exclamation point back.”
I just… I can’t. Reward him????? For an exclamation point???? Yikes.
“Not that she wasn’t allowed to go out when he wasn’t there, but he’d sort of pictured her sitting home on the couch missing him.”
She’s known you for a month, relax. Also, you refuse to tell her what you two are, let alone admit it to your best friend, but you still want her to sit at home moping without you?… stop.
“It was probably a real risk to pull her into the bedroom… but he was on call until six in the morning. Was he just supposed to not have sex with her tonight?”
It's literally all you've been doing, so for once, can you not? Please, for my sanity. Cause God knows it’s gone after this. -
What a charming, warm, sexy gem of a novel. I couldn’t put The Wedding Date down. I love a good romance and this delivered from the first page to the last. Alexa Monroe is a great heroine—smart, funny, and full of the anxieties women know intimately. And when she meets the handsome doctor Drew Nichols in an elevator, it’s the beginning of an adventure in falling in like and then lust and then love. It was also nice to read a fun novel about an interracial relationship. One of the best books I’ve read in a while. Oh. One weird thing. The characters ate CONSTANTLY. Like it’s kind of hilarious how much they eat.
-
SO GOOD, definitely one of my new favorite romances!
- Interracial relationship (black female and white male protagonists)
- Fake to real relationship trope (one of my faves!)
- Explicit practice of safe sex
- Alexa works for the mayor of Berkeley and she is trying to obtain funding for an arts program for underprivileged youth. Author has a background in law, as does Alexa, and it shows.
- Drew has to check. his. privilege. many times in the book and I am here for it because it is a real issue if two people are going to embark into a serious relationship.
- STEAMY!!!
- Acknowledgement of power constructs in Eurocentric beauty standards being "conventional" or the "norm" and how that can result in fuller-figured WOC living in Western countries feeling insecure or out of place with their own beauty.
- The food is legittttttt
- Local Bay Area references 100% checked out, author is local. Love it. -
2.5, it's not that terrible a 2-star.
Alexa and Drew meet while stuck inside an elevator and they start talking. Drew is really handsome but his ex-girlfriend not only is to marry his best friend but also he was called to be the best man. To make things worse, he's dateless. As an impulse, Drew ends up inviting Alexa to play his girlfriend for the weekend.
This book all happened in the first quarter. I wasn't that excited but it could have been a good book if it had kept the essence. Instead, it turned into a book on a long-distance and immature relationship because the two of them were just too stupid to commit or at least state their feelings. I'm not saying these things don't happen, I'm just saying it's boring.
With that title and that cover and that summary, the book could at least have been funny. Wrong. It was an endless succession of picking up at the airport, eating, having sex, thinking about things and never ever suspecting the other thought the same, going to the bathroom, going back home. We have two scenes with a party and the author felt the need to introduce characters in both of them that wouldn't appear again. What I mean is Alexa goes around making friends the whole book and never sees them again. It does happen but why waste our time talking about them, then?
This sounds like a book out of some NaNoWriMo-type of event. That's completely fine. But editing was much too lenient, and the summary just tells us what the author thought she was going to write about.
I'm sorry for just pointing out flaws, I'm a real complainer. They're still flaws.
I do have one very good point, a black main character who is a badass at her job, deals with prejudice in a believable manner but doesn't let it be the main plot. I give it to the author for how she has used the theme. We do see she's a good writer. I do blame editing more than anything else. Perhaps, had this been advertised less like an upbeat rom-com and more like another romance I wouldn't have been so disappointed. I'm sure there's are readers for this, who won't mind the flaws, but that wasn't me.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss and by BookishFirst. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity. -
Hate to say it, but this book disappointed me so, so much. It follows Alexa Monroe, a black woman who works as the mayor's chief of staff, who meets Drew Nichols, a white surgeon. They get stuck in an elevator together and after some flirtatious banter, Drew asks Alexa to accompany him as his date to a wedding for the upcoming weekend. Romance ensues.
Starting off with the good: the book features a flawed yet headstrong black female protagonist, as well as an interracial relationship. Jasmine Guillory wrote well enough to keep the book moving at a fast, entertaining pace. You might like this book if you enjoy rom-coms with little substance.
My main gripe with this book, amidst many, centers on how the romance between Alexa and Drew serves as the main character of the book, instead of either Alexa or Drew themselves. Everything revolves around their romance. Both of their characters get so subsumed by the romance early on that I had little to no comprehension of who either of them were aside from their interest in one another. Even the sections that involved their careers all felt so shallow and so transparently in service for their romance. For example, when they both have a difficult day at their respective jobs, they turn to one another for comfort and sex, and the actual issues within their jobs receive no development. Or, toward the end, when Alexa hits a high note in her work, the scene turns right into a moment to celebrate her romance with Drew.
Some may argue that this is a romance novel, so why should I expect more than romance? Well, I have several complaints about their romance and its unhealthy dynamics. First, they both display possessive behavior and toxic communication patterns that devolve into awful fights. These emotionally corrosive and borderline abusive behaviors receive no redemption - the characters never actually talk about their dynamics or how they can get healthier. Rather, Alexa and Drew resolve their issues with simple declarations of love, as well as with sex.
None of the friends in this book receive meaningful development or affection, which is unsurprising considering how friendship is devalued in society, but Drew takes this disregard of friendship to an extreme. He treats his friend Carlos in such an unkind and obnoxious way, and at one point he gets physically violent with him because of his own immaturity, which felt so painful to read. Again, Guillory does not unpack these dynamics in the friendship at all, she just lets the romance's success supersede a fulfilling and reciprocal friendship.
Finally, the racial dynamics in Alexa and Drew's relationship felt very surface level. It felt like the reader should reward Drew for doing the bare minimum of not microaggressing his girlfriend; I wanted him to do more than just receive Alexa's emotional labor of educating him. I wish the racial dynamics had been unpacked further or had been written with more complexity and care.
I would not recommend this book. If you want romance, I would rather you read
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes,
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, or
Gives Light by Rose Christo, all of which contain much more developed characters and interwoven nuanced themes. -
4 stars!!!
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory is charming, sweet, and downright adorable! I had trouble believing this was a debut novel- it was so well written and a pleasure to read!
Alexa and Drew meet in an unconventional way. They’re stuck together in an elevator. Being stuck together leads to them going to a wedding together. After that, this couple just can’t seem to get enough of each other. Drew is a pediatric surgeon from LA and Alexa lives close to San Fransisco as the mayor’s chief of staff. Both have important jobs and busy lives, but they can’t seem to stop seeing one another. They figure out a way to make it work. Although nothing is defined with them, you can tell (even if they can’t) that they starting to fall. It’s just unclear how this will work between them…
Alexa is a refreshing heroine. She is spunky, fun, independent, and career driven. I loved her personality. Drew was also a fun guy- he was sweet, charming, and smart. These two truly were a fantastic match! Even if they didn’t see how perfect they were for each other at first, as a reader, I could see it! Their love story was fast paced and light, and also felt realistic. I adored them both and their connection.
I love a good, swoony romance, and The Wedding Date really hit the spot for me! I found this book highly entertaining, flirty, fun, and sweet as can be. I recommend it and I’m looking forward to reading more from this author!
“I’m so glad I got stuck in that elevator with you.” she said. “Me, too.”
-
2020 Reread
This my 3x reading the Wedding Date and I still love it!
So in 2018 I'm in Target minding my own business. Looking at books even though I swore I wouldn't buy any more books(Haha! LIES!). When a very pretty red book catches my eye. I don't normally buy romance books but something about this book intrigued me. And then I saw the Roxane Gay blurb and I immediately put it in my basket with the 3 other books I shouldn't have been buying.
The Wedding Date is a Hallmark movie in novel form and I mean that as a compliment. The Wedding Date a sugary sweet delight. This book had me smiling despite myself the whole time. I don't usually read Contemporary Romance, I'm more of a Mystery/ Thriller, Celebrity Tell-All type of girl but this book thoroughly enchanted me.
This book inspired me to read more romance. The Wedding Date is not only funny and sweet but it also touches on the issues people in interracial relationships have to deal with especially if you're a black woman. I also liked that the main characters use condoms every time they have sex. Safe sex is a MUST people!
Upon rereading it for the 2nd time, I'm still in love with this book. Its not a perfect book and its not the best written book but I still love it. Not every book needs to be great literature, sometimes you just need to read some fluff.
I'm making The Wedding Date a must read!
Book-Riot 2018: Romance novel by or about a POC.
Around the Year in 52 Books: An authors debut book. -
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.“Alexa Monroe walked into the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco that Thursday night wearing her favorite red heels...”
I loved so much about The Wedding Date! Like, oh my word, what a damn treat! Seriously friends, I know this cover screams Valentine’s Day, but this is the perfect summer read! Jasmine Guillory’s beautiful debut novel stars two people who take an elevator ride that will change their lives.
➽ Drew Nichols - Pediatric Doctor from Los Angeles, white, and freaking out that he is in San Francisco to attend the wedding of his best friend to his ex, dateless. Oh, and Drew doesn’t do girlfriends.
➽ Alexa Monroe - Lawyer, and now Berkley’s mayor’s chief of staff, black, and just trying to get to her sister’s hotel to celebrate her graduation. But Alexa is too busy with her career to risk her heart.
And while Drew and Alexa are stranded, and bonding over crackers and expensive cheese that Alexa had in her purse because she’s my damn idol, Drew realizes that Alexa might just make the perfect wedding date to the wedding he is dreading.
You all know this is a romance book, so you all know where this is going. And, Lord, it’s adorable. But you also know what it is? Important. Alexa constantly checks Drew on his privilege. And for the most part, he understands and learns from it. From Drew letting Alexa know if she is going to be the only black person at an event, to Drew realizing the different opportunities and free passes he had growing up just based off his skin color. This book has so much good inside it.“White men hated it when you reminded them of their privilege”
This book also puts a spotlight on how important it is for us to work with underprivileged youth, especially from low-income areas. Not only was Alexa smart, beautiful, and successful, she also went the extra mile for what she was passionate about and what she believed in. Systemic oppression is real, and I loved how the author found a way to shine a light on it in a steamy romance book.“I know, but Drew, you’re a white guy. Life is different for you. You were born with a benefit of the doubt that black kids never get.”
And even though I was completely living for this romance in every way possible, my only real “critique” of this book is that it has somewhat fade to black sex scenes that just kind of feel abrupt and disjointed. Like, the sexual angst, tension, and scenes are all there, but it just doesn’t feel as good getting a few sentences of what is happening and then *bam* they are back to doing whatever they were doing before, or whatever new activity after. This is honestly my only real complaint about this book. But this book is really sex positive, and I was here for that from start to finish!
The only other kind of side-eye I have going on is because Drew didn’t realize how amazing Alexa was right away. And sometimes it seemed like his friend Carlos was the best wing man in the entire world and deserved just as much credit as Drew! Also, side-note,
The Proposal is about Carlos, Drew’s colleague and friend, and my heart is so damn happy.
Also, food is brought up constantly in this. Like, I was highkey hungry every time I picked this book up! In my opinion, I think this book is really food positive, too, but there is also a constant discussion about Alexa’s body in this book. And even though I think it’s super well done and empowering, I can also see how it could be triggering for some. Also, trigger and content warnings sexual content, for racist comments that are always challenged, and talk of disease diagnosis for a child (I know this is specific, but it’s one of two triggers that I personally have).
Overall, I loved this. And you know I’m always here for the fake dating trope done right! And Alexa was a treat to read about, and she deserves the entire world. Also, this is completely irrelevant and unprofessional, but Jasmine Guillory is honestly the cutest author in the damn world. Seeing her author picture at the end? Oh my word, what a confirmed angel! Also, I can’t wait to read the
The Proposal and everything else this author creates, because The Wedding Date was such a blessing.
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The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
I'm read this for
#smutathon, which is being hosted by
Lainey and
Riley! ❤
And this is a buddy read with
Lilly at
Lair of Books! ❤ -
**3.5-stars rounded up**
The Wedding Date explores that age-old question: Can a Meet Cute turn into forever!?
Stuck in an elevator with a stranger was not how Alexa Monroe saw her evening going.
Arriving at a local hotel to visit her sister, who is just in town for a night, with a bottle of champagne and some snacks, she's ready for a night of girl chat.
What she gets instead is an interesting proposal from an extra interesting guy.
Dr. Drew Nichols is at the same hotel for a wedding weekend extravaganza. It just so happens that the wedding is of his ex-girlfriend to one of his best friends from med school. Not awkward at all.
Making matters worse, Drew's date cancelled on him at the last minute so now he is flying solo. Yet stuck in an elevator with a pretty gal, the answer becomes clear!
He needs to convince her to be his date. His fake girlfriend for the whole weekend. Luckily, Dr. Nichols is very persuasive.
And so begins one of the best fake date tropes in history. I adored the wedding weekend for Drew and Alexa. Alexa is such a great character. Extremely relatable.
She has some self doubts and insecurities that many of us have probably had. Especially when starting to date a new person. I like how that came off on the page, very believable to me.
Drew is so charming and fun without being annoying. He also had some believable and relatable traits when it came to commitments and second guessing himself.
I would definitely say that I had more fun with the first half of the book compared to the second half. It was still a good story, I just found myself becoming frustrated at the lack of communication.
This being said, I think a lot of relationships IRL suffer from lack of communication too, so maybe this is how it really would have gone.
One aspect I did really enjoy was how much we learned about Alexa and Drew's careers. This wasn't just all about the romance. There was that but we were also dealing with adults who had lives prior and outside of their romance. I liked seeing that.
I also liked that we were reading about a mixed race couple and it wasn't just glossed over. They did have some conversations about it and I appreciated that.
There was some depth to this story but also steaminess. The steamy scenes were good, although at times I did catch some repetitive phrasing involving nipples I won't get into here. That bugged me a little.
Overall, though, a fun little story.
I am looking forward to reading the companion novels in this series. I believe The Proposal features Drew's friend, Carlos, and The Wedding Party focuses on Maddie and Theo. I am really excited to get to both of those!
I would definitely recommend this book to other romance readers. I think it is important to note that I am just starting to get into romance, so my opinions are from a reader fairly inexperienced in the genre. I still think even advanced romance readers could have fun with this though! -
"Mmmmmm. Hot, funny guy who occasionally flashed his abs. Was it her birthday?"
I. HATED. EVERY. SECOND. OF. THIS.
When I entered into this book I was expecting something cutesy and fun, lighthearted and sexy, which is exactly what I didn't get.
Sure, the book was somewhat funny at times but everything else was just missing.
From their first interaction, I felt like I was watching a pair of wild animals just waiting to pounce each other. Really, whenever they saw each other they couldn't stop thinking on how to undress the other or something along those lines. And I get it, physical attraction is important but not the only thing that should cross your mind!
It was EXASPERATING.
Where was the romance? The slow build-up? Nowhere, that's where. They had sex at 20% of the book or something like for the first time. Really?
Which is, also, around the time the famous Wedding Date takes place. Why would you use the thing for which you named your book so early on the game? Why?!
"It was crucial to have another woman to laugh with, go to the bathroom with, and gossip with during a wedding."
Now, there's also the fact that the writing style DROVE ME NUTS!
Ugh, I just, I hated it. Every time something not completely related to the other MC -and even sometimes when they were together - happened the author would press SKIP and not show it to us, leaving me reeling because I actually wanted to see that, thank you very much.
So frustrating.
Couple with the fact that the narration was from the POVs of BOTH MCs, leaving no mystery behind, I just had a really hard time reading it.
If the book had been narrated from just one of the MC's POVs, or even both of them but telling different things, it wouldn't have been so bad. We got to see every feeling, reaction, and insecurity of both always, meaning that the only drama I really felt was the one created from their incomprehensible lack of communication skills.
Seriously, they were, like, in their 30's and yet couldn't talk. Now, no, I'm not saying that just because you're older you have to have your life figure out, BUT, both of them worked in areas that need plenty of communication skills and interaction, so, don't try to tell me they didn't know how to do that.
They were acting worst than children. If they had talked, really talked we wouldn't have had a necessity of this book.
And before I forget, here's is something that really pissed me off. People, it's not okay to force your touch on someone that obviously is upset with you and has told you, repeatedly, to not touch them, even more, initiate some kind of sexual interaction when the other person who is clearly completely unstable emotionally and wanted to be left alone. It's not right, it's pretty disgusting actually. It doesn't matter if you really want to and think that will solve everything. It's not okay.
Also, the doctor stuff was glaringly wrong sometimes. Like, you don't change a rule done before surgery just because the patient is a little kid, or share the condition of a patient with my-not-girlfriend-just-friends because that's breaking doctor-patient confidentiality, which I'm pretty sure is a felony. I mean, if you need to talk about it I guess you can leave out all the personal information like name and so on.
Oh, yeah! I would have loved to see some extra characters that didn't feel like cardboardboxes. You know? Someone with a real personality and maybe some charisma.
That wouldn't have been bad.
“I’m going to enjoy being happy for now, okay?”
I guess what I'm trying to say is that this book wasn't for me. The writing style and story fell incredibly short from the mark I usually uphold to romances. It's okay, it happens, I just wish I had known beforehand.
Worst thing? It has sequels. And now my OCD won't let me just not read them.
Great!
_______________________
THIS HAS ANOTHER TWO BOOKS?!
WHY?!
Ugh, at least I finished the first book. And I'm pretty sure I have a slight fever.
Can this day get any better?
RTC.
_______________________
My first contemporary of the year!
I really hope this lives up to the hype and expectations I have. Let's be honest, it most likely won't, but, in the odd chance that it does I'll be surprised.
I have been wanting to read something lighter and stress-free for a while now.
Will it accomplish its job? Will, it relax me? -
4.5 stars.
I'm definitely a big romantic sap, so I guess I'm surprised it's taken me this long to get hooked on the romance genre. I certainly believe in true love, in destiny, but I also look for bright spots in a world that is so angry, so upsetting, so perplexing, so it's no wonder these books have been appealing to me. Beyond that, however, the books I have read over the last year have been well-written, enjoyable, fun, sexy, and utterly compelling, so who could ask for anything more?
I first heard of Jasmine Guillory's The Wedding Date when I saw that Roxane Gay said it was one of the best books she's read in a while. Given that I like the way Gay writes, if she recommends something, I didn't think I should pass it up. And she didn't steer me wrong!
Drew is a pediatrician from LA, forced not only to attend the wedding of an ex-girlfriend, but to serve as a groomsman as well. And to make matters worse, his "plus-one" canceled the night before. The thought of showing up without a date, dealing with the stares and the probing questions of everyone in the wedding party makes him sick. But he figures he'll just hook up with one of the drunk bridesmaids and the weekend will be over.
But on his way up to his hotel room in San Francisco, the elevator gets stuck. He's not alone, however; his fellow passenger is Alexa Monroe—curvy, vivacious, chief of staff for the mayor of Berkeley. Alexa doesn't normally fall for random white guys in elevators, but something about Drew (other than his sexy good looks) makes her agree to be his date for the wedding by the time the elevator starts up again. She'll break out of her work-only funk, he'll have a beautiful woman on his arm pretending to be his girlfriend—it will be fun, right? And after the weekend, he'll head back to LA and that will be that.
Of course, Alexa and Drew have more fun than they even imagined...and it lasts all weekend long. Drew has already told Alexa he "doesn't do girlfriends," so she's not expecting much after he returns home to LA. But they cannot stop thinking about each other. Both want nothing more than to be together, even as both of their jobs get crazy. They start trading visits, and can't keep their hands off each other, and they just enjoy the simple pleasures of being together.
The more this continues, the deeper Alexa's feelings develop for Drew. But she doesn't expect him to feel the same way, although she's afraid to ask him how he feels, since she doesn't think she wants to know the truth. Drew realizes he's never felt this way about anyone before, but he knows once they get more involved, Alexa will hate him, just like all his other exes have. So why take the chance of ruining it?
If by reading this plot summary you think you can guess how the rest of the book will unfold, you're probably right. But the book's predictability doesn't detract from its appeal at all—you can't stop reading because you want to know what will happen, you want to shake Drew and Alexa for not being honest and telling each other how they feel, and you worry some ridiculous artificial barricade will keep them from being happy.
This is a lighthearted, sexy, fun romp of a book, but it doesn't shy away from tackling issues like race, privilege, and self-confidence as well. Guillory hooked me from the meet-cute in the first few pages all the way to the very end. I rooted for these characters, hoped they wouldn't do anything too stupid in an effort to protect themselves, and longed for a happy ending, all the while just tearing through the book.
If you find enjoyment in stories like these, if you're a romantic like me, consider The Wedding Date. I'll definitely be picking up Guillory's newest book ( The Proposal) very soon.
See all of my reviews at
itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at
https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html. -
This was sweet, and yet so boring. Much like most Valentine's Days. Just me?
There's a semi-meet-cute scene at the beginning involving a stuck elevator, but after that it's pretty much downhill. Alexa spends way too much time being worried about everything - what to say, what to do, about her looks, about her job, etc. Drew is kind of an idiot when it comes to romance. Even as someone who was in a long-distance relationship for a year and a half (with my now-husband), I didn't even find that part interesting. At the 60% mark I almost quit the book out of boredom but it's my book club's pick this month so I powered through it. -
Contemporary-A-Thon challenge #6: read a diverse contemporary -COMPLETE!
This was mega cute. A little corny at times, but honestly what new adult romance isn’t a little corny at times? Would definitely recommend for someone looking for a fast and fun read set in the Bay Area! -
This is a super cute romance. When Alexa is stuck in an elevator with handsome stranger Drew, the spark is instant. He’s going to the wedding of an ex-girlfriend and former best friend, and he doesn’t have a date. After knowing each other for only a short time, he asks if she’d want to be his pretend girlfriend. She agrees because it’s only a couple days, and then he’ll fly back to LA while she stays in Bay Area.
There is a lot of sex, which I don’t normally like reading, but this isn’t raunchy, it’s tender and romantic. However, there was way too much of this stuff for my taste. While everything is well done, I found myself getting bored about halfway through and skipped to the last twenty percent of the book, which ends like you’d imagine.
If you’re looking for a cute, light-hearted read, Guillory does a great job of writing the race differences between the couple, and this is a fun book.
Thanks so much to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.
For more reviews, please visit:
http://www.theresaalan.net/blog -
This was an adorable romance with my favorite Fake Dating trope!
❉ Couple meets stuck in a elevator
❉ Guy needs a date to his ex's wedding
❉ Cue adorable and awkward situations
❉ Interracial couple, Alexa is black and Drew is white
❉ Both characters have established careers that they are passionate about. Drew is a doctor and Alexa works for the Mayor
❉ Discussion around body image and beauty standards
A few complaints would be that the sex scenes were mostly fade to black, which I guess this is more of a personal preference but when I read romance I want it to be served with an extra side of steamy ;)
Also most of the conflict came from the characters refusing to communicate which was so frustrating but it didn't hinder my enjoyment.
Overall this is a great romance and I'm excited to read more from this author! -
4.5 stars!
You know how they always say never judge a book by its cover? Sometimes THEY’RE WRONG. Because this cover is cute AF and so was this book!!!! Such a refreshing read, I enjoyed it so much!
The Wedding Date is about Alexa, who when visiting her sister in a hotel gets stuck in the elevator with a hot guy, Drew, when the power goes out. Right off the bat they hit it off and Drew asks Alexa to be hit date at a wedding the next day and she agrees.
One fake night of dating and the two begin seeing each other on the weekends (as she is in the Bay Area and he’s in Los Angeles). But a relationship that starts out as fake cannot end up real, right?
This was the perfect book to pick up and forget your problems. Once I picked it up I didn’t want to put it down. While it’s not as big on the sexy times as most romances, it’s one where you will fall in love right along with the characters.
Sweet, fun, enlightening and romantic, this debut novel needs to be your next read!
ARC was provided by the publisher
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I’m so glad I got stuck in that elevator with you.” she said.
“Me, too.”
The Wedding Date is an adorable romance about two people who aren't quite sure how to navigate a "relationship" that was never part of their plans. With a cuter than cute meet-cute, you'd expect things to go smoothly. But when you put together two people who aren't in their element, things are bound to get complicated.
It's serendipitous when Drew Nichols and Alexa Monroe first meet. Drew needs a plus-one last-minute, and after getting stuck in an elevator together, Alexa agrees to become the good doctor's date to the wedding of his ex-girlfriend. From there on out, things go neither of them expect, not that their first meeting is something you'd expect to happen on a daily basis anyway. From an elevator, Alexa and Drew end up in a wedding, a hotel room, and Los Angeles and Berkeley back and forth.
Things are going great, and they're having a lot of fun, but soon enough, reality catches up with them. Drew isn't quite sure how to be in a relationship, and Alexa has never been in a situation like this. Both stand on shaky ground and are afraid that any step they take might ruin everything. They need to figure out what they are to each other and if it's worth fighting for.
First of all, I love that they're both dedicated to their careers. Drew clearly loves being a pediatric surgeon, and he's a pretty great one at that. So is Alexa. As the mayor's chief of staff, she has the power to start change. She's working hard to lobby a project that will help at-risk teens and is doing everything it can for the project to get the green light. Issues about race, while not the main theme, is never set aside. It's sad how casually those issues came out in this story because it is how it is in real life. It's usually not a shout or a huge scene. It just is. So, I loved it that Alexa educated Drew about it, and that Drew was open to seeing things from the other side.
This book was as cute as its cover! The chemistry between Drew and Alexa was palpable throughout the story, and I honestly loved how the issues between them went about. It was exactly what would happen when a couple like Alexa and Drew are in that situation. Once reality came knocking down their sexed-up and infatuated bubble, they didn't know how to handle it since they've never been in that situation before. I have to admit though that somewhere in the middle, things became a little repetitive. The story gained traction again soon enough, and I kept crossing my fingers they'll finally figure it out.
Aside from Alexa and Drew, there are a lot of lovely side-characters that made this story even more enjoyable. There was Drew's best friend, Carlos, Alexa's officemate and friend, Theo, and her sister, Olivia. While they weren't always on screen, they helped keep the story going in their own ways.
This book was a sweet and lovely debut novel, and I'm definitely keeping an eye out for Ms. Guillory's future works. If you're looking for a sweet and charming book with intense chemistry and realistic tension between two promising characters, you might enjoy The Wedding Date.
Tropes: Fake Relationship, Long Distance
POV: Third Person, Dual POV
Standalone: Yes
*ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
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alexa and drew: fly over to each other's cities every weekend to spend it together
alexa and drew: constantly texting and talking and hanging out whenever they have 14 free seconds
alexa and drew: think about the other person 25/7
alexa and drew: literally obsessed with each other
also alexa and drew evERY SINGLE CHAPTER: ok but do you LIKE me LIKE me or do you just like me??? the spending money on plane tickets to visit every weekend thing is kind of unclear :/ -
Audiobook...read by Janine Edwards....
Janine’s ‘over-flourished’ voice didn’t always feel like the right match to the writing to me.
“The Wedding Date” wins my award as being the ‘most’....
eye-rolling, book of the year.
Drew and Alexia meet in the elevator of the Fairmount Hotel in San Francisco.
Alexia’s melting with sensations just looking at Drew.
She’s swooning -fantasizing jumping this stranger.
Their bonding over crackers & cheese - was semi-cheesy...
But.... I kept listening...
I mean... come on???
We were in San Francisco, at of the cities greatest hotels... for a wedding!!
I was hoping for dazzling sparkles inside that hotel.
Nothin!
My sister had her rehearsal dinner in the Fairmount. I was her maid of honor for the wedding - all of 16 years old. I still remember the gold plates we ate on....the amazing room for 75 guests...glass windows all around with an exquisite view...
....on one of the highest floors in the building. The evening nighttime view was spectacular.
I wore a lime green dress with a hot pink satin waist belt.....and felt like Pretty Woman: a little shell-shocked by all the wealth.
....as in
who has dinner parties like this? Our family didn’t pay for that night - or my sisters over-the-top wedding itself. .. but at 16 I had more fun than I legally should have.
Flaws included - I saw what the author was trying to achieve. And she partially does.
Alexia - wasn’t typically typecast. She was a short African Black Women - a lawyer; chief staff in the major’s office in Berkeley.
She loved her job.
Alexia was a bright educated women who didn’t need a man to define her.
Drew wasn’t looking for a serious relationship either.
He was the bridegroom for his ex-girlfriends wedding.
He needed a ‘save me’ date to the upcoming wedding.
God forbid Dr. Nichols showed up alone.
Eye-rolling dialogue can still hold your attention I discovered.
I was recovering from the aftermath of an allergic reaction ( not to crackers and cheese),
.....a 1/2 protein bar...while engaged with “The Wedding Date”.
Maybe it was the Benadryl-but being read this “romcom” was kinda soothing...
pimples and all. I didn’t trust my mind to handle anything too complex during my recovery.
More crackers and cheese bonding became full-blown cheesy....while at Drew’s hotel room before the rehearsal dinner.
Their ongoing eating reprise food frenzies were a little redundant.
Being the bridegroom,
Drew needed a ‘plus-one’ ( not a fan of this modern term) date to the wedding to protect his *ego*!
Dr. Drew Nichols was a white male.. typical beer drinking, donuts-tacos-cheese & crackers types of guy.....with six-pack’ abbs to swoon over. Not a bad guy, really if his type moves you ... but when a medical doctor’s most redeeming qualities come down to being a ‘hot stud’ fast food eating guy, one might pause.
Alexia was hesitant to date Drew at first but it felt good having a fluttering heart.
Her heart kept on fluttering to the the very end.
I should have my head examined - for listening to
“A Wedding Date”..
but no real harm done.
I was rooting for San Francisco and Berkeley to come out on top. I like reading books in the Bay Area... but...nothing much to report of any substance for our great cities.
Getting past the cheesy ( literally and figuratively) development of the romantic relationship highlighted by food - sex - and drinking -
‘light’ racial issues were explored. Poverty vs. wealthy issues were also ‘lightly’ explored.
Trying to mix ‘serious’ issues with a semi predictable love story only slightly works - their smooching relationship takes the lead.
My final conclusion...
Cute at times - laughed a little ...sweet at times ...
but rolling eyes win!
Eye-rolling entertainment fits nicely while being energy-depleted and healing.
My brain was able to rest while the ‘luv-sex’ crazed kids got it on! -
It takes a lot for me to hate a book. I hate this book! The Wedding Date reminded me of the time I tried to read 50 Shades of Grey (I only made it about 25%) and I hated it due to all of the poorly written sex scenes, emotional abuse and mind games. Drew and Alexa meet in an elevator and she agrees to go to a wedding with him despite knowing him for five minutes. This was a great premise that I was excited to read about. The wedding happens in the first 100 pages and then the rest of the plot was them trying to make long distance work and defining the relationship. Basically, the plot of this book was of the two having (A LOT OF) sex, fighting, and then flying to see each other and getting back together. Lots of eyerolls and cheesy scenes and moments. Not only was the plot horrible, so were the characters.
Drew is an ASSHOLE and Alexa has no backbone or self respect. If a guy called me a workaholic bitch and told me to “fuck off” I would never speak to him again. Not Alexa! She goes crawling back to him every time because Drew realizes he was irrational and an asshole and then does a 180 to make it up to her with a big, grand gesture. I thought their relationship was immature and nothing but mind games and verbal/emotional abuse (50 shades anyone?). Drew also treated his best friend and colleague like absolute crap. He told him to “fuck off” on NUMEROUS occasions. Why would you stay friends with someone like that?! Not very professional or mature in my opinion. I get that things come out of your mouth in the heat of the moment, but Drew constantly treated people he supposedly cares about VERY poorly.
I felt the characters in this book were immature and lacked any dimension. I made myself finish this book in the hopes that it would be a light and airy rom com, but now I am sitting here fuming because the characters were such idiots and treated people horribly (especially the male main). I ended up skimming the last 100 pages and there was no redemption. I had hopes of this book being about a fun, random rendezvous weekend at a wedding with a cute, charming guy you met in an elevator, but it was not like that at all. If you’re looking for a read on how a long distance relationship or any relationship for that matter shouldn’t be, read this. -
Another great book to read near Valentine's Day! Steamy, romantic and def. swoonworthy!
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Very adorable and sexy romance! I loved that this got right into things and began with the wedding and then let us watch how things unfolded after the fake date. For the most part, this was compulsively readable but I felt this maybe dragged on a little too long in the middle.
The main character is African American (ownvoices) and there is fat rep. It does toe the line of having some body image issues go away due to the love interest, but with the narrative being so in her head, I felt Alexa's thoughts about her weight were highly realistic to my experience and I loved seeing a character like myself in this way as the lead of a romance novel.
There are sex scenes. Some fade to black, some get quite descriptive, and some seemed liked they couldn't make up their mind which of these two options they wanted to be.
Overall, I loved the premise, I loved the characters, I was rooting for them, and I want to read more by this author! -
This novel doesn't break ANY new romance ground, does it? I had expected something MUCH better from a Roxanne Gay recommendation.
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LIVE AMAZON
https://www.amazon.com/Wedding-Date-f...
4.5 stars
The Wedding Date was exactly what I needed and even more.The writing was beautiful and the story refreshing.The Wedding Date was fast paced and lighthearted!
I adored Alexa and Drew.Alexa is smart and funny.Drew is charming,sweet,cute and kind.I really like how they met and I enjoyed that they start first as friends.They have some flirty,funny and sweet moments. Their romance felt realistic and I enjoyed it a lot!They make smile all the time!!
This is my first book from Jasmine Guillory and I'm planning to read more books by her!The writing was flawless and the story lovely!
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[3.5]
Not many books out there with interracial couples. Whilst this story was light, fuckin adorable and so much fun to read, I love that the author included aspects of race and white privilege in this book. It was done do well.
I'd say pick this book up if you are in the mood for a cute and light-hearted read. And when aren't we in of those moods, amirite?! -
Sweet little romantic novel. Drew and Alexa both meet accidentally on an elevator and Drew asks Alexa to accompany him to a wedding. He wants her to pretend to be his girlfriend and the weekend turns out to be more than either expected.
Throughout the story each of them fly to each other’s home to visit and find they can’t get enough of one another. But Drew doesn’t do the whole relationship thing and he told Alexa that up front... but something is happening underneath it all.
Predictable story but still loved it! -
The Wedding Date is
Jasmine Guillory's debut novel. It features one of my favorite romance tropes: pretend relationships. As the title suggests, the hero needs a date to a wedding, so a stranger he meets in a stalled elevator agrees to show up. Other factors lead to them faking a relationship to save face, and so the trope begins.
Overall, I liked
The Wedding Date. Guillory uses diverse characters to showcase issues related to privilege in various dynamics. I read an ARC of
The Proposal prior to this (which focuses on Carlos' romance), so I already knew the outcome of Drew and Alexa since their characters are revisited. With how predictable this book is, I don't think my reading order impacted me in any way but I'm still throwing it out there just in case. A likable read that I personally feel has been over-hyped, but if I wrote my first book, I would want the world to know too so no judgment. Enjoy :)
My favorite quote:
N/A -
This was cute until they had sex at like 20 percent of the book and i hate that :")
And i actually found myself not giving a fork about any of the characters and i didn't get into the story. Sorry i thought i would like you because i like everything that is chessy and unrealistic but here we are. -
Find all of my reviews at:
http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Apparently all of my friends read this because Roxanne Gay told them to, but since I am not a big Roxanne Gay fan I wasn’t even aware she was recommending it. What I was aware of was that the title gave the appearance it might be one of my fave tropes – THE FAKE DATE TO A WEDDING!!!! And it totally was. I didn’t read the synopsis and I am such a moron I didn’t take the cover literally either (because seriously that cover looks like a Jane Austen knockoff). I just added my name to the long library list and waited my turn all the while picturing my favorite romance movie tall dark and handsome drink of water as the leading male . . . . .
Now, if you want to make all of the sexies with Josh Duhamel like I do, you will know his leading ladies tend to be a little – okay A LOT – alike. Girls like this . . . .
And this . . . .
And this . . . .
Imagine my delight when the female lead in this little romance ended up looking like . . . . .
It’s about fucking time. AmIRightOrAmIRight?!?!?!?!?!
As for the story itself? I can’t say it blew me away. It ended up being your basic “how do we make a long distance relationship work?” kind of tale. The characters didn’t have a lot of depth – the reason behind the commitment phobia on the male’s part was pretty thin – the sex was a bizarre kind of fade-to-black kind of not mash up. But if you’re looking for a couple of hour time killer because you are opting for a pool day while your family blows their fingers off tomorrow, it might be a winner. Lord knows I most likely read it wrong. -
This is normally not my kind of jam, but I will read anything that Roxane Gay tells me to read. This was so corny and formulaic that, if it weren't written by a black woman, it would have already been adapted into a Kathryn Heigl movie by now. And yet, it was a surprisingly sexy, fun palate cleanser.
