From the New York Times bestselling author of The Proposal and “rising star in the romance genre” (Entertainment Weekly) comes a dazzling new novel about a spontaneous holiday vacation that turns into an unforgettable romance.
Vivian Forest has been out of the country a grand total of one time, so when she gets the chance to tag along on her daughter Maddie’s work trip to England to style a royal family member, she can’t refuse. She’s excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn’t expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain private secretary, his charming accent, and unyielding formality.
Malcolm Hudson has worked for the Queen for years and has never given a personal, private tour—until now. He is intrigued by Vivian the moment he meets her and finds himself making excuses just to spend time with her. When flirtatious banter turns into a kiss under the mistletoe, things snowball into a full-on fling.
Despite a ticking timer on their holiday romance, they are completely fine with ending their short, steamy affair come New Year’s Day. . .or are they? Source: advance e-galley provided in exchange for an honest review
The huge plus: this is a seasoned romance featuring Maddie’s mother (Maddie from book 3). I wasn’t expecting a story about her but I liked that this was the next step in the series. Also any book that features a close mother-daughter bond such as this one is so sweet and comforting. The premise is that Maddie is temporarily hired on by a Duchess of England to fill in as her personal stylist for the Christmas season. Maddie is able to make special arrangements to have her mother Vivian join her on the trip so that they won’t be apart for the holidays. How on earth she pulled that off, who knows but that is the sweetest gesture and induces all sorts of warm fuzzies. Even better: they both get to say at Sandringham! I can get behind that. It’s an exciting opportunity and she wants to share this once in a lifetime experience with her mom. Except that I didn’t ever feel like Maddie and Vivian were in England or at Sandringham, specifically. The descriptions given of their surroundings were so vague and there weren't enough details to transport me to this exclusive royal abode. It would've been nice to have had more elaboration in order to better appreciate a sense of its long history and the grandeur of what Vivian was witnessing in addition to her "oh wow" responses. There were loads of mentions of scones which, don't get me wrong, I love scones but that's not enough to make me believe I'm in England and staying at a royal residence. I also didn't feel a clear distinction between Vivian and Malcolm's voices, either, and therefore, I didn’t catch on to their chemistry. I wanted to love this story but I didn't get swept up in it the way I was hoping I would. Travelling to London, staying at a royal residence...such an incredibly wondrous experience and during the most magical time of the year, too, and it feels like a missed opportunity. When I think about the four books I’ve read in this series, The Wedding Date still stands as the best one for me. ~ Bel
After an “Oops, we made a mistake” kiss, neither one can stop thinking about the other. With Alexa’s wedding rapidly approaching, Maddie and Theo both share bridal party responsibilities that require more interaction with each other than they’re comfortable with. Underneath the sharp barbs they toss at each other is a simmering attraction that won’t fade. It builds until they find themselves sneaking off together to release some tension when Alexa isn’t looking.
But as with any engagement with a nemesis, there are unspoken rules that must be abided by. First and foremost, don’t fall in love. Source: advance e-galled provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review The first two books in The Wedding Date series - The Wedding Date and The Proposal - have been delightful romances about people coming together through unlikely happenstances. Meeting each other has changed their worlds for the better. The Wedding Date this time involves Maddie and Theo who are friends of Alexa from the first book. Theo works with Alexa in the Mayor's Office and Maddie is her best friend. Alexa might be the only thing they have in common though because these two do not get along. They've somehow managed to rub each other the wrong way with Maddie thinking Theo is a snob who likes to throw his education in people's faces and he thinking she's a flighty, superficial twit. The remain civil for Alexa's sake, barely tolerating each other when they are in the same company. But then one night, after a few drinks and some goading in to a dance off, Maddie and Theo wind up tangled in the sheets and neither are sure of how to proceed. First off, you knew this was going to go one of two ways: they either continue hating each other or they finally let off steam. The latter is way more fun but it's what happens after that's far more interesting. Neither want a relationship especially with the other but they're also hopeless at making their one night stand stick. They agree to just be sort-of-friends-for-benefit and agree not to tell Alexa. Even though they might not have much in common at first, Maddie and Theo do get on surprisingly well when they loosen up their defenses. I did get a kick out of their tendency to piss each other off because of miscues. They just communicate differently and it's a matter of getting used to the other' language. I think that's every relationship but they tended to latch on to things mainly to "convince" themselves why they shouldn't be an item. Nothing funnier than watching a couple trying to avoid the inevitable. And nothing sweeter than watching two people finding common ground. Both Maddie and Theo have personal dreams that their careers are built on. Something so personal and deeply meaningful means putting themselves out there and risking failure. These two who could barely go a few words without slinging insults turn it around to become each other's biggest cheerleaders. The magic times may be fun but there's something profoundly sexy about a couple building a genuine connection together, and that's the aspect of the story I liked the most. Fans of the previous books in this series will definitely enjoy The Wedding Proposal. Maddie and Theo, two seemingly opposites who slowly fall for each other and fall hard...isn't that a love story we all want? ~ Bel
The author of The Wedding Date serves up a novel about what happens when a public proposal doesn't turn into a happy ending, thanks to a woman who knows exactly how to make one on her own...
When someone asks you to spend your life with him, it shouldn't come as a surprise--or happen in front of 45,000 people.
When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn't the hard part--they've only been dating for five months, and he can't even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans...
At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik's rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He's even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik's social media blows up--in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of LA, a handsome doctor like Carlos can't be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes... Source: advance e-galley provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review I read The Wedding Date earlier in the year and thought it was a super cute romance featuring a couple that was unexpectedly thrown together and it somehow worked out. The Proposal featuring another couple thrown together by circumstances while cute, didn't quite hit the spot for me in the same way. Here's what I enjoyed about The Proposal. Once again Guillory has an interracial couple, Nik and Carlos (yes, Carlos from The Wedding Date). Their initial meeting at the baseball game is awesome when he rescues her from further humiliation after she turns down her boyfriend's very public and unexpected proposal and he left her stranded. Guillory adds more diversity in the form of Nik's Korean best friend, Courtney and a gay best friend, Dana. They're both supportive friends who help Nik see clearly when she can't. Carlos is a catch. He's smart, funny, caring and cooks which would make me propose to him. The theme of female empowerment is also explored as a subplot and is one that I appreciated. Guillory even takes advantage of this to introduce another diverse character with a history that'll resonate with many women, and I liked feeling that girl power. I struggled with the book whenever I felt that the story was moving away from Nik and Carlos. There's a subplot involving his cousin's pregnancy that serves to demonstrate how devoted Carlos is to his family. However, I thought that it came up so often becoming a third central character that I felt overshadowed Nik and Carlos. I'd much rather that some of that space had been used to learn more about one of Nik's previous relationships that makes her so squeamish about declarations of love. It's alluded to but barely and without that insight I felt I lost out on gaining a better understanding of her. To me it's an important missing piece of who she is that affects her and Carlos later. Nik just winds up feeling kind of flat to me as does Carlos. The Proposal is a cute story that does contain a powerful message about female solidarity which I'm totally here for, but I didn't get completely wrapped up in the romance this time. ~ Bel
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... Source: advance e-galley provided in exchange for an honest review Sometimes the universe conspires to throw two people together into a situation so they can meet and beautiful things can happen. In The Wedding Date, the two people would be Alexa and Drew, and the situation a stalled elevator. They chit chat, joke around and share cheese and crackers during the brief period they're stuck in there. Alexa's visiting her sister who's in town and Drew is there for his best friend's wedding though he's not looking forward to being in it. Since they got along so well in the few moments they were in a confined space, he's struck with the idea to invite Alexa to the wedding as his date. It's an unusual offer from a stranger but she accepts and ... voila! The last-minute wedding date turns into a few more weekend hook ups. Alexa and Drew are both happily single and successful in their respective careers - she's the mayor's chief of staff and he's a pediatric doctor. The slight snag comes with distance - she lives in San Francisco and he's in LA. But since they hit it off so well that first weekend, they figure they could do the long distance thing and just see where it goes. No expectations, no pressure. At some point though it gets complicated. Even though they agreed to just have fun, the impulse to put a label to what they have going on and define who they are to each other is there. It's interesting how it's been sex-based this whole time and then all the awkwardness kicks in when they try to be serious about it. Funnier still how they can be physically intimate yet hesitant to initiate a conversation about where the relationship is headed. It just goes to show that even adults can't get it together sometimes. I noticed some buzz in the last week about the fact that this is an interracial couple featuring a female POC. Personally, I'm glad for it because as one myself, it's nice to see something similar to my situation reflected in a story. Guillory joins the ranks of many of her fellow authors in giving POC a voice and showing them facing many of the same ups and downs that any couple faces. The Wedding Date doesn't make their racial backgrounds the main focus but rather how two individuals will navigate their relationship around their careers and any lingering fears of commitment. So what I'm getting at is that it's nice to see representation but for me, it's important that there's an experience within the story that anyone can appreciate. The Wedding Date is an adorable story about two adults simply figuring things out and having fun along the way. It's one of those "good feels" books which I had a wonderful time reading. I cannot recommend it enough. ~ Bel
Excerpt
Alexa danced with Lauren, letting the movement and the laughter shake away her annoying thoughts. When she felt a hand on her waist, she turned to see Drew behind her and laughed again, at how ridiculous the evening had been and how much fun she was suddenly having. He took ahold of one of her hands and swung her around to face him and laughed back down at her. Other members of the wedding party joined their group and danced with and around them, but song after song came on, and he never moved from her side.
“Water?” he said in her ear after they’d been on the dance floor for a long time.
“Yes, please.” She walked with him over to the bar.
She glanced up at the ornate clock over the bar, surprised at how late it had gotten. And how much she didn’t want this night to end. Damn it, it had been fun to be Drew’s fake girlfriend, but she knew that once the clock struck midnight, so to speak, the fairy tale would be all over.
He leaned against the bar, his jacket off, his bow tie untied, a little sweaty and disheveled from dancing. Good Lord, this guy was hot.
He rolled up his sleeves, exposing his tan forearms. She wanted to run her fingers up and down them and feel how warm and strong they were.
She needed to stop letting her imagination run away with her.
“Um,” she said. “It’s getting late, and if I want to make the last BART train back to the East Bay, I should probably leave pretty soon.”
Why had she said that? Why, when she was standing next to a hot guy, basically panting over him? If she was Maddie, hell, if she was Amy, she would have grabbed one of those hot forearms and wrapped it around her body, letting him know what she wanted without having to say anything. Sadly, she was Alexa, so she would flee instead.
He put his water bottle down and looked at her.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” she said. Olivia and Maddie would get mad at her for not throwing herself at him, but they didn’t understand that she just didn’t know how. Plus, rejection from this guy was the last thing her self-esteem needed. Talk about the opposite of getting back on the horse; that would make her avoid horses, and stables, and all farm animals for another few years. So to speak.
He stepped closer to her and put his hand on her waist. Her hand landed on his arm, and, without even meaning to, she ran her fingers up and down. Oh God, touching him like this was as good as she’d thought it would be.
“Or”—he looked straight down into her eyes—“you could stay.”
A question was in his eyes, and a smile hovered over his lips. His thumb drew slow circles on her hip and then moved up her side to her ribs. His other hand moved up to her face and traced the outline of her lips with his fingers.
She shivered.
He waited.
“Or,” she said, “I could stay.”
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.
