The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

I loved this book. It’s just quirky and fun with a hint of seriousness in it. If you’re looking to get away from some heavy diverse reading, then this diverse contemporary romance will whisk you to better and more fun-loving days.

Here’s some more about the book

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 was really hungry for a cute romantic comedy recently after reading so many heavy and high fantasies for reviews. While doing some crowd sourcing on my next read, many bookstagrammers suggested I read The Wedding Date. I was quick to jump into that advice because if a bookstagrammer suggests a book, it has to be good.

So I picked up a copy of the book at Target and promised to read it at the beginning of March. The timing was perfect because I was able to finish my last book for February, take a few days to decompress, and then read something fun.

And boy, I got a seriously fun book. This review is going to be in an entirely different voice than I’m used to because this book was so cute. When a book is cute, I squee with joy when I share my thoughts. I apologize in advance.

The two main characters in this relationship are Alexa and Drew. Alexa is the Chief of Staff for the Mayor in Berkeley, CA. From what it sounds like, it’s a high-stress job with tons of responsibility and pretty much no room for any kind of romantic life.

Drew seems like the hottie playboy who just happens to be a pediatrician. When I read that Drew was a pediatrician, I seriously shouted “AND HE SAVES KIDS’ LIVES?!” like it was some cherry on the top.

The “meet-cute” is when they’re stuck in an elevator together. Drew wants to avoid embarrassment as his ex-girlfriend’s wedding so he asks Alexa to be his fake date. What was supposed to be a couple of nights of harmless fun turned out to be much more.

I absolutely loved this dynamic. You always see the “Dr. Dreamy” or “Dr. Steamy” but you never think that as a person of color you would ever be good enough for them. I know that I’m probably over-exaggerating, but when you see the hot and sexy doctor that saves kids’ lives you wish to God that maybe he would be into me and not into the blonde girl who looks 100x better than what I look like on a good day. It’s my own head being prejudice I suppose.

But when I read that Alexa was African American and basically that was the end of that convo, it felt so natural and so normalized that a white man can be absolutely crazy in love with a black woman.

There were a couple of race concerns mostly from Alexa, but Drew never mentioned anything about her race. He loved her because she was a beautiful woman, a smart, driven human being who is trying to bring some good to the world through politics. I mean, you can’t find a more authentic and accepting love story than that.

Of course they have their own issues, but they’re centered around the distance. Drew lives in LA while Alexa lives in SF and their jobs make it very difficult for one to leave the other for too long. But the time they spend together on the weekends seems to be filled with more love than any relationship I’ve read.

Also, I can’t leave out that the sex scenes were so steamy that I could feel my cheeks warm.

I think the only flaw was the fact that neither Alexa or Drew were willing to talk about their feelings. Alexa was always waiting for the other shoe to drop and Drew was trying to plan out when he’ll drop the shoe. It seemed kind of immature when it comes to relationships especially if they feel such strong feelings for each other. But I will say that you’re not disappointed in the end.

This isn’t your smart book about inter-racial relationships, but coming from one I totally understand where Alexa and Drew are coming from. My husband sees me for who I am and not where I’m from. It makes me so happy to see that in relationships and in books.

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• Paperback, 320 pages
• Berkley Publishing (January 30, 2018)
• My Rating: 4/5 stars
• Buy The Wedding Date on Amazon

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