4.5 When Oh, So Bad Turns Into Oh, So Great Stars
* * * * 1/2 Spoiler Free
We have all been there...That situation where we wish the ground would open up and suck you in...only so that you would not be the center of attention and have everyone looking at you. There can be any number of reasons for that type of feeling...a small gathering of friends and something is said that causes an uproar...or your business power point is going along great and then that weird slide pops up making no sense...

Or

You could be Nikole Paterson, award winning independent journalist, sitting at a Dodger game with her actor boyfriend of five months wishing this game were over so she could be home relaxing on her own. Instead she was pushed to celebrate his birthday with his "Bros" at the game. Nikole has been contemplating as to why she is even with him...and then she remembers she does like the sex...but that is about all. She is deep in her thoughts and scanning her phone when the boyfriend tugs on her arm yelling to look up.

At first Nikole can't figure out what the deal is...then she sees someone is proposing to a Nicole on the JumboTron and immediately wonders why anyone would do that...Only to then see the boyfriend down on one knee Proposing to Her!!!

IS HE NUTS??? Nikole tries to get him to be normal and settle down. She does not want to embarrass him in front of his friends and the world. Her mind is racing because he never even talked to her about these types of feelings and if he had, she would have shut it down. This is not going well and he will not listen to her polite comments... instead he starts to get upset and then storms off, leaving her there.

Nikole cannot believe this is happening and as she sits there pretending she is fine...

Carlos Ibarra and his sister have watched the entire thing from two rows above. They saw how she tried to be gracious and kind and not have it get out of control. They saw how the guy was an asshat and left her. Now Carlos is concerned. He is watching as Nikole is attempting to look ok and not frazzled. But when a camera crew starts to approach, Carlos tells his sister they are going to help her. They go to block the crew and pretend to be friends, whisking her away.

As they get to the parking lot, Nikole turns to thank both of them and says she will get a ride from Uber or Lyft and not to worry about her. Carlos refuses and insists on driving her to the bar where her girlfriends are waiting. Once at the bar, Nikole insists they come in for a drink on her as a thank you.

Nikole is thankful her friends are there. She has a solid set who are the world to her. Each of them know her well and they are like sisters. Nikole starts to re tell the story...how the guy even spelled her name wrong...on that everyone howled.

Carols watched Nikole and thought what an amazing person she was. To have dealt with such an idiot and still be able to laugh with her pals. He liked the way the lights hit her curls and the sparkle of her eyes. He thought she was lovely but at the same time saw flicks of pain. Carlos knew it was time for them to leave when the conversation became a little personal and Nikole would need to just have her crew by her side. Saying goodbye, Carlos and Nikole felt as if they had made a little connection.

When the ladies went to pay their bar and food bill, Nikole discovered Carlos had taken care of it. This gave her the excuse to send an email to thank him.

And that was the beginning of something Oh So Great.

This was a terrific read. It covered so much. It had a multi cultural relationship which was there but then not at all there...It nods to differences yet also just told the universal story of two people working through whether they could love, period. Nikole had issues about love... scared to death of it. Carlos thought he was in the same place but as time progressed, he got hit in the face with his feelings. I love when a guy can be so smitten. What also worked was that they became friends first, then venturing into more.

And Boy Oh Boy...These two knew how to tear it up....Just Sayin' Yum Yum

This was delightful and proved something terrible can happen... but because of that horrible thing...something wonderful can come out of it. I cannot wait to see what Jasmine Guillory comes up with next.

The Wedding Date by Jasmine GuilloryThe Wedding Date
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory The Proposal
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Very well-written novel with great dialogue and interesting characters. I highly recommend this novel--it would be a great book club choice.

This book was super cute! Was in the mood for something light and this fit the bill. The story was funny, sexy and empowering for women.

Love the representation in this book! We need more books like this - unique meet-cute situation; strong, sexy, independent female lead; sexy, intelligent, male lead who is definitely very masculine, but also pretty damn woke in terms of how he interacts with women (maybe not perfect, but better than most romantic male leads - plus, he needs to have some room to grow!).

Also, the author understands the sexiness of male forearms, and is absolutely correct in her assertion that tacos al pastor are the very best kind of tacos.

Looking forward to more good things from Ms. Guillory.

If you're going pull a ridiculous and very public surprise proposal to someone on the Dodger's Jumbo-tron, you could at least spell their name right...

Nik cannot even believe her casual boyfriend of a few months pulled a stunt proposal at a Dodger's game. Even more surprising is his completely inappropriate and frankly scary behavior after she tells him no. Thankfully, a really cute pediatrician and his sister see Nik's shock and get her out of the stadium before the media hounds can descend, escorting her safely to her friends.

Thus starts a really great friendship between Nik and Carlos, a friendship that slowly starts to include benefits. Both have super busy lives, Nik with her writing, Carlos with the hospital, so they both think their arrangement is perfect. Both also have a ton of baggage around love, intimacy, and relationships.

What follows is a lovely friends to lovers to HEA tale with realistic problems, family issues, and a awesome dose of feminism.

This was more like a 4.5 star for me, because I just loved The Wedding Date so very much and "friends-to-lovers" isn't one of my fav tropes.

I really dug in to this story and loved the wittiness of it. It was an enjoyable and quick adventure into cold shoulders, cupcakes, cohorts and confidants.

I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

With The Proposal, Jasmine Guillory does it again with a strong, even more engaging follow up to her bestselling novel, The Wedding Date.

When Nikole (Nik) Peterson receives a surprise marriage proposal on the JumboTron at a Dodgers game, she is caught WAY off guard. Not only have she and her boyfriend, Fisher, not been dating long, but he spells her name wrong in the message on the big screen and issues the proposal on his birthday in the presence of all his buddies. Even though Nik does her best to let him down easy, the entire scene is broadcast to the stadium and is caught on camera by ESPN. Nik is trying to find a way to slip out of the stadium and avoid the camera crew heading toward her when two strangers, Carlos Ibarra and his sister, Angela, swoop in and rescue her by pretending to be long-lost friends. This summarizes the first chapter of The Proposal and sets up the possibility of romance between Nik and Carlos.

Fans of The Wedding Date will recognize Carlos as the pediatrician best friend and confidant of Drew, who has now moved to Oakland and is engaged to Alexa. Carlos was a wonderful, but fairly minor character in Wedding Date, so it was a pleasure to get to know his story through The Proposal. As with Guillory’s previous book, our protagonists, Carlos and Nik are both smart, attractive successful individuals who aren’t really looking for “forever” when they meet. However, as their friendship develops, they are forced to acknowledge their mutual attraction… and who knows where it will go?

The Proposal is a great example of the signature style Guillory began developing in The Wedding Date. Guillory doesn’t begin her novels with a lot of introduction or backstory for her characters. Instead, the romantic leads are thrown together in Chapter 1 in a unique and comical way and we learn more about the characters organically as they learn more about each other. Guillory’s characters are also successful and independent men and women who know what they want in a romantic partner, but are not defined by their intimate relationships. Though I loved The Wedding Date, I believe that The Proposal is a much better offering. Guillory spends a lot more time developing the supporting characters of Carlos’ family and Nik’s friends, which provides additional layers to our protagonists, making them more fully human and, ultimately, irresistible.

****ARC received for an honest review****

This is a down-to-earth love story about a black woman and a Hispanic man in LA. There’s cuteness. Cupcakes. And an assortment of friends and family weaving a broad tapestry of humanity in a little book. Still, Guillory remains just the side of safe with storylines that would be completely boring if not for her motley cast of characters.

Nik and Carlos have an adorable and unusual meet-cute. A very authentic relationship. And some commitment issues. We get to know more about them than we did Drew and Alexa thankfully. Carlos and Nik each bring large personalities and sass to the table. Just not quite enough to take a story to the next level. We’ve gone deeper than the surface this time - but I wanna be down somewhere near rock bottom.

Like with The Wedding Date I was frustrated here by an obvious display of talent being hemmed in for a very A-to-B story. I suspect Guillory has more imagination, and I look forward to seeing it from her.

<b>”’...and I thought love meant having to sacrifice a part of yourself. But then I met you, and you loved every part of me, even the parts I don’t like.’”</b>

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As entertaining as her first book. She makes me laugh, her characters are very true to life and her situations ring true.

Imagine you are sitting in an MLB park, bored and rethinking your relationship with your boyfriend, when the Jumbo Tron pops up with a proposal with your name (misspelled) and said boyfriend drops to his knee and proposes. For Nik, this is her worst nightmare come true and when she says no she becomes the villainess of the whole affair. Sitting alone in her seat, she is rescued by Carlos and his sister just as a camera crew is about to descend upon her. Pretending to be Nik’s friends, they get her out of the park and to a local bar where her real friend are waiting. Thus begins a beautiful friendship between Carlos and Nik.
As Nik gets to know Carlos, a pediatrician working at a teen health center, and his family, she starts to look at her past relationships and why they didn’t work. Both of these two are sure that they are not interested in a serious love affair but they find themselves getting closer and closer and entwined in each other lives.
I knew that I would enjoy this book because the author’s previous book, The Wedding Date, was such a great book. The two main characters in that book make an appearance in this book which just added to my enjoyment. I loved how the two characters interacted in this book, from fun texting in the beginning to dates and hanging out with friends and then even more. The relationship evolved so naturally from the unusual beginning even though both parties were relationship shy. I loved the premise, the main characters, the supporting characters, basically everything about this book. I have added Ms. Guillory to my must-read list for future books.

Another Joy from Jasmine Guillory, it was nice to see updates with old characters and see new ones-- it's refreshing to have a romance novel with two main characters of color that aren't stereotypes and have real issues that you'd see yourself having.

Really enjoying Ms. Guillory's novels. They have both been very refreshing, great diversity in her characters, interesting situations, great back-stories. I actually think I liked this one a little better than The Wedding Date. I am looking forward to offering this to our library's patrons.

fun summer beach read. nothing special but it has some fun moments with her friends in particular. the guy is a little too good to be believable (doctor, cooks, nice) but then he has a dumb moment near the end so i guess that makes up for it.

A fun, funny follow up to Guillory's first book. This is a great book to recommend to people who like romantic comedies in general.

Jasmine Guillory’s second novel is just as charming and fun as her debut. This is a title my romance book club at the library. I look forward to seeing was Guillory does next!

Warm and charming, this is a delightfully low-stress romantic tale of friendship and respect. Be prepared to be hungry, though: Guillory’s characters love to eat.

To bastardize the great Diana Ross, what the world needs now is love, sweet love (stories written by WOC) and Jasmine Guillory does not disappoint. When freelance writer, Nikole gets blindsided by a public proposal at a Dodgers game, Carlos comes to her rescue. Soon they're friends, and then maybe something more, but all along the way is a story of self-healing and realizing that sometimes it's okay to need someone. It's funny. It's sweet. It's hot. It talks about racial identity. You'll like this one.

The Proposal is an absolute gem. Jasmine Guillory excels at bringing realism to Nik and Carlos' relationship without resorting to high-highs and low-lows. The result is a sexy, grown up romance that proves nice guys don’t have to finish last. I loved it. Bonus points for its diverse cast and solid friendships.

I really loved this book. It reads like a romcom, except the characters actually talk to each other about what they're thinking & feeling. The "conflict" here is that the characters don't trust or realize their own instincts at times. It's a fantastic read, especially if you need an escape. It doesn't shy away from real life, and the characters are extremely relatable. I will read every single book that Jasmine Guillory writes the absolute moment I get my hands on it.

I absolutely loved the author's first novel, The Wedding Date and hoped that her follow up novel would be just as good. Wow!! This one was even better. The contemporary L.A. love story between Carlos Nik was so relatable and down-to-earth. The characters could have been people that I know or wish that I know. They deal with real life issues, worries and anxieties. This love story is not tied up in a pretty package with a big bow. And what I love even more is the racial and cultural diversity of this book. Hello! We are not all blond-haired and blue-eyed as the Hallmark channel may lead many to believe. I want real characters that are like me and not conveniently placed in a story to meet a quota.
Thank you Jasmine Guillory for letting me spend my weekend reading about these two wonderful characters. I know this doesn't come out until October, but is too soon for me to ask, when will your next book come out?