ADORABLE. I simply loved this book. I started reading it in the morning and was done with it by dinner time. If things like food, bathroom breaks and family time wouldn’t have gotten in the way, I would have finished it earlier. The reader might think that a proposal will be at the end of this story but you are in for a surprise because its the other way around.

What I really liked about this story was how it was not only the love story between Nic and Carlos, but also about strong independent women, who have careers and ambitions. I wish there was a class called ‘Punch it like a girl’ here in my country, maybe I should start one? I throughly enjoyed reading everybody’s back stories specially Natalie’s.

It’s always a treat to read a book where the love story has some realistic twists in it and the girl just doesn’t fall into the guy’s arms as soon as he says those three words because that’s not how real life happens.

Jasmine’s writing flows easily, it will make you love, laugh, mad and SUPER hungry. Not necessarily in that order but it’s a book not to be missed. It will be published on 30th October 2018.

This was cuuuuuute. The conflict/resolution was a bit sudden for my tastes, but lord, was this absolutely enjoyable + sweet Ie a delightful summer (or vacation) read.

I would also like my own Fight Like a Girl class, can someone find one for me?

If you loved Jasmine Guillory’s debut novel The Wedding Date, be prepared to love The Proposal. Carlos Ibarra is a character we first met in The Wedding Date and the author gives him his own story in The Proposal. We also meet the adorable Nikole Paterson and if you’re still laughing over the meeting between Drew Nichols and Alexa Monroe from The Wedding Date, be prepared to smile again as our hero Carlos meets Nikole when she becomes the victim (yes, I said victim!) of a shocking public marriage proposal at a baseball game. I know, I know, these types of things are supposed to be very romantic, but not when they are totally from left field – I do hope you appreciate the baseball analogy!
The Proposal has a truly delightful storyline as Nikole and Carlos develop a real relationship as opposed to the fake relationship which led to the public proposal drama. The drama doesn’t end with the public proposal and the despicable guy who came up with it isn’t content to take “no” for an answer. When Fisher begins to harass Nikole, Carlos comes to her rescue just as he did in the stadium and readers are treated to a developing relationship filled with romance, heat, and lots of food! One of the things that charms me so much about Ms. Guillory’s books is all the food! People are supposed to love, laugh, and eat, for goodness sake, and her characters do all of that. I highly recommend this funny, sweet, and well-written book. Save yourself a trip to the kitchen and get out your snacks before you sit down to read so you can eat along with Carlos and Nikole.

Like the couple in the previous book in this series, the absolutely awesome The Wedding Date, this one begins with a meet-cute, although in this case the meet starts out definitely not so cute.

Consider the opening of this story as a public service announcement. If you have never even discussed whether or not your “significant” other actually is significant, and if so how much, do not propose on the JumboTron at a major sporting event. Particularly when you can’t be bothered to get your prospective spouse’s name spelled right. Also don’t do this if you know so little about the other person that you don’t even know whether or not they’ll want to be the center of this much attention, even if the answer to your proposal might otherwise be yes.

In this case, Nikole’s about-to-be-ex is completely clueless on all counts. Or so completely self-centered that he’s only thinking about how good it looks for him (he’s an actor after all) to be on the JumboTron looking so handsome and being so romantic. When she rightfully says “No” he storms off in a temper tantrum with all of his buddies, leaving her to face the hungry sharks of the press all alone.

And that’s where Carlos Ibarra and his sister Angie step in. They’re sitting right behind the drama, and they heard it all. They also saw the paparazzi closing in on the still shell-shocked Nikole. So they elbow the press out of the way and pretend to be long-lost besties, sweeping Nikole up and getting her the hell out of Dodge. Or at least out of Dodger Stadium.

Neither Nikole nor Carlos are looking for a relationship. They’re both invested in their careers, they both have active social lives with friends, family and/or family-of-choice. But that doesn’t mean that they can manage to stop thinking about each other. And they get along so well that they are both on exactly the same page.

They both want a casual relationship with lots of laughs (and lots of great sex!) but no commitment. They both have bad experiences with commitment, and aren’t looking to repeat any of them.

But as the occasional date turns into two or three nights every week and texting all day long, it begins to look more and more like a real relationship to everyone except the two participants. Until Carlos finally figures out that love has snuck up on him after all.

Except that Nikole is having none of it, and in the ensuing fight decides that she’s having none of him anymore, either, especially after he storms out of his own house in his own temper tantrum, after saying a whole bunch of things that should have been left not just unsaid, but absolutely unthought.

The course of true love never does run smooth, but this time it’s going to take an epic breakthrough in the sour cream aisle to get the relationship back on track!

Escape Rating B: I liked The Proposal, but it just doesn’t have the sheer compulsive devourability of The Wedding Date, in spite of the epic number of scenes in Nik’s friend’s cupcakery.

In short, The Wedding Date was awesome, while The Proposal is merely good. After the first book, I was just expecting more.

Admittedly, this one does start out with quite the bang. That blindsiding JumboTron proposal scene should be a classic on multiple levels – all of them in a class on how and why not to pull such a stunt unless you are damn sure both that he or she will say yes and that they won’t change their minds about you after you make them the center of all that attention. Some people love that kind of thing, but others don’t even like to let restaurants know it’s their birthday so no one makes a fuss.

Carlos’ revelation that he loves Nik – or at least the way he went about it – should probably also be considered a PSA. If you are a morning person, do not spring this kind of surprise on your hopefully significant other the moment they wake up – especially if they are absolutely NOT a morning person. This was bound to go wrong, the only question was how badly wrong.

At the same time, one of the things that made The Wedding Date such a treat, and that also works well here, is that the problems that do arise between Nik and Carlos are not a misunderstandammit. This isn’t something that a simple conversation could have fixed. In fact, they had the simple conversation and both agreed that they were not on this page at all. Then Carlos suddenly changed the rules and Nik started floundering. She has commitment issues from prior relationships that she really needs to get over, but they had both agreed that this wasn’t going to be a relationship – until it suddenly was.

I liked both Nik and Carlos a lot, along with all of their friends and family. (Carlos is the best friend and soon-to-be best man at Drew and Alexa’s wedding, the couple from The Wedding Date). Nik’s two besties, just like Alexa’s friends in the first book are both wonderfully supportive and refreshingly blunt as required. We all need friends like them in our lives.

I think the reason why this book wasn’t as compelling a read as the first one is that except for the definitely resolved sexual tension between Carlos and Nik, there wasn’t a lot of other kinds of tension. Their road to a relationship is surprisingly smooth – at least until they figure out that they are in the relationship they both said they didn’t want. So the story doesn’t have as much drive to it as the previous book.

In the end, a sweet love story between two people who are interesting to be around and really deserve their HEA. And I am still more than curious enough to see the actual wedding between Drew and Alexa that I’m still looking forward to the final book in this trilogy, The Wedding Party. I loved The Wedding Date so much that I really want to see this series stick the dismount.

I loved it I loved it I loved it! I can't say enough good, amazing, wonderful things about Jasmine Guillory and this novel! It started with a bang and the laughs didn't stop until the very end. I love a character who can laugh at herself and not be too serious all the time and that was definitely Nikole! The romance, the comedic relief, and the family and friendship vibes in this novel just blew me away. I think I read it in about two days because I just couldn't put it down.

I think it's pretty obvious at this point that I absolutely loved this novel, but if its not clear - I LOVED THE PROPOSAL! Go out right now and grab this book, you won't regret it! If you're a fan of chic-lit/rom-coms, then you definitely want to check out this novel. Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for sending this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 5/5

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory was fantastic. I loved the funny moments between Nik and Carlos especially the sour cream scene. This book included funny, loving and sexy moments which I adored sincerely. I really cannot wait until the next installment arrives.

I had high expectations going into this read...and boy did this exceed them. The Wedding Date was so fun and flirty. While The Proposal has those as well, I feel like it had a more serious tone throughout which was different. The blending of serious social and personal issues with elements of a rom-com was so interesting.

I read and liked The Wedding Date and loved Carlos.

He’s swoony in this book and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t unputdownable.
I did love the diversity in this story (Nik is black and Carlos is Hispanic), but the dialogue was partly cliched and sometimes they laughed at each other too much.
That sounds critical, but it takes away from the flow of the dialogue for me.

The story starts out as a page-turner - Nik is at a Dodgers game with her boyfriend of five months when he proposes to her on the Jumbotron, but it's all bad.
He spells her name wrong.
She says, “No”.
Everyone at the stadium and at home watching is mad at her.
Enter Dr. Carlos Ibarra and his sister Angela.
They pretend to know her and get her out of the stadium seamlessly.
Nik and Carlos start out as just friends and it began to grow into a sweet romance.
It’s an easy read, but not a page-turner.

This author gets better with each book. I am really enjoying this series and all the characters. This was a cute romantic comedy and I loved every minute of it.

Nikole and Carlos meet at a baseball game where Carlos saved the day, the rest was history. They had great chemistry and banter that kept your attention. I really liked both characters.

If you have not read a book by this author you need to. Jasmine Guillory has a great series and writes page-turners. I am looking forward to more work from this author.

Wow. After thoroughly enjoying THE WEDDING DATE, I could hardly wait to get my hands on THE PROPOSAL. I loved Carlos in the first book and felt sure his story would delight. But this is such a boring book. There was so much more going on with Alexa and Drew and I felt their connection so strongly. Nik's character, in particular, felt shallowly developed, and there was no real conflict. The whole book just seemed to lack the sparkle and bated breath of The Wedding Date. I finished it distinctly underwhelmed.

Another great read from Jasmine Guillory! Fun and heartfelt, sexy and vulnerable, you fall in love with Nik and Carlos as they fall in love with each other.

Three stars: A fun romance, but it lacks originality, it was far too predictable.

Nik stabs at her phone, wondering how much longer she has to endure being at this ballgame with Fisher, her boyfriend. Nik is in for the shock of her life when a few minutes later, she is up on the Jumbotron with Fisher proposing to her in front of thousands of people. She has only been dating him causally for five months and they haven’t even exchanged I love yous, let alone discussed marriage. Nik desperately tries to let him down without making a spectacle, but it’s too late. Thankfully when the camera crew heads her way, a Good Samaritan quickly intervenes and saves her from more humiliation. Carlos while watching the scene unfold in front of him at the baseball game, and decides to help poor hapless Nik. Soon the two are friends with benefits, but neither one of them wants an involved relationship, or do they?
What I Liked:
*The Proposal was a book I desperately wanted to read after reading this author’s debut: The Wedding Date. While this one may not have quite lived up to its predecessor, I found it to be fun and flirty, and I was thrilled to get more Carlos.
*I loved the opening of the book. I can’t imagine a more humiliating thing than a public proposal in front of thousands of people that you have to turn down. It was hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole scene.
*The romance itself was fun. I liked that it started out under strange circumstances and that it turned into a friendship. I felt like that couple took some time to establish a friendship and to get to know one another before moving to the next level. I especially liked that they laughed and enjoyed the time they spent together.
*Big props to the author for continuing to bring racial diversity in her books. I liked that Nik is an African American woman, while Carlos is Latino. It is nice to see diverse racial couples.
Carlos was one of the main reasons I wanted to read this book. If you have read The Wedding Date, you will know Carlos as Drew’s supportive friend. I liked getting to know Carlos better in this one. I appreciated that he was dealing with personal tragedy and that he was always a stand up guy. He was the backbone of his family. He is kind, compassionate and a genuine good guy.
*I enjoyed the strong focus on female friendships. Nik has two besties, who always have her back. I loved this part of the novel.
*I liked that there was a tiny portion of the novel that focused on domestic abuse.
*I enjoyed catching up with Drew and Alexa from Wedding Date. It was fun to see them again.
The book ends in a good spot. I was happy and satisfied.
And The Not So Much:
*I think the biggest draw back for me with this one was that it was so predictable. It was easy to see how things were going to progress with the relationship, and even with the whole situation with Carlos’ cousin. There was really nothing in this on that was surprising.
*I was disappointed that we didn’t get more from Natalie and Dana. There was so much going on there that was left unexplored.
*I struggled with the realism of the story. There were so many things that seemed a little too convenient or over the top, especially the final scene between Nik and Fisher. It was funny but so unrealistic.

The Proposal was a cute read, but I found myself bored because everything was too predictable. I knew everything that was going to happen pretty much before it occurs. Yes, there are some fun, flirty moments, but nothing in this one that is original. I expected much more after reading this author’s debut The Wedding Date. This was by no means a bad book, but I expected more. Still, I plan on reading the third book in this series when it releases.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for this review.
Posted@Rainy Day Ramblings.

I really don’t know if I’ve ever done this before, but I read the second book in a companion series before/instead of the first. I heard extremely mixed reviews on THE WEDDING DATE and decided to skip it. When I requested THE PROPOSAL from Netgalley (wanting to give the author a try anyways), I didn’t realize it was a companion sequel to the aforementioned book. I still wasn’t compelled to read it, so I just skipped over it in favor of the one that sounded better to me… and had less mixed reviews. It looks like there will be a third companion in this series so hopefully this one works enough for me that I’ll read that too. I DIGRESS. I randomly started this one in early December because I was holding off on starting a holiday book until a read-a-thon started a few days later.

Overall, this book was adorable and the characters were wonderful. I can’t emphasize that enough. Carlos and Nik had such a fun relationship with each other and were honest about what they wanted from each other throughout most of the story. I loved both of their AHA! realization moments about how they felt (so funny), even if one of them felt a littttle late in the book. (The ending was moderately abrupt IMO but not a big deal.)

Their dialogue was a little too witty and contrived sometimes for me, which made it slightly cheesy? This wasn’t a huge issue because I’d rather have fun conversations than dry and boring ones. Some of them just didn’t 100% feel like real conversations or comebacks that people would actually have IRL.

The side characters in Nik’s friend group and Carlos’s family were great too – please provide me with spin-offs or companion books about any number of them (especially Courtney, Dana, or Angie). I’m genuinely excited to read the next story in the series so I MIGHT go back to read the first book at some point. I’m on the fence. Highly recommend this fun romance!

DNF @50%

I just could not take any more of this story without hurting my eyes/ears and having the possibility of having my eyes stuck in an annoyed position. I cannot believe the same author wrote The Wedding Date which I really enjoyed. This story...just NO! Nikole was not a strong character and she annoyed the piss out of me. And Carlos...who I LOVED in The Wedding Date just came off as an overprotective savior type that was just as annoying. Maybe I am reading this at the wrong time but I cannot push through the last 50% when it is the end of the year and I have other books to read. A huge disappointment for me.

This specific video review will be included in the December 2018 wrap-up.

For other video book reviews check out my YouTube Channel: Steph's Romance Book Talk.

Jasmine Guillory's second book is funny and heartwarming and a very good read! Nik and Carlos meet after an awkward proposal and find they enjoy each other's company, but the road to true love takes a few turns along the way. I liked the secondary characters of friends and family and actually laughed out loud at parts. Highly recommended.

Five months into dating her man-bunned, actor-bro boyfriend, the last thing Nikole expects is a big screen proposal at a baseball game (he can’t even spell her name right!) With her refusal comes a massive blow-up, not just from the disappointed fans in the stadium, but also from Nik’s social media once the video goes viral. Carlos was at that game, even helped Nik flee from the camera crews, but Nik knows this handsome LA doctor can’t possibly be looking for anything serious.

Hot on the heels of her massively popular The Wedding Date, Guillory is back with The Proposal. Right from the start I was hooked, from the cringe-worthy proposal and the amazingly diverse cast to the female friendships, this book seriously had it all. I was a little late to the party with The Wedding Date, but now that I’ve discovered how fantastic Guillory is, you better believe my grabby hands will be all over The Wedding Party in July!

New-to-me-author Jasmine Guillory’s The Proposal certainly starts off with a bang. I was quite taken by the premise. Heroine Nik (Nikole) Paterson meets hero Dr. Carlos Ibarra at an LA Dodgers game when he rescues her from the Jumbotron-drama of having her man-bunned boyfriend proposing to her before thousands of people … not counting the ones watching on TV. This is a “proposal”, hence the title, that Nik neither wants nor anticipates. Her boyfriend Fisher, an actor with more ego than talent, is a sleep-with boyfriend and no more than that. As Carlos, at the game with his sister Angela, watches Nik’s horror-stricken face on the Jumbotron, he and Angela, only a few seats away, ward off the cameras coming at Nik when she refuses Fisher. Angela, Carlos, and Nik join Nik’s besties, Dana and Courtney, for drinks after the game and Nik and Carlos strike a friendship with some incipient attraction. They text, call, and meet for drinks, go to dinner, enjoy each other’s company, cook together, watch baseball games, and generally have a great ole time. Not soon after a few get-togethers, they become lovers.

Guillory’s Proposal may possibly be one of the most boring romances I’ve ever read. I enjoyed the premise, even though the declarative prose turned me off. This didn’t get any better as I got further into the novel either. I thought, at first, it had great potential for drama. I thought Fisher would make media-mincemeat out of Nik, in the vein of Robin York’s GREAT Deeper. But no, Fisher disappeared into Nik and Carlos’s dates and fun times. (He does reappear near the end of the novel, but only to what feels like Guillory’s trying to tie things up.) I would say that a good 85% of The Proposal is made up of Carlos and Nik enjoying each other, in and out of bed. Their time together is punctuated by Nik’s relationship with her friends and Carlos’s relationship with his family: his mother, Aunt Tia, sister, pregnant cousin Jessie and her husband Jon.

Guillory does give Nik and Carlos some mild internal conflicts. Nik had an emotionally manipulative boyfriend and she bears the scars of distrust and emotional aloofness. Carlos has an overdevelopped sense of responsibility towards his family and carries the scars of his father’s death. Because he feels he needs to take care of his family, Carlos is convinced a serious relationship is not for him. As Nik feels the same, their friends-with-benefits arrangement seems perfect. And frankly, I thought it was. I would’ve loved to have seen them part ways. Guillory offers some mildly amusing scenes between them, including a pretty droll enchilada-making one. Carlos is utterly nice and supportive of Nik; Nik is affectionate, a tad prickly, and funny. This goes on for a VERY LONG TIME.

When the dark moment arrives and arrive it does, the entire “break-up/separation” between Nik and Carlos gave me reader whiplash. Carlos has a real Jekyll-and-Hyde moment and Nik’s response is, though ho-hum, understandable. I can’t say that I enjoyed The Proposal, though I didn’t dislike it enough to DNF. I read it like one eats a boring muffin, munching away, regretting every moment of what you thought would be a great experience. I felt Guillory’s declarative prose tedious and her relentlessly didactic themes somewhat simplistic. In the end, The Proposal, to quote Miss Austen (who never sketched a scene without incisive wit, or drew a character without penetrating understanding of human nature) “had a high claim to forbearance,” Emma.

Jasmine Guillory’s The Proposal is published by Jove (Berkley). It was released on October 30th and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-galley from Jove, via Netgalley.

What a fun romantic book. I loved reading this title and flew through it. loved the scene at the Dodgers game, what a dope Fisher is. Enter Carlos, the perfect guy. Couldn't wait to see what would happen to Nikole and Carlos. I was pretty confident the story would be wrapped up in a neat bow but enjoyed how it played out.

I enjoyed Guillory's newest romance, which asks the question, what happens when you turn down a jumbo-tron proposal? This was a great story with well-developed characters facing real-life problems and discovering that they want to face them together. There was plenty of fun and heat in the mix as well.

2.5 stars.... This one totally missed the mark for me. I read The Wedding Date and thought it was a contemporary meet-cute romance read. I took it for what it was... an easy read. I was excited to see the author was coming out with another book, but sadly I was severely disappointed.

The writing felt incredibly juvenile, the storyline far-fetched and cheesy, riddled with cliches and all of the characters lacked depth of any kind. It all felt so "twee" while reading it. The one saving grace of this book was the diverse characters: a representation of a black woman, a latino love interest & non-cliche friends.