I remember back in the day when I was just finishing The Wedding Date and the only thing I could think about was "I need a Carlos book. How do I convince Guillory to write one?" As it turns out, I did NOT have to convince her at all. This one was already in the works!
Nik's day started out as going well. But then out of nowhere in the middle of a baseball game her boyfriend decides to PURPOSE. On a JUMBOTRON. Nik does everything short of dying from embarrassment, but out of nowhere, two people are there to save the day: Carlos and his little sister, Angie. They help Nik battle the news cameras and get her out of there before she can even blink. You would think it's over now, but for the two of them, it's only the beginning.....
From the very beginning Carlos has been my favorite character in this series. But in this one he seemed a bit different than he was in The Wedding Date. He seemed a bit more arrogant and a little more of a jerk. I didn't care for the change. I wanted the same Carlos that got Drew to realize he fell in love with Alexa. As for Nik, I really liked her. She reminded me of me. Which I find hilarious because I would have tried to date Carlos too lol She was just like me in so many ways that I wasn't expecting, which made her so much more realistic.
With their romance, I loved seeing them together. It was definitely an instance where everyone else knows EXCEPT those people. But their journey to get there was so much better that way. I loved the way they interacted with each other and the way they tried to make themselves think they didn't matter to the other. All the signs of real love.
The only thing I didn't care for about this one was the ending. I HATED the way he decided to let her know what he wanted to tell her. It just seemed like too much and the way he said it felt even to me that he was just saying something and he wasn't sure if he meant it. And then at the very end, I felt like Guillory stopped it in the middle of a scene. She could have stopped it before ending it like that.
The Wedding Date is still my favorite, but this one is a close second. Jasmine Guillory is for sure one romance author to watch. I can't wait to see what else she has in store!

This novel was accidentally 'gifted' to me and I'm so glad it was--I love getting to know new authors and while this book wasn't my favorite, I know I'll return to her novels and try her out again. For me the characters just go so hung up on caught up in what the relationship could or couldn't be...should or shouldn't be that it took them a while to just freaking settle. The inner monologues and pep talks were initially funny but then wore thin, unfortunately.

I loved the premise. I love that some of the secondary characters were more than what they initially seemed to be. And I really enjoyed that these characters were genuinely good people...they just were a smidge boring.

I love that contemporary romance publishers, who have been woefully slow, are finally getting with the program and buying up manuscripts from writers of diverse backgrounds and that readers are gaining more stories of people of color and many other underrepresented folks.

Carlos was the star for me in the first of the books that I have read from this author. I was looking for him to have a staring role soon. He gets his chance to come to the rescue of a woman embarrassed in front of hundreds of fans. He never thought that he would hit it off with her to the point that the would hang out on days off and end up making dinner together. These two become meshed in to each others lives but there are still things left unsaid.

I was left hanging by the end. Things seem to wrap up but not really wrap up. There were lose thread lying about. I had higher expectations for this read. There were some good parts but I may have just wanted too much. There were details that felt missing and doors opened that did not get closed or opened further.

Jasmine Guillory's done it again with The Proposal. Just as The Wedding Date was funny, sexy and a great read, The Proposal offers the same rhythm. I finished this book in no time.

Great story, with wonderful characters and witty banter. Not to mention an author that finally gets LA right. I live in LA and there are so many people who try to put it in their stories and fail miserably. Thank you for making it another character in your story!

The Proposal starts when Nik's boyfriend of 5 months publicly proposes to her at a baseball game. She is rescued by two friendly strangers - a brother a sister - and finds herself looking for a rebound in the form of the former.
The writing of Guillory's sophomore effort has certainly improved from The Wedding Date, but she still hasn't mastered the art of realistic conversation. I feel like she's too cheesy even for Hallmark. And, I'm sorry, but no one is funny enough to make you fall to the floor crying laughing multiple times in 300 pages.

The Proposal is filled with diverse characters, which makes this book that much better. This book was the perfect companion book for The Wedding Date. I was hoping this book would be from someone else's life. The Proposal starts with a proposal gone wrong! Nik's boyfriend of only 5 months proposes to her on a jumbo tron at a baseball game. The biggest part- he doesn't even spell her name correctly! Carlos and his sister save Nik from the cameras and the crowd. As she hides herself away from the public she finds herself leaning on Carlos for support, the thing is neither one of them want a serious relationship.

I was disappointed by this book. I felt like it got a lot of hype that it didn't live up to. I enjoyed The Wedding Date by this author more, and I'd give her another shot, but she's not on my must-read list.

This is a sweet, engaging romance novel, where we see the two main characters Nik and Carlos, start out as friends and slowly, more than friends. We, and they, try to figure out if they can be more than friends and allow themselves to let down their guard, and allow love to seep in. This is a highly relatable story, told with a feminist bent. Recommend!

After reading The Wedding Date last year, I was really excited about The Proposal. If you loved the first book, you’re going to love this one as well. I would recommend reading that one first though since there are some MAJOR spoilers for it in this one.

I read this one in about two days because I didn’t want to put it down. There was the perfect balance between cute/adorable-ness and more serious matters. I thought the chemistry between the two main characters was great. I also loved that their relationship was so grounded in friendship!

Overall, I thought this was a fun, enjoyable read! Even if it should come with a warning that you’re going to get really hungry from all the marvelous food descriptions.

What a fun sequel to Jasmine Guillory's break-out hit! For every girl who never, ever wants someone to propose to her on a jumbotron, this is the smart, funny, feminist story of what happens after and how the search for yourself sometimes leads you right to the perfect person.

This book started out strong and halfway through completely fizzled out for me. I really enjoyed this author's debut book The Wedding Date, and at first I thought this one was similar, but by the end it wasn't even in the same ballpark (pun intended).

I love that Berkley is publishing more work by authors of color and books with characters who are persons of color, so I was glad to see this book. I hope Berkley continues to publish books like these because they are needed. The story in this one just wasn't more me, I wish things had been more fleshed out.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

A so-so followup to Guillory's smash hit debut, THE PROPOSAL has a fun premise, but falters when sliding into home.

The book shares some of the same problems that had me hesitant, but writing off as First Novel Issues while reading THE WEDDING DATE. Both have uneven pacing, slightly weak characterization of the hero, and worldbuilding that fails to ring true. THE PROPOSAL is definitely a borrow not an auto-buy for me, but I'll be keeping an eye out for future releases from Guillory in hopes that some of my quibbles are absent from her next effort.

Y'ALL.

Let me just preface this by saying that I absolutely adored The Proposal. Jasmine Guillory is a fantastic writer, full-stop, and her sophomore novel was a fun contemporary romance that treated its characters (and readers) like competent adults. There was dramatic tension, but it didn't feel like the characters made stupid, dumb choices JUST to move the plot forward. They communicated with one another the way people do in real life and disagreements happened because of what each character SAID to one another, not because they didn't talk to begin with. (Such gasp. Much shock. So horror.)

Both the two leads and everyone else were diverse in some way, but no one's backstory or motivations felt contrived or there to only serve a narrative purpose. Like, this novel was just so refreshing and makes you question the romance genre as a whole. Why can't other novels have functioning adults as their protagonists? Why can't there be more than just straight white people falling in love?? Why can't more intersectional stories cross over into the mainstream???

I was definitely aware of Guillory's debut, The Wedding Date, earlier this year (an #OwnVoices contemporary romance raved by Roxane Gay!), so I really wanted to read The Proposal as soon as it was published. (Because duh that cover and that summary.) AND LET ME TELL YOU. It delivered. The Proposal could have been any other romance, but because Guillory is so precise in her characterizations, it made sense that THESE characters in THIS setting had THESE things happen to them. The sex scenes weren't gratuitous but they didn't feel safe for work, either. And I know the timeline in which her protagonists fall in love is, in theory, very short, but it's also like why is this taking so long?? 👏HUR👏RY👏UP👏

Honestly, the only thing that I disliked was that the damn book ended. I could see that the pages left were getting smaller and smaller, but I was also like no??? maybe don't?? And then when Nik and Carlos FINALLY get their Happily Ever After, I turned the page and there was a biography of Guillory instead of more story. (How dare she.)

I know that both The Wedding Date and next summer's The Wedding Party take place in the same universe, but that's kind of not the same thing and I am very, very sad I can no longer read this book for the first time.

This was a fun romp of a book. I loved how the author intertwined characters from her first book, The Wedding Date, into this story without stealing the show.

Such a unique and fun spin on a modern romantic comedy. I’ve loved both of Guillory’s books so far. Can’t wait for the next!

FreshFiction.com coverage for The Proposal

Review: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=67131
Interview with Jasmine: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=9798
Fresh Pick for 11/6/18: http://freshfiction.com/pick.php

Looking forward to The Wedding Party next spring!

Not as great as the Wedding Date, but still a fun, sweet read. I did recommend to purchase this title.

This was a fun book! I've never read this author before but I enjoyed it. Very cute and funny. I would recommend it for fans of romance comedies.

Nikole Paterson never expected her boyfriend of only five months to propose. She especially didn't expect him to do it at a Dodgers game and have it broadcast on the Jumbotron. It makes it especially awkward when she turns him down. In for the save is Carlos Ibarra and his sister Angela who happen to be sitting a couple rows back, and when they see the sharks start to circle Nik, hoping to get a story, they whisk her out of the stadium.

After a terrible breakup with the last person she loved, Nik has never been interested in the whole relationship thing. So she's happy to just hang out with Carlos, no strings attached.

Carlos has so much on his plate what with being a pediatrician and basically taking over as the "man of the house" after his father passed away five years ago. He's too busy to commit to someone seriously, so he's completely on board when Nik says their hanging out (and sleeping together) is enough.

But what happens when it's not enough, and their time together becomes more than just a series of random hook-ups?

I have to say that I enjoyed The Proposal much more than I did The Wedding Date. For some reason the relationship between Nik and Carlos just clicked for me better than Alexa and Drew. I think it's the banter between them is so fantastic. Jasmine Guillory does a wonderful job of writing their arrogance and humbleness, and Carlos has some wonderfully romantic lines too. Both Nik and Carlos are good at their jobs and love what they do, Carlos especially is not afraid to wax poetic about all of his strengths and accomplishments, and Jasmine Guillory does a great job in keeping it from moving into irritating territory but showing how much he puts forward for others around him especially his family.

Before I started reading I wasn't aware that this book was tied to The Wedding Date in any way, but rest assured Carlos's best friend Drew and Drew's fiancee Alexa are mentioned and make an appearance, which made me happy to see those characters again.

I also loved Nik's best friends Dana and Courtney. The support system the women have for one another is everything I want to read in female friendships in my books. I wouldn't mind either of those ladies popping up again in their own book if that's in the cards.

I thought that the pacing of the story was wonderfully done. Oftentimes I find that there's so much attention paid to the build-up that when we actually get to the conflict there's not enough time for a resolution without it feeling rushed. Not so with The Proposal from the beginning to the end, everything fit perfectly.

With two stand out books in 2018, I cannot wait to see what Jasmine Guillory brings us next!