Definitely an interesting read, but one that i had high expectations for after seeing so many glowing reviews. I definitely enjoyed it, though not as much as some other reviewers.

The Proposal is a charming and fun contemporary romance. With a diverse cast of characters and a memorable meet-cute, this book lived up to the hype for me. This is my first time reading Guillory, so I'm looking forward to reading the first novel in the series too.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory was a light, fun read. This is about an embarrassing and unwanted proposal in front of thousands at a baseball game. What Nikole Paterson didn't expect is to meet a handsome, considerate doctor who helped her in a sticky situation. They both didn't want a serious relationship so they begin a light yet exciting relationship with no strings attached. This was a perfect, quick read about strong friendships and dealing with baggage that leaves you nervous to move on with your life.

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

The Proposal follows Drew’s best friend, Carlos, who I already loved in the first book. So Carlos is attending a baseball game, when a girl gets proposed on the Jumbotron and says no, which leads to the whole stadium judging her and also a news crew starts hounding her. Carlos and his sister decide to jump in, and help her, which is how Nik and Carlos meet. And then they fall in love.

Again, a really amazing romance with so many wonderful, important stuff in it. Our female lead is black, our male lead is Latino, there’s a black lesbian side character, a plus size Korean side character… There are discussions on emotional abuse, there are amazing female friendships, a lot of girls supporting girls and I loved every second of it. And Guillory is really good at incorporating these things into the story so they work with the general arc of the novel. It’s GREAT.
My one grievance with this novel is that it was real cheezy at times and I feel like the romance progressed a little too quickly.

But still, this was beyond fun and beyond cute and it was just chock-full of amazing stuff.

I've never been much of a reader of romance-style novels, but I am hooked on Jasmine Guillory. When Nik turns down a proposal on a jumbotron in front of millions of spectators (and television cameras), Carlos and his sister are quick to jump in and rescue a total stranger from a quickly escalating nightmare. What follows is a lighthearted romantic encounter that despite its playful tone and happy ending, isn't afraid to explore deeper issues such as race, grief, family, emotional abuse and women's friendships deftly and honestly. Ms. Guillory manages to encompass both the complex and the butterflies-in-the-stomach moments in a way that makes each one complement the other rather than detracting or getting bogged down in heavier material. The Proposal is the perfect read when you know you want to feel good at the end but you aren't afraid to take your time getting there.

This is 100% a companion to the Wedding Date so don't go in without that knowledge. The writing wasn't the best. It's also super cheesy, but cute. The Los Angeles setting was really cool though and you can tell the author cared about where she had the book take place.

I was excited to read this because I loved The Wedding Date. I thought this was just as good and I enjoyed that the characters were continued in this one. Fun and light romance!

A fun romance that reunites the readers with a character from Guillory's previous book, The Wedding Date. Carlos and Nik's story is full of fun, flirty romance, delicous sounding food, and the importance of family and friends.

This was so cute! I loved Nik as a main character. I related a lot to her fierce in dependence and her need to never look weak. Carols was a sweetheart. I already loved him from The Wedding Date but he took my heart in this. The chemistry between the two was amazing. My only gripe was that the writing wasn't the best. The dialogue was awkward at times. But other than that I really enjoyed this.

This was the first book I'd ever read by this author, and while I enjoyed that it provided some diversity to the romantic comedy genre, I couldn't connect with the characters. The dialogue felt slightly stilted and unnatural, so I ultimately decided not to finish the book.

Plot: Carlos saved Nik from awkwardly explaining her situation to a news crew shortly after she turned down her boyfriend's very public proposal. The two hit it off and kept running into each other until they had no choice but to acknowledge their attraction and lay down the ground rules.



When I read The Wedding Date, I fell in love with the push and pull of the relationship and the commentary on the challenges of interracial dating. The Proposal was a bit more light-hearted and was missing the emotional appeal that The Wedding Date had. At the end of the day, The Proposal was cute and the ending put a smile on my face.



Characters: Nik was a woman I desperately wanted to learn more about and I felt that The Proposal barely scratched the surface. It was clear that she had trust issues and had been hurt badly in the past, but we never delved into what made Nik tick. In fact, Nik's friends kind of stole the show and I hope that Guillory decides to write another book that features Nik's best gal pals. Carlos was just as sweet as he was in The Wedding Date with a bit more stress. In The Proposal, we learned about his relationship with his family and the burden that he carried. It was good to see Carlos play the leading man and I loved how emotional he was.



Worldbuilding: While The Wedding Date took place in the Bay Area, The Proposal explored the L.A. area. I loved the biting commentary on the L.A. social scene and all of the food! Seriously, Nik and Carlos had the most delicious dates.



Short N Sweet: The Proposal didn't compare to The Wedding Date but was still fun.

Writing this review for The Proposal honestly hurts a little bit. The Wedding Date was such a charming debut novel that I couldn't help but have high expectations for Jasmine Guillory's sophomore novel. Unfortunately, my expectations for this book were not met. The Proposal lacked the addicting quality that I have come to expect from Jasmine Guillory and for the most part, fell flat.

If you read The Wedding Date, then you are already familiar with Carlos, Drew's best friend. I adored Carlos in that book and was hyped to read his story. At the start of this book, my love for the guy was still strong and I hoped that it would only get stronger as the story progressed, but that did not quite happen. In fact, his behavior and actions began to seem ridiculous and whiny, which made him an irritating character, in my opinion. By the end of the book, I was left with a feeling of discontent with how Guillory chose to write Carlos in The Proposal. I want to say that I had a better experience with Nikole, the heroine, but that was not the case. She was smart and witty, sure, but she also felt one-dimensional. Her feelings never truly reached me, which made it hard for me to be in synch with her. I never grew to care for her like I did Alexa in The Wedding Date.

As a result of my not particularly enjoying either of the main characters, I felt indifferent towards the romance. It lacked any sort of spark or chemistry for me. Carlos and Nikole were rather bland together. I was honestly surprised when the declarations of love were made, especially by Carlos, because they had barely even spent time getting to know each other. I simply wasn't convinced by these two as a couple. I did enjoy Nikole's friends and her relationship with them. I always think reading about strong and supportive female friendships is just empowering and Nikole's friends were a wonderful bunch.

From The Wedding Date, it was obvious to me that Jasmine Guillory is talented, but The Proposal felt like a book that she forced herself to push through. While it didn't exactly hold my attention, I will still wholeheartedly recommend The Wedding Date and will eagerly look forward to whatever the author decides to publish next.

Jasmine Guillory’s books are so much fun! I absolutely loved The Wedding Date and was super excited to dive back in with The Proposal. She didn’t disappoint! If you’re looking for a fun, sexy romance, she’s the way to go!

When I heard that Jasmine Guillory was writing a sort-of sequel to The Wedding Date, I knew straight away that I wanted to read it. My expectations were met and more! Nik is shocked when her boyfriend of 5 months proposes to her on the Jumbotron at a Dodger’s game. If turning down a proposal and being embarrassed in front of thousands of people isn’t enough, soon cameras start swarming her and she knows she needs to get out of there. Thankfully Carlos Ibarra and his sister Angela are there and are able to help Nik out of the uncomfortable situation. Carlos and Nik end up staying in touch and a low-key romance develops between them. What I loved about this book was how down to Earth both Nik and Carlos were. They seemed liked real people that I would love to meet! Like, The Wedding Date, this book also had wonderful descriptions of food! I craved so many of the delicious meals they had throughout the book! Nik is such a strong and smart female character, and her interactions with her friends was a real highlight of the book for me. I loved that they took a self-defense class together! It was made even better when Nik and her friends truly enjoyed taking the class and felt empowered. I do wish the book had more steamy moments, as the sex scenes were mostly “fade to black”, but I think Carlos and Nik had great chemistry and I enjoyed the “will they, won’t they” aspect of their relationship. Overall this is an enjoyable story and a worthy successor to Jasmine Guillory’s first book!

This was very charming and fun, if a little light. I loved the meet-cute: when Nik is proposed to on a Jumbotron at a baseball game, by someone who is absolutely the wrong man for her, Carlos rushes to save her from the cameras — and a new friendship, or perhaps more, is born.

Guillory is great at describing little details that make characters' lives feel real — favourite foods (I love her commitment to delicious meals), little preferences or quirks, and settings. She has a great sense of place. However, I didn't totally buy the male character's big realization that sparked the major conflict and resolution. It came a little too quickly for me. The characters' dialogue also tended to get overly explanatory about how they think, and they seem to constantly be explaining themselves to other characters. A fun, breezy read, great for a vacation or flight.

Charming story, perfect for our library collection. Will definitely be ordering a copy. Loved the relationships, both romantic and familial.

i'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo disappointed by this book! The writing was not good and very basic at best. It made me cringe a lot of the times when I read conversations between characters and it sucked my enjoyment out of it!

Actual Rating: 2.5 stars

I loved The Proposal, so I assumed I would enjoy this one just as much. Unfortunately, I just don't think it was for me and taught me that I'm not a fan of the casual hookup to serious relationship trope! Nik's casual jerk of a boyfriend springs a surprise proposal on her at a baseball game and when she turns him down, it goes viral. Carlos saves her from a camera crew and they eventually develop a friendship and a supposedly casual, no-strings attached relationship.

I found myself being incredibly irritated at Carlos and Nik as they do all the things people in a serious relationship do while being determined to make sure this is a meaningless hookup relationship. This trope might work for some people, but I really did not enjoy it. I also didn't love Carlos as much as I did when he was a side character in Proposal. On a different note, all the sex scenes seemed overly focused on Nik's breasts in a way that felt repetitive and overdone to me. My favorite parts of the book were the beginning (it was an entertaining hook), briefly getting to see Alex and Drew from the first book, and her interactions with her girlfriends. So there were portions that I really enjoyed, but I found the development of the romance to be very annoying, which was disappointing. I think this will work well for people who don't mind that trope! I received an early review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

A fun and light book. Perfect for reading by the pool sitting in a lounge chair with your preferred drink on a table next to you. Definitely pick this up if you enjoy light and fun books. It's worth it. The characters are people you will become wrapped up in and the writing pulls you right in. Happy reading!

I found this title enjoyable. I thought it would be more like THE HATING GAME, but I think there might have been a beat or two missing to distinguish it from traditional romance so that it carries into commercial fiction. I would have liked to hear more about public proposals. It doesn’t come up after the first incident. Maybe if she had taken it up in her writing for work? Not sure. As someone who hates them, the initial story line caught my attention. But overall, it was a sweet story.