Well, it felt so great to be back in Jasmine Guillory’s little world. I loved meeting Anna and Ben, and seeing their relationship evolve.

I loved how their relationship was filled with both deeper moments and light, sexier times.

I especially loved how both of these characters talked about their mental health so openly. It was great to see how this story normalized going therapy for a variety of different reasons.

There are great scenes with characters from other books including Theo (Ben’s brother), Maddie, Nik & Carlos.

Basically if you liked the other books in this world, you’ll love this one too.

Jasmine Guillory Never disappoints!

I love that she’s created an entire universe and brings in characters from all her books.
Be ready for the regular cheese, swooning, sass, laughs and as a little bit of serious real world problems, as well as perfectly written make characters who are willing to work out their issues instead of using a partner as a therapist.
Ben and Anna are an adorable couple, and exploring their story was such a fun read. If you love a good fake relationship trope, but oh no! The feelings are real! This is the book for you

Please, please, please, keep writing this beautiful universe, I love getting to revisit characters and all the shenanigans they get into

✨Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for a review✨

I will never pass up the chance to read a Jasmine Guillory book. They are written about realistic characters, facing realistic issues, yet there seems to be magic between the characters! Best of all, all of the characters are somehow linked to each other. For someone like me, who hates a finite ending to a story, her writing is great for me. It feels like the stories are just a continuation of the first one, just with a shift in characters.
Her latest, “While We Were Dating” is about Ben Stephens, younger brother of Theo (from “The Wedding Party”) who also works with Alexa who started off the series in “The Wedding Date.” When I read these books, I feel like I am catching up with old friend over drinks and food, that the author always includes and describes so well, without going over the top.
As we saw in “The Wedding Party,” Ben is a smooth guy who never has a shortage of women that he sees. Until he meets someone through his job, who just happens to be a Hollywood actress. They are both very smooth with each other and then make a temporary arrangement that will benefit them both. As I said before, I enjoy these book because they bring in real like challenges and situations and work through them, just like us every day people do. In this book, the characters are dealing with commitment issues and anxiety, two common issues in society.
I highly recommend this book for you “beach read” TBR pile, you won’t regret it. It will be like hanging out with old friends and making some new ones!

This was my first Jasmine Guillory book. I was worried that I needed to read the others in the series first but that wasn’t the case!

Ben works in advertising / marketing and he meets Anna, a famous movie star on the set of one of his projects. The two hit it off and soon fall into a fake dating relationship to help Anna’s career.

I liked this one but I wish we had more parts from some of the plot! I would have loved to see more about Ben’s half sister, and more about Ben and Anna’s relationship post fake dating! I really liked that therapy was discussed in the book, and that it was used as a positive thing.

Ben and Anna had definite chemistry, that’s for sure! Decent spice level. I liked the way the two of them interacted with each other. I really liked Ben as a character, especially watching his development throughout the book!

4 stars from me! I have the other books in her series to read too!

I have loved Jasmine Guillory's writing since her debut and have been obsessed with the entire Wedding Date series. The series is fun, banterific and sexy. I love the genuine feels to the characters and how believable they are. Ben and Anna were no exception. While We Were Dating was fabulous! I enjoyed Ben and Anna's connection and how in-tune they were with one another. This was a fun and solid read!

Overall, this story was great. It was also wonderful to see previous characters show up as secondary characters in this story. It tied everything up nicely! I loved the friendships and the banter and overall can't get enough of this author's words. I look forward to more from this Guillory in the future!

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced of this book for an honest review. 4 stars! ~Ratula

I’ve been WAITING for this book for quite a while! When it appeared on my netgalley shelf, I was almost in tears!! Thank you Berkley!!

This is definitely a must have for all the Jasmine Guillory fans out there! I’ve read all the Wedding Date series. The whole series is just wholesome and a must read for all the romance book lovers. And this one, While We Were Dating, did not disappoint! The writing, the vibe ,the flow is very Jasmine Guillory. It reminds me of the previous books and makes me want to re-read them.

I love Ben and Anna‘s story. The synopsis got me hooked already. The chemistry between them is fire, which for me is key in romance books. That’s also why I find myself hard to put it down once I started. Besides this great sexual tension between them, they also help each other with their issues. So the whole story for me is very heartwarming, healing, and relaxing. Perfect for a summer read, right?

There are a few good old romance tropes in it. I’ve read hundreds if not thousands of romance books already. I still loved them!
Definitely will feature it on my youtube channel and podcast when it's published!

Thanks to Netgalley for the digital ARC for my honest review!

Jasmine Guillory's books are the best escape and a bit of fun and romance to liven your day! I enjoy how characters from previous books pop in and you get a glimpse of what they are up to now.

Guillory's books are such reliably fun, interesting, and entertaining reads. I love all of the connections between the characters and seeing past main characters pop up as secondary characters in other titles. The Wedding Date world is one I've very much enjoyed. While We Were Dating wraps up the series nicely (I think this is the last one!) while showing the always interesting world of movie stars and how they try to make their way by always being in the spotlight.

This was an enjoyable and romantic read. As with all of Guillory book's I don't find them super rememberable honestly. I enjoy them in the moment but I wish their was more depth to them and more to grasp onto. It was cute, romantic and steamy. Great book for summer reading!

What a dream of a book! As always, Jasmine is able to give us the "floating on air," no stress ride we want while still fitting in real issues! Specifically in this one, I loved Anna's anxiety and how it's affected her celebrity persona, but also her dating and sex life. Definitely felt the NOTTING HILL vibes throughout and not just because our lead was an actress named Anna!

Fluffy, fun and perfect banter. Just what we all need after pandemic year!

Ben got lucky when his team got stuck with a delayed flight and he finally gets to pitch his idea. Lucky for him, Anna Gardiner dropped in on the meeting, and loved what Ben had to say, prompting her to push for Ben’s company to win the advertising campaign. While they work together, Anna finds that Ben is not just a pretty face, but a truly good person, and not so bad in bed either. Anna wants to take her career to the next level, and fake dating Ben can do just that. How will they feel when tis time to end it though?

Anna and Ben just had the sweetest relationship. The way Ben handled Anna during her anxiety and panic attacks absolutely warmed my heart, and I loved that Guillory really dove into the idea of mental health in this book. Especially since Anna supposedly had it all. If I had a dollar for every time someone said why would you need therapy? There is nothing wrong in your life. Just because someone looks like they “have it all,” doesn’t mean that they don’t also suffer from anxiety. I think discussing mental health is so important and I love to see if included in a fictional story. Once again Jasmine Guillory had me falling in love with these two characters. Can’t wait to see what she does with Penny….I am just assuming that is the character for the next book!

While We Were Dating is a fun read, perfect for the summer. Anna Gardiner is a rising Hollywood star who is trying to land the role of a lifetime. Ben has big plans for himself as well- to land an ad campaign that features Anna, which will catapult his own career. I really enjoyed this one- it's loosely tied to her previous novels (Ben is the younger brother of Theo, who was the main male lead in Wedding Party). I loved the appearance of Nik from the Proposal, but it is not necessary to read the others to enjoy this one. Guillory is one of those authors that I pick up when I need an escape. Can't wait to read more in the future!

Much to love, as I’ve come to expect of Jasmine Guillory: people of multiples shapes and sizes, centering women’s sexual pleasure, Black characters, matter-of-fact acknowledgement of mental health and therapy. I wasn’t as rapt reading this one as previous novels, but I like that the drama wasn’t DRAMA, you know? The characters just needed time to recognize their own feelings and then act on them.

Devastated to see this series end but can’t wait for more from Jasmine Guillory! Guillory so excels at this celebrity style match up between a beautiful, curvy actress and Theo’s younger (and more charming) brother.

This wasn't my favorite of Guillory's work, but I really loved the chemistry between the leads and I thought it was a charming book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: sick parent, anxiety, depression, parental abandonment (past)

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-celebrity romance
-fake dating
-close proximity
-only one hotel room
-road tripping
-elements of forbidden romance

I love this series, but this one didn't suck me in like the others. I enjoyed Ben and Anna, but some of the threads of their story didn't pan out for me. I absolutely loved the glimpses of Theo and Maddie, and even the quick glimpse of Nik and Carlos we got too. Ben and Anna had a fun relationship but a lot of their issues boiled down to a lack of communication. It just seemed to go on for too long their inability to talk to each other.

The plot line about Ben's long lost sister didn't really seem to do much for the plot, and after the beginning of the book the same for Anna's sick father. The fake dating then came out of nowhere. All of these things I think would have been great if the threads have been continued throughout the book. It is completely a personal preference but when books emphasize the sexual relationship of the couple so much and then ultimately close the door it makes me struggle to see the intimacy, we're told about it and not shown.

This book was a fun romance, and if you enjoy celebrity romances I think you are really going to like this one, Jasmine Guillory just sets the bar so high this one didn't pull me in like the rest.

Rating: 3
Steam: 2.5 (mostly vague terms and fade to black, a few quick peeks around the door but really closed door, lots of mentions of sex though)

I love this series so much. It is one of my absolute favorites. For those of you who prefer stand alones, the good news is you can read the books in this series in any order without spoiling the rest. But for those like me who love series, it is such a joy to see where previous characters are and how they are getting along while reading a new romance.

While We Were Dating focuses on Ben Stephenson, Theo's brother. He is a bit of a player. And he meets Anna Rose Gardiner, an A-list Hollywood actress, through his job developing an ad campaign. I loved both characters so much. They are genuinely good people, and I enjoyed reading about them.

I really loved the way in which this book normalizes mental health struggles and seeking help from a professional. Having that be a transparent and healthy part of a relationship is beautiful to see modeled.

This book gave me all the feelings. I laughed out loud, I shared in the characters' joys, wishes, and concerns. And I appreciated that this book not only focused on two Black maon characters but also included LGBTQ representation. This is everything I am looking for in a romance.

Thank you so much to Berkley and NetGalley for this amazing new book.

WHILE WE WERE DATING was a splendid culmination of the The Wedding Date series. I say series lightly because you can absolutely read these as stand-alone books without missing an ounce of enjoyment.

"Fake relationship and then someone catches feelings" is one of my favorite tropes. Add a touch of Hollywood and I am doubly in. I always enjoy Jasmine Guillory’s books because I know I'll be treated to fun story with diverse, complicated characters paired with sweet, chemistry-laden romance. I inhaled this book in record time as this was no exception.

WHAT I LOVED:
-The banter, the love of family and the character growth came together in a delightfully fun and charming way.
- Relevant conversations about therapy and anxiety that were relatable without being heavy handed.
- Pitch perfect cameo by Theo & Maddie from The Wedding Party.
- Ben was vulnerable and gosh darn it- that is sexy.
- I loved that even though Anna was successful and grounded, she still had things to learn/change.
- This book was steamier than some of the others in the series.

PUB DATE 7.13 (Thank you to @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the free early copy)

I really enjoyed this addition to Guillory's series. I like that it focused on Ben, the seemingly bumbling, playboy brother of Theo (from "The Wedding Party"). I really enjoyed the depictions of Ben's ambitions towards his job, showing you his true character right off the bat. And the character of Anna, an actress trying to keep her fame, is nuanced as well. Their chemistry is undeniable, and the fake dating trope was used well and entertainingly. Recommended read for those who are Guillory or contemporary romance fans.

Anything Jasmine Guillory is splendid, and this book is no different. This is a perfect summer read and I cannot wait to hear what others think!