Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Proposal

Better than The Wedding Date as far as I’m concerned—I connected with the characters more and appreciated the slightly calmer pace which accompanies having characters with less hectic lives. What I’ll really remember though is

multiple incredibly described and satisfying realizations of “wait, is this what being in love feels like?!” Because I’m the sort of person for whom, “you’ll know it when you feel it,” is the most unsatisfying description of how to know you’re in love. So seeing characters really express their aha moments with concrete details was refreshing. I’d reread those sections any day.

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olivialandryxo's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

When I read The Wedding Date, I thought Drew’s best friend Carlos was a great, really funny guy. I was on the fence about reading The Proposal until I saw that it was Carlos’ love story, at which point my interest was up 1000%. Although I had to speed read this book to make sure I finished it before my ebook was returned to the library, I thoroughly enjoyed it; I probably would’ve read it nearly as fast without the time crunch.

I loved Nikole and Carlos right away, and had so much fun reading their story. I loved their banter and inside jokes and the generally sweet nature of their relationship. (Now the thought of sour cream makes me giggle. If you know, you know.) I also really liked Nik’s friends, Dana and Courtney, and how they roasted one another so frequently but were still, without fail, each other’s biggest cheerleaders. (And reading about Courtney’s cupcake shop has me craving cupcakes. I don’t have cupcakes. Crap.)

In both books I’ve read by Guillory at this point in time, I’ve noticed some conversations with rather cheesy dialogue, though I can overlook that since her books are so much fun to read. What I can’t overlook so easily is the surprising amount of similarities between her protagonists and love interests. Each side character is unique, but the same can’t be said about the stars of the show. Alexa, Drew, and now Nikole and Carlos are all very driven people, hard-working but still very social, that for some reason or another aren’t looking for a serious, long-term relationship. Both The Wedding Date and The Proposal go about like this: two attractive people meet, want sex, have sex, like it enough to continue having sex, catch feels, realize they caught feels, bail on said feels, mope about until their friends encourage them to kiss and make up, then actually kiss and make up, the end.

I know romance novels are usually formulaic to some extent and I don’t mind that. Over the last several months, I’ve grown to love them despite the fairly obvious patterns, and find them very comforting to read. However, something about this specific situation, with these specific books, just feels janky to me, and I wanted to mention it.

That being said, it didn’t stop me from loving this book or adding the rest of the books in the series to my TBR, and it certainly won’t stop me from recommending this book to others. Completely worth it!

Representation

Black protagonist
Latine love interest and side characters
Black lesbian side character
fat Korean side character
bisexual side character
minor sapphic side romance (f/f)

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readingandteaching247's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

When Nik gets a surprise proposal at a baseball game and needs to flee - Carlos is there to help her escape. Carlos was a supporting character in The Wedding Date and it was so fun to meet his family during this story.

The chemistry between these two is so cute and they definitely have a believable connection. I love Nik’s group of friends as well as Carlos’s family. Guillory does just a great job creating ties between her characters and making you want to pick up the next book on this series! I will definitely be reading The Wedding Date soon!

While I was sometimes frustrated by Carlos’s issues with medicine, especially as a doctor, I did still enjoy this book. I would recommend it for my romance readers, especially those while enjoyed The Wedding Date and the fun loving Carlos we met in that book!

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loudgls89's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I read this book as an audio-book, and unfortunately I think my experience of it may have been clouded by the fact that I just didn’t get on with the narrator. Her voice really grated on me for some reason and it made listening to the book feel like a real drag. That doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t like the narrator though, she just wasn’t my cup of tea (even listening at 1.5x speed to try and improve things).

I’m sorry to say that I also found the book itself pretty frustrating at times. The main characters were just not likeable people in my opinion, so I didn’t have that willingness to see them end up together that I think is almost universally necessary when reading a romance.

Many times I just wanted to scream at them to get their heads out of their asses and just talk to each other. And I know that the main characters not talking to each other and getting the situation completely wrong is a common trope, but because I didn’t like the characters, it became very annoying very quickly.

The other thing that I didn’t particularly get on with was how quickly the characters seemed to go from sitting and talking to a completely x-rated scene. Perhaps if I’d been reading and not listening, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but to be suddenly dropped into a very adult scene when just walking around the park was extremely off-putting! I think perhaps I need to just steer clear of romance books on audio because it makes me cringe so badly.

The thing that initially drew me into the book was the baseball on the cover. As a huge baseball fan, I thought the idea of a baseball themed romance was a big draw, but the only real baseball mention was right at the start, when the main character complained about how annoying it was to be taken to a baseball game. Granted, the baseball game turned into the most cringey proposal ever, but she was complaining and ungrateful well before that and I wanted to slap her because I would love a date at a baseball game!

Looking at other reviews of this book, I seem to be in the minority as it seems to get mostly good reviews, so perhaps although this wasn’t my cup of tea, it may be yours. I just prefer my romance books to have characters who actually want to be together, and are not actively fighting the relationship the entire way through.

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klavanger's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I thought this was a great rom-com! I thought the characters were so fun and their banter was great! I read this book first in the "series" and didn't miss anything, but I'm excited to read the "first" book!

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