A review by loudgls89
The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

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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