ARC Review: The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

Title: The Wedding Date
Author: Jasmine Guillory
Source/Format: Bookish First (Berkley); ARC
More Details: Fiction; Contemporary; Romance
Publisher/Publication Date: Berkley January 30, 2018

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel...
Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist. On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend. After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other. They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want...

It’s been some time since I picked up a contemporary romance novel. I had the chance to read a preview of The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory and couldn’t resist entering the raffle. After all, this book involves a couple of my favorite romance tropes: accidental meetings, and fake wedding dates. There were a couple of things I was a little on the fence about, but overall, The Wedding Date was a nice story with a cute main couple and a great cast of supporting characters.

I was already excited to read the full book just based off of the preview, and now I can say for certain that I liked this book a lot. It can feel a little formulaic at times, but the diverse and career-minded characters more than make up for that—particularly Alexa and Drew. Parts of the book focused on their respective professions and goals. It added a lot to their characterization. I thought it was a nice touch.

What I was a little conflicted about was certain aspects of the relationship. While I liked Drew and Alexa together, the start of their relationship happened quite quickly. At times, it felt more like lust. However, as the book progressed, they did talk, and the early chemistry really came through and developed into something more.

The Wedding Date is one of the best contemporary romance books I’ve read so far this year, and I look forward to reading Guillory’s next book.

Disclaimer: This copy of the book was provided by Bookish First and Berkely for this review.

About the author...

Jasmine Guillory is a graduate of Wellesley College and Stanford Law School. She is a Bay Area native who has towering stacks of books in her living room, a cake recipe for every occasion, and upwards of 50 lipsticks.