“And now I have a question for you…”
…
“Ask me anything.” He didn’t really mean it.
“Am I going to be the only black person at the party?”
-p. 36
The Wedding Date
Jasmine Guillory
I was sold on this premise immediately: fake relationship turns into real romance? Sign me up! I was a little let down because typically there’s some hi jinks, but this book skirted that and I didn’t mind (though I did miss laughing out loud at something I had read). The relationship that Alexa and Drew find themselves in is so… familiar. In all the good ways and bad ways that such a word like “familiar” means.
Strait laced Alexa, and charismatic but aloof Drew have immediate chemistry in this debut novel. Both professionals with demanding jobs, the opportunity arises after getting stranded in an elevator together for Alexa to stop overthinking for a moment and help Drew, a complete stranger, out by being his fake girlfriend/date to his ex’s wedding he’s in town for. What could go wrong? What could go right?
A solid 3 star read for me; The Wedding Date is more of a love story than a traditional bodice ripping romance so it isn’t getting my “certified steamy” rating unfortunately. Though plenty of sex is had, my goodness. Yet I enjoyed it nonetheless, especially as I saw my own heady New Relationship Energy captured so well on the pages — a very different reading experience for me.
Out of the two characters, I think Alexa was given more nuance as a character despite switching very frequently between her and Drew’s perspectives in the book. It’s a lot of switching actually, and time jumps, but none feel too brusque. It did make me feel a little removed from the story, but I understand and respect Guillory’s choice to write this the way she did. Having a relationship on the weekends means the weekdays do get boring, so while it makes for an interesting narrative style, it also keeps things honest. It also means the eventual “I’m falling in love, osh*t!” moments don’t feel unnatural, they’re right on time.
There was also a decent subplot, but it didn’t have the dramatic gravitas that I’ve come to expect from other contemporary romances. Again, something that made this book ring a little more… authentic, though the drama did get turned up in the last quarter thankfully.
There are also scenes that I appreciated being put in here; especially the one I used for the quote. These are moments of everyday racism that are too plausible to deny the likelihood of them happening outside the confines of the margins, and it likely means different things to different readers when they come across those passages. For me, it was a moment to sit in a little bit of discomfort as a white reader when folks are racist to Alexa.
While I found Alexa overall likable, not to mention relatable, I found myself slow to like Drew. His internal thoughts, especially in the beginning, had me thinking he’s a bit of an asshole with major communication issues. Turns out it’s the communication issues making him the asshole. I wish the emotional obliviousness he lived in wasn’t so damningly accurate, but unfortunately he’s par for the course with most straight white men. In fact, I don’t think he really does anything above and beyond for Alexa until… maybe the last few pages of the book, and at that point it felt entirely performative. He had to do a grand gesture, and with so little room left in the book afterwards, I don’t really think he grew as a person. He did the bare minimum, and romance novels should be about doing more than that.
I found the small host of side characters to be thoroughly enjoyable, and appreciated them for giving sound advice and being supportive — even if it meant calling their friend out when either Alexa or Drew (but let’s be honest, mostly Drew) messed up.
In the moments when Alex and Drew did try to talk things out, I disliked how much Alexa tried to equalize hurts caused by both of them; and I really disliked how attempts at communicating got smothered out by them having sex. Those tongues should have been used for talking!!
I think this book also wins the award for “Quickest into the Sheets!” for me, not that I minded, but I do love me a good slow burn. In fact, it opens up at their meet cute on the first page with little build up. I felt like I barely knew Alexa and she’s already salivating over Drew in the elevator. Beyond some hot and heavy eyeing each other, and some decently written making out, their chemistry never seemed false, but there could have been more.
As I mentioned earlier, The Wedding Date isn’t certified steamy for my standards. Not a lot of detail is put into those scenes, and they get sparser by the chapter. Thankfully this is not done to frustrate the reader with fading to black (still grumpy about The Unhoneymooners tbh) after a hot and heavy make out scene. It just doesn’t seem to be Guillory’s style. Of the foreplay she does write, there are… some issues I have with consent. Perhaps it’s something she considers vanilla, but restraining your partner’s hands is something that needs to be spoken about and not just… done. Certain phrases, especially Drew sounding possessive of Alexa, also made me cringe a moment or two as Alexa doesn’t seem to be concerned with the tone he takes with her.
All that aside, The Wedding Date is a semi-solid debut of a novel, and I’m looking forward to reading more of her work once I tear through the latest Talia Hibbert that just came in on hold for me. I have my hopes for which side characters get their own stories, Carlos and Olivia in particular, and Maddie as well. I do hope the characters feel a bit stronger in their personalities though and that there is more drama in future novels. I don’t know if I’d immediately hand this book to someone, maybe if they’d exhausted other writers first and showed a preference for romance over smut (though again, Drew is less than swoon worthy).
The Little Book Witch 