The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

Published by Berkley Books on January 2018
Pages: 320
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...

There is something unputdownable about The Wedding Date. They meet in a broken elevator and five minutes later, a relationship is born.

I really liked the chemistry between the two main characters. Alexa is smart, really smart. I really enjoyed how passionate she was about her job. She was easy to root for because she wasn’t the usual smart but clumsy and secretly sexy girl next door. She was curvy and fierce, sometimes insecure and sometimes too emotional. Basically she was a really good balance. Drew was a little bit harder. Sure he is handsome and a doctor and (oh! no!) has a problem with commitment. He is supposed to be this guy who is realizing that he’s totally falling for this beautiful stranger. But he was on the shallow side.

I really enjoyed that this was an interracial couple. Being as I’m in an interracial marriage, I related to Alexa a lot. The usual questions (Where are you from? No, I mean, where are you from?? Where are your parents from? etc.) were cringe worthy, and totally something I get from new acquaintances. (That said, Alexa was far nicer than I am. I usually give people a really hard time and insist I’m from New Jersey and not some Asian country, which is what they’re after.) I also really appreciated the situations where race played a part in their relationship, whether blatantly addressed or not. That said, I wish there was a little more on the topic.

Also, the courtship was fun but I think it lasted too long. The book isn’t that long but some areas int he middle dragged a bit for me.

Overall, The Wedding Date is a charming, easy read that is sweet and fun and perfect for Valentine’s Day, the beach or relaxing on the commute home. I’m sure to recommend it to my girlfriend’s who like romance and chic lit.