Jasmine Guillory is a lawyer, a graduate of Wellesley College and Stanford Law School, and a Bay Area native who lives in Oakland, California. She has been published in The Toast and The Hairpin, and has towering stacks of books in her living room, a cake for every occasion, and upwards of fifty lipsticks. She is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Date and The Proposal. Visit her online at jasmineguillory.com and twitter.com/thebestjasmine.
When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn't the hard part--they've been dating for only five months, and he can't even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans . . . At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik's rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He's even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik's social media blows up--in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of L.A., a handsome doctor like Carlos can't be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes . . .
When Nik is proposed to on a summer day at a Dodger's game, it's as if the most preposterous prank has been pulled. Little did we know that this was the perfect opportunity for a meet cute and to get to know her as a character. We are tossed into Nik's world: she's a black woman in America, a successful and driven freelance writer, an amazing best friend, and also not looking for anything serious, thank you very much. Of course, that last point doesn't come from nowhere. There's a mystery behind Nik's past relationships that cloud her current decisions regarding her love life. She won't admit it to herself or think about it often enough to bother her, which means that even readers aren't clued in to exactly what happened. The details are given sparingly, and build across the story, until we know all at once. Nik opens up slowly throughout this story, but the evidence that she does is very clear when she's with Carlos. Her best friend's reactions to her character growth align exactly with how exciting it is for readers to chart her character growth, and how she realizes she can be exactly who she is and be with who she loves.
Carlos was introduced in The Wedding Date as Drew's best friend and colleague. I loved Carlos in The Wedding Date and I'm so glad that his character shared centerstage in The Proposal. He was a great friend to Drew, but really diving deep into his backstory and his character was a special treat. He really cares deeply about his family and is the most selfless, good humored character I've read in a while. Watching him speak to his family and be there for them in the big things (hospital visits) and the small things (bookshelves) was heartwarming and just reminded me how much I loved my own family. I loved the big role his family played into his life, and how they're a big part of Carlos's narrative he refuses to compromise. The way Guillory weaves Nik's and Carlos's points of view together, rather than just picking one of their points of view, creates a masterfully balanced love story narrative of two people, not just one person with a love interest.
Entertainment Weekly nailed it by saying that Guillory writes with the "fizzy effervescence of a glass of champagne." Her writing is so bubbly and light, even as it tackles some dark, heavy topics. I'm always surprised by how quick I'm pulled into her stories, and how I really feel entangled in their world the second I set my eyes on the page. I felt like I could taste a Cupcake Park cupcake or feel the sticky sun at the Dodger's Game. Not only does Guillory build the story through her focus on food, but by honing in on the setting and where the characters exist. Natalie's Gym, Carlos's small home, Nik's apartment and Cupcake Park all felt like real places I could go visit, by the way Guillory depicted them. There was a clear love in the world building and character building. All of this creates the writing style Guillory is now known for!
Like I hinted at before, there is a great emphasis on food. Carlos and Nik cook together a few times, and Nik's friend Courtney owns a cupcake shop (score!). There was a focus on food in The Wedding Date but in The Proposal food felt like another character, another friend that pushed Carlos and Nik to get together. In that same way, a lot of Nik's previous experiences end up pushing her and Carlos together; take, for instance, the Dodger game proposal. Nik's friends end up taking a self defense class with Nik because of how freaked out she is by the whole world knowing her business. Nik, Dana, and Courtney's friendship and experiences all create this reality of being a woman (especially a BIPOC woman) in America--the needing self defense classes and the being the bad guy when you did nothing wrong, for example--are experiences that are so normalized for women in America, it's embarrassing. But these build up to important plot points for a lot of the important themes in the novel. For example, it's a vehicle to hearing Natalie's story, and for watching Nik take the one great hit. I'm glad we can pull out these threads and analyze the status of women in America in an otherwise fun and light romance novel.
Jasmine Guillory is the queen of romance novels, as The Proposal is only the second of soon-to-be-six books! Check out The Wedding Date and stay tuned for my review on The Wedding Party!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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