Book Title: The Proposal (The Wedding Date #2)
Author: Jasmine Guillory
Purchase: Amazon
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Description from Goodreads:

When someone asks you to spend your life with him, it shouldn't come as a surprise--or happen in front of 45,000 people. 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 only been dating for 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 LA, 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...

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 

This book started out cheesy and ended up being completely charming, worming its way right into my heart. I picked up The Proposal for two reasons:

1. It’s written by a woman of color, and it features a main character, Nikole, and a romantic lead, Carlos, who are both characters of color (you could actually say they’re both main characters, but for some reason, I came away from The Proposal feeling like it was Nik’s story)

2. I wanted to read something quick, light, and funny to balance the heavy non-fiction reading I’ve been doing lately

The Proposal is everything I wanted and more. It’s incredibly easy to read — the chapters fly right by, the characters are quirky and believable, and the dialogue is super realistic. This would make a great beach read, but also works well as a late fall or winter pick-me-up, and reading it before bed ensures the sweetest (or steamiest, depending on the chapter) of dreams. I would also love to see it adapted into a film — maybe we’ll get lucky with a Netflix rom-com deal.

The book opens at a Dodgers baseball game, where Nik is blindsided by her boyfriend of five month’s public proposal. While she wants to let him down easy, there’s no great way to turn someone down in front of a live stadium audience. Nevertheless, she declines his proposal and he and his friends leave in an aggressive frat-boy huff. When cameramen prepare to descend on Nik, a brother and sister sitting a few rows behind her decide to intervene and spare Nik from the harassment. Carlos and Angela Ibarra whisk Nik off to safety and in thanks, Nik invites them to her favorite dive bar along with her BFFs to deconstruct the proposal and regroup from the fresh breakup. Nik and Carlos end up hitting it off, but neither is looking for a relationship. So they agree to a friends-with-benefits situation…but both find it increasingly more difficult to keep their growing feelings at bay. At some point, someone’s bound to get hurt, right?

I’ll be honest, the opening chapters aren’t my fave. The jumbotron proposal feels a little contrived and unbelievable, but then, I’m not a baseball fan so maybe this is a common occurrence. However, the fallout from the proposal is gripping — and unfortunately true to life — as Nik’s ex-boyfriend’s bruised ego leads to him sending threatening and insulting text messages. Worse, he’s not the only one — the failed proposal goes viral and because Nik is a black woman who turns down a white man, she receives a ton of racism-fueled hate messages. It’s disgusting and deplorable. Nik is left feeling scared, angry, disappointed, and a thousand other emotions. At this point, I almost worry Carlos is being set up as the White Knight, striding in to “fix” Nik’s life with a charming smile and witty comebacks.

But no, both characters are far deeper. Nik takes her safety and confidence into her own hands by signing herself up for a self-defense program, along with her two BFFs, Courtney and Dana. This is such an empowering move for Nik. I enjoy seeing her confidence grow, as well as her growing interest in the woman who teaches and designed the Punch Like a Girl program. Nik’s independence is one of my favorite attributes — she has a lively social life, a satisfying yet challenging career, and she doesn’t feel like she needs a partner to complete her life. She’s been hurt in the past and she values the amazing life she’s built for herself. Honestly, she’s a real role model for me.

The chapters alternate between Nik and Carlos’s viewpoints. At first, Carlos comes off a bit as a smug, obnoxiously handsome, too-good-to-be-true doctor. But it’s difficult not to find him endearing when he’s introduced to us via a brother and sister bonding activity. We learn he’s super close to his family, he feels like he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, and yes, his overconfidence can be annoying at times, but he’s a really great cook so it balances out.

Carlos is at his best when he’s spending time with his family — he’s super close to his sister, younger cousin, mom, and aunt. He’s also passionate about his career, which is part of why he and Nik are such a great match. He doesn’t typically open up about his family — and especially not about his late father — but he finds himself being vulnerable with Nik. These two have such complementary personalities, it’s so satisfying to watch their friendship blossom and then continue to grow as their feelings deepen.

Guillory does an amazing job weaving such a relatable and authentic story with a healthy relationship at its core. Don’t get me wrong, Nik and Carlos aren’t perfect. Like everyone else, they have flaws: their tempers can get the best of them, they’re just as prone as I am to reading too much into things, they say things they regret. But they also learn. They listen. They apologize when they’re in the wrong. It’s so refreshing to see an author paint such a realistic portrait.

Also refreshing? The diverse cast of characters and overall representation. Carlos and his family are latinx, and grew up with a lower household income. Nik’s friend Dana is a black woman dating another woman, and their friend Courtney Park is a Korean business owner — she has her own cupcake shop that she built from the ground up. It’s amazing to find an author who writes characters with such varied backgrounds. I’ll definitely be reading Guillory’s other novels: The Wedding Party, The Wedding Date, and Royal Holiday.