Book Review #99: The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

This is my third Jasmine Guillory novel. I read 'The Proposal' and completely fell in love with it, then I read 'The Wedding Date', which I liked. This novel exists in the same world as the first two, and I was excited to read about these characters again.

Theo and Maddie hate each other, but they love their mutual best friend Alexa. After an 'accidental' night spent together, they resolve to make sure that it never happens again. But when Alexa gets engaged, and both Maddie and Theo are asked to be in the wedding party, their accidental night becomes a regular occurrence which they agree to stop after the wedding. But when the wedding is brought forward, will either of them be able to get out of their fling with their hearts intact?

This book was okay, but it wasn't my favourite of Guillory's.

However, I loved jumping back into this world, and learning more about these characters. I also loved hearing about the characters that the other two books focused on.

The dynamic between Maddie and Theo is weird. They keep saying that they hate each other, but the only thing keeping that hate going is one conversation they had when they first met years before. The 'hate' that they had for each other was so weak that I didn't realise this was supposed to be an enemies to lovers story until I read some reviews. To me, they were never really enemies, just acquaintances.

They get together so quickly that there was no anticipation, and the reader isn't given any time to 'ship' them, or root for them.

Throughout the novel I frequently felt bored. There was no build-up to the romance, and I wasn't particularly interested in either of their jobs, so there wasn't really anything keeping me reading.

There was a lot of repetitive back-and-forth. They have sex, say they have to keep it a secret because they can't be in a relationship, say they hate each other, then have sex again. It all felt a bit pointless when you think about the fact that they're adults in a consenting relationship and can do whatever they want.

In fact, all of the Guillory books that I've read have this back-and-forth of a character talking themselves out of their relationship for a really flimsy reason, and it does become a bit repetitive.

One thing that I have found with all three of Guillory's books that I've read is that the dialogue is a bit cringey and unrealistic - particularly the dialogue leading up to the sex scenes.

It took way too long for something remotely exciting to happen. But when that event did happen, I finally started to understand Maddie and Theo as a couple. This made the last third of the book a lot more enjoyable than the first two thirds.

Overall, this story is ideal if you're looking for something light and fluffy. But as a fan of the 'Wedding Date' series, this felt like the least significant of the three main couples. Can we have more of Carlos and Nik next time?

2/5