Book Review #84: The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

 

This had been on my Amazon Wishlist for such a long time that after Christmas, I decided to just get it. I loved the idea of it, and after reading a couple of long, hard-to-read and not entirely enjoyable stories, this was exactly what I wanted to read. 

When Nikole Paterson's boyfriend of five months proposes to her at a baseball game, it's not hard to say no. But when she is faced with a stadium full of angry fans, Carlos Ibarra comes to her rescue, and there's an instant attraction between the two. But with neither of them looking for anything serious, can they date without falling in love?

I loved this book. There are a lot of things that I think could have been done better, or been improved upon, but overall it was exactly what I wanted it to be.

Carlos was my favourite character, without a doubt. I loved being in his point-of-view, and I loved seeing him through the eyes of other people. He was really well-written, and it was easy to see why someone would fall for him - I did!

Nik is also a character that's well-written. However, I went through periods of liking and not liking Nik. I actually enjoyed her much more when I was seeing her through the eyes of Carlos, seeing her the way he saw her. Because of that, I think the thing I disliked about her was her commentary, and her thought processes. I liked her as a protagonist, but I don't love her as a person.

Having said that, I don't know if I've ever rooted for a couple to get together more than these two. I was obsessed with them while reading it, and I loved that they were legitimately perfect for each other.

I also loved the other characters in the book. They all felt distinct, unique, and real. This even goes for the characters that we know briefly, like Drew and Alexa.

I found the writing style to be quite simplistic. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but many sentences became 'this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened', which does get a bit tedious after a while.

I also found some of the dialogue to be a bit cringey and unrealistic, especially during the sex scenes.

Speaking of the sex scenes, I enjoyed the way they were done. Because of my usual reading preferences, I'm either reading books with no sex scenes at all, or Fifty Shades of Grey scenes, with no in-between. This was in-between, like I assume a lot of adult romances are, and it makes me want to read more of this genre.  

The fundamental flaw of this story, for me, was the fact that the whole story depended on keeping the relationship casual. They see each other all the time, go on dates, are extremely affectionate and share absolutely everything with each other. Even without the sex, how is this a rebound? If we hadn't been told 100 times that neither were looking for anything 'serious', we would never have known that they weren't in a relationship.

But having said that, I loved how fluffy their interactions were. They're great to read about because it is just a really lovely budding romance. This is a great story to immerse yourself in, especially if you want to be distracted from real life. 

After reading the book, I found out that it was part of a series. So of course, because I liked it so much, I bought the book that comes before, and after, this one, and I can't wait to read them. Not only am I craving more of this specific story, but I also like the way that Guillory tells stories, so I want to read more from her.

What was good?

The story was exactly what it was supposed to be, and I loved that. I enjoy books when the romance is hidden inside a larger plot, but I also really enjoy books where the romance is the majority of the plot, and that's what we have here.

What was bad?

I thought there could have been better reasons for these characters to not want to be in a relationship, especially Carlos. It felt like they were both giving excuses that didn't hold weight.   

Overall

If you're looking for something cute, fluffy, romantic and endearing with great characters, give this a try. I'm going to get on with 'The Wedding Date' and 'The Wedding Party'!

4/5