Bookish Thoughts

I enjoyed but didn't love The Wedding Date when I read it last year. I didn't feel a pressing need to read the sequels - there were other romances I liked more and my TBR is already way too long. But when a friend bought this for me as a gift, I had no reason not to read it. I went in expecting a fun, quick romance whose characters struggle with racism and sexism and that's exactly what I got. Maddie and Theo were both interesting characters, especially because they managed to bring out both the best and the worst in each other. It was a fun dynamic, especially as they swung from seeing the worst in each other to seeing the best. They have the same problem Lizzie and Darcy had - they're too similar to see each other clearly at first. It's a classic for a reason. My only complaint, and the real reason that I'll never be totally sold on Jasmine Guillory, is that her sex scenes fade to black to quickly. Part of the reason I read romance is for the steamy sex s...

I gotta say, I'm actually glad that I wasn't completely in love with this book. I started adding romance novels to my regular rotation earlier this year. I've loved them so much that I was starting to worry that I wasn't being objective about it. (Then again, who really wants to be objective about romance novels? The point is to love them whole-heartedly.) But it turns out that I was just that good at doing my research. I did enjoy this story about a fake date that quickly becomes a whole lot more. Alexa and Drew are both driven, career-focused people who get completely caught off guard by their feelings for each other. Their meet-cute was adorable (and obviously in an elevator). Their friends were totally supportive. Their obstacles were a nice mix of internal (commitment issues) and external (living in different cities). It was a sweet book. But I really struggled with the pacing. Guillory tended to jump forward in time with no warning. The sex scenes were vague an...