When freelance writer Nikole Patterson goes to a Dodger’s game with her boyfriend of five months, the last thing she expects is to be proposed to on the Jumbotron, especially when her boyfriend can’t even spell her name right. Nikole turns him down but then is faced with being the center of a lot of unwanted attention. Luckily Carlos Ibarra and his sister are watching from a few rows away and come to Nik’s rescue when she is ambushed by a camera crew. Carlos and Nik become friends and, knowing that neither one of them are looking for a relationship right now, begin what is supposed to be just a fling.
I really enjoyed Jasmine Guillory’s first novel The Wedding Date so I was excited when my library hold finally came through on her second book, The Proposal. Unfortunately, I didn’t like this book as much as I had hoped I would. I’m not sure why and I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I don’t think I connected to the main characters much.
The main characters are Carlos and Nikole. Carlos first appeared in The Wedding Date as best friend and voice of reason to Drew. In this book, he is the leading man and I didn’t enjoy his character as much as I had hoped. Neither he nor Nik really held my attention and I didn’t get the chemistry between them at all. I mean, I loved the banter between them and the conversations they had – the author really knows how to write great dialogue – but I just never felt for them.
What I did like about this book was the diverse cast of characters and I loved the depiction of friendships. Nik is black and Carlos is Latino. Nik’s friends are Dana, a black lesbian actress, and Courtney, a plus-sized Asian cupcake store owner. The friendship between Nik, Dana, and Courtney is fabulous – the three of them know each other so well and always have each other’s backs. Also, it was nice to see a good male friendship between Carlos and Drew.
While Nik and Carlos left me a little underwhelmed, I still enjoyed this book and I think Jasmine Guillory is an exciting author. I can’t wait to read what she writes next and see who the next main characters will be.
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