The Proposal: Reese's Book Club

3-3.5 stars This was a cute and fun contemporary romance. It features a hilarious diverse cast of characters that I found really refreshing. I also really enjoyed the Los Angeles setting. This is my first book by the author and though previous characters from her book The Wedding Date appear, the book can be enjoyed as a stand alone. I liked Carlos and Nikole (Nik) both individually and together. They each had some baggage haunting them and influencing their actions, but as you got to know each character it made sense why they were so hesitant to explore the possibility of more. I enjoyed seeing their friends with benefits relationship blossom and develop as they slowly let their guard down. Readers should note that the majority of the love/sex scenes are fade to black or occur off page, so if they're looking for a hot and heavy read, this is not it. One thing I really loved about The Proposal was the relationships between Carlos and Nik's family and friends. Nik's friendship with Dana and Courtney was amazing and probably my favorite part of the book. We would all be lucky to have even 1 friend as loyal and supportive as these ladies. The book started off very promising and I was really intrigued by the proposal (and rejection) heard round the world, but afterwards, the pacing felt a little off and seemed to stall. A lot of time was spent describing food/drinks, when I really would have liked more back story about Carlos and Nik since it was such a big part of their character arcs. When the conflict arose, I felt Carlos acted completely out of character and honestly, I wasn't sure if I truly felt that they were at the point of those types of declarations. It all wrapped up very quickly and though it was very cute, I'm not sure I was really satisfied. I think what was the most odd for me was that I didn't feel that these characters acted their supposed ages. They are in their late 20's and early 30's, but I had to remind myself of this several times. Overall, this was still an easy and enjoyable read. *I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this book*

I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion. 3 stars — I was really looking forward to this book, and the main reason is the obvious awesome diversity! Not only is our author a person of colour, but so are BOTH of our main characters! And I’d seen some good reviews for Ms. Guillory’s debut, The Wedding Date, so I figured it was a no brainer! Unfortunately, while there were some great moments, on the whole this book fell flat for me. Which is a mega bummer. Also, while this can totally stand on its own, it does have crossover characters with The Wedding Date. That doesn’t bother me, but I know some find it frustrating when that’s not obvious. So hmmm…what to say. Like, what do I mean by flat? Well, the characters felt flat and two-dimensional. The conversations, the dialogue. The inner thoughts. It’s like it was missing some polish you know? Like everything felt very matter of fact and perfunctory, but I didn’t FEEL anything. Now, there were moments…a scene here or there, some glimmers of a spark, but it just wasn’t enough to sustain me. On the whole I was just left feeling bored and meh. Nik and Carlos both appeared great on paper, and I didn’t dislike them or anything, but I never really connected with them either. I never quite understood (in my bones) why they were both anti-relationship, I was just eventually told you know? Like for some reason I didn’t get the extent that Nik was scarred from her relationship with Justin until nearer to the end when it was already too late for me to be empathizing with her. Similarly with Carlos, I was told he was concentrating on his family, and I guessed there was some fear, but I didn’t *feel* it. Gosh, I didn’t even really feel their funny moments. There were scenes where I’m sure I was supposed to be giggling, but I was just like “oh, yeah, I guess that’s funny.” It was like their reactions were over the top. Or their dialogue would go without breaks in between. Honestly, I’m not a writer, I just know when something doesn’t work for me. Samesies for their romantic chemistry. I appreciated their friendship, but when we got to the romance, I never felt any tummy tingles or butterflies. Heck, even the steamy scenes were very perfunctory and essentially fade to black. I don’t mind fade to black, but I want to *feel* something in the kisses then. Honestly, there were two things that kept this being an OK book (and not a bad book). First, the diversity was fantastically done. I mean, there were times where I kind of felt like white people were being made fun of, and while part of me gets that, it felt more mean somehow…which, find, I guess, I don’t know. But so many fantastic characters of colour, and some great LGBT representation too. Second, the scenes at Natalie’s Gym, and Natalie’s entire story were really affecting to me. I truly felt so much. If the rest of the story had had that same level of emotional involvement, I would have felt differently. So yeah. I don’t know. It was missing book magic for me. Maybe the delayed release means they’re going to inject some magic into it? I hope so, because it would be a shame to waste all the potential.

This starts with a powerful emotional punch, the rest of the story doesn't seem to maintain that but it was still entertaining enough to me to finish reading. The humor helps tremendously, it's good but not as good as the first book. I like that he's romantic and she's upfront, pretty much. I can't wait to read the next one.