The Wedding Date
Jasmine Guillory, 2018
Penguin Publishing
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399587665
Summary
A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in this fun and flirty multicultural romance debut by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory.
Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist.
On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend.
After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other...
They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century—or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1976 (?)
• Raised—Berkeley, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Wellesley College; J.D., Stanford University
• Currently—lives in Oakland, California
Jasmine Guillory is an American lawyer and author. Her novels include The Wedding Date, published early in 2018, followed by The Proposal in the fall of the same year. Both books became bestsellers.
Raised in Berkeley, California, Guillory was ingrained early on with a passion for politics, especially after watching the 1991 Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill Congressional hearings. She was further inspired by a beloved seventh-grade teacher, only ten years her senior, who left teaching to pursue a law degree. Her teacher's decision solidified Guillory's own career dreams.
After college and law school, Guillory practiced law for eight years. Yet, as she recounted to Catapult, she found she wanted something more:
After I’d been a lawyer for about eight years, I found myself longing for some sort of creative outlet. The repetitive, structured, spreadsheet-oriented nature of my work often made me feel stifled.
And so Guillory turned to writing fiction, even though she had never considered herself a writer, let alone an author—people whom she had always thought of as solitary and lonely. But Guillory loved to read, (according to family legend, she was reading at the early age of three), so she decided to try her hand at novel writing.
Guillory knew the kind of novels she wanted to write: stories about smart young black girls living in a city. To prepare herself, Guillory spent a year or more reading books about writing and reading novels to suss out the methods of character and plot development. Eventually, once her writing muscles felt strong enough, she put them to work on a romance novel, the novel we know as The Wedding Date. (Adapted from online sources, including Catapult. Retrieved 11/28/2018.)
Book Reviews
Guillory’s debut is as enchanting as her characters — bright, bold, warm and wonderful. Even better, there’s a proposal to rival any commercial that Madison Avenue can deliver.
WashingtonPost.com
The novel is a light-hearted and quick read with fully drawn characters.
Associated Press
This novel reads like a truly contemporary contemporary romance in that the hero and heroine grapple with issues anyone dating today will relate to.
NPR.com
A swoony rom-com brimming with humor and charm.
Entertainment Weekly
Kudos to Guillory, whose lively dialogue is matched by her multifaceted characters.
Essence Magazine
A romance novel that will make you believe in happily ever afters.
Nylon.com
There are some awkward, sweet, and sexy moments …[but] complications aren’t developed, and… [m]undane details and stilted dialogue add little complexity to the plot or characters …in spite of some sensual episodes.
Publishers Weekly
The writing is fast-paced… The two leads are charming, and… the characters never find a situation that doesn't turn them on at least a little bit. Guillory's debut is a mix of romance and raunch that will charm rom-com fans.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for THE WEDDING DATE… then take off on your own:
1. The best place to start your discussion for The Wedding Date is to talk about Alexa and Drew: do you sympathize with them or dislike them … and why? Why do they make the decisions they do, what motivates them?
2. What were you expectations for the couple over the course of the novel? Did those expectations, or hopes, pan out?
3. What about your own life? Do any of the events or situations in The Wedding Date relate to something that has ever happened (or is happening) to you?
4. A number reviewers have pointed to the sensual, even "raunchy" scenes within the novel. What are your feelings about the way Jasmine Guillory handles sex? How about the Goldilocks principle: too much, too little … just right.
Also, be sure to take a look at our DISCUSSION RESOURCES … they can help with any discussion:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)