Book Review: D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins
What book confirmed you were queer?
D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding is one of the hottest romances I have ever read. There was hardly a time when I wasn’t blushing or swooning. Kris is absolute perfection and book girlfriend material.
D’Vaughn auditions for the hit reality show Instant I Do because she wants a surefire way to come out to her family and to finally get out of her shell. Kris auditions because she is looking for real love (I mean, this is a reality show about love, right?). When they are paired together, they have to convince their families they are getting married in six weeks and have them help plan every detail. With $100K on the line, can these strangers convince their families they are in love and make their way to the alter?
This might be a normal romance to you…
Romances like this are ordinary. It follows the same formula and tropes that all romances follow; this trope in particular is the fake to real relationship arc. While this trope isn’t my favorite, it really worked for this story.
What makes this book truly extraordinary (to me anyway) is that it made me aware of so much about myself. I related so much to D’Vaughn and her relationship to her family. The way she kept part of herself hidden, and how that caused her to hold back in so many relationships. However, I’m not sure if I would be as bold as her to come out to my family on national television on a reality tv show.
This is what the best books do: they help you connect to something inside yourself that you are just discovering.
But where is the toxicity?
Something else I appreciated about this story is how straightforward D’Vaughn and Kris’s relationship was. The main source of conflict was not because of miscommunication like in countless other romances. I kept waiting for one of them to mess things up, but they talked through everything like adults. And that didn’t take away from the story at all. In fact, I felt like it strengthened character development because it was easier for them to become more themselves through each other.
Kris is so cool and super sexy. There were plenty of times she made me weak in the knees. And D’Vaughn is super sweet and full of life. She felt like she was so unassuming, but she turned some heads!
The cast of side characters were so colorful. We got a range of different identities and personalities. And a petition to make more reality tv shows inclusive like Instant I Do (creators of Married at First Sight, take note).
If you are here for the smut, I encourage you to read this one. It’s full of hotness throughout the entire book. A spark has been lit in me to find more smut.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this read. It is easy to get lost in, and it is a really quick read. It took me two days to get through the audiobook because I couldn’t stop listening. Yes, I was that girl grinning and blushing while listening to a sex scene in the middle of Target. You could be that person too!
