Review: The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
When Roxane Gay reviewed Jasmine Guillory’s debut romance novel, The Wedding Date, on Goodreads, it became a must-read. I’m not a particularly avid romance reader myself, even though I’ve been known to pick up the genre occasionally (more and more recently). As a deeply cynical person, I sometimes find it hard to get into the earnestness of romance novels except when I’m in a very particular, open to love and all its parts, mood.
I was in such a mood when Netgalley approved my request for The Wedding Date, when I immediately downloaded it to my Kindle and read through the whole thing in a matter of hours. It’s that good. And for those of you who enjoy the fake-dating trope, you’ll be instantly satisfied by Alexa and Drew’s meeting and first date. After being (briefly) trapped in an elevator together, Drew invites Alexa to his ex’s wedding as his date (which then becomes girlfriend). The attraction is instantaneous, both physical and otherwise, and Guillory does an admirable job relaying Alexa and Drew’s unexpected and heady attraction to one another.
We watch Alexa and Drew navigate their immediate connection, both incredulous and increasingly invested. As Alexa, chief of staff to the mayor, works to get a new program off the ground, and doctor Drew tends to his patients, the two develop a long-distance relationship that both hesitate to actually call a “relationship”. I, personally, could have done with a bit more smut here. For all the sex Alexa and Drew are having (it’s a lot), there was a bit too much of the fading to black for me.
But it’s nice to see an interracial relationship that doesn’t gloss over it but also doesn’t make it an issue. Alexa is fairly candid about any racial aggressions she experiences, even ones perpetrated by Drew’s friends/acquaintances, and Drew listens and responds without needing to be taught or reformed. And even though their respective obstacles (Drew’s afraid of commitment, Alexa’s afraid of putting herself out there) aren’t anything we haven’t seen before, but I didn’t mind it so much here. Their fights are agonizing (and they have several) and I was delighted whenever they worked things out.
Quite interestingly, this whole book is about eating. Seriously. Everyone is perpetually hungry. They eat a meal on one page, and you turn that same page and they’re eating again. Cheeseburgers, tacos, doughnuts, cheese and crackers. There’s wine, martinis, beer, coffee.
It’s incredible. And fun. A must-read for anyone who wants something light and fun and flirty to read as the whole world spirals into madness.
Review: 4/5 stars
