The Wedding Date by Jasmine Gulliary
Romance Contemporary
February 6, 2018
Berkley

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: “Come to the wedding, be my sandwich.”

Alexa Monroe is the chief of staff for the mayor of Berkley. In San Francisco to meet her sister for an impromptu celebration, a power outage traps her in an elevator with the most gorgeous man she’s seen in a long time. Deciding a little harmless flirting never hurt anyone. Alexa sets out to charm this blond Adonis before the power comes back on and they go their separate ways.

Drew Nichols is in town for the weekend for a wedding. His ex girlfriend’s’ wedding. A pediatric surgeon from LA, Drew is not looking forward to the wedding and regrets agreeing to be a groomsman. Meeting the beautiful and vivacious Alexa brightens his day and gives him an idea. He wants her to be his plus one, that way he can spend more time with her before heading back home.

Alexa agrees to his proposition and a single date leads to a weekend of pleasure, opening the door to the potential of a long-term relationship if they can just get out of their own way.

A meet cute in a malfunctioning elevator sets the stage for Jasmine Gulliary’s debut romantic comedy; The Wedding Date. I will admit the cover and premise was the lures that hooked me. I’m a sucker for laughter filled romcoms and that cover is adorable. Fun and flirty, this story offers plenty of laughter, love, and some bittersweet moments as Gulliary tries to convince this stubborn couple how perfect they will be together if they would just get out of their own way.

The wedding is an eye-opener in terms of personalities and issues to come. Racism rears its ugly head and it highlights the issues they will face in their relationship and the race privileges Drew takes for granted.  

Alexa is a strong, beautiful, intelligent, take charge African American woman who is normally secure in herself but finds being surrounded by a bevy of blond Barbies brings out her snark and insecurities. I liked that Gulliary chose to draw her unapologetically short and curvy. Short peeps don’t get enough representation (says this 5’1” ½ reviewer).

Drew comes off very sincere and attentive towards Alexa, trying to ensure she is well taken care of while he is attending to his groomsmen duties.  But you can tell right away he hasn’t been completely honest with her in regards to his ex-girlfriend and how they broke up. This clues you into Drew’s possible commitment issues and fear of looking bad.

After the wedding, they spend the rest of the weekend together, getting to know one another better until it’s time for them to go home. Plans are made and soon they are traveling back and forth to spend time with one another.

It’s here I begin to question this couple. They are remarkably juvenile for being in such positions of power. Their communication skills are terrible and I hated the way they second guess each other’s motives and choose to make mountains out of molehills. Alexa becomes very judgemental when nervous or unsure. We see this on multiple occasions. For example, when she comes to visit Drew, his friend Carlo picks her up from the airport due to a surgical emergency. Alexa’s first thought is to internally chastise Drew for not picking her up and then internally degrades Carlos by claiming all LA men are rude arsehats, they drive like a manics, etc…It left a bad taste in my mind.

Drew is no better. He becomes extremely defensive and engages in emotional manipulation when he feels wronged or insecure. He not only lashes out at Carlo’s during what I like to call his “come to Jesus moment” but also has definite thoughts on how Alexa should act with him, getting angry when she rightfully demands more. His need to remain friends with all his exes and his inability to commit only reinforces his immaturity.

Chemistry wise, Alexa and Drew are smoking hot and a bit dirty *wink*  in their sexual attraction.  Their scenes together are well written though, for some reason, they mainly fade to black. Not a huge deal though this happens with all the scenes that are commonly used to help readers form an attachment to the  couple and become invested in the romance. There is a beach scene that entails them getting out of the truck to walk the beach then getting back into the truck to go home. It was a huge missed opportunity for an intimate look into their relationship

The last quarter was the best part-aside from the elevator scene. Alexa and Drew finally drop all their guards and speak honestly with themselves and each other. It is an emotional cleansing of sorts and I wish that tone and narrative has been seen throughout the book. A rather cute epilogue assures us this couple has a very good chance of turning their HFN to an HEA.

The Wedding Date had some grand moments but the overall execution needed work. Alexa and Drew disappointed me with their immaturity and I felt their personality defects were written mainly to fuel the conflict. Regardless, this romance will have a broad appeal and I predict we’ll be seeing more from Gulliary in the future. Her next book, The Proposal, is Drew’s best friend’s Carlos book and I admit I am curious to see how Gulliary handles his romance. 

Grade: C

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