Author: Jasmine Guillory
Publication Date: 30 OCT 2018
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Page Count: 352
Reading Method: Physical / Romance Backlog
Dates Read: Mar 12 – 13
Review
This series of romances have been on my tbr for ages and it was high time I checked out the hype! This seems to be the one I’ve seen people loving the most, so I picked it up first even though it’s not the first in the series. I don’t think it bodes well for the rest of the series that I didn’t love this book. I didn’t even like it – gasp!
Let’s talk about the things I liked before getting into the nitty gritty. The premise was fantastic. Nik gets proposed to in front of thousands of people at a baseball game… and says no! It was completely out of the blue. Two strangers help get her out of the stadium, relatively unscathed, and one of them happens to be dreamboat Carlos. As the two grow closer together, they realize they are both looking for something light and fun. But of course, feelings get in the way and it all goes haywire.
I also really liked the cast of characters. Though they all felt incredibly one-dimensional, the friend group was wonderfully diverse. I’m hoping there is a story about Nik’s friends in the upcoming books, because I definitely want to know more about them.
Now for the not so fun stuff. I think my main issue with book was the writing. It was all around really flat, cheesy, and definitely not for me. As I mentioned before, everyone felt one-dimensional. Guillory didn’t flesh out the characters very well and I found it difficult to truly fall for any of them. There was set up for great characters, but we didn’t see any of them reach their full potential. The dialogue was choppy and unbelievable and they were always laughing at “jokes” that were in no way funny. I didn’t pick up on the humor at all and wasn’t sure why they were laughing so dang much.
The romance was also a little wonky. I liked it in the beginning, but the more we see them together, the less I liked them as a couple. They both start the relationship as a hook up, with no expectation of a serious relationship (but we all know how well that works out, right?). I just didn’t feel it. The spark was initially there, but they just seemed to grow further apart until the big finish. I found the intimate scenes to be quite awkward as well. Literally every time they had sex they referred to it as exercising which felt incredibly cringey.
I really wanted to like this book. I was so hopeful that it would be a new favorite, but it just wasn’t. I have a couple other books by Guillory on my shelves and I do plan to give her another chance. Sometimes an author writes a book that you don’t vibe with but their other works are fantastic. I’m truly hoping this is the case.
About the Book
When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn’t the hard part—they’ve only been dating for five months, and he can’t even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans…
At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik’s rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He’s even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik’s social media blows up—in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of LA, a handsome doctor like Carlos can’t be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes…
About the Author
Jasmine Guillory is the New York Times bestselling author of six romance novels, including The Wedding Date, The Proposal, and While We Were Dating. Her work has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Bon Appetit, and Time. She lives in Oakland, California.
