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The Proposal is the sensational, charming, warm, sexy follow up to Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date. While this novel contains characters from that story, you do not need to read that book to absolutely, thoroughly enjoy this one. I speak from experience.
Nikole (Nik) Paterson is not enjoying spending the day at the ballpark while her boyfriend and his friends bond over warm beer, pretzels and sports – but it’s her man’s birthday and this is what he wanted. She’s vaguely wondering if their five-month relationship has run its course when he tells her to look at the score board. Tearing her eyes away from her phone, she glances up to see the words, “NICOLE: I LOVE YOU. WILL YOU MARRY ME?” When he drops down on one knee and proposes, her slack jawed mouth closes just enough to form the word no. As her boyfriend and his buddies stomp off, calling her various names as they depart, she finds herself the object of horrified, angry looks from the 45,000 other people attending the game.
Carlos Ibarra can’t help but admire the courage of the young woman two rows in front of him who has the gumption to turn down the proposal of the overly tan dude with the man bun. When he sees said young lady about to be mobbed by news station crews, he and his sister Angela rush to her rescue. Feigning a friendship they don’t have, they ooh and ahh over finding her on such an unlikely day and help her skedaddle out of the park. They give her a ride to a nearby bar, where Nik meets up with friends and invites the Ibarras to join her in a drink. They do, and Carlos is impressed all over again, this time with Nik’s wit and humor. But just after a girl has had a very public break up is not the time to hit on her.
Nik is impressed with Carlos as well. Not only is he handsome, he shows himself to be a kind, caring gentleman. When its clear she needs some alone time with her friends, he and Angela leave, but not before he covers the tab.
He figures the only other chance he’ll have to see her again is if he hangs out at the bar, hoping to catch sight of her. She figures this is the totally wrong time to get involved with another man. But one thank you email later and they’re sharing food and fun at a local Thai eatery. Funny texts and cupcake dates quickly follow. Before they know it, they’re seeing each other two or three times a week. It’s been said that a simple rule of dating is that rebound relationships never last but aren’t the rules meant to be broken?
Like Nik after the spontaneous proposal from a man who couldn’t even spell her name, I found myself speechless after finishing this book. Unlike Nik, my shock was from my overwhelmingly positive emotions. There was so much I loved about this novel I could easily write a top 100 list of reasons to buy it, but I will try to limit this review to the top five.
One thing the author gets all kinds of kudos for is the best depiction of an alpha female/beta male pairing I have ever seen in romance. EVER. Nik is strong, independent, and tough as nails. A lot of writers end up making alpha females as much of a jerk as her alpha male jerk counterpart but that doesn’t happen here. Nikole is a kind person who has good friends and a caring, compassionate heart. What makes her alpha is her take charge nature and that she knows the difference between someone asking for a favor and someone taking advantage. She’s always up for the former, she’s never down with the latter.
Just the right combination of open-hearted and savvy, Carlos is beta male perfection. He is willing to let others set the pace on most things but asserts himself when he needs to. He’s okay with being vulnerable to hurt in order to further a relationship along and isn’t afraid to do the heavy lifting in the romance department, but he doesn’t tolerate abuse. I loved everything about him; even his flaws and mistakes are endearing.
The characters, therefore, are perfect not in the sense that they don’t have flaws but that the author skillfully uses even those flaws to move her plot along and endear her creations to the reader. Another absolutely fabulous factor in this alpha-beta pairing is that Nik has a lot of back history with bad relationships. She’s had plenty of losers in her past but unlike many a romance alpha who uses that as an excuse to be cold, distant, untrusting, and unkind to everyone of the opposite sex whom they meet she is friendly, open and fun-loving with her dates. She gives relationships a chance and treats everyone with an open-minded fairness which is just so, so refreshing to see. I now want to go back through my reading history, grab by the hair every ‘wounded’ alpha who punished his new love for his exes’ mistakes, drag them to Nikole’s feet and say, “Learn from her!”.
And yet in spite of all this character perfection, the author is still able to find room for them to grow, become better and bring out the best in each other. Insert fan girl squeal here- that is so awesome! I love it when two great people become even better together.
The relationship building is out of this world fantastic and I just about swooned every time these two were together. I loved how fun their encounters are, how well they get along, how they are able to talk through simple problems and not make issues of them. Seriously, this is the best depiction I have seen of modern romance in a contemporary in a long, long time. Everyone wants the relationship these two have.
The secondary characters are handled beautifully. They lend the exact right amount of balance to the growing romance between Carlos and Nik and help add depth to them as individuals. Nik’s two gal pals know her, love her, support her and guide her. They help her laugh and when she gets lost, they help her find her way. Carlos’ family does the same for him. This is a bit odd to say, but I knew that if the two of them didn’t make it as a couple, they would be all right as individuals because their support networks are so awesome. Too many times the hero and heroine become so totally enmeshed that there is no room for them to stay individuals, but that isn’t the case here. They’re stronger together, better together but they’re fine as individuals, too.
Funny, warm and romantic The Proposal is a fantastic, not to be missed romance. I recommend it to anyone who loves – or even just likes – contemporary romance novels.
Buy it at: Amazon/Apple Books/Barnes & Noble/Kobo
Grade: A
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 16/10/18
Publication Date: 10/2018
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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I’ve been debating about this one but this review and Kirkus (A charming book for the modern romance lover) make me want to try it. I was a little set back by Goodreads rating (3.58 of 5,out of 9000 reads with 88% liking it) but I’llpost again once I’ve read it.
I actually enjoyed The Wedding Date more…I read The Proposal first and was sucked in, but I quickly lost interest at times and had to take a break from it. The first 100 pages feel more like “filler” pages with nothing actually happening…kind of hard to explain. When reading The Wedding Date I didn’t want to put the book down! Although I loved the “girl power” vibes you get from reading The Proposal, I just felt that Alexa and Drew’s relationship was more interesting to read about and I rooted for their happy ending. I didn’t care whether or not Nikole and Carlos got together. I thought the ending was cheesy and I thought that she was really mean and rude to Carlos.
I agree that this one’s actually BETTER than the Wedding Date (and The Wedding Date was marvelous!)! I love Nik and Carlos so much!
I might give this a try. I wasn’t overly taken by The Wedding Date and, as such, didn’t think I would bother with the next book, but you make it sound worthwhile.
I feel exactly the same. I didn’t care for the first book (I reviewed it here!) either – but this review does have me tempted!
Maggie – did you read the first book? Did you like it?
I haven’t had a chance to read the first book yet. I went into this one with no prior knowledge of the author or her work and found myself absolutely loving it. Sorry I can’t be a bigger help — I do have the first one on my TBR and hope to get to it someday soon.