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sophia_sol) wrote2020-07-06 06:40 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2020-07-06 06:40 pm
The Wedding Date, by Jasmine Guillory
Super cute romance novel, and lots of things to like about it.
I kind of feel like a broken record with how pretty much every time I like a romance novel, one of the things I say in praise of it is that I like how the characters have well rounded lives outside each other: friends/family they care about, jobs they're good at and passionate about, some cause that they're dedicating time and energy to, that kind of thing. But many romance novels DON'T have those things (still not over that terrible one I read where the leading lady quits her job which she loves and is good at, for the sake of her relationship with the leading man!!!) so I still appreciate it every time. It's important to me that it doesn't feel like the romantic relationship is the ONLY good thing in a character's life--that just feels uncomfortable, unrealistic, and unhealthy to me. And this book was good for having that more expansive view of its characters' lives! I loved Alexa's complicated but positive relationship with her sister, I loved how much she cared about the good she could do through her job in local politics, I loved how easily she made friends with that other girl (Lauren?) at the wedding, and how good she was at being friendly to people. And I loved how Drew cared a lot about the kids he was doctor for, and I loved his best friendship with Carlos.
I'm also charmed by the romance, with how much Alexa and Drew just enjoy each other's company so much, it's delightful. And the way he admires her being good at things! And he makes her feel more confident about her body! And it's nice how even though Drew is white, every time she tells him about something racist she experiences he just believes her and supports her straight off even if it's not something he ever considered before, she doesn't need to convince him of what her lived experience is.
I don't find everything about the book perfect though. And there are two aspects of the ending that particularly bugged me.
First of all, they've been long distance for the whole of the book, flying back and forth to meet each other, but then at the end he just decides to move to her city with no sweat? The book doesn't ever acknowledge that that's a big deal, leaving behind his life and his friends and his old job. Which then makes me wonder why the author bothered to write the story as a long distance relationship in the first place, if the distance is never going to actually be any kind of barrier. I just feel bad for Drew's best friend Carlos now honestly, being left behind like that without a second thought!
And second, it's been demonstrated over and over that Drew has really serious commitment issues. But at the end, him realising he loves Alexa is enough for him to just get over himself, just like that? I'm not convinced that this time is different enough from his previous relationships, that he has successfully internalised whatever he needed to learn to truly get over his commitment issues. It makes the reconciliation at the end feel unsatisfying to me, because I don't really believe he's put in the necessary work yet for it to actually work this time.
Oh well. I still thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, even if not all the elements is the ending came together perfectly. It was a delight to hang out with these characters.
I kind of feel like a broken record with how pretty much every time I like a romance novel, one of the things I say in praise of it is that I like how the characters have well rounded lives outside each other: friends/family they care about, jobs they're good at and passionate about, some cause that they're dedicating time and energy to, that kind of thing. But many romance novels DON'T have those things (still not over that terrible one I read where the leading lady quits her job which she loves and is good at, for the sake of her relationship with the leading man!!!) so I still appreciate it every time. It's important to me that it doesn't feel like the romantic relationship is the ONLY good thing in a character's life--that just feels uncomfortable, unrealistic, and unhealthy to me. And this book was good for having that more expansive view of its characters' lives! I loved Alexa's complicated but positive relationship with her sister, I loved how much she cared about the good she could do through her job in local politics, I loved how easily she made friends with that other girl (Lauren?) at the wedding, and how good she was at being friendly to people. And I loved how Drew cared a lot about the kids he was doctor for, and I loved his best friendship with Carlos.
I'm also charmed by the romance, with how much Alexa and Drew just enjoy each other's company so much, it's delightful. And the way he admires her being good at things! And he makes her feel more confident about her body! And it's nice how even though Drew is white, every time she tells him about something racist she experiences he just believes her and supports her straight off even if it's not something he ever considered before, she doesn't need to convince him of what her lived experience is.
I don't find everything about the book perfect though. And there are two aspects of the ending that particularly bugged me.
First of all, they've been long distance for the whole of the book, flying back and forth to meet each other, but then at the end he just decides to move to her city with no sweat? The book doesn't ever acknowledge that that's a big deal, leaving behind his life and his friends and his old job. Which then makes me wonder why the author bothered to write the story as a long distance relationship in the first place, if the distance is never going to actually be any kind of barrier. I just feel bad for Drew's best friend Carlos now honestly, being left behind like that without a second thought!
And second, it's been demonstrated over and over that Drew has really serious commitment issues. But at the end, him realising he loves Alexa is enough for him to just get over himself, just like that? I'm not convinced that this time is different enough from his previous relationships, that he has successfully internalised whatever he needed to learn to truly get over his commitment issues. It makes the reconciliation at the end feel unsatisfying to me, because I don't really believe he's put in the necessary work yet for it to actually work this time.
Oh well. I still thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, even if not all the elements is the ending came together perfectly. It was a delight to hang out with these characters.