Book Review: The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Review is also available on my site: https://roxannacross.com/2025/07/22/t...

In this debut novel, Guillory starts strong with an original meet-cute scene when the main characters, Alexa Monroe and Drew Nichols, get trapped in a broken-down elevator and share some soft cheese with crackers, engaging in witty banter and flirtatious looks. By the end of the encounter, Drew has Alexa agreeing to be his fake girlfriend for his ex’s upcoming wedding that weekend.

As fake dating goes, real sparks fly. Usually, sex is an excellent thing in a romance novel. Sex can even come first, and the emotions can follow. However, the execution of the scenes themselves felt off kilter. Perhaps it has to do with the abortive way they were written. Guillory didn’t quite fade-to-black, no, she teased in a way that wasn’t altogether unappealing, showing readers things would be leading up to something significant, and then suddenly it’s over. The sort-of, kind-of-happening writing style cheats the readers out of intimacy, thus disconnecting the readers from an essential part of the storyline, considering the book is sixty percent sex and forty percent eating and miscommunications.

When the weekend ends, and Cinderella and Prince are supposed to part ways, they embark on a journey of back and forth, traveling from L.A., Drew’s home, and Berkeley, where they met and Alexa lives. The long-distance relationship and lack of honest communication between them grow tiresome. Guillory presents us with these educated adults. Drew is a doctor, and Alexa is a Mayor’s Chief of Staff, yet they can’t communicate for a dime. Drew is a declared commitment-phobic guy, and Alexa’s insecurities get the better of her; she can’t stop comparing herself to others. Her body image issues throughout the book are borderline on the paranoid side. Making them both appear immature, jumping to conclusions about each other, the constant pessimism just grew exhausting.

The saving grace of Guillory’s work is the cast of supporting characters. Alexa’s co-worker, Theo, and her best friend, Maddie, are offering her support with coffee, boxes of doughnuts, bottles of wine, or just their presence. Her work itself demonstrates her passion and intelligence. The project she fights to get approved by the City Council: The Arts Rehabilitation Program for African American at-risk youth. Readers can sense how badly she needs this to get off the ground and can’t help but root for her. Drew’s co-worker, Carlos, is a hoot, and honestly, he doesn’t deserve a friend like that, given the way he treats him. Drew is grade A, asswipe. He has jealous fits and temper tantrums, taking everything out on Carlos, almost coming to blows. Why did Guillory include such a great character but leave him with a toxic friendship? If it was to show the softer side of Drew, it didn’t work. Jack is one of Drew’s patients who required surgery after a car accident, and a follow-up MRI shows that Jack has leukemia, but again, Guillory left the thread of that story plot up in the air, so readers don’t know what happened to him. However, Drew’s interaction with Jack was sweet, and his breakdown when he found out about the leukemia was heart-wrenching.

The fast pace Guillory maintained kept the storyline moving, making this a quick and easy read. If you’re a fan of rom-coms and can overlook the flaws, this one is for you. Otherwise, it’s best left on the shelf. Sorry, folks, giving this one a 1.5 stars.



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