The Proposal

Sometimes after a long difficult book all you need is a light read that will make you laugh.  That’s why The Proposal was such a good relaxer for me.

The Proposal is a companion book to The Wedding Date, which means it has some of the same characters in it, like Drew and Alexa, but the main characters are different.  This time around, it’s Drew’s friend Carlos turn to accidentally find love.  While at a Dodgers baseball game, Nikole’s actor boyfriend decides to propose…during the game…on the JumboTron.  The problem (one of many) is that they’ve only been dating for five months, and Nik knows it won’t last, so she turns him down.  Now she’s the villain, stuck in a stadium full of people with camera crews closing in when in swoops Carlos and his sister.  Feigning recognition, they save Nik from the crowds, and a friendship starts to form.  Neither Carlos, a busy doctor with extended family to take care of, nor Nik, a writer with many failed relationships under her belt, want anything serious, but their natural chemistry is hard to deny.

There are many striking similarities between this book and The Wedding Date (which I—of course—had to go back and read after finishing this book).  First, they both go into the relationships with the “I’m never going to fall in love” mantra.  The Wedding Date meet cute was funnier—getting stuck in an elevator then becoming the guy’s fake girlfriend for a wedding—but The Proposal’s felt more real, mainly because Carlos and Nik started off as friends before getting physical.  Another similarity is the interracial relationship.  Alexa and Nik are both black, so there are a few cases (especially in The Wedding Date) where race is brought up because people said utterly inappropriate things.  Finally, they both also focus on current struggles.  Alexa in The Wedding Date is working to implement a youth outreach program for troubled teens, while Nik is learning self-defense to protect herself from her threatening ex-boyfriend.  I felt like the issues brought up in The Proposal were good and valid, but it did seem to take away from the ending because the explanation for it was very lengthy.

Overall, it was a cute, predictable story, but if you liked first one, you’ll enjoy this second book as well.