I think I have been reading or watching too many romances where the couple falls in love and resolves everything in a short amount of time, so based on the title, I honestly thought this novel might take place over a wedding weekend but Guillory uses the wedding date as a launching point.
The novel kicks off with the meet cute right away – Alexa gets stuck on an elevator on her way to see her older sister, but fortunately she has celebratory cheese in her bag and some cute eye candy in the elevator with her. They get to talking and it turns out that the doctor is in town for his ex-girlfriend’s wedding, unfortunately dateless. Once they escape the elevator, Drew asks Alexa to be his date for the wedding and help him out. By the time of the rehearsal dinner, “be my date” has morphed into “I accidentally told the bride and groom my date was my girlfriend so please play along with that.”
Alexa and Drew easily get along and have good chemistry, though Alexa does have a tendency to question and doubt herself. The novel also explores the racial dynamics and how they play into their relationship, and Alexa raises Drew’s awareness of things he had been previously been oblivious to as a white man. While Guillory explores the racial aspects of their relationship and how it partially influences Alexa’s insecurities, it was only aspect of the complexities of their relationship.
I mostly enjoyed the novel, although Alexa occasionally overreacted. Drew has shown tendencies to be a commitment-phobe so instead of enjoying things as they go, Alexa pushes at certain times, which actually triggers his phobia. Of course, he was not perfect either, but it is easier for me to critique Alexa since parts of what she did felt a bit too familiar, even if I’d like to think I wasn’t as extreme as her (one text conversation Alexa initiates especially comes to mind as showing her in a rather negative light).
One other thing with the novel that became a bit less enjoyable as it went was that I honestly felt like I heard about every meal the two of them had together. Now, in real life, a relationship that is basically entirely compromised of going out to eat at amazing places and having great sex is more or less the dream, but I did get to the point where I could have done with fewer play by plays of what they had to eat. Or maybe the novel should have come with tacos so the novel wouldn’t have kept making me hungry. Overall, it was a fun read that also touched on some heavier issues, but seriously, have some good snacks around when you read this.
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