Contemporary romance is a genre that I’ve been exploring more of as of late and I’m so glad that I stumbled upon this book while browsing through NetGalley. This novel was exactly what I needed! It’s beyond adorable and so much fun from beginning to end. A perfect summer read for lounging by the pool and soaking up the sun (too bad that it's scheduled for release in October...what a wasted opportunity!).

Before I start my review, I do want to say that I have never read the author’s debut, The Wedding Date. The Proposal features characters from this book but it’s not promoted as a sequel or companion novel. Not reading the first book didn’t impact my enjoyment of this one at all. So, you don’t have to worry at all, however, I now really want to read The Wedding Date. It sounds like another great romantic read!

The story begins with a woman having her boyfriend of only a few months propose to her at a Dodger’s game. She declines his proposal and is judged by thousands of people in the stadium. Right away I was behind her 100% because I would hate having such a public proposal. I cringe just thinking about it. I could really put myself in the main character’s shoes and I loved that about this book. Anyway, as the lead character is trying to deal with the awkward situation, she’s aided by a man who had watched the whole thing a few rows back. This intervention changes both of their lives and kicks off a series of events that made me smile uncontrollably, laugh out loud, sigh and shake my head in disagreement. I cheered the characters on and found myself mumbling about some of their choices...basically I was fully invested in this story and was so sad when it ended.

What I especially loved was how the romance was friends to lovers. The two characters had to navigate through a lot of personal issues to figure out how they could make what they had work. Things weren’t easy but that’s what makes for a good story! The book is also very diverse with a cast of characters that actually reflect the world that we live in. For example, there is a black main character and a Latino love interest. The writing was simple, but it flowed and I just kept on turning the pages. I read this book rather quickly and totally didn't mean to...I just couldn't help myself! 

So, if you are looking for a fun romance book to read or need a good pick-me-up then this book is totally for you! I know that I’ll be getting a copy of the author’s first novel very soon and will be keeping on eye on her future releases.

This book was really fun and refreshing. I liked reading a fluffy, smart romance that was not just about white people. I hadn't read The Wedding Date but definitely want to after reading this.

Jasmine Guillory's second outing is as delightful as her first! I was so excited to read Carlos's story and meet Nikole. Cannot wait to handsell THE PROPOSAL!

I loved this story! Nik and Carlos were so cute together. And, I really liked that they both actively addressed and worked through their insecurities. The only thing that could've have made it better was recipes at the end of the book (and, less use of the word preeclampsia).

Guillory 2nd contemporary romance title is a hoot! It's spectacular start is hilarious as or some of the shenanigans that follow. The hero's reaction towards the end of the book is a bit unbelievable. Overall an enjoyable read!

After I read The Wedding Date, I immediately researched to see whether Jasmine Guillory had written anything else, and I was so excited for NetGalley to provide me with an ARC. I devoured The Proposal in one sitting, and I’m ready to shout from the rooftops to anyone who’ll listen that they should be reading this book. I loved the relatable characters and the fact that Nik was strong and independent but willing to face her flaws. It was refreshing to get lost in a love story where there was more to it than just the physical attraction. I loved getting to know the other female characters as well, and that Drew and Alexa were woven seamlessly into the story too. This leaves me wanting more!

Nik Paterson gets a marriage proposal in front of thousands of people at a Dodger's game. Romantic? No, she is taken by surprise as there had been no indication that Fisher even felt that way. After the turn-down Fisher leaves and Nik is left by herself with people staring at her with negative feelings. She is rescued by a sister and brother who pretend to be her long lost friends. And so the story begins. Enjoy.

The Proposal is the second book follow up to The Wedding Date. It follows the best friend, Carlos and a woman named Nik. The opening scene is one of the best opening scenes to a book and it just gets better. It's fun, sweet, flirty and a strong follow up to her debut novel. I loved the representation in the book (a black main character, latino love interest and more) and thought the "will they won't they" story line was timed perfectly. Lots of quirk and, of course, really good food!

I was waiting for this book since I finished the first chapter of The Wedding Date! It is so nice to read a romance novel where the main characters are real people, and not just a variation of the same tired themes.

My library is likely to purchase copies of the book. I will recommend via readers advisory, but it it’s unlikely that I’d recommend to Book Clubs.

A very enjoyable romance. Followed the usual conventions without being too predictable. Likeable characters - no one had to make a complete change in their character makeup in order for the reader to root for them in the end. Mentions of the characters' race or ethnicity were done well and incorporated naturally. Good call backs to characters from prior books but still held up as a stand alone read.

Jasmine Guillory can pull you right into her juicy stories! While the dialogue can be a little cheesy, the plot and characters more than make up for it. A perfect, quick beach read.

Major props for the terrifying and perfect meet-cute! This story was as smart, witty, and lovely as the romance in The Wedding Date. My only quip was the character of Carlos. Though I loved seeing this character receive his own romance, he didn’t seem realistic. He was the epitome of the perfect love interest: good looking, a fantastic cook, a doctor, devoted to his family, great in bed, and with a sexy car. I was supremely jealous and irritated at Nik for finding the perfect man and not immediately recognizing it! Despite the annoyingly perfect Carlos, the sharp writing and steamy romances will keep me coming back to Jasmine Guillory.

A solid follow-up to The Wedding Date, here we get Carlos's story. While Carlos and Nik made a great couple in the end, I got really annoyed with how overbearing Carlos was with his family, and how no one ever called him on his BS. He cares about his family more than anything else, but these otherwise strong, independent women never told him to stop, or even just said they appreciated where his heart was, but seriously never show up at my house with a bookcase you purchased and then assume I will be home, love your style, and allow you to immediately set it up in my house because you didn't like the old one.

...okay, that was a bit of a tangent! But all of that was totally distracting/subtracting from his knight in shining armor character, instead of adding to it.

If you can ignore the flaws in Carlos's overprotective familial instincts and you were as obsessed with The Wedding Date as I was, you definitely need to put this at the top of your TBR.

Nik was amazing. Read this for Nik if nothing else!!!!!

Many thanks to Berkley publishers who very kindly offered me a copy of this delicious treat of a novel that had all the charm, smarts, and heart of author Jasmine Guillory's first novel The Wedding Date and then some.

Lovely freelance writer Nikole is twiddling her thumbs at a Dodgers game with her sort of boyfriend Fletcher and his posse of meathead friends when Fletcher calls her attention to the jumbotron where the message "Nichole will you marry me" is currently flashing. Mortified that the guy she's only been dating a couple of months would do this to her without even once bringing up the topic beforehand Nik is rescued from a rapidly turning ugly crowd of baseball fans who think Fletcher's being dissed and reporters eager for the next big viral scoop by Carlos (who may look familiar to The Wedding Date readers) and his sister who employ the old "oh hey old friend I haven't seen in years!" tactic to get her out of the stadium in one piece.

If that ain't a clever meet cute I don't know what is.

Carlos squires a grateful Nik to a bar and her waiting besties who immediately elect him Nik's rebound! And while Nik takes a little more convincing Carlos's good looks, sense of humor, compassion, and smarts help her make up her mind pretty quick.

But what starts as a low key, no labels situation that neither intend to take far starts looking suspiciously like a serious relationship before either one knows what hit them.

I confess I am utterly charmed by Ms. Guillory's writing. Its smart and funny but never saccharine. I've got a low threshold for super witty dialogue that no actual person would ever utter but Guillory's characters just feel like real people. They say dumb things and get into ridiculous, goofy situations that feel real. She finds the hilarity and heart in regular human interaction and that kind of writing makes for characters you can completely commit to. I felt like Carlos and Nik were my friends and I felt bad for them and urged them to get their crap together and just make things work and laughed at them by turns just as if they were real. That's a wonderful way to feel when you're reading.

If you read my The Wedding Date review you'll remember that one of my issues was a certain lack of fire in the more romantic scenes. Well I don't know what happened between that book and this one but that's not a problem that The Proposal suffers from AT ALL. Seriously if you're looking for a little hot and heavy passion in your romantic comedy reading Guillory's got you covered. Like put the book down for a minute and get a glass of ice water covered.

The issues that the characters run into in their relationship felt much more honest too. Just as in her previous book we spend a great deal of time with Carlos and Nik just by themselves. We really know who they are and what got them to where they're at now in their personal lives. Their problems are normal and not 100% rational and that's fine, that's how people are in life. But the issues that arise for them as a couple feel like they build from a more believable place than the hero's of The Wedding Date. We get a much clearer sense of why both of them want what they want, what their hangups are and what needs to happen for them to be happy with each other.

This book is full of humor and romance and all the things you want from a light romantic comedy but its tempered by real, smart characters with honest emotions and a level of intelligence that you don't always see in this type of book. Hence my brand new shelf the "thinking person's romance!"

to say i had high expectations with this book would be a ridiculous understatement. i ADORED the wedding date, gobbled it up and just absolutely loved it. i only rated it 4 stars, not 100% sure why, but i regret that now because i did not enjoy this one as much, but 3 stars is too harsh, and 4 is too close to the wedding date when i did not enjoy it as much as the wedding date.

i was so so excited to read this one after loving the wedding date so much. i tried not to compare the two, but that's near impossible, so whatever. the meet cute was adorable and fabulous in this one, but was adorable-er and fabulous-er in the wedding date. there was sexual tension and chemistry, but i didn't feel it *as much* as the wedding date. the writing didn't flow as well for me, i couldn't quite get a handle on the characters, i didn't laugh as much even though i could tell the author was trying to be funny. that sounds really awful, and i did not hate this book. i am still rating it 4 stars, though in this case i am being generous, it's more of a 3.5 star book for me personally. it just didn't hit all the right notes and was a bit too easy to put down. the conflict seemed more contrived - though i liked that the tables were turned, it normally would have been the woman realising what carlos realised. i loved the friendships, family and empowerment message. i love the diversity in these books, i love how realistic they are. i will definitely read more from this author.

I really enjoyed this sophomore romance novel by Jasmine Guillory! This is a standalone but one of the main characters, Carlos Ibarra, is a side character in Guillory's first novel. You don't have to read the first to read this one but it is nice to know who the characters are!

Nik is an independent woman and keeps her heart guarded and Carlos doesn't want to be in a serious relationship because his family comes first, but sparks fly when these two meet. I loved the dynamics of the Ibarra family, Nik's friendships, how these two play off of each other and their relationship grows throughout the book. A romance book for those who love love and don't want too much steaminess.

I don’t typically read of a lot of romance, but I was in the mood – because #summer- and I liked the premise of this book: Jumbotron proposal at a baseball game gone horribly wrong.

Also, thank you to Net-Galley and Berkley for providing me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I felt that this book had a strong beginning and strong ending. I particularly flew through the last 20% - I got really invested in the characters, and enjoyed the side stories about the cousin’s baby and the gym owner’s back story.

I am struggling a little to rate this (I hate the 5 star scale); I feel it’s not quite a 4 since I lost a little interest in the middle, but I still think this is strong for a romance novel. (I’m in the middle of 4 books right now and this was the only one I kept picking back up).

I would recommend to those looking for a light, fun summer read – particularly if you enjoy contemporary (sorta predictable) stories with diverse characters.

I will be picking up Jasmine’s debut novel, The Wedding Date, soon. Even though now looking back, I kind of wish I read The Wedding Date first since there is some overlap of side characters.

This book's saving grace was its superb representation: a black main character, latino love interest, black lesbian side character, and fat Korean side character.

Otherwise, I wished I could love this book, but it just wasn't at all what I was hoping it to be. I'm mainly frustrated with this book because it wasn't pitched at ALL as a sequel or companion to Jasmine's first book, but literally half the book involves the two characters from her debut. I was really disappointed that I got 50% of the way into this before realizing that. It really should be marketed better as a companion novel, because I feel like I lost out on half of the storyline.

My other major issue with this book is that the writing is just so basic. From clichés to a remarkable lack of originality in descriptions, I was just left wanting more with every page. The dialogue is corny a lot of the time, and the inner monologue alongside it felt very immature and stunted. Not just as a reader, but from an editorial standpoint, I think the writing needed tweaking (ie. the characters CONSTANTLY laugh at what the other says to the point where it's every other line; the speaker tags should be more varied.)

Also, most of the sex scenes in this book are skipped over, and the two that exist are so short and bland. I was expecting a lot more from a book marketed as romance.

I really wanted to read Jasmine's first book, but after those characters appeared in this book, it would be too weird to go back in time and see them when they're not together. If you liked Jasmine's first book then you'll probably enjoy this, but I'm just super let down that it was a sequel I didn't know about, and I wasn't a fan of the writing style.

The Proposal is a cute, fun read. The characters are likable, and the plot is fun. The book opens with an ill-fated public proposal, and with that, Nik and Carlos have a pretty interesting meet-cute.

Great if you're in the mood for some lighter fare.