I was excited to receive The Wedding Date from the Bookish First Program. While I found the cover to be a bit old-fashioned, the premise sounded fun and appealing. Drew meets Alexa in an elevator, Drew needs a date for the wedding of his ex that he is attending, so he asks Alexa to be his wedding date and his pretend girlfriend. The relationship develops from there.
I was expecting a story full of humor and sass. An experience where we could watch two people, who may not have even met otherwise, fall in love. The added plus for me was the male's POV. The initial premise of pretending to be a couple was developed to the point I had high hopes for the relationship farther down the road. They are an interracial couple, both high-powered career-oriented individuals who are trying to navigate a long distance relationship. These three factors alone have a high potential for creative tension due to the different dynamics involved.
The experience did not meet that potential. I never connected to the characters... in fact I didn't really feel like I knew Alex or Drew. I would have liked more depth on the characters to anticipate the coming tensions and learn how they would solve their conflicts. It doesn't have to be over the top serious, I expected Alex to have some sass; she did glimmer every once in a while but just as I would get into it she would rein it in and get limp again...
Instead, they ate, had sex and strange arguments that originated in their own minds. This repeated to the point of boredom. Communicating and talking things out would have added a lot to the book. Much of what we could have learned about the two of them could have happened during dialogue. We expected this from "mature" adults. Very often though they behaved more like teenagers - that's for YA novels. In the end, it was hard for me to accept the transition from being in lust to being in love. I was hoping to be swept off my feet by The Wedding Date... but I just wasn't...
As for the uneven writing and too much telling, I always give a debuting author the benefit of the doubt. Experience and time will make a difference. Keep writing girl!
I was expecting a story full of humor and sass. An experience where we could watch two people, who may not have even met otherwise, fall in love. The added plus for me was the male's POV. The initial premise of pretending to be a couple was developed to the point I had high hopes for the relationship farther down the road. They are an interracial couple, both high-powered career-oriented individuals who are trying to navigate a long distance relationship. These three factors alone have a high potential for creative tension due to the different dynamics involved.
The experience did not meet that potential. I never connected to the characters... in fact I didn't really feel like I knew Alex or Drew. I would have liked more depth on the characters to anticipate the coming tensions and learn how they would solve their conflicts. It doesn't have to be over the top serious, I expected Alex to have some sass; she did glimmer every once in a while but just as I would get into it she would rein it in and get limp again...
Instead, they ate, had sex and strange arguments that originated in their own minds. This repeated to the point of boredom. Communicating and talking things out would have added a lot to the book. Much of what we could have learned about the two of them could have happened during dialogue. We expected this from "mature" adults. Very often though they behaved more like teenagers - that's for YA novels. In the end, it was hard for me to accept the transition from being in lust to being in love. I was hoping to be swept off my feet by The Wedding Date... but I just wasn't...
As for the uneven writing and too much telling, I always give a debuting author the benefit of the doubt. Experience and time will make a difference. Keep writing girl!