The Proposal

A Perfect Match #1

by Lily Zante

A high-flying career woman with no time for romance finds herself at a loose end for her company's annual marketing convention. Partners are encouraged, and Nadine Stefano has every intention of fitting the image she believes her boss wants.

At her sister's recent bachelorette party Nadine finds herself irresistibly drawn to Ethan, one of the male strippers.

A single woman, desperate to present the image of being in a settled and happy relationship, she hires Ethan to act as her pretend boyfriend at the company event.

Not only is he five years younger, but he is also sexy as sin.

Theirs is a strong attraction, and the over-worked and uptight Nadine soon finds herself falling for the easy-going young man.

But company politics and nasty colleagues stand in their way.

Will their meeting lead to love, despite seemingly different career choices, or will Nadine dump Ethan in order to pursue her career goals?

Genres: Romance, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Amazon, Ebooks

145 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 20, 2012

About the author

Lily Zante is the author of over sixty contemporary romance and women's fiction novels.
After spending two decades working in IT, she decided to give writing another try. Given her love of The Walking Dead, she started off writing zombie fiction but quickly dove into writing romance instead.
She's glad she switched.

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UPCOMING RELEASE:
ZACH, KNIGHT EMPIRE #4 - releases 26 August 2025

ZACH, KNIGHT EMPIRE #4 - releases:
17 February 2026 on my direct store 
24 February 2026 on all retailers

Reviews

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely story

Ethan and Nadine have a business agreement. They are going to pretend to be together for a weekend. The story is quick and fulfilling. It is a good book. I look forward to reading more about them.

[Rae, shutupandbookup · Rating 4 out of 5]

My poor Kindle screen fogged up! At first I was about to just stop reading the book entirely, I must be honest. Nadine is throwing a bachelorette party for her younger sister. And she does the cliche thing of hiring male strippers. Nadine is a business woman to the max, plus she got this promotion. She remains bared in the kitchen until she sees Ethan. He attracts her, but to his shock he doesn't pull her out onto the dance floor. He kisses her hand instead. She goes back to work on her stuff.

I am not into strippers and so I was like, "Great, this is going to be like that horrid movie Magic Mike." Which I didn't not fully get through. Instead we find that Ethan is a male escort, not a stripper. He was filling in for a friend that night.

So when Nadine needs to go to a convention over the weekend she needs someone to be her partner. For the place requires a partner. Nadine is so bared in her work that she doesn't have time for a one. Nor does she wish to have one. But she needs to look good in front of the boss.
So what does she do? She hires the male stripper, Ethan. She doesn't know that he is a male escort. She still sees him as stripper which grosses her out. But there is just something about this man.

For an entire weekend they have to pretend to be a couple. Nadine isn't thrilled by this proposition but what choice does she have? There are twists in the story and Nadine prays that her boss ahead of her doesn't find out the truth about Ethan. There are steamy scenes but no step by step sex scenes. Curse words are in the book and there is a little bit of a cliff hanger.

I liked this book for Ethan wasn't really a stripper. If he was then I would not have continued reading. But I am glad I had. I laughed in some of the places of this book and I also had to wipe the fogginess from my screen. This is a romance book and I liked it for Nadine sounded a lot like me. Enjoy!

[Goru Chagol · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author is in dire need of some grammar classes- specially in tense, prepositions, adjectives and adverbs. I have a very weak grasp of English and still the mistakes in the writing were glaring at me throughout the book (OK I confess.. could plow through 1/3rd of the book and then gave up). Also what's with the explaining of obvious things? ''The dinner was short and formal, and in the Grand Ballroom. It was a buffet style meal where every guest went up to the buffet table and filled up their plates''. Oh boy.

If you want to explain someone what an one dimensional character means- please use the characters of this book as your example.

Inane, foolish and childish writing.Read at your own risk.

[Subramanyam K.V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nadine is a high-flying career woman who thinks only about her career, she works overtime and takes up all the work from her superiors without a question. Ethan is a happy-go-lucky who at times volunteers to be a stripper and a male escort for a few extra wads of cash . As fate had to have it both of them end up meeting each other at the bachelorette party of Nadine’s sister. They do get attracted to each other but come out of it soon.

A few days later Nadine has a crisis and she desperately needs help, She approaches Ethan with a request to help. What is the crisis? Would Ethan help her ? What all twists and turns await them in their lives because of this one proposal ? Well to know that, you ought to read in the book “The Proposal” by Lily Zante.

Nice book, easy to read, simple plot (it would still make you glued to the book though), nice narrative and good characterization. So practically a good and enjoyable read. The characters indeed look very natural and one can relate to them very easily. At least that happened with me, I could really relate to Nadine ,Ethan and Melissa. At times it was like, yeah I would have done the same had I been there in that situation. A few people might say that the plot is a little too simple but then romance stories normally have such plots.

Coming to the things that could have improved, yeah the ending seems slightly rushed through. But then the author has sequel so that is not much of a pain point. Then the length of the book, this one is really short, so she could have added an incident and made it more interesting.

All in all, yeah, a nice book, something that you can finish quickly and enjoy the read. Happy reading



This review first appeared in http://satyasurya.wordpress.com/2013/... --- my blog

[Charlie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gah! This book was a joke!

I kept reading it because I liked the premise and thought it would get better.. It didn't.

I don't know anything about the author but the writing seemed as if a very young teenager had come up with an idea and threw together paper thin characters to write about. Too many language nuances are used that would be little known outside of the U.S.; and the technique of writing what characters are thinking then having other characters use the exact same phrase to decribe a situation is unrealistic e.g. Melissa didn't ask Nadine about Ethan because she thought they had a spat then a few paragraphs later "I think it's because of me" Zoe said, "She came back and she saw me and I think they had a spat." What?

[Lyndsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an Amazon ebook freebie. It was cute, light read.

[M.G. Camacho · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Proposal by Lily Zante is a light read that I personally would classify as a romantic chick-lit and the plot line is very similar to the movie The Wedding Date starring Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney in the sense that both, highly successful women, hired an escort to act as their boyfriend for an event and ends up falling for the guy and the guy falling for the woman.

This book is another self-published endeavor and though I like the simple plot and the believable characters, sadly, I cannot give it five stars because there are so many grammatical errors and redundant phrases throughout the book that a proof reader and an editor should have caught. After reading this book, I went to check out the author's website to learn a little bit more about the writer and her other books and it looks like she has self-published a lot of other books. What I do wonder about though is that her website has no About the Author section, nor does her books.

I don't like her use of the word spectacles because the word is dated and since her book is contemporary, why couldn't she just use the word reading glasses or simply glasses? If she were writing a historical romance, by all means, use spectacles. A couple of words that I don't like in this book are words like spilt and leant when she should've used the words spilled and leaned. I also didn't like the fact that Nadine's thoughts were not italized.

Just an example where I feel she was redundant were on page 3: "Nadine stroked her sister's wavy hair...." followed by a short dialogue then "...she said, running her fingers gently down her sister's hair."

Since there are way too many errors in this book to go through them in this review, let's cut it short to what I think. The Proposal by Lily Zante has a simple plot, making it a light read which as I mentioned earlier, I'm classifying as a chick-lit (it feels like a chick-lit to me), the characters are believable, Lily Zante kept Ethan's main job as a mystery so that mainly is the only thing that kept me reading on. As for the author's writing style, it shows potential especially if the next book she puts out will have gone through a more rigorous proof reading and editing phase. So, if you are a person who will be distracted, mortified, or highly bothered by grammatical errors, sentence structure errors, etc, I will not recommend this book. However, if you are someone who can put aside your editing reflexes, and you are into quick, light and chick-lit like reads, then this might be for you.

[Ambs ❤❤ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story. I thought Nadine was driven, yet fun. I liked Ethan too, although I wasn't sure what to expect from a part-time stripper, etc. I liked the chemistry between Nadine and Ethan, and the friction between Nadine and Sandra. I also liked that the moral of this story is that hard work pays off, and sometimes taking a risk pays off even better.

My only qualm about this story is the narration. Sometimes, it felt like Nadine was narrating, then it would switch to Ethan in the middle of a paragraph. There were even some, albeit very few, narrations from other supporting characters. I think I know what Lily Zante was going for, but I think it wasn't as sharp as it could be. Since I had to re-read a few paragraphs here and there to fully grasp who was narrating, did I drop my rating a star. It was still a great story.

[Arlena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: The Proposal
Author: Lily Zante
Published: L.Z.
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Series: A Perfect Match #1
Rating: 4
Review:

"The Proposal" by Lily Zante was a good romantic contemporary novel I found this novel a very enjoyable read that once you got into the novel you will be kept turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. I did like how this author put this together because from the title I was thinking something else entirely different than what was presented to the reader. The characters..Nadine, Zoe, Ethan, Sandra, and Melissa to name a few were found to be well developed and very captivating. If you are looking for a light romantic read with some twist you have come to the right place...for "The Proposal" will give it to you. Would I recommend? YES!

[Claire - The Coffeeholic Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily Zante is a good writer. Time after time, she has me fallin' in love again with the book's male character, a hot gorgeous escort named Ethan, who danced with his skivvies in a bachelorette party.. How hot could he be? Steamy!

And Nadine, a very career-oriented woman who finally succumbed to her innermost desire one night when she and Ethan attended a party and pretended to be lovers. The Proposal got me hooked right from the beginning. It also made me realize that not everything is about work and power and money and solitude. Sometimes, or most of the time, one should learn how to stop and smell the flowers.

The ending was something a little mellow-dramatic, but still light-hearted. A great afternoon read. Hoping to read the next one in the series.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute Chick Lite book, easy to read and the characters are interesting. It looks like there is a prequel and a continuation story I might have to look into reading by this author about these 2 characters.

[Steffi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Call me crazy but I loved this one. It is simple but gets right to the heart.
The chemistry between Nadine and Ethan worked really well for me and Ethan...*sigh* No more words needed ;)

[Sonnie Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute short story.

[clau · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just didn't like it.

It contains some typos but nothing too serious. However, I feel like it was very repetitive. I get that her boss is a bitch, but there was no need to repeat it every other paragraph. There was a time where Ethan repeated that he didn't intend to take advantage of her, but him repeating it made me feel that he was trying to convince himself rather than me.
I didn't connect with the characters and I truly can't see that much chemistry between them. I liked reading Ethan falling for Nadine, but I just couldn't sense the chemistry. Now, Nadine falling for Ethan. I don't know why but it feels like Nadine likes Ethan's body and not really him. I get that she helped her to loosen up a little but was that it?
Maybe it isn't that bad, but it wasn't for me.

[Helen Leecy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn’t enjoy this; it felt familiar like I had read or seen this story before. And then I remembered there had been a film ‘The Wedding Date’ from 2005 (so before this book was written, so it wasn’t based on this book!!!)
So the story was just cliched, obvious and lacking in originality. I think another reviewer summed it up by saying what was it Nadine saw in Ethan? She literally based her infatuation on seeing him strip and decided he was ‘different’ and falls in love with him. Even though she doesn’t bother to get to know anything about him, hmmmm very shallow.
The only good thing about this book was that it was a good bit of fluff to read after two intense thriller books that I had just read, it required no thought and was merely chewing gum for the brain!

Thanks for reading! If you want to see more of my reviews visit www.pinkanddizzy.com

[Jo-Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked The Proposal. The main characters were great. Nadine was a business woman who thought of nothing else but work and she met Nathan at her sister's bachelorette party where he was filling in as a male stripper. I liked the vast difference in their personalities and occupations. It made their attraction even more interesting. I always like it when the male lead is considerate - as Nathan certainly was. He found a way to get Nadine to loosen up but still respected her feelings so she wasn't embarrassed.

While this book may not win any awards, I really enjoyed it. The editing could have been better which would have improved my rating. I liked the characters a lot and was impressed with the way Lily Zante drew them together when they came from such different worlds.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly loved this book. I could connect to Nadine and Ethan and really couldn't wait to see how their relationship would resolve. I loved their chemistry, and I enjoyed Ethan's ability to make Nadine loosen up without changing who she was. Though I would have loved more detail in the supporting characters, I love when characters are strong enough to have their own standalone story as well, but that's just my preference. This was a shorter story, however, that didn't make it feel abrupt. I would have loved to see a little more of their relationship at the end but there is a sequel, so I can't wait to read on! Anyways, regardless of these things, I will definitely read this again.

[Romina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I haven't encountered such bad, sloppy writing in a long time! This story is a cheap imitation of Elizabeth Young's Asking for Trouble, except that that one was actually a well written, funny, contemporary romance.
And the worst thing was that the author kept switching POV from one sentence to the next, so it was a bit disconcerting that although a character was the one narrating, the reader could all of a sudden read what the other thought. Writing Class 101 urgently needed!

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nadine has been promoted as. Executive director of Creativity by the owner. Her immediate boss, Sandra doesn't like or trust her so she piles work on her but takes the credits. The company is having their annual convention and the executives are required to bring their partners. Nadine is forced to call Ethan, a male stripper that entertained at her sister's bachelorette party a few weeks back. How is Nadine going to pull this off? Will Ethan agree to the proposal to be her date for week-end?

[Michelle LeKander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay...so maybe I'm sappy, but I really enjoyed this book.
Was it a Nobel Peace Prize piece of work, no? Was it the most well-written book I have ever read, no?
But it captured me, held my attention. I loved Ethan immediately, identified with Nadine and hated Sandra. Isn't that always the main goal of an author is to have you relate to the characters of their book? I wanted to keep reading. I wanted to know how it was going to end and I enjoyed it.
Quick Easy Read

[Mjl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing. A romance-by-numbers, no heart, no passion, no longing, no connection to the people involved. They fall in love all too quickly and unrealistically, the author putting words in their mouths and thoughts in their heads that lacked credibility. It felt that after the first couple of chapters the author was rushing to just get the book written, presumably as bored by writing it as I was reading it....

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a good easy relaxing read. Just what i need for recovering after surgery period. I do like Ethan, the main male caractor. However, i'm not sure about the lady. I found she's rather selfish woman...

[Hollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but too abrupt of an ending

Nice fast paced story, however, upon completion I'm left wanting a fucking epilogue at very least. It was predictable and cheesy but still cute. I got it as a freebie and think it was worth my time.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had me wanting to turn each page to find out what happened next it was shorter than some iv read but I still loved it, would of liked to have seen what happened after Ethan & Nadine told each other how they felt though. X

[Elana · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a free, quick read I didn't find anything wrong with this book and it was enjoyable. I read it in about 45 minutes, and it made a good "just before going to sleep" kind of book. The storyline was simple and light-hearted and it was fun for something to read quickly.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, I really thought there would be more to it but I did like the characters. My only complaint is that I wish there had been a bit more to the story. Other than that I found the book to be very interesting.

[Klarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished reading this book yesterday after downloading it on Saturday night. I enjoyed the romance between Nadine and Ethan, Ethan was able to bring a calming presence to Nadine throughout the story, and he was able to get her to let her guard down. A cute story overall.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. What started out as a proposal turned into more. This book also taught me to slow down. It isn't always about work and getting things done but to enjoy life and relax when the time calls. Thanks for a great read!

[Elizabeth Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got through 26% of the book. No thanks. Not an interesting main character, not an interesting love interest, and I don't need to keep reading about her lustful thoughts. Sorry, but the only reason she seems interested or intrigued is from seeing him half-naked and thinking he was hot.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book it was interesting and wasn't like other books that i have read, i am glad that she got the right person in the end and made the right choices for her throughout.