Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine discussion

Who is a ready for some romance? Cause we are!

What as your favorite scene in the book?

Still reading it so o ce I’m done I’ll give you an answer

I loved it. This one follows the first Jasmine Guillory book, The Wedding Date which was also very good. In both of these books, I love that the heroines are accomplished women in their job with their insecurities. I also enjoyed that the main male character is a great guy, but not a caricature of an alpha male.

I just got my copy today. I already started reading!! so excited for this one!

My favorite scene is when the girlfriends meet for the first time - their conversation in the bathroom is funny stuff

I also liked the scene in the hospital when she shows up with all of his family there - so awkward but that’s when you can really see how deep their feelings are for each other

Loved loved love this book! I hope she writes a sequel! I’m so invested in these characters!

😬 I have loved every single Hello Sunshine book club pick but I *cannot* get into this one.

It makes me feel like a 30-something shopping at "Forever 21." The style of writing is cringey. I cannot tell who is narrating the story. The relationship between the two main characters is so forced and awkward. It seems as if the author is dropping curse words just to be edgy. I'm not a fan of the physical description of the characters - it's too #tryhard.

I am unsure if I should just continue with 8 chapters under my belt or take this as a loss.

I finished this book late last night and I absolutely loved it! I have a few favorite scenes. First, I loved the scene with the sour cream. I loved that she just listened to Carlos and put the sour cream on burning face. Honestly I probably would of done the same thing. I would do anything to stop my face from burning. Second, I had a feeling Fisher was going to show up again and I love that Nik punched him in the face. He totally had that coming. And finally, at the end when Nik is grocery shopping and she sees the sour cream and realizes she loves Carlos. I am a sucker for romance and it melted my heart. I liked that she went after what she wanted and got Carlos back!

I thought the book was nice, but nothing more.
I felt like some verbs were missing in the sentence, and the film-like narration, although appreciated, made it difficult sometimes to understand who was talking.
I really liked Natalie's story, it was a great example of strength and will.
My least favorite scene was at the restaurant, when Nik met Alexa. I thought something more exciting was going to happen, but by how the whole sequence was built it just felt forced.
I liked Nik's final speech, that was cute. The author's description of the time Nik and Carlos spent together really made me smile all the time, because it felt trully awesome.

I quite enjoyed this book! I like reading something light like this every now and then. I liked the relationship between Nik and her friends. I liked the development of the main characters story. There were some funny bits (sour cream) thrown in with some sad bits (his dad) and lots of sexy bits. It was overall a nice change of pace for me from the long books. I’ve been reading a lot of historical fiction and just started Marlon James new fantasy so this was a nice change of pace and an easy read. I liked the scene with the sour cream. Her revelation in the grocery store and the scene with Fischer near the end.

Lacey wrote: "Loved loved love this book! I hope she writes a sequel! I’m so invested in these characters!"

Have you read The Wedding Date by her? I haven't yet, but I found out that The Proposal is actually a spin-off of The Wedding Date, which tells the story of how Drew and Alexa met. I also heard that she is working on another book that focuses on different characters from The Wedding Date. I'm sure Carlos and Nik might make appearances in this third book like how Drew and Alexa did in this one!

I just finished The Wedding Date. The only reason I read it first was because my library request came through and I had to finish it before the due date. :) I didn't realize the two books were connected and shared some characters until I recognized Carlos in The Wedding Date from the summary of The Proposal.

For those who have read both books - is the writing style similar? It seems like some had some trouble with the narrative style of The Proposal and I'm wondering if it's different from her first book?

I really enjoyed this book. Its light and easy read. My favorite scene is a tie between the sour cream and Nik punching Fisher

I finished The Proposal this morning. This book was fantastic. My favorite screen was Nik and Carlos first kiss. It reminded me of mine and my husbands first kiss. 😍 I also loved when Nik punched Fischer in the face.

I enjoyed listening to this book during my runs, but I am so glad I listened to it and not read it in paper because it is not my favorite. It is cute and light and the characters are great for sure, but nothing happens - I was waiting for a big twist or something making their story complicated to come along and it never did.

The narrator was great, and she did make me laugh when she talked in the mom and aunt voices.

Cute story for February <3

Finished it last night and loved every minute! The sour cream scene, the scene where she showed up at the hospital and when Carlos took her to the taqueria were my favorite. The characters here were strong and genuine, this was such a great read!

I burst out laughing at my doctors office when Nik touched her face after handling chili peppers and Carlos had her smear sour cream all over her face!
They are just so good together I can’t stand it 😍

Just finished, it was a bit of a struggle! The writing felt amateurish and difficult to believe, especially when it came to the character of Carlos. I love a good modern rom com and I really really really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t get past some key aspects. Speaking as a Latin woman, the stereotypical nature portrayed in the book of the Hispanic man having to be the head of a household and care for his female family members is outdated and prompted many an eye roll from me when I was tuning in. Also, was it just me or did the interpretation of Carlos’ mother and aunt seem to have more a Caribbean influence than Mexican American? Overall, not my favorite but a simple read. I would be interested in reading the authors first book in series.

I finished this one in basically one sitting and the one complaint I have seems to be a common one: the writing was super cringey. The story itself was good, and for that reason I slogged through the terrible writing. As much as it can be call slogging I guess since I finished it in like a day. A good choice for February overall, though.

I finished it and I was very disappointed. It was super cheesy to start with. I could not get over how poorly written the entire book was. the only part I actually felt anything for was her interview with Natalie. Definitely not my kind of romcom.

You have to take this book for what it is- a light, chic lit romance and a quick read. I personally enjoyed it after enduring the monotony of last month’s pick!

Darci wrote: "You have to take this book for what it is- a light, chic lit romance and a quick read. I personally enjoyed it after enduring the monotony of last month’s pick!"

Exactly, its not meant to be a heavy major piece of literature.

Not worth the time to read - To elementary for this book group.

It was as some have described, light and cute; but I wish it had a twist of some sort or more substance. Not my favorite book, but also not unbearable. Overall, I’m happy I read it, and it was a nice contrast to the January selection. Looking forward to seeing what Reese has in store for March!!

Well! I hope for Mach it isn’t a non fiction or romance but the last two picks haven’t finished them yet! Not my cup of tea! Will read them but don’t know when

I’m not sure what to think about this book. Sure, the dialogs between Nik & Carlos feel real enough. But, the whole reason why they get to know each other is so...artificial. It feels like the writer just wanted to start the book with a big opening. Why doesn’t Nik also keep in touch with Angie? Why is Carlos the one to be the “hero”. And the reason for buying his sports car? Sorry, I found it a strange reason. I’m halfway through the book, I will try to finish, because despite everything I’m still curious how it will work out between them.

Struggling with this book. I think this is not for me.

I finished the Wedding Guest last week, while being stuck at the airport. It got me out of my head and made me smile. Looking forward to reading the Proposal.

I am also struggling to like The Proposal. Glad I am listening so I can just walk, drive, or clean. I agree with post “like 30 year old shopping at Forever 21. But all the other books were so very good. This is just not my genre for winter reading in NE I guess. I like to be absorbed in a story for winter reading.

I was not a fan of this book, at all!
I struggled to stay focused while reading, for the same reasons that have already been shared.
I found it to have no real substance. I felt like the author was repeating herself to fill pages. There was no character building that brought in new and unpredictable information that gave you an ah ha moment.
This book is something that I might have enjoyed in my teens.

I have to agree with what others have said, about not being a fan. I had finished the Wedding Guest last week, and thought it was good enough to read while being stuck at the airport. Unfortunately, it appears the Proposal is just the same recipe. It kind of reminds me of a grown up Sweet Valley High, same ideas different book. I did however, enjoy Nik punching out Fisher! As someone, who has taken those useless self defense classes with the guy ultimately prepared in his padded suit, I wish there was a women's gym like Natalie's close by.

I have read this book and the first one, The Wedding Date. With both books I was looking for something to get me out of the WWII historical fiction that I usually read and into something light, fluffy and quick...my expectations were not high. I think that is why I enjoyed them. Now, I read both of them, can you read The Proposal without The Wedding Date? I guess you could, but since I didn't I am not sure. I admit I was shocked it was picked because it is just that, a light, fluffy read.

With everyone else, I agree. This was a fun lighthearted read if you wanted to read something that didn’t require too much thinking. So you have to take the book for what it is. Minus a few entertaining chapters, like when Nik and Carlos go out for tacos, or Courtney’s cupcakes, the book gets repetitive after awhile with Carlos and Nik just hooking up every other chapter. It’s not something I would have picked for myself, but overall it was a relaxing, average read.

I enjoyed this book but agree the writing is not very sophisticated, and has a few typos too. It was a nice break from January's pick, which I'm enjoying but not used to reading so much non-fiction so I took a break in the middle and read The Proposal in 1 day!

I would say overall I liked the book! It was a quick, light read. I went in thinking that when I just started the book, which is why I probably ended up liking it. It’s not my favorite but it’s a nice break from other intense books I had been reading beforehand. It’s nice to shake things up once in awhile!

While it seems to be the unpopular opinion, I enjoyed The Proposal! Great light reading to cleanse the literary palette between heavy novels.

This wasn't my favorite book but it was a good light read. I picked this up just after finishing January's pick which was very heavy.

It was a light read and it was cute. I'm all about romcoms but this just didn't do it for me. I liked how strong she was as a person but I think at some point it fell flat. I finished the book because I was more than halfway and by that point I wanted to see where it ended, but it was only meh. I hate that because I also enjoyed her other book, The Wedding Date, and although it had it's issues...I think The Proposal had more issues. For a random quick read I'd recommend it but otherwise skip!

Thanks for your review. I liked the book but the dialogue bothered me and I don't know why. I have only seen a few reviews that mentioned the dialogue. I think the Proposal was a fun, romantic read. I did like Nik and Carlos as the main characters and of course, the cupcakes added to the fun.

Loren wrote: "I finished it and I was very disappointed. It was super cheesy to start with. I could not get over how poorly written the entire book was. the only part I actually felt anything for was her intervi..."

I felt the same way. It was so hard for me to read, and the characters were so contrived.

I agree with many of the other comments here. The Proposal was a fun, light romantic comedy but I found it so trite and had a real issue with the language. It felt like every scene Carlos “put his arm around her” like that is the most romantic gesture in the world... and most of the plot seemed like they were either eating, having sex, or being emotional. I liked it enough to finish it, but just barely... not one I would recommend.
Best scene: sour cream and punching Fisher

I loved the book. I needed a light, airy book after reading heavy nonfiction and the thrillers that were put out recently.

My favorite scene had to be when Natalie was being interviewed by Nik. Just the feeling of emotion when she recalled why and how she started the gym.

So I usually don't read romance books. I had to buy the book, because my local library doesn't have it, but I will be donating my copy to them. I am sure other people are following the book club club and would like to check it out. It's easy to read and I read it in one day. I wasn't sure about the sexual content, but at least the whole book wasn't about it. I liked parts of the book, but towards the middle it kind of got redundant about Carlos and Nik just dating, though it was very clear from the beginning they'd fall in love.

Finished it last night. It was okay. I promised myself to read every Reese book this year. I was a little disappointed. It was cheesy and choppy. Keep in mind, this is usually not my genre (rom lit). In the first few chapters, it was interesting but then took a jumpy and sloppy turn. I didn’t understand why the cupcakes were a big issue when the spicy ones where mentioned once. We never found out about the exes really.
I did enjoy the sour cream story line. But I felt no chemistry between the characters. It felt like the writer took a lot of breaks between writing the book. Stop...start...stop...start.
It was a struggle to get through but I did. Look forward to the next pick.

Was anyone else bothered by the HIPAA violations?? I'm usually not so nit-picky, but for some reason they drove me crazy.

I just finished reading The Proposal, and now I need some cupcakes! Overall I enjoyed it, it was an easy and fun read. The sour cream moments were excellent - using it to sooth the chilli heat and then looking at tubs of it in the supermarket and realising how happy she had been with Carlos. I thought the scene when Nik interviewed Natalie was good.

Meh. It was a super quick and easy read. All fluff. I struggled with the writing, it seemed very juvenile and the plot didn’t really do anything for me personally. I don’t understand why she bothered with Carlos- as a woman I would have found it more likely that she would have stayed in contact with Angie (but maybe that’s just me). I found the whole idea of starting a relationship with random dude weird; it felt forced in a lot of ways.

If you want a fluffy one-sitting read that literally does not (or maybe can not) make you think it was fine. If you wanted any thought, analysis or introspection this isn’t the book you should pick up. I think I was ok with it because it come on the heels of a huge project and some health issues- I wanted to turn my brain off.

Venita wrote: "😬 I have loved every single Hello Sunshine book club pick but I *cannot* get into this one.

It makes me feel like a 30-something shopping at "Forever 21." The style of writing is cringey. I cannot..."

Lol I feel the same!

I liked the book, but I’ve read The Wedding Date and I knew what to expect going in. Courtney was my favorite character. I would love to see her get her own love story some day! :)

I was a little disappointed about the cupcake flavors. After all the hype I was expecting something a little more unusual than funfetti, spicy chocolate and lemon!

I also think it was a good effort trying to write about finding love after an emotionally abusive relationship or after losing a loved one, but Guillory didn’t quite nail those parts for me.

Still I’m looking forward to her next book! I’ll definitely read it. :)

I’m glad that I listened to the book while driving because I wouldn’t have been able to actually finish it. I really struggled to like it, but now I feel so much better knowing that I wasn’t the only one who hated it.