From the publisher:
Caroline Abbott loves her job—helping engaged couples pick out the perfect save the date cards and invitations for their dream wedding. Working at Noteworthy means she has to deal with the occasional bridezilla, but Caroline’s always up for the challenge.
Until one particular bridezilla walks into the stationery store who’s fiancé happens to be the boy Caroline shared her first kiss with. Alexander Wilder is all grown up now, helping run his family’s successful luxury hotel chain, and is somehow even better looking than she remembers.
When Caroline just happens to catch Alex’s fiancée half-naked with another man well, of course, she has to tell Alex. Of course, he breaks off his engagement.
And of course, the ex-bridezilla has gone completely bonkers.
At least Caroline has her friends to save her from crazy ex-fiancées. But she also has the sudden interest of…Alex? Caroline knows they share a connection, but is he on the rebound? Or after seeing her all these years later, does he really want something more?
Caroline works at a high-end stationery store that sells save the date and wedding invitations to betrothed couples. She’s great at what she does and she has long since learned how to deal with Bridezillas. Caroline is thrown off her game when her new client’s fiance turns out to be Alexander Wilder, a man with whom she shared her first kiss. Alex has grown up to be successful and gorgeous and Caroline finds it hard to get Alex off her mind. When Caroline catches Alex’s fiancee with another man, he calls off the wedding and he and Caroline begin to reconnect.
This was a really fun and easy read. I liked Caroline as a character quite a bit and Alex is definitely more fleshed out as a romantic lead in Save the Date than some of the books I’ve read where the focus is on the heroine and the romantic interest feels a bit stale and under-developed. But Alex was intelligent, sexy and had plenty of personality without having to come across as an assh*ole alpha male, which I appreciated. I also enjoyed the secondary characters, although I’ve never been fond of the one-dimensional mean girl (Tiffany) who feel they’re just there to create some drama for drama’s sake.
The book is full of romantic tropes, but they don’t feel contrived here at all, except for maybe the “We have to share a bed because the hotel messed up” trope because it is everywhere! My favorite part is that Monica Murphy does not have Alex and Caroline suddenly head over in heels in love after knowing one another for a few weeks. That’s what made this book so wonderfully believable for me in terms of a real relationship. They recognize that they care about each other, but LOVE doesn’t always happen that swiftly, especially when you don’t know the other person all that well.
I think the only major downside to Save the Date is that there’s no huge conflict here. Caroline and Alex are into each other, and they deal with expected insecurities and doubts as they get to know one another again after 10+ years. But nothing really happens that makes you doubt they’ll be fine in the end. And maybe the book will be dated in a few years with all the pop culture references, but it’s still a really fun romance.
NOTE: ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4.5/5
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