This was my fourth Jasmine Guillory book and it did not disappoint. ‘Party of Two’ is a fun, gentle, charming, opposites-attract romance between Olivia, a lawyer who has just opened her own firm and Max, a USA Senator. Olivia is a 30-something type A cautious planner and Max is a rich, handsome, super romantic, spontaneous 39-year-old charmer.

The characters were likeable and realistic and although the plot was quite light and not very much happened at times when we reached the crisis point between the couple it was very believable because Guillory had done such a great job of foreshadowing their potential issues.

If you love food in books then Guillory is the writer for you, she is almost as passionate in her food writing as she is in her bedroom scenes. There are also some really nice supporting characters around the main protagonists. I’d love to read Wes or Jamila’s books.

While some people might not be used to the occasional discussion around race and class in the book I think Guillory handled this perfectly: it was honest and realistic without ever being morose or depressing - this is a romance after all.

This is book five in a series but you absolutely DO NOT need to read the previous books to enjoy this one. It works perfectly as a standalone. Overall I would say this was a solid four-star book and the perfect summer beach read for 2020!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Headline Eternal for the ARC #partyoftwo #netgalley

My first Jasmine Guillory book and I was not disappointed 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

✨ I was REALLY in need of a fun read, which is exactly what Party for Two was. It was FULL of fun, steamy romance 🔥 and fantastic characters! (Main character Olivia is a kickass lawyer who’s just started her own firm 🙌🏻)

🖤 Huge thank you to @headline eternal for my advance copy of this. If you love rom-com this is a must for your TBR ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’ve just purchased Guillory’s backlist and cant wait to start The Wedding Date 💍

I’ve read a few books in this series and this one was fairly middle of the road. I didn’t think there was a ton of chemistry between Olivia and Max but I did enjoy their storyline. I started to lose interest near the end - the drama felt a bit forced and both leads for on my nerves.

Party of Two is a romantic whirlwind of novel that will sweep you off your feet and get you so invested in this opposite attracts story. It's the perfect read to wile away a few hours.

This is a great read if you love romance and food! It brings these two subjects together so well. The characters of Olivia and Max are interesting and make for a great story together. I have never read any other books by Jasmine Guillory, but I think I'm going to have to delve deep into her archive and read some more!

I'm a big fan of Jasmine Guillory, but this wasn't up to her normal standard. The conversations were boring and repetitive, the intimacy was poorly written and the food descriptions were more passionate that the sex. I'll read her next book, but this was too simple and looping for me to engage with.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a lovely easy read, although I thought part way through it may be part of a series and it turns out it was. As a result I feel like there was a lot about Olivia that wasn't explained and that meant I lacked an understanding of her character.

That said Olivia and Max were really likable. The book is light hearted (save for a few mixed-race relationship/political points that I felt were dealt with well), enjoyable and fun.

My only complaint is that it felt like nothing really happened. Normally books of this genre are the will they/won't they, and while we know they will, I always enjoy the getting to that bit. This happens fairly fast in this book and I suppose what we see is the more realistic will it last question and the two characters trying to make their relationship work. I'm not sure if that was a good or a bad thing for me, sometimes I like predictable!

Overall though, a lovely book.

Thank you to netgalley for this advance review copy. (For reference I read this during Covid lockdown)

Jasmine Guillory has done it again. With a great realistic rom-com.

Party of Two, The brilliant opposites-attract rom-com from the author of The Proposal!, Jasmine Guillory

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Romance,

I didn't realise this was book 5 in a connected series til I'd finished it, so you can read and enjoy without having read earlier ones. Like most character connected books though I suspect it will read even better if you've knowledge of some of the side characters from earlier reads.

I really enjoyed this, it wasn't a five star for me, but a solid four. I loved Max and Olivia, I understood why she was a planner, not a spontaneous jump right in with both feet character. She puts it down to her life experiences as a black lady, but some of us are just that way without any real reasons. I did feel her reactions were very deeply entrenched, and I understood the fear that she felt about being in the spotlight with Max. That's his life though, not just his job but his passion, so how are they to get round things?
Max was just adorable, loved his impulsiveness, even though, like Olivia, that would scare me. I can't understand how people can just make decisions on the fly like that. He was so in love with Olivia, that came over really well, but were the differences between them insurmountable or could there be a way through.

When things come to a crux I felt for both of them, I understood Olivia's horror but at the same time could see exactly why Max did what he did. He just wanted to help someone, and it seemed to him putting two folk together could do that. And maybe if there weren't a few hundred eyes on them at the time it would have been fine.....

I can see the author is in a position to understand racial issues more than me, though being naturally dark skinned I was bullied as a kid because folk assumed I was coloured, and then when I married a Zelos.....that assumption became more prevalent. However for me I felt I didn't need the constant reminder Olivia was black, I'm interested in her as a person, and of course being black affects that but its not all she is. She's an intelligent, talented businesswoman, a good sister, a great friend. She's more than *just* black, and I felt that the reminders all the way through that being black had affected her was a bit OTT for me. That's just a personal feeling though. I guess its a book where the race issue counted but when I'm reading I don't really think of people as being black or white, blonde or dark, fat or thin, they're just people to me.

When things went wrong – perfect, I loved that drama, and they seem to be in a position where I couldn't see how they could meet. Sometimes Love just isn't enough, but thankfully Jasmine found a way through, saw what could change where I couldn't see how they could get there.

The food – oh wow, loved all that, though being UK not US I have never had yellow cake with chocolate frosting? Unless yellow cake is just some kind of Victoria sponge? Sometimes English as a language used by different countries can be very confusing. And pie. Strawberry rhubarb sounds horrible to me, give me apple, apricot, blackberry, raspberry but not strawberry/rhubarb. (Rhubarb, my late husband loved it. I once made a crumble for him and a friend of mine who was also a rhubarb addict, but forgot the sugar..... My poor friend said it was really eye watering)

Stars: Four a fun read, good story with real issues between the couple that I wondered how the author could resolve. Good job I'm a reader not a writer as I couldn't see a way through.

Arc via netgalley and publishers

Meh. The writing style is stilted and difficult to enjoy. Would not recommend even it the premise is intriguing.

This was a delightful romantic comedy that I literally couldn’t put down. The characters made me laugh and cry, and the storyline was well developed. Highly recommended!

This was enjoyable but not mind-blowing.

Her slowly falling for him was well done and his jumping in headfirst was a good opposite tempo for that.

I didn't particularly like the way it wrapped up - surely all of the things they promise are much easier said than done?

This could have been slightly better if they dug into some of the issues slightly more but I get that that isn't what most people want from a romance.

Also, please may I go to Hawaii now?

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.