A Proposal They Can't Refuse

 This rom-com by Natalie Cana was a complete surprise to me.  I didn't know much about A Proposal They Can't Refuse, other than it involved the trope of fake dating and mixed-heritage dating.  I was pleasantly surprised to find it was set in Chicago and thus fulfilled my geography prompt for IL as well as had some location familiarity for me.  

I found this to be a bit spicier than many rom-com works, with a bit more detail about bedroom activities that aren't always included in lighter rom-com books.  This book definitely developed the characters of Mila and Liam as well as their interactions with their families.   I also appreciated that it wasn't just a comedy of mistakes but rather some rather serious miscommunication that lead to issues among the couple and the families.  While it is an overall feel-good book, there are definitely some poignant moments, I would compare it to the JoJo Moyes, Me Before You series.  There are some intense emotions and character history to absorb.  Overall I really enjoyed the book and look forward to reading the next book in the series, ,due out at the end of Oct.  

A Proposal They Can't Refuse by Natalie Caña
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

a rom com with depth

I really didn’t know much about the book when I started; only that it had a fake dating trope which fulfilled a challenge prompt for me. I found this book to have many happy and funny moments but it definitely had intense ones as well. It is most certainly not all happily ever after. For those looking for a rom com with some added depth and spice this is a great pick

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Goodreads and Reading by the Numbers #ReadingByNumbers2023 Book #  46
2. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #   38
3. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes  IL
4. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2023   Book #40
5. Around the Year in 52 Books #48. A book with an unusually large version of an animal in the story
6. BooklistQueen  #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2023  #34. Genre You Don’t Usually Read
7. Beat the Backlist #BTB2023  #7  fairy/folktale you haven’t heard of before
8. HP Quidditch 23 #48 Wronski Feint: Includes misdirection
9. Nerdy Bookworm  #NerdyBookwormChallengeXO #29. Read a book where the two main characters are "fake dating"
10. Nerd Daily #thenerddaily #nerdreading2023 #8. ROMANCE OR HORROR
11. Pick your Poison  #133 A book you wish you'd written 
12. Read with Allison #1 23 Letters in the Title
13. Read Your Bookshelf   A book that is in a different genre than your March book