Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - While We Were Dating

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While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory

14 reviews

onegalonelife27's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Earlier this year, I really enjoyed one of Jasmine Guillory’s works so I decided to listen another one of hers. I found a sweet, spicy tale of two people finding strength and love in one another.

The main characters meet in an ad company’s pitch with instant chemistry and respect for one another. Ana Gardiner, after a difficult year, is ready to get back to her old groove-and the Oscars and this ad campaign is the first step back there. Ben Stephen’s wants this campaign to go well so he can leading more projects rather than smiling at meetings. Just when Ben’s star is rising with this new ad campaign, a sudden email sends him reeling.

At first they try to keep things professional, if not a bit flirty. Yet one family emergency, spontaneous road trip and a pair of thrown panties later, they find themselves in a complicated partnership: full of humor, steaminess, tenderness, understandings and misunderstandings until the last chapter.

One topic I’m glad the book talked about is mental health. Ana struggles with anxiety and it’s a large part of the plot for her. Dealing with the struggles and the shame you feel when your mind panics, coming up with so many terrible scenarios or freezing up in stressful moments, it’s something I related to since I have anxiety myself. Yet Ana learns to be kinder with herself and her journey is wonderful.

I am glad that Ben is self aware of his flaws, admitting that he runs away in one way or another. Also I can heavily relate to Ben not wanting to tell therapists the bad things in life, despite going to therapy for bad things in the first place. Ben’s own struggle with his trauma is also wonderful to see progress. It’s not always straightforward, but then again, so is dealing with mental health and that’s wonderful too.

Overall, if you’re looking for a romance that isn’t afraid to talk about deep subjects yet still gives hope, laugh, and of course love, then this is an excellent one to try!

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what_karla_reads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

The fourth book I’ve read (and finished) from Guillory! I’ve loved this series, it’s so fun and lighthearted. For this book, I loved the flirty banter and switching POVs! I loved Ben, he’s my new favorite leading man 🥰 I didn’t always like Anna, there were certain actions she did but then would criticize Ben for wanting to do the same so she could be a hypocrite sometimes.

Despite not always liking Anna, I think the characters were well written and developed. I loved the discussions on mental health and therapy! It was such great rep and I enjoyed how open Anna and Ben were about their struggles.

As with all Guillory books, there was a third act breakup with some miscommunication, but it was one sided lack of communicating their feelings, so it didn’t bother me as much as it usually does. There was also one plot point that could’ve been more developed. Anna talks about a movie role she really wants and how she was made for it but we never hear what the movie is about or what the role is, so it felt like there was a gap where we could’ve gotten to know her better.

I loved seeing the cameos from past characters again! It was so much fun, but once again I loved Maddie and Theo in everyone else’s book, just not their own book that I DNFd 😂

Overall a light, easy read and definitely a favorite for the month! I love Guillory’s books and now I’m done with the series (unless she decides to write more).

And with that here’s my ranking for the series (of the ones I read, I won’t count the 2 I DNFd):

The Proposal (Carlos forever has my heart no matter what)
Royal Holiday

While We Were Dating

The Wedding Date

Tropes: work romance, celebrity, fake dating

Rep: Black MCs, plus sized FMC, anxiety rep

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sarahrose_a's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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readingwithtrey's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Y’all 😭 I really wanted to love this book, but it just didn’t work for me. I’ve had this on my shelf since it was released (🙈), and I was so excited to finally read it. Swipe for a synopsis.

What I loved: How the author addressed work/life balance and mental health. This was done really well!

What I didn’t love: It started off promising, but then the romance happened so fast. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t love a slow burn, but this was so quick it was hard to buy it. I also got secondhand embarrassment from the flirtatious phrases they used🙈. It was a bit cringy at times. tbh, the secondhand embarrassment probably had the biggest impact on my rating😅.

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yassiesj's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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escapismforlife's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

So I read this because I bought it back a couple months ago. And then I proceeded to add the rest of the series to my to be read list. While We Were Dating had fake dating which I love because I think of it as a scenario I could see myself getting into.

Plus Ben and Anna were not trying to actually be in a committed relationship which is always the best set up. The fact it was them just casually trying to deal with the complication a work schedule for the ad campaign and life made it even more worth it when they got together. </spoiler >

I love how they both don't try to pretend because they are adults. And for that reason alone this made it past the four stars four me.

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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was overall a very cute story. I’ve never read a celebrity focused book other than The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo so it was nice to expand my reading of celebrity based books. Reading this was like watching a rom-com. The writing was smooth, the characters were admirable, and the ending was sweet. This was an easy and stress-free book. Would recommend if you enjoy books centered around celebrities love stories!

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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