Review: While We Were Dating

I've been reading Jasmine Guillory for years now and will likely continue to read her for years to come. She has a way of creating really great stories that I always enjoy reading. While We Were Dating was no exception and I had this one finished in one day!

Here's the book's description:

Ben Stephens has never bothered with serious relationships. He has plenty of casual dates to keep him busy, family drama he's trying to ignore and his advertising job to focus on. When Ben lands a huge ad campaign featuring movie star Anna Gardiner, however, it's hard to keep it purely professional. Anna is not just gorgeous and sexy, she's also down to earth and considerate, and he can't help flirting a little...
Anna Gardiner is on a mission: to make herself a household name, and this ad campaign will be a great distraction while she waits to hear if she's booked her next movie. However, she didn't expect Ben Stephens to be her biggest distraction. She knows mixing business with pleasure never works out, but why not indulge in a harmless flirtation?
But their lighthearted banter takes a turn for the serious when Ben helps Anna in a family emergency, and they reveal truths about themselves to each other, truths they've barely shared with those closest to them.
When the opportunity comes to turn their real-life fling into something more for the Hollywood spotlight, will Ben be content to play the background role in Anna's life and leave when the cameras stop rolling? Or could he be the leading man she needs to craft their own Hollywood ending?

I finished this one before bed so I was thinking about what I might write for my review as I was drifting off to sleep. I realized that I had a really enjoyable time reading this book but...that doesn't necessarily mean it was the best it could have been. Anna and Ben were good characters. Not only that, they were good people. So that was fantastic. But...I don't know if I got to know them as much as I expected to. So much of their characteristics were based on their jobs, their race, and their mental health. Don't get me wrong - these are all Very Important Things and I am THRILLED to see all of these things in rom coms. I just felt like I didn't really know them by the end of the book. It's not a major thing but it was something that kind of niggled at me when I thought back on the book.

That said, I really did have a lot of fun reading this book. Guillory is great at finding the perfect balance of humour and depth and a sweet romance with sexy scenes. Her characters are always genuinely good people which is something I look for in my contemporary reads. And the attraction between Ben and Anna was so fun and electric - it was easy to see they were meant to stay together. 

I appreciated that each character was open about their mental health and the highs and lows that they've had. We're starting to see these kinds of discussions more and more in books and I love it. I think it's really important to pay as much attention to our mental health as our physical health - especially after the last year and a half. 

Overall, I liked While We Were Dating but I didn't love it. I expect more from Jasmine Guillory, which may or may not be fair. I know she's capable of writing rom coms I absolutely adore so when she doesn't quite hit that mark, it's kind of disappointing. This one is definitely still worth a read but I'd recommend it as a borrow, not buy. It's lots of fun but it's not necessary to keep it on your bookshelf.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*