This book. From the cover until the very end, it was a delight. If you are looking for a fluffy romance and a fake engagement trope that features two Black queer women, pick up D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding.
D’Vaughn has decided to audition for a reality show called Instant I Do as a way to force her to come out to her family. Kris has decided to audition because she wants to find love. Instant I Do is a reality show in which strangers are paired and the challenge is they have to convince their families that they are in love and getting married in 6 weeks. The couple who makes it to the alter is offered a choice of going through with the wedding or taking $100,000 prize money each. There were a lot of opportunities for Higgins to lean into the drama, but instead, she chooses to show adults talking through their feelings and conflicts. In 2021, this was exactly what I needed.
Kris is an out and proud Afro-Latina butch lesbian, with lots of tattoos, who works as a PE teacher at a high school in Houston and has a side gig as a social media influencer. D’Vaughn is proudly fat, but privately a lesbian. Both are delightful. With the security of a family that accepts her as she is, Kris is fully prepared to support D’Vaughn in coming out. While keeping the book fairly fluffy and light, Higgins acknowledges the nuanced ways homophobia and bigotry can show up in people we love.
Chencia C. Higgins gives supportive partner lessons in D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding. While Kris has D’Vaughn’s back, D’Vaughn is open and generous with Kris’s family. The two of them are refreshingly adult as they navigate the complexities of falling in love while being fake engaged on a reality competition.
I really loved this book, and think it will make a great start to a romance lover’s reading year. I hope to see it on all the “Best of” lists, next year.
I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley and Carina Press. My opinions are my own.
As a further disclosure, I did contribute an item for a fundraising auction for Chencia C Higgins. I do not know her personally and my participation in the auction did not influence my review.