Falling in love on TV

I don’t watch reality TV shows – I have enough reality in my life, thank you very much – except for an episode here and there of baking shows when the people close to me are watching, but I would absolutely have rooted for Kris and D’Vaughn had Instant I Do been on my TV.

In Instant I Do, strangers have six weeks to convince their families that they’re getting married, but falling in love isn’t mandatory. It isn’t forbidden either, however.

D’Vaughn hopes being on the show will help her come out to her family, Kris hopes to find true love. While both work with kids – D’Vaughn as a ninth-grade guidance counsellor, Kris as a middle school gym teacher –, they couldn’t be more different. Kris is all swoony butchness, her charisma and sexiness obvious whenever she enters a room. D’Vaughn seems a bit on the shy side, unaware of how gorgeous she is.

D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding could have been a 5-stars read had the editing been more convincing. First of all, I love the energy. There’s something in the way this story is written, especially in the dialogues (and the Jitter Cam moments) that I find extremely satisfying.

I also love the characters. I have a huge crush on D’Vaughn. She’s unassuming but sharp. Watching her come into herself was a thing of beauty. She’s full of surprises, especially once she’s out and lets herself just be. Her relationship with her mother broke my heart and I half wanted more of it and also not. There’s so much unconditional love mixed with a failure to understand, the ambivalence was hard to take. D’Vaughn’s siblings made up for it. Also, her friendship with Cinta is wonderful.

My feelings about Kris are more layered. D’Vaughn chokes on her drink the first time she sees her and that would be me too. Too much sexiness intimidates me. She has her share of insecurity though, and I liked that, I like that she’s not all stud and no personality. I wish the author had delved further into Kris’ social media gig, though. The reader is told Kris’ public persona isn’t who she shows herself to be with D’Vaughn but we don’t get to see who that is, nor, really, why she’s the big deal she seems to be. I decided to believe it anyway but I could have done with more details. My favourite thing about Kris, however, is her family. They’re warm, they’re welcoming, they’re fun. I loved the bilingual aspect, the starting a sentence in one language and finishing it in another, it made me feel very at home.

I‘ll have to look up Chencia C. Higgins’ other f/f books… 4 stars.