A stalled hotel elevator is the setting for the unforgettable meet-cute in Jasmine Guillory’s charming and seductive 2018 debut, The Wedding Date, which offers a progressive depiction of modern sexual and racial politics in a genre known for being overwhelmingly white. Drew Nichols, a white pediatric surgeon from L.A., is in San Francisco for his ex-girlfriend’s wedding, and he’s without a plus one. That is, until he gets stuck in a lift with Alexa Monroe, a Black lawyer turned chief of staff for the mayor of Berkeley, Calif. (Guillory was working as a lawyer when she wrote The Wedding Date and quit to become a full-time author in 2019, months after the release of her second best-selling novel, The Proposal.) Alexa agrees to be Drew’s pretend girlfriend for the occasion and sparks instantly fly. Their spicy fake date quickly turns into a hot and heavy long-distance affair, forcing the pair to decide whether their one-time charade could actually be something more.