Priscilla has a plan. And falling for Oliver was not on her to-do list…
The Job
Event planner Priscilla Cain has been asked to plan her best friend Tina’s dream wedding proposal to her boyfriend, Ryan.
The Catch
It looks like groom-to-be Ryan might just beat her to it.
The Solution
Team up with Ryan’s obnoxious, but gorgeous, best friend Oliver to plan a joint proposal. But keep their unlikely alliance a secret from both their friends.
But as Oliver and Priscilla work together to pull off the proposal of the year, could there be more than one happily ever after on the cards…
| Title: | The Proposal Project |
| Author: | Donna Marchetti |
| Series: | n/a |
| Pages: | 384 |
| Category / Genre(s): | Contemporary |
| Trope(s): | Enemies-to-Lovers Fake Relationship |
| Point of View: | First Person, Present Tense, heroine only |
| Location: | New York, USA |
| HEA: | ✔️ |
| Release Date: | 19 June, 2025 |
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Cute enemies-to-lovers, fake dating romance
Having loved Donna Marchetti’s debut novel, Hate Mail, it was an absolute no brainer that I’d want to give her second book a go, too. And that was before I read the blurb. I do love an enemies to lovers and this sounded amazing. And I adore the cover, too.
Priscilla and Oliver hate each other. Okay, they once thought that they liked each other – but that ship has sailed and now they’re very much in the enemies camp. But that’s before an unfortunate set of incidents involving dual proposals lead to them to mistrusting adversaries, to co-conspirators, to in a very real fake relationship together.
I really liked Priscilla from the first page. She’s a bit down on her luck and seems surrounded by people that don’t value her or love her for being herself. She’s excitable, exuberant and sassy with it – especially when it comes to Oliver. I liked her a lot and it was easy to root for her. I hated the way she was constantly berated for being obsessive. It was some sort of running theme throughout the book. Who cares if you put your heart and soul into everything you do? Priscilla just needed better friends.
The story is told entirely from Priscilla’s point of view so it’s really no surprise that I didn’t much care for Oliver at the start of the book. It took me more time than I’d have liked to get over my dislike and start to see him as leading man material. Had we had his point of view – I know I would have liked him from the get go. But having only Priscilla’s point of view did lend itself to understanding how Priscilla was feeling – unaware of Oliver’s feelings towards her. But when I got over it, I did really like Oliver. He was cocky, funny but also a bit unsure.
“…just realise that you’re actually dating and actually like each other already.”
I love how much time Oliver and Priscilla spent together and from so early in the book. Sometimes books take so long to set up the story and back story that it’s ages before things get going and we get into the story. There’s an obvious chemistry between our pair even if it takes until the last throws of the book for them to get together. And that’s nice and steamy when it finally occurs. I did feel there was a wee bit too many times that they both spoke of their relationship as fake just as they’d kissed or were about to kiss etc. It got a bit annoying – just realise that you’re actually dating and actually like each other already.
I didn’t much care for Pricilla’s best friend, Tina. She showed herself time and time again to be a poor friend. Telling Priss to start her own business and then berating her when it looked like she was getting her first real client. Because it would take her focus away from Tina’s proposal. And it was actually Tina’s fault that Priss and Oliver were at odds with each other in the first place. Priss told Tina a secret about Oliver, Tina told Ryan and Ryan told Oliver. Bad enough but Tina had absolutely zero regret over what happened and what she did.
I really enjoyed this book. It was fun, interesting and kept me reading. Oliver and Priss were a wonderful pairing and I adored their ending and happily ever after. In fact, I was smiling through the last chapter – it was so sweet. Donna Marchetti’s writing is just my style and I’m definitely looking out for what she’s writing next as it’s sure to be another winner. 4 stars – and that’s mainly just because of Tina!
Most people can easily tell you where they grew up, but for Donna, the answer lies somewhere between Florida, Chile, and Arizona. As an American child living in a Spanish-speaking country for a good chunk of her childhood, one of Donna’s first attempts at writing was when she was seven years old. It was a book about a dog written entirely in Spanish. Upon moving to Arizona, Donna played in high school marching band and raised and showed rabbits for 4-H, but she never stopped enjoying writing.
When Donna isn’t burying her face in a good book or tapping away at a keyboard writing her own, she can usually be found spending time with her family and competing in agility with her Dalmatian.
Donna currently lives in New York with her husband, her daughter, and three dogs.
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