**I received an ARC from Netgalley. These are my honest opinions, and in no way was I compensated for this review.**
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Release Date: May 14, 2019
My Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Amy, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.
Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.
Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.
⚞🌺⚟
Whether you're coming or not, I'm going to Maui. And I'm going to have the best fucking time of my life.
Apparently I have this weird pattern with Christina Lauren's books, where I'll like one release and then completely adore their next one. The Unhoneymooners continued this tradition, and fortunately, it landed on adore. Also, similarly, I love their books that have hate-to-love/general dislike/enemies-to-lovers (The Unhoneymooners, Wicked Sexy Liar, and Dating You / Hating You, respectively). If you love a good hate-to-love romance, you'll definitely love this book!
I adored Olive! She really is the best, and I loved following her point of view. (Side note: I think I liked this book even more because it only had one POV. Personally, I just like a singular narrative.) She's judgmental and pessimistic as hell, which I highly relate to, honestly. I liked how the authors went into how people sometimes ignore what she says because they just think she's being negative. This happens to me all the time!
The plot is so fun! There's all sorts of antics as Olive and Ethan struggle to pretend they're together, if not just so they won't get kicked out of the resort, but also to save face as they continually run into people they know. Thus, we get the "fake married" trope in the middle of the "hate-to-love," which, if you truly know me, are two of my favorite tropes, especially when combined.
Olive is Mexican-American, and although I am not, as a PoC, I very much related in all her family's antics. Her cousins are some of her closest friends, and her family is all so there for her, supportive through and through.
I will say though, and I'm not sure if I am the one to say it, that there was, at least very borderline, presence of the "fiesty Latina" trope. I'd invite you to look for some #ownvoices reviews on this.
It was nice to see that the deal breaker towards the end of the book was something that wasn't between them; it was more how they reacted to issues having to do with two of the people they're closest to. This goes back to people dismissing Olive's opinions because of how pessimistic she is, but I lowkey hated that Ethan refused to even entertain the notion that she was right. There was a lot of character development in Olive during this, but less so on Ethan's part, in my opinion.
Oh, Olive is just being Olive. Just believing the worst about everyone. My opinions are so inconsequential because in their eyes I'm always going to be the pessimist.One of the points of contention with her family is her feud with her sister's fiance's brother, Ethan, who, incidentally, is the love interest. He apparently disapproved of her food choice at the fair when they first met, and she's disliked him ever since. Despite this, they have so much chemistry together. The banter! The inability to act like they like each other (until they really do)! Wits collide as they try to mask their hate for each other, and it's hilarious to read.
The plot is so fun! There's all sorts of antics as Olive and Ethan struggle to pretend they're together, if not just so they won't get kicked out of the resort, but also to save face as they continually run into people they know. Thus, we get the "fake married" trope in the middle of the "hate-to-love," which, if you truly know me, are two of my favorite tropes, especially when combined.
Olive is Mexican-American, and although I am not, as a PoC, I very much related in all her family's antics. Her cousins are some of her closest friends, and her family is all so there for her, supportive through and through.
I will say though, and I'm not sure if I am the one to say it, that there was, at least very borderline, presence of the "fiesty Latina" trope. I'd invite you to look for some #ownvoices reviews on this.
It was nice to see that the deal breaker towards the end of the book was something that wasn't between them; it was more how they reacted to issues having to do with two of the people they're closest to. This goes back to people dismissing Olive's opinions because of how pessimistic she is, but I lowkey hated that Ethan refused to even entertain the notion that she was right. There was a lot of character development in Olive during this, but less so on Ethan's part, in my opinion.
That's the whole point of luck, isn't it? You have to trust that it's not fleeting.Overall, The Unhoneymooners is one of my favorite of Christina Lauren's books. It's hilarious and fun, and it made me miss Hawaii so much. If you like the fake dating/married or the hate-to-love trope, I definitely recommend this book! Pick it up on May 14 for witty banter, fun antics, and a wild ride from start to finish.
⚞🌺⚟
About the Authors: Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced fourteen New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 30+ languages. (Some of these books have kissing. Some of these books have A LOT of kissing.)
No comments
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.