Review: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

THE UNHONEYMOONERS 
Christina Lauren
Publication date: May 14, 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Gallery and NetGalley



GOODREADS  *  AMAZON

S Y N O P S I S

Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion . . . she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.

Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly there’s a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo.

Agreeing to a temporary truce, the pair head for Maui. After all, ten days of bliss is worth having to assume the role of loving newlyweds, right? But the weird thing is . . . Olive doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, the more she pretends to be the luckiest woman alive, the more it feels like she might be.

M Y   T H O U G H T S

Enemies-to-lovers and fake relationships are not usually my jam. But leave it to Christina Lauren to not only make it work, but make me love it.

CHARACTERS.

It was easy to fall for both Olive and Ethan. I could relate to Olive having a sister who was “the golden one” and her being “the other one”, and loving and supporting her sister without being resentful. Olive was quite the pessimist but also managed to not be bitter. Ethan came across as so cold and dismissive at first and I had the biggest smile on my face as he slowly thawed and I was able to see the kind of guy he really was. The subtle changes as they started to realize there was something more happening between them were so well done that it was impossible not to pull hard for these two.

PLOT.

Like I mentioned, hate-to-love just isn’t my favorite trope. And I almost always steer clear of fake relationships. But, y’know, it was Christina Lauren and I can’t say no. The reasoning behind the “hate” part seemed reasonable and I totally understood Olive’s feelings toward Ethan. Their time in Hawaii while on the “honeymoon” was so hilarious. I adore good banter and this delivered big time. Olive and Ethan’s heckling and teasing was so on point and I was living for it. The pacing was perfection because by the time they returned home and the plot took a more serious tone, I was completely invested.

FAMILY.

Olive’s family was the best! I loved this big, messy, dynamic group who were so in each other’s lives and so crazy supportive. (Can I pretty-please-with-sugar-on-top have a book about cousin Diego?)

GRAND GESTURE.

I admit it, I’m a sucker for a grand gesture. Yes, I think real life should be just like the movies with impromptu musical numbers and grand gestures that make you swoon. And Christina Lauren totally brought it with the grand gesture. Sweet, adorable, swoony. Boom. *mic drop* I wanted to stand up and cheer.

OVERALL.

Simply put, The Unhoneymooners has it all. Sweet, funny, sexy, endearing, heartwarming, emotional… this was feel-good romance at its finest.

4.5/5 STARS

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. This does not impact my opinion of the book or the content of this review. I received no compensation and my review is voluntary.