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.





34 comments

  1. You are on an absolute roll and I'm super excited because enemies to lovers is my absolute jam!

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    1. I think you’ll love this one, Amber! Especially since you’re already a fan of the whole enemies to lovers thing. Olive and Ethan are just priceless and the banter is sooo good. Loved it!

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  2. I'm actually not a fan of this novel. I mean, I enjoyed it and it was good but it lacked in so many areas for me. Glad you loved it, though!
    Genesis @ Whispering Chapters

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    1. Sorry that this one was lacking for you. :( Not every book is going to work for everybody, obviously. Hope you have a great weekend, Gen!

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  3. So glad you enjoyed this one! I, sadly, am not a fan of these authors, but I do love a good hate to love trope!

    Great review.

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    1. Some authors I just know aren’t for me, too. It’s like, I just don’t gel with their writing. Good to know which ones don’t work for you so you can steer clear!

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  4. Ah, this sounds so fun! And I love the hate to lovers trope! haha Glad you ended up enjoying this one!

    tonyalee @ vivaciousbibliophile.com

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    1. If you love hate to love, you'd probably love this one!

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  5. I just started reading this one so I'll come back and read your review when I've finished. Glad to see your 4.5 stars! :)

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    1. Eeek! So excited for you... I hope you're loving it! :)

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  6. I can't wait to read this one!! I love enemies to lovers troupe it is one of my favorites!! Great review!!

    ~ Kendra @ Kendra Loves Books

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    1. This one is such a stellar example of enemies to lovers!

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  7. Olive's family was fantastic! I loved them so much. This was a real rom-com with some out there slap stick moments, which had me in stitches. And then both Ethan and Olive grew over the course of the book, with Olive growing A LOT. It was hit for me.

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    1. Olive really showed a lot of growth and change. I loved that. And Ethan had his eyes opened and had to come to terms with his own brother. I just loved how this one played out.

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  8. I love enemies to lovers fake relationship, this one sounds exciting!

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    1. If you love enemies to lovers this one is right up your alley! :)

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  9. I loved this one too. Although I wanted a little more than the grand gesture. More groveling lol but it was still a fantastic read for me.

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  10. Honestly this writing duo has always been a miss for me in the past but you make it sound so tempting Tanya!!!

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    1. I know a few people who just don't jibe with Christina Lauren but I've enjoyed most of what I've read. And this one really worked for me!

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  11. I'm excited for this one! I love hate-to-love and fake relationships can be fun too...

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    1. I hope you'll enjoy this one as much as I did, Nicci!

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  12. I really loved Olive's family too. They were so great!

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    1. I would so be up for future books about Olive’s crazy family... especially Diego. :)

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  13. Yes, i had fun with this and enjoy haters to lovers troupe.

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  14. Yay! I'm so happy we both loved this one! CLo is an amazing duo, and I'm already looking forward to their next book. The Unhoneymooners was hilarious, and I lived for their jokes and snarky banter. I also enjoyed, like you mentioned, how the book took more serious tone once they returned home. Olive had a lot to deal with, and it was interesting to see how Ethan reacted to them. I could understand his point, but it still made me sad.

    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? đź’¬

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    1. Yeah, I could understand Ehan not wanting to believe the worst about his slimy brother, but I still hurt for Olive. Thank goodness he came around and saw the truth!

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  15. I love these type of books. Friends to lovers is my favorite and fremeies. Is that how you spell that? I really enjoy them the most! I will totally have to check this one out.

    Mary

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    1. Well this was definitely hate to love and not friends to lovers... but it was a good one!

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  16. You don't like fake relationships? I adore that concept, but hate to love can go either way. It has to be written well otherwise I hate it. The concept of this one has me suspending my disbelief (they were really the only ones without food poisoning and the bride and groom didn't have travel insurance? Really?) but it does sound like it was good.

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    1. I know a lot of people love the fake relationship trope but I've just never been a fan. Same with hate to love. I much prefer friends to love... that's my fave. :) There was a valid reason why they were the only two who didn't get food poisoning. It really did make sense. And pretty much everything concerning the honeymoon was won in giveaways so it was pretty restrictive. It didn't feel beyond belief at all. :)

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