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Release Review: The Unhoneymooners: Christina Lauren

by - Tuesday, May 14, 2019



Graphic credit from authors Facebook page 
The Unhoneymooners
Christina Lauren
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Release Date May 14, 2019

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.
This was a delightful read that I could not put down and stayed up way too late finishing.

Olive Torres considers herself the unlucky twin. While her twin sister always seems to win everything and is the eternal optimist, Olive seems to be jinxed. She is shy, cautious, wary, and a glass-is-half-empty type of girl. But she has her reasons and the latest changes in her life seem to be living up to her lackluster expectations.

Ethan Thomas is her soon to be brother-in-law and she considers him her nemesis. He has seemed like a rude, judgmental, fussy, jerk to her. They clash or avoid when forced together. But now they have to share bridal party duties at their sibling's wedding.
But when the worst thing happens at the wedding (to everyone else but Olive and Ethan), maybe it is a stroke of good luck. Now there is a Hawaiian Honeymoon reservation open and they are just the two people that can fill it. If they do not kill each other...and can manage to avoid obstacles in their way of pulling it off.

I loved their witty, antagonistic banter, but I also really liked seeing their walls start to come down and their mindsets challenged. Sometimes things are not always like they seem. They had often misinterpreted situations or mispoke causing insecurity or doubt. But soon these two enemies are starting to appreciate the other.

Hate. Fake. Like. Lust. Feelings. They were actually so fun and adorable together and have more in common than expected. They are both kind of nerdy, loners, who like to be homebodies. But Ethan could throw out the charm, while Olive could get easily tongue-tied. 

This is a feisty, fun, sweet, somewhat angsty, enemies-to-lovers rom com. It is told in Olive's point of view except the epilogue. The themes of being positive versus negative, and if luck really exists are weaved through the story. The characters show growth separately and together. At times it comes down to giving the other person the benefit of the doubt versus seeing the worst in them. But when conditioned to see things a certain way, sometimes it is hard to see the view from another side.

These two are great at challenging, teasing, and getting a rise out of each other. Sometimes they are awkward, and sometimes hot and romantic. I adored Ethan. He is not the typical alpha male. He is a germaphobe and very particular, but he is also introspective, loyal, romantic, charming, and funny. And Olive might be a bit of a Negative Nelly, but she also has spunk and sass. I really loved them together and felt they were a good fit.

Their families add more drama and craziness to their lives. There were a few things closer to the end that I either did not think were necessary or appropriate, or could have been flushed out a bit more during some of the drama. But I still felt this book was really entertaining and seemed more like some of the older Christina Lauren books that made me a fan in the first place.

I received this book for free from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY AND #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING 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.





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