The UnhoneymoonersBy:
Christina Lauren
Release Date:
May 14, 2019
Publisher:
Gallery Books
Source: eARC from publisher
Add to:
Goodreads
Book Synopsis:
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.
My Thoughts:
So, as you can imagine, the moment I saw The Unhoneymooners available for request, I was over the moon and beyond invested! I didn't even care what the story was about; if it was written by them; I was sure to like it! Well, as I began the story, the first 50% felt really slow.
This was a new experience for me. Initially I struggled with engaging with the story. I think a big reason for that was because I just wasn't liking the male lead. This was an enemies to lovers story told strictly through Olive's view point. After her sister and his brother get food poisoning on the day of the wedding, along with all of the wedding guests, Olive and Ethan end up taking their place on the honeymoon. These two can't stand each other, and Olive did an excellent job of convincing me of the fact that Ethan was rude, and quirky. However, eventually he grew on me when I ended up learning that misconceptions and wrong assumptions contributed to her strong dislike for him.
The second half of the story was excellent, and I couldn't put the book down. I loved the books message, that we make our own luck in life, and it's important to take charge of our own destiny, and go after what we want. I loved the slow building romance. Christina Lauren "teases" us and ramps up the heat in bits and pieces. We get Olive in Ethan in their fair share of sexy and accidental compromising situations.
The authors were realistic in how they didn't give readers a case of instant love, but rather had attraction, like, and eventual love grow between Olive and Ethan little by little. The witty banter between them was engaging, entertaining and fun; as was all of the awkward situations that they often found themselves in. The authors flaunt Ethan and Olive's sexuality, and show us their need for one another. It takes a while for the characters to give in to their desires, so that by the time they do, you are cheering them on.
I loved the female leads family. The mom, aunts, and cousins were one of my favorite aspects of the story. They were warm, loving, in each other's business all of the time, protective, and always there for one another. Christina Lauren nailed the hispanic culture. Olive's family was hilarious! They had me smiling and laughing a ton. They reminded me of the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
Last, but not least, I loved the female lead's growth. She went from having a pessimistic attitude and low self-esteem to becoming a strong, fierce, independent, and confident woman who took charge of her own life.
About the Authors:
Yes, there are two of us! Lauren (on the left) and Christina (on the right).
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The #1 international bestselling coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced fourteen New York Times bestselling novels. They are published in over 30 languages, have received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, won both the Seal of Excellence and Book of the Year from RT Magazine, named Amazon and Audible Romance of the Year, a Lambda Literary Award finalist and been nominated for several Goodreads Choice Awards. They have been featured in publications such as Forbes, The Washington Post, Time, Entertainment Weekly, People, O Magazine and more. Their third YA novel, Autoboyography was released in 2017 to critical acclaim, followed by Roomies, Love and Other Words, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, and the Publisher’s Weekly starred My Favorite Half-Night Stand, out in December. Lauren Billings (but everyone calls her Lo) has a Ph.D. in neuroscience and before she made writing her full-time job, would spend her days doing nerdy research-type things wearing a lab coat and goggles. She is silly Mommy to two littles, wife to one mountain biking homebrewing scientist, and an unabashed lover of YA and romance.
Christina Hobbs (but you’ll always hear Lo call her PQ) used to spend her days in a junior high counseling office surrounded by teenagers. These days you can find her at her desk, writing or watching BTS videos. She grew up in Utah and is absolutely not old enough to be the mom of a 17 year old (right??), thinks she’s the luckiest person in the world to write books with her best friend, and is an unapologetic lover of boy bands and glitter.
You can follow their shenanigans at:
@lolashoes (Lauren) & @seeCwrite (Christina) on Twitter. On Tumblr! where we post kissing gifs and writerly stuff and Wattpad for short stories and sneak peeks!
For official information about their books, events, interviews, movie/TV news and more, follow @christinalauren.
I write with a writing partner and its sooooo neat when you read a book with dual authors and its so well written. It seems these ladies know each other well and have similar tastes. I ADORE female characters well written and especially with a distinct growth that I can see. Great review I loved your perspective on the authors!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Dani! It's so neat that you have a writing partner, and that you bring a unique perspective on the books you read, by being a writer yourself!
DeleteThis sounds all kinds of awesome! I really need to read their books...
ReplyDeleteIt was! I love Christina Lauren's books! Thanks for stopping by Nicci!
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