Review: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Posted July 20, 2020 by Kate

Review: The Unhoneymooners by Christina LaurenCheck out on Goodreads | Buy on Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary Romance
Also by this author: The Honey-Don't List
Publisher: Gallery Books
Source: My shelves

An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.
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 are 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.

First, a huge thank-you to the ladies at Under the Covers Book Blog for gifting me a copy of this book!! They hosted a giveaway for a stack of romances that I won, and I was SOOO happy to finally get a copy of this Christina Lauren book!

Not to mention that it had such a fun and attractive premise. It was a complete no-brainer to pick it for my 48-hour summer readathon that I instituted for myself leading up to the Reading Rush! It follows Olive, the unlucky twin and Maid of Honor, and Ethan, the best man. With Olive allergic to seafood and Ethan allergic to buffets, they are the only two that emerge unscathed from the food poisoning that wipes out the entire wedding party. Eeeekkk!

Thus, they are the only two able to claim the honeymoon that the bride had won in the giveaway, but only if they pose as a couple, something that gets infinitely more complicated as their simple con at a Maui resort turns out to include couples massages, an ex-girlfriend, a new boss … and the realization that they may no longer hate each other??


I find myself smiling in the direction of the living room, and realize that staying firmly on Team I Hate Ethan Thomas is going to be more work than it may be worth.


I LOVED this book, it was such a fun surprise! Christina Lauren books aren’t a consistent “yes,” for me. I decidedly did not like Beautiful Bastard, and while I’ve enjoyed other books by the duo, they’ve not been winners. But this one makes up for all the mistakes they’ve made in the past. It was perfectly paced, compared to their usual style, where the Big Drama and ending slams into existence within the last two chapters of the book. The Unhoneymooners flowed naturally, and it’s definitely my favorite of theirs yet!

Olive and Ethan were super fun. They very much disliked each other in the beginning, and watching them trying to pretend they were married was hilarious. Olive was so endearing, and Ethan was sweet, and completely misunderstood. It was a great “Beach Read” because it was bubbly, lighthearted, flirty, and left me with plenty of smiles and laughs. Less a fluffy read and more a feel-good romance, it was exactly what I was looking for.

Christina & Lauren have clearly hit their stride with this one. I couldn’t put it down! I loved that there wasn’t just One Thing, but the couple faced a handful of obstacles together. This made it more nuanced and was SO successful. But honestly, the banter was so On Point ???? it probably could have carried the book. Just sayin’ :) But seriously – the banter. It continued through the whole book, even when they hit that subtle change of not hating each other anymore, to realizing that they have a bit of a connection. The enemies-to-lovers rep was fantastic, but I also kind of enjoyed that this wasn’t a slow burn, but more of a warm heat that was sweet rather than spicy – which makes it the perfect beach read!

Other books you may enjoy…

Cover to Cover Book Blog Kat Snark covertocoverlit Book Blogger Book blog reader reading Smut Karina Halle romance enemies-to-lovers hate-to-love kindle unlimited      

What’s your favorite Christina Lauren book? Do you enjoy forced proximity romances? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!


2 responses to “Review: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

  1. I’m glad to see you enjoyed this! It fell flat for me, but I think that’s mostly because I read it immediately after finishing The Hating Game, The Kiss Quotient, and The Bride Test and I might have had too high expectations? It was still a lot of fun though.

    • Hehe I can definitely see that being a reason!! It wasn’t super groundbreaking for its genre, but it was very impressive for my expectations for Christina Lauren :)

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