The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

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Book provided by Gallery Books in exchange for an honest review.

Confession: This was my first ever Christina Lauren book, and I can promise it won’t be my last. This was truly the perfect beachy/poolside read and I will recommend it to everyone.

The Unhoneymooners is a contemporary adult romantic comedy that starts out with a wedding. Ami and Olive are twins, but all her life Olive has felt like the “unlucky twin.” Ami is getting married, and Olive is helping her sister with all the final arrangements. But during the reception everyone comes down with food poisoning from eating from the seafood buffet. Everyone… except Olive and the best man, Ethan. Ethan is also the groom’s brother, but he and Olive hate each other.

Not wanting the non-refundable honeymoon in Maui to go to waste, Ami encourages Olive and Ethan to pose as the married couple and take their honeymoon. Olive reluctantly agrees, thinking she can go to relax and avoid Ethan completely.

Of course, this being a romantic comedy… they can’t avoid each other because they’re stuck in the same suite. Things get hilarious from there as they start to bump into people they know from Minnesota, and Olive and Ethan have to put on a show to make everyone believe they are actually married.

If you know me then I love enemies-to-lovers romances. Top it off with a fake dating/fake marriage trope and you’ve got my attention. I was audibly laughing out loud during the majority of this book. I loved the love/hate relationship between Olive and Ethan and it was so much fun to watch their tension grow into a more romantic way.

And let’s not forget the Hawaiian setting, which is making me miss the beach something fierce.

I was also loving Olive’s family, and how much they all support each other and are always there for each other. I’m not going to get into spoilers, but Olive has trouble with employment, and her family was there to help her. Even if her family isn’t in the book a lot, I really loved their dynamics.

However, what made me not rate this an entire 5 stars is how a certain issue was handled between Olive and two male characters. I was really aggravated how Olive was treated in such a flippant way. This is 2019 and when a woman says she’s uncomfortable from a man’s sexual advances, you damn well better listen to her and take her seriously.

Overall this is such a swoon worthy book and I could not stop myself from laughing during the witty, sarcastic exchanges between Olive and Ethan. They are an OTP in my heart and I hope we can see them again in future books!

fourstars