The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

I finally got to dive into this super-hyped Christina Lauren read! And it did in fact live up to that hype. 

At the beginning of The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, Olive's twin sister Ami is getting married. But when everyone gets food poisoning at the wedding, Ami and her new husband Dane have to figure out what to do with the honeymoon trip that Ami won for them. Luckily, Olive avoided the food poisoning, as she was allergic and didn't eat the fish that was served, so it appears that she'll get to enjoy this fancy trip. The groom's brother Ethan also didn't partake of the buffet, and in order to fool the hotel and go on the trip, they have to pretend to be Ami and Dane, aka husband and wife. The only problem? Olive and Ethan completely despise each other.

This was so cute! I mean of course it was, it's a Christina Lauren book. But I really enjoyed this one. I loved the enemies to lovers trope used here. I saw a lot of myself in Olive and her insecurities, and loved Ethan and Ami as characters as well. I thought it was great that Olive was a science nerd and wore shirts with physics puns on them. I really enjoyed seeing Olive and Ami's big, boisterous, and supportive family and how they all rallied around the two sisters when things went south. I was grinning or laughing out loud for probably 85% of the book, and the banter between these Olive and Ethan was second to none. I could see this making such a good movie!

I'm so excited to continue to experience Christina Lauren's rom coms, and will probably pick up Roomies next. They also have a new book, Twice in a Blue Moon, coming out this fall!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Be sure to check out my reviews of some of Christina Lauren's other books, Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating and My Favorite Half-Night Stand as well!

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

After absolutely loving Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren, I knew I needed to pick up another one of their books. Enter My Favorite Half-Night Stand. 

In this story, Reid and Millie are best friends. When an opportunity for a fancy event requiring plus-ones arises, they immediately decide to go with each other. But then they end up sleeping together, and suddenly the chance to go to the event as just friends is out the window. When one of their other friends suggests a dating app for all of them to find dates, Millie and Reid are reluctant but go along with it. And when Reid matches with Catherine, Millie's secret profile, things get really complicated really fast.

This story was definitely cute! I loved the relationship dynamics, not just of Millie and Reid, but with all their other friends: Ed, Alex, and Chris. I also loved how they were all working in academia as professors and researchers. This book was interspersed with pseudo-multimedia in the form of dating app messages, online chat messages, and text messages which was a nice touch. I also really appreciated that this story addressed family dynamics, especially with a sick and elderly parent. This is a hard topic to address, and the authors did a good job of showing how difficult this can be.

I'm not generally a fan of "romance" and smut makes me squirm, but this book was very tame and the sexy bits were done well (and not too frequently!). 

I will say I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as Josh and Hazel because it was super predictable. It was very easy to tell what was going to happen so even though it was adorable, there were times where I just wanted to skip to the end since I knew how it would all play out. That being said, I did still really like this read and can't wait to pick up another Christina Lauren book. The Unhoneymooners is next on my list!

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

So this is the first Christina Lauren book I've ever read. I know, I know...what have I been waiting for? I don't know, but now that I've read this book I am desperate to get my hands on more by this author duo. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating is an adorable contemporary romance that follows best friends Josh and Hazel and their riotous relationship as they navigate trying to hide that they have feelings for each other.

Josh and Hazel were friends in college, but had since drifted apart. But when Hazel finds out that Josh is actually her new best friend Emily's brother, the two rekindle their friendship and ultimately end up becoming roommates. The pair tries to set each other up on blind dates with friends of theirs, with each new date ending in disaster. Maybe strangers aren't who they should be dating after all.

I absolutely loved this story! It had me smiling and laughing the whole way through. It was told in alternating chapters between Josh and Hazel, giving the reader insight into each of their feelings and what they were thinking as the story progressed. I loved Hazel's zany personality and menagerie of pets, and I loved Josh's reserved yet playful demeanor. I actually think I was hesitating on reading this because it was labeled as a romance and I am not a fan of smut. Yes, there were a few sexy scenes in this book but it was much less than I thought it would be and did not at all deter from my overall enjoyment of the book. 

There were the perfect amount of side characters, and the plot was very easy to follow. I thought the epilogue was adorable, even though I've seen some people saying they weren't a fan of it. I could absolutely see this fantastic romantic comedy becoming a movie! And can we talk about how pretty this cover is?

Now that I know what Christina Lauren's books are like, I've already ordered My Favorite Half-Night Stand to try out next!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars