Book Review: "The Unhoneymooners" by Christina Lauren
“The Unhoneymooners” by Christina Lauren
Publisher Synopsis: 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 is 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.
With Christina Lauren’s “uniquely hilarious and touching voice” (Entertainment Weekly), The Unhoneymooners is a romance for anyone who has ever felt unlucky in love.—Simon and Schuster
Rating (out of 5): 4.25 stars
Review: If you’ve been following for a while, you might recall that I’m a Romance skeptic. But I think I’m being converted! Last year I read Christina Lauren’s Autoboyography, which was a really sweet YA romance set in Utah between a religious Mormon boy and a boy from a more progressive family. I found it delightful, and so was excited when my friend Pam lent me a copy of The Unhoneymooners! A fun fact if you didn’t know: Christina Lauren is actually a writing duo!
One of the things I loved about Autoboyography was that it was a slightly unconventional story, and you won’t find that at all in this book—it is formulaic enough to bring it down a point. However! There is great comfort in a formula, and while it won’t make the Man Booker short list, you won’t feel like you lost any IQ points from reading a little bit of fluff—Christina Lauren’s writing is still snappy and smart. Also, not to be crass, this is not a smutty book in the least, so you won’t be blushing in public. You might also remember me complaining about every character in every book I’ve been reading lately being straight and white, and I will say Christina Lauren does a very good job of including diverse races and sexuality in her books!
The strongest part of the book is the actual Unhoneymoon. Though there are some cameos by a few unlikely guests, it wasn’t unbelievable enough to make you roll your eyes. As Olive and Ethan fake their way through the honeymoon, from couples massages to romantic dinners, and learn more and more about each other, you begin to learn what a great pair they could be.
It’s not really a spoiler to say that of course Olive and Ethan will rally through their differences and end up together in the end, after a great deal of hijinks and some more emotional complications later in the book. I predict that you’ll have a great time following them on their rollicking ten-day trip to Maui.
TL;DR: This is a quintessential beach read and I highly recommend it as an enjoyable diversion. It’s quick enough that you can read it in an afternoon, and it should leave you feeling upbeat and nice and fuzzy inside. Like a little reverse peach.
If you liked this, you might enjoy:
Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (and you can see my review here)
