THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews * Publishers Weekly * Library Journal Named a “Must-Read” by TODAY, Us Weekly, Bustle, BuzzFeed, Goodreads, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, Southern Living, Book Riot, Woman’s Day, The Toronto Star, and more! For two sworn enemies, anything can happen during the Hawaiian trip of a lifetime–maybe even love–in … Toronto Star, and more!
For two sworn enemies, anything can happen during the Hawaiian trip of a lifetime–maybe even love–in this romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling authors of Roomies.
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.
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I think it is fitting that I started reading this book on St. Patrick’s Day with the ‘luck of the Irish’ fresh in my veins.
Olive Torres believes in luck but feels like all of hers is bad and her twins luck is all good. Turns out nothing could be further from the truth. When only two people don’t get food poisoning, they are the lucky ones. When those two people don’t get along but get an all expenses paid trip to Maui, that’s still lucky. Finding someone that truly loves you is the best luck of all.
Olive and Ethan were funny and honest and sexy. When the honesty is questioned it was sad but that true love thing won out on the end.
This book was fantastic.
I laughed, I swooned and then laughed some more.
It’s the best thing I’ve read since their release of Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating.
I absolutely loved Olive and Ethan.
After escaping a bout of wedding food poisoning, they are given the chance to take the place of their siblings – the bride and groom on their honeymoon.
Olive has always believed she is the unluckiest girl in the world and she and Ethan have not gotten along in the past.
I knew this would be a fun story, but it went above and beyond my expectations.
It’s an enemies to lovers rom-com that you MUST READ.
I’ve gotten stingier with my 5-star ratings and this one deserves it and more.
It’s been awhile since I’ve read a Christina Lauren book, and this was a good one to dive back in with them. I’ve missed the joy that comes with a good romcom! Oh the crazy banter, the awesome one- liners, the so many things highlighted, the out loud laughter. Not to mention the tugging on my heart, because as funny and fun this was, Olive and Ethan made me fall for them. Olive and her twin feel like two sides of a coin, lucky and unlucky. Both stepping into the roles their large crazy families put them in early on. Ethan is Olive’s sister’s new brother in law, and due to a horrific and hillarious wedding disaster, these two get a free vaca. Oh man the back and forth with Ethan and Olive is amazing. The realness and openness, along with a heavy dose of sarcasm and always calling one another the wrong names, was just perfect. This story was perfect.
First off I must admit that books that focus on romance and comedy are not my usual fare. I needed a break from some heavy reading and this book has been getting rave reviews. I decided to give it a try.
After just a few chapters I knew that I was going to have a problem identifying or even liking any of the characters, but I kept reading. As you know by the blurb Olive’s twin sister, Amy, is getting married and everyone but Olive and her soon to be brother in law Ethan (the groom’s brother) get violently ill after eating the buffet.
Amy is incredible at winning giveaways and one of the best she has ever won is their honeymoon in Hawaii. After everyone gets sick Amy insists that Olive take her place on the trip while Ethan is equally getting pressured to take Dane’s place. They decide that a trip to what sounds like paradise, especially during the Minnesota winter, is enough to force them to take the trip. They will, of course, have to pretend to be married, as this was a honeymoon giveaway with strict rules.
Starting as soon as they arrive in their suite Olive is very confrontational with Ethan, example “Obviously you’re the women.You should take the bedroom”, to which Olive answers, “I don’t get the bedroom because I’m a woman. I get the bedroom because my sister won it.”
What follows is very, very predictable and at times downright silly. I have to admit that I did my share of laughing and turning pages because it was funny. After 10 days together, Ethan and OIive find that they truly care about each other (no surprise here either) once Olive lets her defensive wall down. She has always seen the negative part of everything and everyone, she takes offense very easily and let’s it linger and fester. Truthfully, this sounded more like a teenager than a 30 something woman. Their sexual banter is also more silly than romantic.
I knew this was going to be a light read but I still hoped that it would be at least somewhat believable with characters that I could identify with. In the end the only character that I really liked was Ethan, he had never really done anything wrong to earn Olive’s disdain for him. Being a relatively quiet guy, he just put up with it over the last 3 years that his brother had been dating Amy.
The strongest part of the book I would say is that Olive finally learned something about herself and now they have learned a secret about Dane which could destroy Amy’s new marriage.
A 3* book for me means it was still enjoyable and a fast read. I can recommend it for a fun interlude when you need something light.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.
#TheUnhoneymooners is a lighthearted rom-com with relatable characters that cozy right up to the reader. The narrative itself is predictable but the strong cast of characters distracts the reader from the familiarity. It’s full of emotion, steamy scenes, and of course some down right hysterical moments.
When Olive and Ethan are pushed together to use their siblings’ wasted honeymoon package in Maui, everyone expects disaster, including them. After all, they have been enemies for almost two and a half years. But something happens in Hawaii. While they spin lies to everyone around them, their edges soften. Their truths are told. They find an ease in each other. But what happens when they’re forced back to reality?
Thank you to #NetGalley for this ARC
Ethan Thomas is grand-gesturing in an ugly shirt, with a fake mai tai glass.
I can’t get this silly smile off my face, it’s big and probably a little alarming to those around me. The Unhoneymooners put me in such a great headspace that I’m flitting around like a lovesick human. And I am in love. I am in love with the writing of Christina Lauren. Their books are big doses of happy! In a sour mood, read one of their books, had a breakup, read one of their books, want a permasmile, read The Unhoneymooners!
Olive Torres is the unlucky, often pessimistic twin. Unlucky in love and unlucky in life, if something bad is going to happen, it will happen to Olive. From getting stuck in a toy-prize claw machine as a kid to being fired from her job on her first day, Olive never seems to come out on top. In comparison, everything her sister Amelia touches turns to gold. The eternal optimist, Ami wins every contest she enters. She has a personality people flock to, and her life is easy. That is until her wedding day when everyone at the reception becomes extremely ill after having eaten the seafood on the buffet. All but the two people who cannot stand each other, Olive and Ami’s new brother-in-law, Ethan — Olive is allergic to shellfish and Ethan refuses to eat at buffets. For years the two have had a biting relationship, they never have anything good to say to or about the other. Even though they are extremely attracted to each other physically, personally, they cannot stand one another, they are nemeses to the core. Because Ami and her husband Dane are sick with food poisoning, they suggest that Olive and Ethan take the honeymoon trip to Hawaii … pretending to be married. It’s laughable really, the two cannot stand to be in the same room with each other for more than a few minutes, and now it is suggested they spend 10 days together, on a trip of a lifetime, for free. What’s the worst that can happen when two people who hate each other vacation together?
I want to say something sassy, but the only coherent thought that comes to mind is how insulting it is that eyelashes like his were wasted on Satan’s Errand Boy, so I just give a perfunctory nod and turn down the hall.
I loved Ethan and Olive! Olive with her pessimistic view of life and others, who believes she’s stuck with the bad life throws her way, never wallows in her circumstances. Rather, she embraces and accepts her fate. She is good-humored and loyal. In reality, though, the world was just prepping her to recognize, take hold of, and fully experience all the goodness that was awaiting her.
Ethan wasn’t who Olive assumed he was. He was charming, intuitive, caring and almost perfect! He wasn’t too prideful to apologize when he was wrong and expressed just the right amount of groveling. I loved the banter between these two!
You look like a Skittle.
Aw, Ethan. Stop with the seduction.
I loved this charming, enemies to lovers story! It was funny, heartwarming, and a little heartbreaking! It was the perfect book to read on a snowed-in weekend!
I was provided a review copy by the publisher, via Netgalley; this did not influence my opinion of the book nor my review.
Books by Christina Lauren are usually automatic download for me. Seeing it available at NetGalley was a gift!
Follows a popular trope of boy meets girl, offends girl, they hate each other until the don’t…The dialog is believable, often humorous, the love scenes are tantalizing, and the characters are absolutely likable that I cheered for from the start. And the resolution with the twin sister is every dream come true for anyone who has been in the same despicable straits. Brava!
Despite some typos that I am confident will be remedied by publication, it’s a fabulous read. In fact I stayed up till 6 am to finish it. Like all Christina Lauren books, the romance is delicious and I am walking around feeling dreamy, suffering a serious book hangover today. (BTW—not loving that yellow cover. Totally off their brand and does not say romance at all to me. More satire genre.)
I can not get enough of Christina Lauren’s books. Olive is so freaking funny. The banter between her and Ethan is top notch and will make you literally laugh out loud. These two get into some crazy awkward situations that have them inadvertently getting to really know each other (much to their chagrin). This is such great story with some really great characters. I wanted stories about all of Olives crazy family and I Ethan and Olive were so real to me I definitely wished for more epilogues….wanting their whole life story is not asking to much, is it??
Thank you to Gallery Books for an ARC of The Unhoneymooners, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
If there is one thing you can count on from the dynamic duo of Christina Lauren it is they know their Rom-Com!
The Unhoneymooners takes you on a trip to Maui with the bride’s sister and groom’s brother – after a hysterical barf-o-rama (think Stand by Me but funnier!) occurs at Ami and Dane’s wedding. Olive and Ethan hate each other – but why waste a completely free trip to Maui, right?? What follows is Olive and Ethan’s journey which is hysterical, laugh out loud funny, and filled with every emotion you want to feel and everything you have come to love with Christina Lauren’s writing.
Christina Lauren keep getting better with every novel they put out! The Unhoneymooners is a 5 Star read!