The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren Review

Hey ForeverBookers, 

How are you all? I hope you’re all well! I’m sorry I’ve been absent for so long! I’ve been really busy over these past weeks. I’ve been reading sporadically because of this. It wasn’t “The Unhoneymooners,” the book I was reading by Christina Lauren’s fault, though! It was really good! I was also buddyreading it with a friend through Facebook. She enjoyed the novel just as much as I did, I think. We both thought it was a little slow in the middle for a few chapters but overall we enjoyed it very much. I’m surprised that I enjoyed it so much because I don’t normally like standalones. I would love a sequel to this, following the same characters. 

4.5 Stars!

As I said, “The Unhoneymooners” was really good. It was again quite episodic, like the last book I read but in a different way. It was like a soap opera, rather than a movie. I could see it as lots of episodes of a soap opera. The characters were written well, some with not so good intentions and there were some surprises that I didn’t see coming...

We’re in Olive’s perspective throughout the novel (except the epilogue.) I enjoyed reading from her perspective. She has an identical twin sister called Ami, who she’s always comparing herself to. At the heart of this novel, there’s a romance, which is in my top 5 romances EVER now! It doesn’t take top spot, but it’s close. 

“The Unhoneymooners” is an adult book so there is talk of cheating and off page sex scenes to be aware of if your uncomfortable with that. 

I read The Unhoneymooners for a few readathons, which were: 

The book junkie Trials - I’m on Team Outlaw. The first challenge is meant to be reread a favourite but instead I’m going to use the Strength, which for Outlaws is to choose a book from someone else’s TBR. This book doesn’t have to match the challenge.im not sure if you’re meant to read from another Outlaw but I’m “stealing” from a Scribe. The first prompt for Scribes is to read a book with a hint of romance - “The Unhoneymooners” is perfect and the first book on Mia Rose Reads TBR (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu810WoBzW4) so it’ll work...thank goodness! 

The Cardcaptor-a-thon, which was my creation for the Sword Card - “Read your most recently acquired book,” which at the time that I started it was “The Unhoneymooners” along with “Red, White And Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston, which I’ll try to read later this month - https://www.facebook.com/cardcaptorathon/?modal=admin_todo_tour. - #3

Reading Rivalry - A book title or cover featuring your favourite colour - I love the shade of yellow that “The Unhoneymooners” is. It’s so bright and vivid and I love bright colours. 

Fiction Feud Society - A book set in North/South America -The book is set in both Maui, an island of Hawaii and Minnesota, which are both a part of North America.

Popsugar Reading Challenge - A book by two female authors - I thought this challenge would be hard but “The Unhoneymooners” fits perfectly as it’s by Christina Lauren, who is indeed two authors. 

Sims-a-thon - Interior Design - Read a book with a pretty cover - I’ve already said that I love the bright yellow that the cover is but I also love the hearts and even the font! 

Sweet Shop Reading Challenge - Pick&Mix (what will you choose?) - Read a book with a food item on the cover - There’s a melon or a fruit of some sort on the cover of “The Unhoneymooners.”

Ghibli-a-thon - Whisper Of The Heart - A Bookworm MC - Olive and Ethan both like to read. “You are Voldemort” is a Harry Potter reference that Olive makes.

Spoilers Below...

“The Unhoneymooners” starts at Ami and Dane’s, Olive’s sister and her fiancé’s wedding, which Ami basically won every part of because “Ami wins everything,” according to Olive, Ami’s identical twin sister. Olive is somewhat jealous of her sister at the beginning of “The Unhoneymooners.” She thinks that Ami gets all the luck and that she gets none of it. Olive is Chief Bridesmaid. She has to wear the most horrible dress in her opinion and Ethan is Dane, the groom’s best man as well as his brother. 

“Her life suddenly bears no resemblance to mine whatsoever,” shows that after being similar for so long as identical twins, Olive feels different to Ami, now more than ever. It’s like Ami has become a new person while Olive is still the same. I think Olive kind of resents Ami for being so happy at the start of the book. Olive doesn’t want love, though. She’s content with how she is. She just thinks that Ami is spoilt. 

Olive also hates Ethan, the best man with a passion. “If I can’t blame this burden on luck, I can absolutely blame it on my sister.” The burden is Ami asking Olive to go and check what Ethan is going to say in his best man speech. She doesn’t want to do this, but because her sister, the bride is asking her, she feels she must. Ethan is just how Olive expects, offensive and rude to her when she does Ami’s bidding. “I like my body. I’m never going to let someone make me feel bad about it or cheese curds,” is what Olive thinks Ethan thinks of her body. She thinks he thinks she’s ugly. She has a strong character, though, which is reflected here so she’s not bothered by it. When everyone but Olive and Ethan get food poisoning at the buffet after the wedding ceremony, however, because Olive can’t eat seafood and Ethan is just fussy they get to go on the honeymoon and that’s when the story really starts! 

I thought the story picked up speed here, which I enjoyed. I loved reading the honeymoon scenes that weren’t a honeymoon, more a holiday. I don’t want to spoil any of the things that happen in Maui because I think it’s best to read it from the book but everything from the scenery to working out who was going to sleep where, to the paint ball scenes, to the meals, to Ethan’s ex and Olive’s new boss coming from nowhere into the story were great. I loved reading the more intimate moments between Olive and Ethan too. I thought they were cute and sweet, while still being funny to read. I laughed out loud several times throughout “The Unhoneymooners,” which doesn’t normally happen to me while reading. I don’t generally read contemporary books but I don’t think most authors have what Christina Lauren has when it comes to comedy, even though I’ve heard great things about the comedy in a novel I’m buddyreading later this month so we’ll see...

As I’ve put above, Olive meets her new boss, Mr Hamilton and his wife while in Maui. She has to lie and tell him that she is on her honeymoon with Ethan as her husband. Does this get her in trouble later in the book? You’ll have to read to find out. 

There was a slow part of the novel after the unhoneymoon in Maui. There weren’t many Olive and Ethan scenes, which was disappointing. After reading lots of parts with them together with amazing chemistry it became a bit of a let down to read the parts where they were separate. I don’t want to spoil why they became separated so I’ll just say it’s to do with relationships beck home in Minnesota, where they’re from. Also the part after the honeymoon wasn’t as raunchy as I expected. Olive and Ethan had sex on the unhoneymoon and I was expecting more of those scenes back home but there were none. It was like the chemistry just disappeared. I don’t think relationships are like that in real life.  The sex scenes are pretty much fade to black, although the characters do talk about them and the word “sex” is brought up a couple of times. We, as the reader know Olive and Ethan have had sex. 

Do Ethan and Olive end up together and what happens between Ami and Dane? These are the two relationships focused on in“The Unhoneymooners.”

Overall then, I loved “The Unhoneymooners.” It was great to read a summery contemporary actually in the summer because I’m usually reading fantasy or a non summer contemporary. The story made me laugh A LOT, which I said I’m not used to when reading so this was a  nice change too. The funniest bits were when Olive and Ethan called each other other names, for example Ethan calls Olive Olivia and other names that begin with O. These were hilarious in context. The same was with Olive calling Ethan names that began with E. The slow parts didn’t really make me dislike the story, they just slowed my reading but that might have also been my fault because I was so busy. Hence my 4.5 star rating! 

Stand by for my next review coming soon...