BOOK REVIEW : The Unhoneymooners

Title : The Unhoneymooners
Author : Christina Lauren
Release date : May 14, 2019

Date Read : March 22, 2019
Rating : ★★★★★

“I haven’t felt like this before—this type of intense, free-falling happiness that doesn’t carry with it any unease or uncertainty about me and Ethan and what we’re feeling. I’ve never adored someone with such heated abandon, and something tells me he hasn’t, either.”

Oh where do I start ?

First of all, I just want to say I had no intention of reading this book at first. Why, you ask? Well, the only other book I read from Christina Lauren was Josh and Hazel's guide to not dating, which, most people loved. But I, sadly, did not. So I was wary starting anything else from these authors thinking that maybe their writing style or their books just were not for me. Boy was I wrong and boy am I happy I was wrong. Because this book? The Unhoneymooners? Will most definitely make it to my end of the year "favorite books of 2019" list. So,let me tell you why and how this book stole my heart in the most surprising way. But first, let's answer the most important question :

What's this book about ?

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests. Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.
Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.
Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of…lucky.

 

What did I think about this book ?

I started this book with very low expectations, because as I said before, I just did not think these authors were for me. So, imagine my surprise when I just could not put the book down. I started it at work, and, suffise to say, no work was done that afternoon.

This book gave me The Hating Game vibes which is one of my favorite romance books I've ever read, but while I could feel the vibes, I could also see that it wasn't really the same but just as great. Which just made me adore it more.

Really, I absolutely loved everything about this book. From the very first to the very last page. I must admit that I was wary at the beginning that the ending might ruin it all, but it absolutely did not. I adored the main character, Olive, her point of view was so fun to read from. She was funny, independant, witty, quirky, a bit sassy (especially when with Ethan), absolutely did not take anyone's shit (again, ESPECIALLY Ethan's) and an absolute delight over all. I couldn't help but fall for her, and I'm sure no one can either. 

"I can appreciate my body in a bikini and still want to set fire to the patriarchy."

Another thing I loved was the dynamic between Olive and Ethan, the love interest. Their banters were so entertaining I just kept wanting more and more, and maybe I have my very own genie because my wishes were absolutely granted. 

Olive and Ethan start as ennemies at first. They both hate each other and neither of them hides it, they're hostile to each other, but even their hostility is somehow funny. They bicker like children but with grown up come backs, and, mind you, they somehow always have come backs.

Their hostily, however, doesn't last very long, which is refreshing. Because not long after they land in Maui, they have to start pretending that they're actually married. At first, with the hotel staff, which they don't really do a good job of it and then when Olive runs into her future boss while next to one of the employees. She has a choice to make : Tell her boss the truth and risk getting exposed for fraud or continue the lie... and her choice leads her across a dinner table from her boss and his wife with Ethan by her side... as her husband. That wouldn't be so bad, they can just pretend for a night and then go their separate ways again for the rest of the holiday, right? WRONG. Because, as soon as they leave the restaurant, they run straight into Ethan's engaged ex, who is also staying in Maui. So their one night act turns into a full time one. And that's where the real fun begins.

The way the writers went about transitioning from hatred to developping feelings felt really natural and not at all rushed. They didn't make this primarly about them hating each other for three quarters of the book but actually showed a growing relationship. Them transforming slowly from ennemies to two people who find themselves enjoying each other's company and starting to actually FEEL something for each other was one of my absolute favorite things about the book.

“There are no words, no verbal jabs. There is no desire to smack him or poke his eyes out—there is only the confusing truth that holding his hand down here isn’t just tolerable, it’s nice.”

 

This book really gave me so many feelings, most positive. Sometimes I got frustrated but in a good way, in the way that you feel so invested in a book and its characters that whenever something bad happens to one of the characters you love you just want to get into the page and punch whoever and whatever in the cause of it. And boy, my first mental murder victim is none other than her sister's husband, because he is just BAD. And the frustration only grows because not only I was not able to actually kill him (SO rude, don't you think?) but with he turns out to be the cause of the angst. 

Which, ultimately, I do know is present in all romance book. And to be quite honest, I absolutely loved this one (my angst-obsessed self ate it up, really). I'm also very particular about the type of said angst I like, but this was well placed, not at all forced and actually made sense.  

Olive and Ethan's relationship and love was just so cute, so pure, so.... captivating. You absolutely can't not fall for them. They are just too adorable. The fact that they kind of have the broody-guy who only has eyes for his bubbly-girl does not hurt, either. 

“Seeing that tiny, salty woman crack up or melt or light up like a constellation gives me life.”

All in all, this book just gave me so many good feelings, I was just... happy while reading it. It certainly changed my mind about reading more Christina Lauren books and I will for sure be threatning everyone I know with bodily harm if they don't read it. Because it is just THAT good. 

(This review is really all over the place and I feel like I haven't mentionned everything I loved or expressed myself fluently but I let my feelings do all the talking and they are all over the place as well, so it'll just have to do)