Olive has had a lot of bad luck in her life, including the recent loss of her job. Her twin sister Ami, on the other hand, has always been extremely lucky. In fact, Ami has won enough contests to almost completely pay for her wedding and honeymoon. When Ami and her new husband contract a severe case of food poisoning at their wedding reception making them unable to travel, Olive is encouraged to take the honeymoon trip to Maui along with the groom’s brother Ethan, who just happens to be her nemesis. On top of that, Olive hates being untruthful. According to the honeymoon contest rules, the trip is non-transferable and so she must assume Ami’s identity.

I loved this book!! I found myself LOL frequently and I loved the awkwardness of a new relationship under very intimate conditions. I appreciated the family dynamics in the story and the challenges of not wanting to see the truth under difficult circumstances.

I highly recommend this book and rate it 4.5/5 stars.

Thank you to the Netgalley , Simon & Schuster Canada and Gallery Books for permitting me access to an advance reader's copy (ARC) of The Unhoneymooners. This generosity did not impact my honesty when rating/reviewing.

I devoured this book! There were so many laugh out loud moments & oh, the banter between Olive & Ethan was adorable. I especially loved how Ethan often called Olive by any name other than her own hah

I am loving that more & more we’re seeing smart, business savvy women in romance books who are career driven & in this book I liked that there was also some second guessing & struggling with Olive’s career choices that seemed realistic & very much a reflection of our generation. Also, it was nice that the characters were older/more mature.

I LOVED Olive’s family dynamic & that they all played a huge role in her life. I could relate way too well to the huge family gatherings, the endless cooking, & the familial gossip 😂

Overall, I loved this one & would say it’s on the top 5 of CLo books, my only qualm is that it was more fade-to-black with the steamy stuff & considering the build up of Olive & Ethan’s bantery exchanges & shenanigans I was hoping for a little more follow through, if ya know what I mean 😉 I’m looking forward to getting my copy in the mail.

I am generally hit or miss with Christina Lauren books but this was a solid 5 stars for me. I loved the chemistry between the main characters and what set it apart from other romantic comedy books was that the banter was so intelligent between the two characters, I read every word or went back to reread paragraphs because the writing was so entertaining. I immensely enjoyed the protagonist. A lot of authors will write “clumsy” main characters that you’re supposed to find endearing but actually they turn out to be nauseating, but this was not the case with Olive. She was relatable and felt like your friend. I also thoroughly enjoyed the sibling dynamic, it added another layer to the story telling. Also, secondary characters were introduced which have the potential for making a series. I would enjoy seeing how all the characters develop as long as it’s not a throwaway for the sake of creating a series.

I'm sure I had a poo-eating grin on my face for 80% of this. Like most chick lit, it does lose its fire about 3/4 through but still a fun read. Cute characters and some laugh out loud moments that make you susceptible to funny looks if reading in public...beware.

Fantastic and witty, and takes place mostly in Hawaii. What's not to love about this book? I loved the banter between Olivia (Olive, Oliver, Olivier,) and Ethan (Eric, Enrique, Ersatz) throughout this book.

If you have ever seen the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, you might actually laugh-out-loud at the reference used in this story.

I cannot wait for this writing duo's next book if it's anything as good as this one!

3.5*

I don't know why The Unhoneymooners didn't wow me as much as a lot of CoLo's books. I still thoroughly enjoyed it. But maybe it's because Hazel and Josh are like so amazing that now I'm going to compare are their future books to that one. And it's a little unfair, but also I know what they're capable of.
That being said, Olive is a great character. She's a little snarky and pessimistic. Which is me. But also, soft and loving. And like yea, when someone looks like they're judging you, I'm going to be an Olive and go off their judgments too.
Ethan, I didn't get. There's nothing wrong with him. I did enjoy their banter and "fighting". But also what was his personality? He didn't have one beyond being someone for Olive to hate and then eventually he turned soft and someone for her to like. The great part was that talking wasn't an issue for them. Being honest and open is their relationship.
The first half of the book was alright for me. The honeymoon and all the mishaps and such was fun enough. But I enjoyed the second half and when they got home a lot more. Olive really came into her own then. Realizing she can be a little judgy but also to not just back down from her feelings.
Family for Olive is a big aspect of her life. Coming from a big Mexican-American family really shows in Olive's life and personality. Especially being a twin.

I love CoLo's books. They have always been an auto-boy/auto-read from the time of BB. And The Unhoneymoons is really no exception. It's amazing to see how far their writing, characters, and stories have progressed. There is zero cheese in their current books. Their characters have all become super relatable and normal everyday people. I'm pretty sure The Unhoneymooners will be another hit for CoLo readers.

Whenever I think of Christina Lauren, it's for things like the Wild Seasons series, which I adore, and is super sexy. For some reason, I forget how sweet some of their books are, and how hard they punch me in the feels.

The delightfulness of this story snuck up on me. I really liked Olive from the beginning and was especially drawn to her relationship with both her twin sister and her large, noisy, wonderful family. Ethan, however, fun as fake boyfriend tropes are, took a bit of warming up to.

Once I did, however, it was all systems go. This is the greatest hits of fake boyfriend scenarios in the funnest way possible. And the last third of the book became genuinely heartfelt in a way I didn't expect.

Absolutely lovely.

Olive's twin sister, Ami is getting married to Dane, and everyone but Olive and Dane's brother Ethan eat at the buffet and contract food poisoning. Unable to attend their own honeymoon, they send Olive and Ethan - who have openly disliked one another for years.

This book was typical Christina Lauren - charming, fun, romantic, and swoon-worthy. It was an enemies to lovers story, and overall a great romantic comedy.

I loved. this. book. This might be my favourite Christina Lauren book yet. I loved the diversity, the characters and the enemies to lovers trope. I had a few issues (I usually do with Christina Lauren books) but they were super minor. I think this is a fantastic book if you loved The Hating Game or any of their other books.

How on earth do they do it? How the bloody actual heck do they continue to write such great rom-com novels, and top themselves every time?! This is my fourth Christina Lauren book in about 7 months and each one I read just further sells a piece of my soul to them.

This was downright hilarious! I was genuinely sitting there cackling and trying to keep the smirk off my face as I read this. Ethan and Olive are an absolute delight with incredible chemistry! I do so love the trope of enemies to lovers, and this added in the extra twist of enemies pretending to be lovers before getting there themselves. It was wickedly funny and made this book entertaining as hell. I would love to see this one made into a movie.

As there always is in these books, there is that moment at about the third quarter place where suddenly everything falls apart and you wonder how heroine will ever find happiness again. But deep down you're not worried because you know there will always be a happy ending. Guys, I was genuinely biting my nails over this one. I mean holy cow, did they ever have me hooked. Sleep? What is that? Must find out what happens!

A side-note, I've noticed with some of their books they describe [ all the ... sauciness in detail. Others, like this one, merely allude to the deed being done. Basically I'm just curious about how they decide what to show and not show based on each story. I admit I was a little disappointed when they finally get in bed together after the crazy build-up and then you turn the page to find they skipped over it all.

My third experience reading Christina Lauren and I can officially say that they can’t write a bad book.

This was clever, witty and charming. Delightful to read.

While I adored the narrative and the romance of this book, the highlight was all of the family stuff. I always love books that have the heart of the story be about family, so this will most likely be my favourite Christina Lauren book.

I also couldn’t put this book down. It’s not common for me to finish a 400+ page book in under a day, but I was completely taken over with this story and the characters.

So happy to add this to my list of favourite books.

This book contained basically every trope that I love in contemporary/romance books all wrapped up in one book! I absolutely adored this novel, and enjoyed it even more than I expected to! Since this one was provided to me as an eARC and I normally read eBooks extremely quickly, I actually read this one all in one day even though it is over 400 pages!

I loved all of the characters in this novel! I felt so emotionally attached to all of them, and cared so deeply about all of the things that were happening to them. I literally cried three separate times over the last 15% of the book, which definitely shows you how much I enjoyed reading about these characters! Olive and Ethan are two of my new favourite bookish characters, and I absolutely fell in love with their relationship. One of my favourite things to read about in all novels – no matter what genre they fall into – is having a great family dynamic. I love reading about large families with a lot of either love or hatred towards each other, and the family in this book was all full of love! This trope was actually very unexpected (as it doesn’t say anything about a large family) in the synopsis, but I thought it added a lot of love into the story. Additionally, Olive and Ami’s parents’ relationship was hilarious to read about!

Two of my favourite tropes in novels are fake dating and hate to love relationships. This novel included both of them, and Christina Lauren wrote them so well! While Olive and Ethan had quite a toxic relationship at the beginning of the novel, they (very) slowly started seeing the light in each other (no spoilers here, though!). Overall, their relationship was written so well and with so much passion.

My full review will be posted on my blog closer to the release date!

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book; it's definitely my favourite book of Christina Lauren's that I've read so far. I finished 95% of it in one sitting and it was overall just a fun, engrossing read. The protagonist was lovely and easy to root for; the stereotypical misunderstandings that are often in this type of book were minimal; and the plot was a mix of ridiculously unrealistic and lovely. Really appreciate being able to nab an ARC from NetGalley!

The duo of Christina Lauren are a consistently good read but this outing is possible their best yet. It's a great read that sucks you in leaving you charmed by both of the main characters as their story unfolds.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren is the rarest of romcoms in that it is laugh out loud funny. The novel is a delight from beginning to end, and is peppered with sharp, witty dialogue, nuanced themes of love and family, and set against the breathtaking backdrop of Maui. What is not to love?

Olive Torres has always considered herself to be unlucky, particularly in matters of love. While attending her twin sister Ami's wedding, Olive comes face to face with her nemesis, Ethan, who happens to be the brother of the groom. When everyone at the wedding is struck down by food poisoning, save Olive and Ethan, the bride insists that her sister and new brother-in-law take the newlyweds' place on their honeymoon in Maui. Although reluctant, the two sworn enemies agree that the opportunity is simply too good to pass up.

During the dream holiday, both Olive and Ethan recognize that something has shifted in their relationship, and admit to having feelings for each other. With nonstop banter flying back and forth between the two, the evolution of the newly minted couple seems to suggest that Olive's luck may finally be changing for the better. But when the pair return home after the idyllic holiday, the secrets that Ethan has revealed about his brother leave Olive conflicted between family loyalty, and respecting the wishes of the man she has come to love..

This book ticked all of the boxes for me as the perfect romcom. I adored the clever dialogue and word play that bounced between Olive and Ethan, and I was rooting for them throughout. Having Olive's voice dominate most of the narrative, I particularly enjoyed the epilogue that is written exclusively from Ethan's point of view. This is the first novel that I've read by the writing duo that is Christina Lauren, and I can honestly say that I will be keeping an eye out for them in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for this entertaining ARC.

Another CLo book I've read in one sitting - these co-authors are excellent at creating characters you want to root for. In The Unhoneymooners, Olive has a relentless string of bad luck, and a number of hilarious stories to accompany this light adversity - but, she gets to go on her sister's honeymoon after she dodges food poisoning, so things might be looking up. However, it turns out she's saddled with her long time nemesis and newly minted brother-in-law Ethan for the holiday.
This is one of the rare (possibly only?) Christina Lauren books I've read that is from a single POV, and I think the story lost a bit of richness for not allowing us to watch things unfold through the eyes of both parties. It certainly would've helped through the last 25% or so, for reasons. That said, the story was hilarious with just the right dash of gravitas. The hate-to-love trope was wonderfully handled, and paired with having the fake married trope made it all the more enjoyable.
I can't wait to recommend this story on pub day!

Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for providing me with a copy for review, this is no way influenced my opinion.