Carey Douglas has worked for the Tripps since she was 16, and ever since she has helped the duo rise from owning their first store to the empire they now own. James McCann is a new hire with a spotty employment background, but he is an MIT grad and brilliant at what he does. However the job he thought he was going to do when he was hired and what he is actually doing in the company now are quite different.

While the Tripps look like the perfect couple who have their own tv show launching (a spin off from the one they use to be on) renovating homes. They are also launching their next book about their PERFECT marriage. Nothing is as perfect as it seems, the perfect couple actually can not stand each other. With the duo set to go off on tour for their book things get a little messy and Carey and James are assigned the task to keep everything on track, and since neither of them can quit they have no way of saying no, so they head of on the road with Tripps to do what may be the impossible.

I have read a number of Christina Lauren's novels now and this one wasn't my favourite but it also didn't disappoint. Like most of their books their characters are built so well and I kept help but feel like I actually know these people as I am reading the book. It also isn't just the main characters that make me feel this way, it is the side characters as well, they are never left out. Christina Lauren are champs at character development which is part of the reason their books are must reads for me when they bring out new ones. While this book didn't quite have the unputdownable feeling that some of their other books have had for me, I did find they worked in their comedic effects that had me laughing out loud as I read which was amazing. I enjoy a book that has some comic relief even in tense moments.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Christina Lauren's books in the past. As well as to those who enjoy contemporary romances. This book would make a great beach read or by the pool side. This is also a great book for those who like a bit of a sexy read that is a fade to black and doesn't go into the nitty gritty details of everything happening.

Trigger Warnings:<spoiler> Cheating, Work Place Abuse</spoiler>

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for the eArc. All opinions and reviews were my own.

The writing duo behind the pen name Christina Lauren are known for their witty, light romances that have great banter and steamy bedroom scenes. I was drawn to this book because of its premise of two assistants who find love while working for TV hosts whose on-air sweetness doesn't match their less-than-blissful home life.

When we're introduced to the TV celebs, Melly and Rusty, it's hard not to picture Chip and Joanna Gaines, the HGTV power couple, who make me envision shiplap at the mere mention of their names. But as the story progresses, and we see Melly and Rusty's true colours which are caricatures - mean, selfish she-boss and her goofy husband who's just there to get a guffaw from the audience. At this point, the image I had of Melly morphed from Joanna to Bellamy Young who plays another sassy, don't mess with me Melly from the TV show Scandal.

Notice my review hasn't focused on assistants James and Carey? That's because the focus isn't on the young couple in love but on the dysfunctional relationship and behind-the-scenes look at Melly and Rusty's lives. This will work for some readers and perhaps not for others. It didn't work for me. The romance between James and Carey was in the background, felt forced and wasn't given enough time to develop. There are also odd additions of police interviews that give the story a confusing and unsatisfying mystery feel.

I applaud the authors for trying something a bit different but with this book's focus on secondary characters, forced romance and predictable story line, I'm sad to say it missed the mark for me. This was a sweet, slow burn kind of romance but I missed the amazing banter and chemistry between the main characters that I've come to expect from these authors.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

4 Stars for this opposites attract romance!

Carey has been Melly’s assistant for 10 years ... but assistant doesn’t really cover all she does for Melissa and Rusty in their home improvement empire. Two months ago James was hired as a structured engineer ... but he’s really there to babysit Rusty while they go on a book tour. Rusty and Melissa are on the brink of divorce and if that happens all their worlds will come tumbling down, so Carey and James have their hands full.

I laughed so hard at Carey and James ... what a hoot! They are so totally opposite but you just knew that there was chemistry between them. As for Rusty and Melly ... well I just wanted to give them both a swift kick! This is a cute, funny, sexy, opposites attract romance that will have you laughing out loud.

I received an early copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster Canada through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

The Honey-Don’t List Review

This book was exactly what I needed. It was funny and romantic and sexy. I like to take a break from thrillers/true crime sometimes to remember there is good in the world and it’s not all bad. I completely fell for James, he was such a great character and I found him
honest and so loveable. Carey was also fantastic. The Honey-Don’t list was so entertaining and a great rom-com. Christina Lauren once again of course doesn’t disappoint.

Carey Douglas has worked for home remodeling and design gurus Melissa and Rusty Tripp for nearly a decade. A country girl at heart, Carey started in their first store at sixteen, and—more than anyone would suspect—has helped them build an empire. With a new show and a book about to launch, the Tripps are on the verge of superstardom. There’s only one problem: America’s favorite couple can’t stand each other.

James McCann, MIT graduate and engineering genius, was originally hired as a structural engineer, but the job isn’t all he thought it’d be. The last straw? Both he and Carey must go on book tour with the Tripps and keep the wheels from falling off the proverbial bus.

Unfortunately, neither of them is in any position to quit. Carey needs health insurance, and James has been promised the role of a lifetime if he can just keep the couple on track for a few more weeks. While road-tripping with the Tripps up the West Coast, Carey and James vow to work together to keep their bosses’ secrets hidden, and their own jobs secure. But if they stop playing along—and start playing for keeps—they may have the chance to build something beautiful together…

I'm a sucker for all the Christina Lauren book and this one was no exception. In this book the main characters both work for a dynamic power couple. Even though they both have the same jobs they both have varying qualifications which cause a bit of a riff between the two. I really like the main characters and especially the development of the relationship and the conflict between them.

The main character, Carey, has a chronic illness and this book touches on it so well. This story also deals with a toxic relationship and how to overcome with and recognize it. I really liked this story my only complaint was just how fast it went! I felt like I read through this book in two hours which is much too quick! I wish there had been in epilogue but I was still happy with how it wrapped up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC for an honest review. :)

❤️#partner| Thank you to @simonschusterca @gallerybooks @netgalley & @christinalauren for the free advanced digital copy! Available March 24th!
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🌟BOOK REVIEW🌟
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▪️MY THOUGHTS
✔️This was the last book I read in 2019 and it did not disappoint! This is my 3rd book by @christinalauren and so far I’ve liked all the main characters - which is sometimes hard for me! Haha! I enjoyed the flow of the writing and how easy it was for me to get into the story. .
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I thought James & Carey were great characters and unlike some of the more recent enemies to lover trope stories I’ve read - I liked them both a lot. The secondary story with their employers created just
the right amount of drama.

Overall it was a quick and enjoyable read for me!

A light romance featuring a TV decorating show's hosts and support staff.

Russell, aka Rusty, and Melissa, aka Melly, Tripp have taken their small business, Comb+Honey, from a small storefront to a successful TV series. Rusty builds furniture pieces that Melissa uses as the focal piece when she decorates. Carey, 26, has been working with them for 10 years and as Melly's assistant she keeps things on track. James McCann is an MIT graduate who finds his engineering skills taking a back -seat when he becomes Rusty's assistant. Carey & James are tossed together on a tour bus with the Tripps and keeping them from destroying their image as a happily married couple is a massive challenge in tight quarters.

A story that unfolds quickly, written by two authors who compliment each other's skills. A H.E.A. ending left a smile lingering.

Melissa and Rusty Tripp are basically Chip and Joanna Gaines... but like, extremely toxic. Carey, Melissa’s assistant, and Rusty, an engineer for the Tripps’ design show (but basically Rusty’s glorified assistant), are tasked with babysitting their two idiot bosses. They need to make sure the couple gets along publicly while they are on their marriage advice book tour.

I don’t know what else to write about this one. I didn’t love it, and I didn’t hate it... it was just kind of meh for me. I didn’t like any of the characters that much (there just wasn’t any depth there), and the story was okay. It felt like a pretty disorganized book to me, and think it could have done much better with some good editing. I enjoyed the format of the normal chapters mixed with tweets, articles, and chapters from the Tripps’ book. It was also a really quick read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for an early copy of this book for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Christina Lauren and Simon & Schuster Canada for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I always enjoy a read by this ladies and this one was no different. I didn’t find this one as quick of a read as their novels usually are, but I did feel connected to the two main characters. I liked how my HGTV obsession played into this novel and gave me an inside look into behind the scenes and how easy it is to pretend you have an amazing life with amazing relationships, when really everything is falling apart. The ending to this novel was shocking and I loved every minute of it!

Out March 24th!

I really liked the premise of this book, unfortunately more then the actual execution. The Honey-Don't List is a fun, light, perfect for the beach read. It's funny, deals with tough moments, and is overall a satisfying read. However, I found that the main romance didn't ever really click for me and, while I loved all the home decorating talk, I found myself wanting more of that. Overall a good read, just not as good as I was expecting.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. Thank-you to the author the publisher and to Netgalley. This is the first book that I read by Christina Lauren, and I really enjoyed it...I gave the book 4 stars. It was a light, quick read, that I enjoyed while sitting by a pool on vacation. I enjoyed the story and the characters.. I gave the book 4 stars and would recommend it to friends as a good book.

This was a cute read but it isn't one of my favourite books by Christina Lauren.

The story was entertaining and I liked the main characters.

Would this be one I would read again? Probably not but it was good enough to keep reading.

3.5 stars

I’ve become a big fan of Christina Lauren’s books recently; they were new to me in 2019, and I read three of their books (Roomies, Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, and Twice in a Blue Moon) last year. I love how different each of their books is and that you never quite know what to expect - contemporary romance? Romantic comedy? One thing is for sure, though, you can always count on great characters, giggles, and swoons, and The Honey-Don’t List was no different.

Carey and James both work for home reno stars Melissa and Rusty Tripp. Carey has been working for them since she was 16 - long before they became famous - and James is new to the team. Neither of them is entirely happy with their job since they work long hours for little recognition and don’t have much of a life outside of work. Their jobs are made more stressful by the fact Melissa and Rusty’s picture-perfect marriage is actually anything but, and they’re left to be glorified babysitters when the couple embark on a whirlwind tour to promote their book - which, of all things, is about having a successful marriage.

I liked how this story was told - alternately between Carey and James, with interviews, magazine articles, tweets, and book excerpts sprinkled throughout. While it was told in dual POV, I feel like Carey was the real star of the story. We got to know her much better than James, both through her internal dialogue, and her conversations with James. Having been in the same job since she was a teenager, that life is all she’s ever really known and she hasn’t had a chance to figure out who she is outside of being Melissa’s assistant. It was obvious she was a strong, smart, capable person who had been put into a role that was no longer working for her, but that she stayed in out of loyalty, among other reasons. I loved watching her come into her own and use her strength to finally start figuring out who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do. I’ll admit I wasn’t sure about James at first, but he ended up being so sweet, attentive, and downright swoony. Total book boyfriend material!

I will say I found the beginning a bit slow, and I can’t quite pinpoint what it was, but there was something missing from this one - that extra spark of humour or depth or SOMETHING. Maybe it was the fact the slow burn was sooo slow or the fact the spotlight was so often on Melissa and Rusty. Whatever it was, it kept me from truly loving the story. Despite that, The Honey-Don’t List was an entertaining read, and I think it’d make for a really fun movie.


*Review will be posted on my blog (www.ramblingsofadaydreamer), as well as bookstagram, and various retailers on release day.

Carey Douglas’ life has revolved around Melissa and Rusty Tripp since she was Sixteen-Years old. What was once just a small store in Wyoming has become a TV empire and a book deal for the Tripps about their happy marriage and none of it would be possible without Carey, now Twenty-Six.

James is an Engineer, whose life fell apart after his former company was involved in a major scandal. Now, he’s been hired to be the Engineer on Home Sweet Home, the Tripps Netflix series, which basically amounts to being Rusty’s right hand.

Life seems uber glamorous for the Tripps, who are social media darlings, until the sh&t hits the fan. Life is not a box of chocolates for this power couple who are about to embark on a Book Tour. It turns out that the couple’s marriage is a sham. Now it’s up to Carey and James to save the day.

I will always read whatever the dynamic duo Christina Lauren writes, but for me this was not my favorite. I think the book spent too much time focusing on the Tripps relationship and not enough on Carey and James. Well I don't have to like charters to enjoy a story with this being a romance you think the authors would of spent more time on the couple who actually like each other. Not to say I didn't enjoy the book and there were some definite stand out scenes. The pool scene... SWOON. James for me did not seem like a leading man and I wasn't really rooting for him as I was Carey. Carey was the shinning charter to this story that had depth and struggles. I love her!

3.5 Stars from me

The Honey Don’t List is a quick, cute read from the amazing Christina Lauren romance duo. It follows Carey, personal assistant to the Tripps, national sensation design duo, who has been working for them since high school a few are prior. About to go on a nationwide book tour, new assistant James is also slated to come along as tensions mount between the Tripps who are working to maintain their happy, in love facade in the public eye.

The assistants have their work cut out for them as the couple increasingly can’t stand being near one another. Unsurprisingly, Carey and James end up spending a lot of time together in close quarters, and a romance develops.


I liked the overall premise of the novel. As a couch side fan of design and decorating shows, I thought it was a fun backdrop and definitely pulled me in. I also enjoyed some of Carey’s history and growth as a character as she started to come into her own as a designer.

Although it’s a fairly enjoyable, light read, I didn’t find the romance believable. It was rushed, and I felt didn’t unfold in a meaningful or believable way. The Tripps were somewhat caricature-type characters, and too much of the story revolves around their discord with not much real growth on their part either.

Also, there are interspersed police interviews that felt out of place. I appreciate the attempt to create some suspense, but the end result just feels sort of unnecessary.

Overall, this is a fun, quick read that I would recommend to fans of the genre. It’s perfect for an evening in the couch. While it’s definitely not my favourite CoLo novel, I am always looking forward to what they come out with next.

This is the 6th book I’ve read by Christina Lauren. I’ve loved almost all of their books but for whatever reason I didn’t connect as much with this one. I liked the road trip idea and Carey and James getting closer on the trip. I found the storyline with The Tripps exhausting and found myself at times disengaging from the book when I was reading about them.

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada and Netgalley for a copy of The Honey Don’t List by Christina Lauren for an honest review. Find The Honey Don’t List on bookshelves March 24th!

The Honey Don’t List centers around a couple who have started a home design company and have found success after success leading to book deals, Netflix home design shows, and multiple requests to tell the world how their marriage stays so strong. Unfortunately, behind the scenes is two assistants holding the marriage together and falling in love themselves at the same time.

The two perspectives are of the two assistants. Having just discovered one of the most successful tv marriages is a lie, they are forced to go on tour with them while they do publicity for their new book on marriage. Forced together for weeks in a highly stressful situation, the two assistants end up leaning on each other more and more.

A cute, fun read but nothing special for me. I found the romance a little rushed, the couple fighting a bit of a fun distraction and their treatment of their assistants pretty horrible. Overall, a fast read but nothing that stood out as amazing for me.

I think I'm in the minority on this one I just coukdnt connect to the characters or story. I find my last few by this duo have given me the same response. Maybe I just need to tale a break from CL. I find with some authors I do that and then after a couple books I enjoy them again.

I think this book is a case of it's not you its ne.

This was such a light and fluffy easy read, which I enjoyed, but didn’t exactly love it. It’s not your typical Christina Lauren rom-com novel but it is a great piece of contemporary fiction.

The biggest downfall was that it started slow and then the middle part felt a little rushed. I definitely wish it flowed a lot better and while so much focus was placed on the Tripp's relationship, I found my self yearning to find out more about the budding relationship between Cary and James.

Thank you to @simonschusterca and @netgally for the advanced eARC of @christinalauren's latest, The Honey-Don't List, in exchange for my honest review! This fun read from Christina Lauren will be available March 24.

Carey Duncan has worked for home improvement power couple, Melissa and Rusty Tripp, for almost 10 years. Carey started with the Tripps from their small-town beginnings and helped the couple turn their renovation and design ideas into a home improvement empire—but the couple secretly can't stand each other anymore. Without blowing their cover, the Tripps, Carey, and new employee, James, embark on a book tour where Melissa and Rusty's animosity towards each other must be kept a secret. The book follows the four as they try and keep it together.

Without giving too much away, it was nice to read about a character with a chronic illness. This one, along with the rest of Christina Lauren reads, was another fun "beach read" for me. This wasn't my favourite by the writing duo—I found the "honey-do" list wasn't heavily introduced and I was left confused considering the title of the book—but I recommend this one if you're looking for a light romance read!

3.5/5 stars