The baby’s pretty cool, too.
Started off my summer in the best possible way! I was able to visit my newborn niece (along with my brother and sister-in-law) during Father’s Day weekend, and she’s literally the most perfect baby angel to grace this earth. I now totally get why people develop obsessions with taking pictures of their little munchkins. I’ve personally requested spam of Baby T at least five times a day.
While making my way up and back with my family on our baby expedition, I was able to read a book I’ve been coveting for a long freakin’ time. I’ve entered every contest (lost), requested an ARC from NetGalley (denied), and been patiently anticipating with bated breath The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (thanks, mom) to kickoff my summer of READING ALL THE BOOKS (I already own).
Why is it so special, you ask?
A rash of food poisoning taking out an entire wedding party? Two people who absolutely loath each other, stuck together for the trip of a lifetime? Snarky jabs dripping with spite and sexual tension you could cut with a knife? Check, check and check! These are things that make up the perfect romantic comedy, of which I’m a sucker for. Toward the end, there’s a bit of a twist that gave the storyline some punch and made it less run-of -the-mill.
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren is told from the perspective of Olive Torres as she helps prepare her identical twin sister, Ami, for her wedding (of which Ami has planned and organized through various contests, sweepstakes, and competitions, making the festivities virtually free).
Though physically similar, the sisters could not be more different. Where Ami is competitive, optimistic, and self-assured, Olive is convinced she suffers from chronic bad luck that prevents her from experiencing the same level of happiness as her sister. From Olive’s ugly green bridesmaid dress, to her less-than-stellar MOH speech, the reader can kind of see where she’s coming from at the get go.
But the tables are about to turn in an extreme (and cringe-worthy) way. Apparently a free seafood buffet comes with a different kind of price. For Olive (whose allergic to seafood) and the groom’s brother Ethan (who has an aversion to buffets), they’ve dodged a huge bullet. Along with the entire wedding party being taken out with debilitating puking and…other stuff, Ami and her new husband Dane, won’t be able to go on their fabulous, free honeymoon. Instead, they insist that Olive and Ethan take their places and pretend to be the newlyweds for the duration of the trip. Unfortunately, the duo could not dislike each other more and are not thrilled about sharing the romantic excursion with one another.
True to form, Olive and Ethan experience their share of disasters (think of your worst fears materializing in paradise; that’s basically the gist of it), but they also work out some misconceptions they’ve been harboring along the way. Will Olive learn that there’s more to life than relying on luck and chill with her constant suspicions of others? Will Ethan prove to be just as douchey as his prim-and-proper exterior suggests? Will I never eat from a sushi buffet again, now that I’ve Wikipediaed ciguatera fish poisoning? You’ll just have to read to find out (except for the sushi buffet part. Impending danger is the spice of life)!
Can’t ruin this for me, Christina.
The ending is fairly standard as far as romantic novels go. I won’t specify the details, but as I said before, there’s a twist that lends some juiciness to the conclusion, thus making this a pretty great summer time romance.
I give it 4 stars!
Another great Christina Lauren book I recently indulged in is Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating. So freakin’ cute and I absolutely loved both of the protagonists!
Oh yeah, update on my goal to not buy any new books this summer:
I already failed.
I absolutely had to get my hands on The Cactus by Sarah Haywood (which I wanted to read months ago before it was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection, dang it!) and Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim. I’m declaring a restart of this challenge…NOW!!
Happy & healthy reading!
Lexi
