Book Review #112: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

I had this book for a while before picking it up. I went through a phase last year where I disliked (and DNF'd) every romance book I tried to read, and had pretty much decided that the romance genre wasn't for me anymore. But after finishing a couple of thrillers, I decided to try something more light-hearted, to see if my love of romance had really disappeared. 

When her sister's entire wedding party gets food poisoning, perpetually unlucky Olive finally has a stroke of luck - she gets an free trip to Hawaii for her sister's would-be honeymoon. The only catch? She has to share the trip, and the honeymoon suite, with her sworn enemy, and the best man, Ethan. But as Olive starts to get to know the man she's always hated, for the first time in her life she starts to feel... lucky.

I absolutely loved this book. This is the first romance I've read in years where I couldn't put it down.

I loved the character of Olive from the first page. I loved being in her head, and I loved reading about her.

I've never read a book by Christina Lauren before, but the writing had so much personality! It made me want to go out and buy all of their books. I really got to understand these characters through the way they were written - especially Olive. 

I love these two people as a (potential) couple. With an enemies-to-lovers story, one of the problems I usually have is that the 'enemies' part isn't developed particularly well. With these two, the enemies side really works - though I would have preferred it if the hatred was rooted in actual hate, rather than a misunderstanding.

Even though this story is about the honeymoon trip, I loved that that wasn't the whole story - we get to see them before, and we get a significant 'after' portion too.

Another thing I really liked was the side story of Olive's sister Ami and Ethan's brother Dane, and their relationship. I actually liked it more when this story was at the centre and allowed Olive/Ethan to take a backseat as an established couple.

The characters feel real and have distinct personalities, even the ones that only get a few lines every now and then.

I wish we got more time with Olive's family - Ami, the cousins etc. The chapters with them were some of my favourites and I would have liked to see them more.

While I loved the couple, some of their fighting felt a bit forced, and their third-act conflict was frustrating to say the least.

Overall, I loved this book. It has reignited my love of romance and I definitely want to read more of the authors' work.

4/5