Five Star Fix is my outlet for raving about my favorite books. I am by no means a professional book reviewer, but I am always looking for passionate reviews of good books to add to my TBR and I’m hoping this blog series can be that for some of you!
SPOILER WARNING:
There is no way to rave about this book without including mild spoilers in this review. If you are curious but do not appreciate any level of spoilers, proceed at your own risk.
I always do my best to avoid major spoilers when writing these, but it can be difficult at times. If a section includes major spoilers, there will be additional warnings as you approach them.
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren is a lighthearted and upbeat rom-com that is perfect for the summer, sunny days on the beach, or a tropical vacation. Olive and Ethan are likeable characters with sizzling chemistry from the very beginning (although they themselves may not realize it). The story and their quips at each other kept me giggling throughout the book.
"He is so carefully balancing being generous with being passive aggressive that I am all mixed up about how big an asshole he really is. It makes it impossible to measure out the correct dose of snark."
Summary
Olive and Ethan hate each other… and are soon to be in-laws. Olive’s twin sister is marrying Ethan’s brother in a wedding strictly funded by the bride’s incredible sweepstake luck and the most impressive of the prizes is their ten day all inclusive honeymoon in Hawaii. But the bride’s luck abruptly runs out at the wedding reception where everyone gets food poisoning from the seafood buffet… except for Olive and Ethan.
After some encouragement from their siblings, and reasoning that resorts are big places with lots of space to avoid each other, Olive and Ethan decide that a week and a half in paradise is worth the mild inconvenience of traveling together and the teeny tiny caveat of pretending to be their oh-so-in-love newlywed siblings. While on their unhoneymoon, Olive and Ethan run into some unexpected people from home and what started as a little white lie for the sake of a free vacation spirals into a full blown performance. A performance that they realize starts to feel a lot more like the truth than a lie.
"Individually, Ethan and I are above-average intelligent people, so why are we so stupid together?"
The Plot
The idea of the maid of honor and best man going on a honeymoon when the bride and groom end up unexpectedly indisposed is just FUN. Is it a bit convenient that everyone got ciguatera poisoning at the wedding reception and left only the two characters who hate each other the most to take the honeymoon trip? Sure, but it’s also one hundred percent possible in real life. My education and career background are in food and meat science, so this plot development really tickled my fancy.
Another set of events that some may argue are ‘too convenient’ is when characters from Olive and Ethan’s lives back home show up at the resort and add another layer of depth to the lie that scored them the free vacation. It is truly a smaller world than people realize and stuff like this actually happens in real life. Plus, layers have to be added to give stories depth and keep readers engaged. I think these plot developments were the perfect balance of story convenience and real life possibility - just enough to keep the story fun but not put it over the top.
Naturally, honeymooners would be expected to stay in a room with one single bed so this forced proximity trope was not a surprise. Even so, I was still charmed by the authors’ (fun fact: Christina Lauren is actually the combined pen name of two authors) ability to take this component of the story and make it unique to the situation.
The last few chapters of this book do have a much different vibe than the rest of the story. The mood got noticeably more tense as Olive and Ethan got back to reality and had to contemplate how their relationship would work after their time in Maui. As someone who read this book four months after going on her own honeymoon, I resonated with that shift in emotions (albeit for different reasons - my husband and I already knew how our relationship would work, it was just hectic getting back in the swing of our normal routines). Ultimately, this stage of the book is where we get the quintessential romance plot developments where boy loses girl and has to win her back. You can see it coming but it still feels so good when it hits you.
The Characters
Olive and Ethan are one of my favorite main character duos to date. They click so well together and the lively banter between them is ~chef’s kiss~.
"You checked out my chest." "Of course I did. It's like having two other people up here with us. I don't want to be rude."
On the surface, Ethan appears to be tough and impenetrable by Olive’s witty jabs. But as the story progresses, we come to find out that he is a big softy and his trading digs with Olive actually comes from a place of endearment rather than dislike. He’s an honest and transparent king once they start to talk about the feelings they’ve been suppressing for each other and he really knows how to win a girl back.
"Think out loud," he says. "With me."
"I can hear you thinking about that one word and reading more into it than I intended. You look great."
Olive was, personally, one of the most relatable characters I have encountered in my reading. She’s sassy and confident while still being clumsy and imperfect. Like Olive, I also come from a large deeply involved Hispanic family, so getting a glimpse of that family dynamic in this story was quite refreshing. In different points of the book, Olive declares herself as an overthinker, a homebody, and a foodie. Check, check, and check - I’ll own all of these as personality traits of my own, thank you.
"I like my body. I'm never going to let someone make me feel bad about it or about cheese curds."
"$1.99 Mai Tai Wednesdays. This is thrilling as it is Wednesday and I am broke."
Other Reasons Why I Loved This Book
(CONTAINS SPOILERS)
This book was an excellent portrayal of some of the most classic tropes in the romance genre: rom-com, fake dating, enemies to lovers, and forced proximity. I devour books with any single one of these tropes and having them all so seamlessly mixed together in this story was an absolute delight! Miscommunication? Sorry, don’t know her! I was so grateful to not have a frustrating climax born from miscommunication in this book. Granted, there are lies and misplaced trust in the story, but no direct miscommunication between Olive and Ethan leading to misinterpreted feelings or actions.
"Maybe every time I wanted to smack him in the past, I really just wanted to press my face onto his."
The conflict that drives the boy loses girl portion of the story is not one that comes directly from Olive and Ethan’s relationship or their own actions towards each other. Instead, their relationship is influenced by outside factors and strained to the point of (temporarily) breaking. I was greatly appreciative of the fact that Christina Lauren did not force an issue like cheating, regret, or lying between Olive and Ethan. Their relationship was too fresh and a vacation in paradise is too perfect of a place to ruin with unnecessary drama that would permanently affect their relationship and create an unsavory aftertaste even after they reconciled.
"I'm trying to grand-gesture. For the right person."
BUY THE BOOK HERE.
The thoughts and opinions shared in this post are my own and are not part of a paid partnership or promotion. The quotes referenced in this review are the work and property of Christina Lauren and Simon & Schuster.
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Samantha H.
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