The Unhoneymooners

I had a tough time getting into this one at first but I flew through the second half. I liked the concept and it was funny and quirky but I started to lose a little interest while waiting for the relationship to turn. I was putting together what had been going on so I was practically screaming at Olive and Ethan to figure out what was happening. I couldn’t stand Dane. He was such a toxic character ruined so much not just for Olive but for Ami & Ethan as well and it made me so sad. In the end, it’s not my favorite romance but I thoroughly enjoyed it and for a fun, summer read, it’s perfect!

This book made me laugh out loud and was a fun summer read. I loved the dialogue and banter between Olive and Ethan. This is the first book I’ve read by Christina Lauren and look forward to reading some of her other titles!

Loved this book. I was laughing out loud. Characters were great. Haleakala sunrise view is a must see in Maui. Gotta preregister for tickets before heading there worth the early morning haul.

Sighhhhhhh. I honestly can not remember the details of the start of the book. But, because it immediately started with the food poisioning situation, I was intrigued to see how the story would unfold. More importantly, based on how the "hate" between Olive and Ethan was described, I was interested in knowing what could have been so awful that they can't stand each other this much. Ya'll......when I tell you I rolled my eyes so hard when I found out what Olive's reasoning was. I had to put the book down for a week. I want to preface by saying that I understand that Olive has insecurities about her body and that is 10000% valid. I also understand how that can distort your perception of how you view yourself and also how you think others may see you (been there before). BUT, if the author was going to take this route as Olive's reason for hating Ethan, it needed to be much more fleshed out. Instead of it coming across as a refelction of Olive projecting her deep rooted insecurities, it came across as "Ethan looked at me funny." It was giving Kindergarten levels of petty. The reveal could have been a much more meaningful moment if we understood how deep the insecruity ran, where it came from, or maybe even an anecdote of a painful memory in relation to it that expressed how much how she is physically perceived bothers her. And then we have Ethan's reasoning....sighhhhhhhhh. So if I am not mistaken (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), it was a combination of Dane's opinion of Olive followed immediately by confirmation bias because Olive ignored him for the rest of that day?? Understanding that this enemies to lovers book was based on a misunderstanding THIS flimsy made it difficult to suspend my disbelief.

Another important thing that I want to discuss that really bothered me was when Ethan broke up with Olive after she told him that Dane hit on her. So you mean to tell me that the love interest in this book that we're supposed to like and root for, dismissed his girlfriend's very obvious discomfort with his brother's "mix it up" comment. There was no inquiry, just immediate invalidation? LMAO okay. A real winner this one is. I could not help but think, "What if Dane did or said something worse to Olive?" I imagine Ethan would respond in the same exact way and that is very telling of his character and quite frankly disturbing. I don't see how Olive forgave him so easily. The only way I could see that happening is if there was a real heartfelt conversation had about why what Ethan did was not okay and why he couldnt do that shit again in their relationship, ever.

Overall, I just was a bit disappointed by this book. I wanted to like it, I really did, but there just wasn't enough believability or even relatabilty. I love a good romcom and I can ignore some of the silliness that is part of the genre, but their love was just not believable for me. There was not enough build up in their relationship for me to understand why they ended up together? Hence my complete confusion when Ethan said he fell in love with Olive during that night at the restaurant in Maui. What happened that you fell in love in 2 weeks ?? I can understand if they bore their souls to one another. But, as far as I know all they did was have sex, have a few heart to hearts to clear the air about their "hatred for one another" and that's it? I don't know about ya'll but I like to fall in love with the love of the couples in my books and it just wasn't there. It was just boom, bam, boom, engaged lmaoo.

2/5 only because Ethan was funny and charming sometimes.

4 stars