The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Synopsis (via Goodreads): Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Amy, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of... lucky.

"I experience a moment of pure terror when I imagine how mortifying it would be for our cold, wet butt cheeks to touch."

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

The Unhoneymooners is not a book you should read while putting your kids down for a nap. Laughter was literally bursting from my body, despite many attempts at mentally telling myself to shhhhhh! The girls would sit up and look at me, but I couldn't contain the fits of giggles. If you've read this, the Bathroom of Doom had me laughing hysterically! I have a very vivid imagination, and ohmygod that was amazing and too funny for words. I want someone to make a movie out of this book, just so I can see that scene happen on a screen somewhere.

Olive and Ethan have a rocky relationship at best, and also a string of bad luck crazy coincidences, but their dislike is based on a single misunderstanding (normally this bothers me, but the misunderstanding wasn't entirely their fault). It's a long time before they're comfortable enough with each other to discuss their issues, but the journey was entertaining and endearing. I loved both of their personalities, and how ridiculous some of their conversations were. They're stubborn, yes, but not unwilling to be reasonable.

This one is definiltely a romance, and there are some steamy scenes, but I feel like they were short and left a lot to the imagination. It really worked for this book, despite my lady parts wishing for more dirty details. Ethan seems like he would be very thorough, but Olive skims over the interesting tidbits. He's here, he's there, and then she's everywhere.

I loved Olive's family! It was amazing how connected they were, and how fiercely protective they were of each other. If one person knew something, everyone knew. It was also common for more than one family member to show up unexpectedly and just stay to talk, or cook dinner. I know they mention Ethan's family, but I would have liked to know more about them as well. Especially since Olive's family plays such a large role.

There are no heartbreaking moments, but I did feel like being violent on Olive's behalf. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say there was a douche canoe that I wanted to kick repeatedly. However, in the end he got his comeuppance, and it was perfection. It definitely beats the kicking and eye-stabbing I was imagining, although he deserved both. It was also nice to see people dealing with their problems by talking, instead of adding a lot of unnecessary drama.

My favorite parts of the book happened while Olive and Ethan were on their borrowed honeymoon, and I really enjoyed seeing the two of them slowly connect over time. At some point their dislike turned into a really solid friendship, which eventually led to something more. I really liked how honest they were with one another, even when saying something the other person wouldn't want to hear. It was refreshing to see characters that didn't lie for the sake of someone else's feelings (even though they did lie about being married to score an awesome vacation). They were honest about what they were thinking, and I think that made a huge difference. Also, Maui sounds like an amazing place to visit! If you're reading this, husband of mine, pretend I'm winking at you in a suggestive way.

In the end, The Unhoneymooners was a hilarious read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm excited about this book being released into the world, because I know it's going to make a lot of people smile. "...when you get to the backside, remember: push together, don't spread." I'm grinning like a maniac remembering this scene, and how it's referenced later. Also, if you're a fan of books with grand gestures, this author duo has you covered!