Book #100: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

What a cute and fun read to finish out my year of reading!  I am really hoping that this gets turned into a movie – it would make the perfect feel good rom-com.  But come on – can’t you see the trailer now?

Olive and Ethan are on their dream honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii...

Beautiful sunsets…

Sandy beaches…

Massages and mai tais…

It is the perfect vacation except for one thing…  they aren’t married!

So here is the story in a nutshell.  Olive’s sister Ami is getting married.  Ami won a dream ten-day vacation for her and her new husband in Maui, Hawaii.  Unfortunately, Ami and everyone at her wedding gets food poisoning from the reception buffet.  Everyone except for Olive and Ami’s new husband’s brother Ethan who end up going on the vacation because it is nonrefundable.  Olive and Ethan can not stand each other.  Craziness ensues.

Just a few quick reasons why I loved this book so much...

1. The lead character is a scientist!  Women in science careers – love!!!
2. I am a sucker for pop culture references and this one was full of delightful one-liners involving them.
3. Laugh out loud scenes that will just make you smile long after you have read them.
4. The story goes beyond the “honeymoon” vacation and talks about what happens once everyone returns to “the real world.”
5. Addresses the issue of always having two sides to a story.  I really liked how it shows an event can be seen in two completely different ways depending on personal views/history/attitude.
6. Addresses how actions lead to consequences – whether they are good or bad outcomes.
7. There is this conversation between Ami and Olive in which they discuss what it means to be lucky or unlucky and it is so TRUE and it was my favorite line in the entire book!!!
8. Olive and Ami’s extremely large, extremely loud, and extremely supportive/loving family.

Things that got on my nerves (but not enough to take away from the overall book)...

1. Ethan has a weird habit of growling when he is trying to be sexy.  I didn’t find this attractive in any way.  I found it made the scene awkward and a little embarrassing.
2. The epilogue switches to Ethan’s viewpoint.  It was a little jarring after reading an entire book told from Olive’s viewpoint.  It took a minute for me to switch my brain over.

Overall Rating: ★★★★

If you are looking for a quick, makes you happy read – I definitely would recommend this book to you.  I know that I will be picking it back up again when I am in the mood to read something that puts a smile on my face!