Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Honeymoon Crashers by Christina Lauren

11 reviews

koistyfishy's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

3 Waiter Stars ⭐️
Spicy Level: 🌶️.5/5

I mean, this was a cute little listen. It had been a hot minute since I read "The Unhoneymooners" - like YEARS - so I couldn't remember much about the story except that Ami's sister went on Ami's honeymoon with the best man from Ami's wedding and fell in love.

So I was NOT EXPECTING that Ami to get divorced from her serial cheater husband and had a new little love story.

Ami is very perfectionistic; some would even say anal-retentive. She has a plan and a checklist, and her checklist has bullet points, subpoints, and prerequisites. She battles to let go, so when she decided to plan her sister's destination wedding in Maui in a few days, she knew making it perfect would be impossible, but damn her if she didn't try.

In steps Brody - the best man and local chilled happy-go-lucky surfer bro. He's been asked to help Ami plan the wedding and eventually and reluctantly Ami agrees.

What she doesn't expect is that Brody is a literal spanner into her carefully orchestrated plan, but instead of breaking the system down, she finds that his methods are effective, work, and are actually fun.

The main issue I had with this is I loved what the characters were saying, but I didn't feel the full connection. It was this weird feeling; the characters should be having AMAZING chemistry, and if I had been physically reading this in my mind, my mind voice would have been swooning at how perfect Brody and Ami were for each other. Now, nothing against the narrators because they are both excellent in their own right - something just felt lacking for me.

I think what that was is that some chapters had a FULL CAST and some were Ami/Brody narrating everything and doing voices for their counterparts - typically this is fine in dual narration books when that is how the ENTIRE BOOK IS - not when some chapters are fully narrated...I think this is why I couldn't find who vocally Ami and Brody were.

Trope Summary:
▶ Maid of Honour X Best Man
▶ Cinnamon Roll MMC
▶ Destination Setting
▶ Strangers to Lovers
▶ Banter
▶ Forced Proximity

Overall, a great little sweet listen and passes the time nicely while you are doing your own thing when you're listening to a book. 

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lovelymisanthrope's review

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I was looking for something quick to listen to, and I stumbled across this title on Libby.
"The Honeymoon Crashers" follows Ami, a perfectionist who is determined to give her sister, Olive, the wedding of her dreams, and to finally break the Torres family wedding curse. When Olive tells her that she and her fiancé, Ethan, just want a small, private ceremony in Maui, Ami does not believe it. So, Ami decides to crash their honeymoon in Maui, and throw Olive and Ethan the wedding she knows Olive actually wants,
My biggest grievance with this book is that it felt unnecessary, and too much like "The Unhoneymooners". Yes, the plot is different, but both of these stories centered around a wedding going awry, and a honeymoon to bring people together. I do not know why this bothered me so much, but it just felt lazy.
Ami is going through a divorce, after a disaster of a wedding and learning that her now ex had been cheating on her, so I think she gets a little grace in her behavior, but I do think she is far too quick to judge Brody. Brody is Ethan's best man, and an all-around good guy. All he is trying to do is offer help to Ami so that they can work together to pull off a wedding in such a short amount of time, but Ami is just quick to dismiss his help and try to do everything herself.
I do think Brody is good for Ami, and I did like her character development, but I do not love Ami for Brody. Ami has a lot of baggage that she does not seem ready to let go of, and I think Brody deserves more.
I had a fine time with this, but it was not super memorable for me. 

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katharina90's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

A cute but basic romane novella. The plot and characters didn't wow me. 

I enjoyed the added sound effects in the audio version but the full cast was annoying at times. 

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kelly_e's review

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funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Title: The Honeymoon Crashers
Author: Christina Lauren
Series: Unhoneymooners #1.5
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.00
Pub Date: August 1, 2023

T H R E E • W O R D S

Short • Cheesy • Fun

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Ami is determined to break the Torres family wedding curse. Her own disaster of a reception ended with all the guests getting food poisoning, and she left her cheating husband soon after. But even though she’s still processing her own divorce, Ami won’t let her twin sister Olive’s day be anything but perfect. Olive may think she wants a private ceremony in Maui, where she and her fiancé Ethan first fell in love, but Ami knows better and secretly flies the whole Torres family out to surprise the couple. Now she and her meticulously organized binder have less than two weeks to get everything together for the big day, thousands of miles from home.

Enter Brody, Ethan’s best man, who happens to be living in Maui and insists on helping with the preparations. His playfully elaborate schemes and happy-go-lucky attitude are the last thing Ami needs. When sparks start to fly, could it derail all her carefully laid plans?

💭 T H O U G H T S

Having adored the The Unhoneymooners, and even though I'd sworn off this writing duo after a few duds, I decided I needed to come back for this audio only novella. When I found myself in need to a quick, upbeat listen during the holidays The Honeymoon Crashers fit the bill.

I'll start out by saying the audio production was fantastic! With a full cast (although a few weird cases where it wasn't) and extra sound effects it was an entirely immersive listen. It really brought each of the characters to life and transported me to Hawaii in my mind.

As for the story, it was less than fantastic. Sure, there were plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and great vacation vibes, but I really don't think this story was necessary, especially having enjoyed The Unhoneymooners so much. It left me with a bit of an unsatisfied feeling.

I can definitely understand why so many Christina Lauren fans would be satisfied with The Honeymoon Crashers. However, it reminded me as to why I originally stopped reading this author duo. If you're looking for a quick, lighthearted listen than sure give it a try.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• wedding lovers
• fans of Christina Laruen

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sydapel's review

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emotional funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Cute novella, but I felt a little thrown off by what was read by a full cast and what wasn't - sort of wish they had made an decision either way and gone with that. 

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kb33's review

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Fast and fun listen, with a sunshine mmc and a “grumpy” (tense) mfc. Loved how upbeat and smitten Brody was. 

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beckyremillard's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I have a hard time rating novellas because they’re not as fleshed out as a novel. This one almost felt like a movie with the different different characters though. 

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jenheitland's review

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0


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livruther's review

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hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

this was such a sweet novella! the cast was so good! it was so fun💗💗💗 i really enjoyed!

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aileron's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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