A review by lezreadalot
The Honeymoon Mix-up by Frankie Fyre

2.0

My toxic trait as a fake relationship enjoyer is the fact that if the basic premise, the reason why the couple needs to pretend to be fake dating/engaged/married doesn't make sense, then I won't be able to stop thinking about it. And in bad cases, it can really ruin the experience for me. And alas, that was me with this book. The nonsense reasons behind them pretending to be married weren't the only things that proved a barrier to enjoyment, but it was a big part. Seriously, I read the line about the resort kicking you off the island if they find out you're single (and they won't make you pay the full price, so they're losing money) and my stupid brain just snagged on that and didn't let go. It's so silly as a business model! Caroline's PI job and the details of it were annoyingly nebulous, so much so that it was obvious what it was going to be. So many details were skimmed over, like both their past relationships that had affected them so much. They have to share a room but we don't even get the first few nights of that, just a bunch of hard cuts to the next day. And I just really wasn't feeling the chemistry. Their 'banter' felt more like bickering and I wasn't endeared. This needed to be longer, because we got so little depth to these characters.

I'll stop here before this review just descends into a list of nit-picks. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to, or as much as I've enjoyed the author's previous shorts/novellas. I'm kinda kicking myself for finishing it in the first place, but I always live in hope, and this did have its moments where I thought I would really start enjoying it. Alas, I didn't. I will say, this has great reviews from other readers, so if you're interested, please do give it a go. <3