Scan barcode
A review by apalershadeofwhite
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
My thoughts when I first opened this book: ugh the cliché man who doesn't believe in love and thinks that all romance is doomed.
Despite this, the novel had a really good start. It was funny and had a solid set up for the rest of the story to smoothly take place; the conflict, the characters, etc. However, the amount of times I read the word 'unlucky' in that first chapter made me, as the protagonist would say, "irrationally violent". Otherwise, it was really easy to read. While I was turning the pages, I didn't realise how much of the book I was actually ploughing through. It was enjoyable because it was light-hearted and the banter between the two protagonists was actually believable
(Side note: do you think it was intentional that there's an aunty called Tía Maria? Lmao)
It's so funny that they hate each other so much and as a result they know each other so well haha. The scene in the lift where he says she looks fine and he knows immediately that she'll overthink that one word; when she gets the new job and she assumes he'll make a joke about her being the janitor and then two chapters later he makes that exact joke.
I was originally quite worried about the miscommunication trope, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't executed in a cringe way, thankfully. I didn't vehemently hate it like I usually do. I liked that they actually heard each other out and did it in a mature way, being adults about it.
I adored how close the Torres family were. They immediately jumped to see how they could help each other in time of unease or struggle and it's so wholesome to see. But the whole scene were Ami (tangent, but I didn't know how to actually pronounce this? Like Amy or Am-ee?) is just going IN on Olive (another tangent: her name immediately reminded me of the opening scene form Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging where Georgia is dressed as a stuffed olive lol) and saying all these things that she knows are her sister's fears in order to intentionally hurt her? She weaponised the closeness of their relationship to intentionally hurt her sister and it was so sad.
I assumed that the entire book was going to be honeymoon and it was going to be super dragged out, but the pacing was actually pretty good. I was actually pretty riveted with the story and I especially loved the parallels that the author included. E.g. something brought up in one chapter would be brought up later on and could either mean the same thing or something totally different depending on the purpose of it being brought up. I also liked that we got an epilogue of Ethan's POV! It was really cute to see things from his side finally. Overall, it was a pretty cute book and I could see myself possibly rereading it when I'm looking for a quick and easy read.
Despite this, the novel had a really good start. It was funny and had a solid set up for the rest of the story to smoothly take place; the conflict, the characters, etc. However, the amount of times I read the word 'unlucky' in that first chapter made me, as the protagonist would say, "irrationally violent". Otherwise, it was really easy to read. While I was turning the pages, I didn't realise how much of the book I was actually ploughing through. It was enjoyable because it was light-hearted and the banter between the two protagonists was actually believable
(Side note: do you think it was intentional that there's an aunty called Tía Maria? Lmao)
It's so funny that they hate each other so much and as a result they know each other so well haha. The scene in the lift where he says she looks fine and he knows immediately that she'll overthink that one word; when she gets the new job and she assumes he'll make a joke about her being the janitor and then two chapters later he makes that exact joke.
I was originally quite worried about the miscommunication trope, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't executed in a cringe way, thankfully. I didn't vehemently hate it like I usually do. I liked that they actually heard each other out and did it in a mature way, being adults about it.
I adored how close the Torres family were. They immediately jumped to see how they could help each other in time of unease or struggle and it's so wholesome to see. But the whole scene were Ami (tangent, but I didn't know how to actually pronounce this? Like Amy or Am-ee?) is just going IN on Olive (another tangent: her name immediately reminded me of the opening scene form Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging where Georgia is dressed as a stuffed olive lol) and saying all these things that she knows are her sister's fears in order to intentionally hurt her? She weaponised the closeness of their relationship to intentionally hurt her sister and it was so sad.
I assumed that the entire book was going to be honeymoon and it was going to be super dragged out, but the pacing was actually pretty good. I was actually pretty riveted with the story and I especially loved the parallels that the author included. E.g. something brought up in one chapter would be brought up later on and could either mean the same thing or something totally different depending on the purpose of it being brought up. I also liked that we got an epilogue of Ethan's POV! It was really cute to see things from his side finally. Overall, it was a pretty cute book and I could see myself possibly rereading it when I'm looking for a quick and easy read.