by Kelly Keene

My overall take on this book is that it was farfetched. I bought it at the Tirana Airport which was a great airport, but this book was not the first book I wanted to buy, simply what was available. 

I did like learning about “Christina Lauren” who is actually just a pen name for two authors that work together to write books. I think it is so cool when two people come together to make art, and appreciated that this story never felt written by two different people.

The story’s initial conflict is that the main character, Olive, is unlucky, especially compared to her twin sister. Her sister, Ami, is getting married, has an all expenses paid honeymoon planned, but then the whole wedding, party, guests, bride and groom all get extreme food poisoning from a seafood buffet. The only two people who didn’t eat the seafood were Olive, and her arch nemesis, the bestman, Ethan. 

The chances of this happening, and playing out the way it did when Olive’s sister insists that she take her honeymoon for her instead of rescheduling, are bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. So once that happened, I knew I would have to pull on my “just believe this” pants and gear up for a wild ride. Luckily I was trapped on a plane with this book, and had to keep reading. 

The plot gets even more out of control when, of course, Ethan is also going on this honeymoon with Olive. They have to pretend to be married in order to get the free room. Olive then also has to lie multiple times to a company that just hired her for no reason at all, so that she can go on this trip. But ultimately those lie are nothing because her new boss just happens to be on her fake honeymoon with her. He and his wife are also staying at the same hotel, and so Olive plans a dinner with them to make this whole trip even more implausible. Not only that, but Ethan’s most recent Ex is also at this very small resort in Hawaii too, and they have to lie to both of them that they got married even when there’s no way the timeline works at all. They would have met, dated, and married within like a five month window.

Their trip to Hawaii gives them a few nice moments to bond and get to know each other better. They do not go to the beach enough, but some people just don’t get how great beaches are, so, oh well. They do have some naked massages and awkward changing room bathroom moments, then finally truth bombs explode and they discover that, surprise! They are meant to be together forever. In 10 short days, enemies become seriously in love, and it is when they return home that the story finally picks up and gets good. 

The best part of this book happens after the fake honeymoon is over, after the two leads get together, and finally return home to normal life. This is the real drama: Olive’s new brother in law, Dane, is a big fat cheating loser and nobody knew! Not even his own brother or wife. But Olive figures it out. She calls him on his shit, and nobody believes her. Not her new beau, not her bff for life twin sister, nobody. Oh also she gets brutally fired for lying after she finally tells her boss the truth about not being married. 

So yeah, with only a few chapters left, Olive is at rock bottom, and I couldn’t believe it, or see clearly where this story was going at all. But then, sisterly love wins out, and Ami decides to maybe listen to her sister, and follow up on some of these accusations about Dane. She pulls off an incredible meet ugly (what I am calling it when people accidentally-on purpose meet people they already know to their own horror and reveal love they wish was kept in the shadows). It’s a fabulous I-told-you-so moment, that ultimately brings Olive back to her sister’s side, and convinces Ethan that his brother is gross and lame. Oh yeah, Dane and Ethan are brothers, too, of course. 

The book ends with a nice flash forward to an eventual proposal, plans for a real honeymoon and a chance at love for Ami even though her judgement is awful. 

I don’t really recommend this book, even though I did enjoy the ending. It’s a mid-romance novel but it did get me through a long flight to LA from Albania so thank you Ms. Christina Lauren for that.