The Unhoneymooners

rating-3/5

review contains spoilers

this just makes me want to go to maui on a fake honeymoon with a 6”4 tall dude who i hate.

idealistic fictional scenarios aside, i thought this book was a decent read. Recently, I've been on a contemporary binge and that just makes me appreciate this chaotic, unusual plot even more. After having read so many books in similar settings, this felt a little out of the box and different in the best way possible. The premise and the vacation setting was also refreshing. While other books with a fake-dating, enemies-to-lovers plotline would have me swooning, this one had me laughing out loud.
The banter between Ethan and Olive, the situations they find themselves in, amused me to no end. the couples massage? the scuba diving changing room scene? paintball with a bunch of teens? all of it had me cracking up. Their dynamic feels so natural and spontaneous that you just can't help but smile and try to keep up with their snarky banter.

a few pages into the book and i was sure this was going to be a five star read for me, until you know.. the second half happened.


SETBACKS
the second half of the book was just not for me i guess:( it brought my rating down to 2.5 stars but the ending and the epilogue was kinda cute:) so eh. 3 stars it is shrugs in defence
okay so the things I didn't like:

⇢ the pace inconsistency was extremely disorienting. i don't know if it's just me, but suddenly there was just WAY too much happening. The transition from Ethan and Olive supposedly hating each other to being a thing is TERRIBLY done, to the point where i even checked if my copy of the book might have like a chapter missing.

⇢ they should've called the book the unlucky honeymooners (or the unlucky marriage deception? the unlucky game? not very original i agree)
although the different views about luck was pretty cool, with the number of times they mentioned luck i was just annoyed. sorry not sorry.

⇢ the ami - dane plotline
mixed feelings about this whole thing. it felt very offtrack; and it wasn't because it didn't focus on ethan and olive. I love when subplots and side characters are more developed, so i feel like i would've loved it, if it was done better?
the whole ‘everybody doesn't believe Olive because she's a pessimist' was just not it. It was literally a ‘he said - she said' situation and BOTH Ami AND Ethan pick Dane's side? like they just dismiss everything Olive says??? because she's not the most optimistic person?? um hello?
i was extremely disappointed with Ethan here:( he was definitely in the wrong and i find it weird that Olive is so easily forgiving in the end.

⇢The faux hatred
the reason for all this ‘supposed hatred' is dumb and the fact that they spent two years being snarky to each other without a confrontation is unrealistic.

⇢Rushed ending
After the couple gets back from their fake honeymoon, there are tons of issues the book tries to deal with: finding Olive a dream career (Olive conveniently decides to be truthful and is fired from her job so this can work), changing her pessimistic outlook towards life, giving Ami a satisfying ending, appreciation for her large family, her desire for love. And while i'm guessing the author intended these moments to provide emotional value, none of them standout or hit the mark.


Overall, even though there was a ton of ridiculous stuff happening in the first half, followed with a lot of set up convenience, i did enjoy it. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the later half and the book significantly went downhill for me there.