Here is every review of the Christina Lauren books I have read so far, having recently discovered how deep their catalogue of books goes, this post will be added to over time for sure!
I have not edited these reviews, these are my reactions at the moment I read it. Use the links below to skip to the book you are interested in the most!
- The Unhoneymooners
- The Paradise Problem
- Twice in a Blue Moon
- Love and Other Words
- The Soulmate Equation
- My thoughts overall
The Unhoneymooners
A summary attempt
Olive is the unlucky twin, that is just an established fact, until the day of her sister’s wedding that is. Amy is the lucky twin and her aggressive competition and giveaways entry campaign in the lead up to the wedding has meant she’s gotten most of her dream wedding for free, including the honeymoon. The twin’s luck seems to switch though when the (free) buffet makes the entire wedding party, including the bride and groom, sick. The only people who were safe was Olive, thanks to shellfish allergy, and her least favourite person, the brother of the groom who has a thing against buffets.
Not one to loose out on a free vacation, Amy insists her (identical) twin sister goes on the non-transferable prize vacation in her place but to her great displeasure, Ethan was also offered the groom’s place. When neither of them will back down from a free holiday for the other, they decide to put up with each other for the chance of a dream vacation. They only have to pretend to married at check-in and then they should be able to go their separate ways (apart from sharing a room that is). Until Olive bumps into her new boss at the spa, where he overhears her being called ‘Mrs Thompson’ by the masseuse. They hope they’ll only have to pretend for one night longer, as her boss leaves the next day, when Ethan runs into his ex, who is already engaged to someone else.
Forced to keep up the act, they start to find themselves enjoying each other’s company…. is it the dream vacation, or could Ethan and Olive maybe not be enemies after this?
My thoughts
You know what? I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. It’s funny, I liked the characters and the male lead is not some grumpy, unlikeable asshole for a change. The female MC is witty, sarcastic and so real. Obviously, the concept behind this book is ridiculous but somehow, the author makes it work and it doesn’t feel silly because who wouldn’t take a free 10 day holiday in Maui? I listened to this as an audio and it was literally making me laugh out loud, I even had to pause it once while driving because it was distracting the hell out of me, where normally I don’t struggle to listen to audios and drive.
The Paradise Problem
A summary attempt
Anna and Liam married in college as a way to get cheap family housing, it was an arrangement that was made out of desperation and in their time living together they almost never crossed paths, not bothering to get to know each other. At the end of university they got divorced… or so Anna thought that’s what she was signing. It turns out that marrying triggered a clause in Liam’s inheritance from his Grandfather, if he stays married for five years it unlocks his full trust but if the marriage is found to not be legit, it nullifies his inheritance. So what Anna really signed was a contract agreeing to remain married for five years and divorce the moment his trust comes in. With just five months left to go, Liam’s family are getting suspicious about this wife of his that they’ve never seen and demand that he brings her to his baby sisters wedding.
So, Liam goes to Anna with a proposal, come with him to this wedding, help him get away with it, in exchange for cash sum now and the rest after they get through the holiday without being discovered. With a father recovering from chemo and having just lost her job, Anna’s not really in the position to say no, so she agrees. Flying with him to the private island where the wedding is taking place and suddenly finding herself surrounded by egregious wealth and scheming family members. They quickly realises there’s two big problems with this plan: they find each other ridiculously attractive and his family are out for blood.
What did I think?
I really enjoyed this book! I still think that Unhoneymooners is my favourite but this is definitely a close second. It’s funny, Anna’s sense of humour is fantastic and Liam was a fairly well fleshed out male mc for a book like this, we even get in his internal monologue of him having a chat with himself about being so emotionally stunted in how he communicates with Anna, even after he’s done therapy to help him express himself better. It’s a little bit reminiscent of The Hating Game but without the whole enemies to lovers angle.
The whole scenario itself is pretty ridiculous but just like with Unhoneymooners, the writing is good enough to make up for how that might ruin the story for you.
Twice in a Blue Moon
A plot summary attempt
On a trip to London to celebrate her 18th birthday with her Grandma Tate meets Sam, also on holiday with his Grandad for his 21st. They end up falling head over heels in love, Tate trusts Sam enough to tell him her big secret, that she’s the daughter of a famous celebrity, who is actually a deadbeat dad who cares more about fame than her. When he breaks her trust and catapults Tate into the spotlight, she decides to take advantage and use her dad’s name to jumpstart her own acting career.
Her career begins with cheesy vampire teen dramas until she lands more serious roles, this newest one is a once-in-a-career style opportunity and a chance to act alongside her dad, with whom (in private) she still has an estranged relationship. When Tate arrives on set she blindsided by the sight of Sam, who it turns out is the writer of this beautiful movie she was so excited to be in. Coupled with the strain of acting in front of her dad, could this ruin the biggest step in her career?
My thoughts
I really enjoyed this book and I’m not usually one for second chance romances. How they develop from hating, to reluctant friends and back into a couple feels very natural. I liked the nuances of Tate’s relationship with her dad and I wasn’t surprised by what he did at the end but I thought it was a nice, interesting way to create the third act miscommunication. I did find the section at the start, which was Tate and Sam as kids falling in love, a bit long. I know that the author was trying to create the picture of deep and intense their love was but it took a little too long for me. However, a thing about this I also loved was the secondary undercurrent of the love story between Sam’s grandparents, which is the plot of the movie Tate has been hired for and was a different kind of ‘giving love a second chance’ tale.
Love and Other Words
Vague plot summary
The story flashes between present day Macy and Elliot and their teenage selves 11+ years ago. Something happened that meant they didn’t speak for those 11 years and as they get to know each other again in the present day, we slowly get snapshots into their relationship as teenagers, walking us towards the incident that caused them to lose contact.
They met when Macy was 13, only just having lost her mum to cancer. Macy’s mum left behind a list of ‘rules’ or guidelines for milestones as she grew up and one of them was to buy a vacation home by a lake so that they had somewhere to go to get away from it all. On the day she moves in she discovers an awkward, lanky, teenage Elliot reading in her closet, with reading being one of the special things Mace shared with her mum, they quickly become best friends. As time goes on they begin to realise they could be more than friends but Mace is hesitant because she didn’t think she could survive losing another person, if something went wrong between them because they were involved.
In the present day, Macy is engaged and working crazy hours during her residency program. Her engagement was sort of… sudden, so when she bumps into Elliot with her best friend, her friend encourages her to reconnect with him and maybe heal some of those past wounds. Elliot responds to seeing her again by immediately breaking up with his girlfriend and declaring his undying love for Macy but she’s not quite ready to inspect those old wounds just yet. They decide to re-connect just as friends, avoiding the subject of *that* night all those years ago, until it becomes apparent that cannot just be friends, or, ignore the elephant in the room.
What did I think?
This whole book had an ethereal, endless summer holiday vibe, especially in the chapters that flashed back to their friendship in the cabin. It was also, coloured by loss and grief throughout, as well as sort of weary sadness in the present day snapshots. In the present day, Macy has also since lost her father but we don’t really know how long ago until the end.
This book was maybe a little sadder than I generally would gravitate towards for a fluffy romance book, it’s definitely on the end of the spectrum of people that prefer a lot of story with their romance/ spice. That being said it was a beautiful story and honestly, the rose-tinted first love part of the story that was looking back on their teenage selves was so romantic but so was the present when they are re-learning each other, baggage and all. Elliot is genuinely the dream guy, except for the big fuck up which causes them to not talk.
I enjoyed this as much as Twice in a Blue Moon but in a very different way, because they are so different from each other, except for the fact they are both second chance romances in a way.
The Soulmate Equation
A sort of summary
This story follows our main character, Jess, a freelance statistician who lives with her young daughter. She lives across from her Grandparents in the building they own and spends everyday working in a local coffee shop with her best friend, who is a romance writer. Everyday they see this hot, but arrogant guy, they’ve nicknamed ‘Americano’, after the drink he comes in and tersely orders, saying nothing else.
Through the gossip vine they discover that he actually runs a company that’s making a dating app, unable to reconcile this robotic guy with romantic-ness of a dating app, Jess pulls him aside one day to ask him about it. It turns out it is a dating app that uses an algorithm based on your DNA and your answers to some compatibility questions to calculate different levels of matches ranging from bronze to diamond. Since this kind of thing is the perfect fuel for her books, Jess’s friend insists that they go and sign up for the app.
In a shocking twist, the computer matches Jess with Americano, A.K.A: Dr.River Pena – the lead scientist and inventor of the technology the app is based on. Not only did they match but they are the highest scoring match the company has ever had and as this has happened ahead of the company going public, other people on the app’s team propose that they pay Jess for her time, as long as she gets to know River and does a few press things for them. With a kid and elderly grandparents to support, Jess isn’t going to say no to 10 grand a month, so she agrees.
To her shock, they get on incredibly well and the chemistry is instant. As they get to know each other and as River meets her daughter, Jess finds herself starting to rely on him, which terrifies her. Jess grew up on unstable ground with her mum and she never wants to put her daughter through the same. So, when something comes to light that throws into question their match and rocks the foundation of River’s company, it brings up both of their worst fears.
What did I think?
I really enjoyed this book, every Christina Lauren book is completely different from the other. I liked the main character in this, she was funny and interesting, plus the feral romance writer friend adds some really funny parts to the book. The thing I liked about this book is that there isn’t really some big third act miscommunication, they fall hard and fast, the conflict is based around this app and whether or not Jess trusts what she’s feeling or is it just because the algorithm told her too. Plus, whether she can handle relying on someone else after being on her own for so long, which is pretty relatable no matter who you are.
My thoughts overall
To be honest Unhoneymooners still remains my favourite but the Paradise problem is a close second. Each of their books feels distinctly different but at the same time has their particular style that I enjoy. i find these books very read-able with more on the plot side of the plot-smut ratio.
I will update my overall thoughts as I read more of their work in case my opinion changes!
Antonia Bernardin 