The Unhoneymooners

What's inside (8 sections)

1. The unlucky twin and the lucky one
2. Shrimp, speeches, and a nonrefundable trip
3. Pretending in Maui
4. Ethan stops being a cartoon villain
5. Sophie, Diego, and the promotion problem
6. The fight, the truth, and what I kept
7. Key takeaways
8. FAQ

A friend pressed this one into my hands last summer and said, read it when you need to laugh on a plane. I saved it for exactly that, a delayed flight with bad coffee and nowhere to be. By the time we boarded I was grinning at my phone notes because Olive Torres had already talked me into staying. First published in 2019 by Gallery Books, this is a romantic comedy about two people who cannot stand each other, stuck together on an island that keeps forcing them closer.

The setup is silly on purpose. Olive takes her twin sister Ami's honeymoon to Maui in Hawaii with Ethan Thomas, her new brother-in-law's brother and her personal enemy. Nobody gets sick except them, everybody else gets food poisoning, and the trip is paid for and nonrefundable. So they lie. They pretend to be the honeymooners. What follows is ten days of snorkeling, sunburn, free drinks, long talks, and one lie that snowballs until it nearly buries them.

I finished it fast. It reads the way a good vacation feels, warm and a little chaotic, with enough sharp edges to keep it from turning sticky sweet. Olive is funny in narration. Ethan grows on you. Maui does a lot of work. And yes, there are parts I rolled my eyes at, which I will get to, because the lying goes on a chapter longer than it should.

The unlucky twin and the lucky one

Olive Torres introduces herself as the unlucky one. She will tell you straight out. If something can go wrong for her, it does. She gets laid off at the wrong time. She draws the short straw. She clogs the toilet at a party. It is a running joke in her family, and she leans into it before anyone else can say it first.

Her identical twin Ami is the opposite. Ami wins raffles. Ami gets the parking spot. Ami lands Dane, a sweet and handsome guy who adores her, and plans a big wedding with all the extras. Their mother fusses. Their father grills. Their extended family crowds every event with opinions and food. Olive loves her sister fiercely, but standing next to Ami can feel like standing in shade while someone else gets the sun.

That twin bond is the best part of the early chapters. Olive is a bridesmaid, not jealous exactly, more tired of being the cautionary tale. Ami knows it and tries to pull Olive into the fun. She insists Olive will have a good time at the wedding. She saves her a seat. She tells her she looks great. It feels like real sisters, teasing and blunt and loyal underneath.

Ethan Thomas enters as the full obstacle. He is Dane's older brother, best man, tall and serious and allergic to fun as far as Olive can tell. They have history. A college-era clash left Olive sure he thinks she is trashy and beneath him. Every family gathering since has added another cold look or clipped remark. Olive calls him Satan in her head, which tells you the temperature.

Christina Lauren, the pen name for writing partners Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, writes this kind of friction well. The insults fly without slowing the story. Olive snaps. Ethan snaps back. Dane tries to keep peace. Ami laughs because she knows both of them are better than this. I bought the dislike fast, even when Olive admitted she also noticed his shoulders in a suit. Hate at first sight with a side of unwilling noticing, classic enemies to lovers fuel.

One small gripe here. The unlucky bit repeats a lot in the first fifty pages. Lost job, broken phone, bad hair, spilled drink, another story from childhood where Ami won and Olive wiped out. I got it after the third example. The point lands, Olive expects the worst, so taking a risk later means more. Still, I wanted the authors to trust me sooner and move on to the wedding.

Shrimp, speeches, and a nonrefundable trip

The wedding itself is a big, loud, lovely mess. The Torres family goes all out. There are speeches. There is dancing. There is a seafood buffet that everyone remembers for the wrong reason. Late that night and into the next morning, nearly the whole wedding party comes down with violent food poisoning.

Everyone except Olive and Ethan. She skipped the shrimp because she hates seafood. He skipped it because he is picky in that annoying way people are when they say they do not eat shellfish. So while Ami and Dane are flat on their backs, green and groaning, Olive and Ethan are fine and awkwardly sober at the after party that never happens.

Ami is devastated about the honeymoon. She and Dane saved and planned a ten day trip to Maui, oceanfront suite, excursions booked, the works. It cannot be refunded or rescheduled easily. Someone should go. Olive says no at first. Ethan says no louder. Then Ami begs, Dane backs her up, and logic wins. Two people who hate each other will fly to Hawaii and pretend to be Mr. and Mrs. Thomas so the room upgrades and reservations still work.

I laughed out loud at the airport scenes. Olive packs with her mom shouting advice. Ami gives strict orders about sunscreen and souvenirs. Ethan shows up in a pressed shirt like he is headed to a deposition. They agree on rules. Be polite. Stay out of each other's way. Tell no one. Come home and never speak of it again.

The plan is dumb and the book knows it. That helps. Nobody acts like this is reasonable. Olive keeps saying this is insane. Ethan keeps sighing like he is being billed by the minute. But grief over the ruined wedding plus free Hawaii plus sibling guilt is a strong combo. If you can accept one big lie for the sake of comedy, the rest flows.

Pretending in Maui

Maui looks amazing on the page. The hotel staff greets them as the happy couple. Their suite has one bed, of course, and a lanai with a view that makes Olive forget to be mad for whole minutes. There is shave ice. There are mai tais with too much pineapple. There is soft sand that gets everywhere and water so clear Olive can see her toes even when she is floating.

They split the bed with a pillow wall. They take turns in the bathroom. They agree to enjoy separate vacations under one roof. That lasts about a day. The resort is built for couples. The staff keeps congratulating them. Other guests keep asking how they met. Lying becomes easier than explaining, so Olive smiles and Ethan puts his arm around her chair and they play along.

Then they meet Sophie and Diego. Sophie is warm and chatty and instantly adopts Olive. Diego is easygoing and funny and bonds with Ethan over sports and beer. The four click fast in that vacation way where you share a table one night and then keep finding each other by the pool. Sophie and Diego assume Olive and Ethan are newlyweds, deeply in love, the real deal.

This is where the comedy peaks for me. Olive has to kiss Ethan for a photo. Ethan has to hold her hand on a sunset cruise. They practice stories about their wedding and keep nearly contradicting each other. Olive says they met one way, Ethan says another, then they cover with laughter. Sophie squeals. Diego nods like, love is wild, man. I could picture every scene.

The excursions give the middle its shape. Snorkeling with sea turtles. A road trip with hairpin turns and banana bread stands. A luau with fire dancers. Hiking where Olive's cheap sandals betray her. Ethan turns out to be good in water and calm in chaos, pulling Olive up when she slips, handing her his dry towel, remembering she burns and tossing her sunscreen without making a speech about it.

My criticism of this stretch is pacing. There are a lot of activity scenes back to back, and a few blur together. Snorkel, boat, dinner, pool, repeat. Each one is fun alone, but around the midpoint I started skimming descriptions of fish and drinks to get to the conversations. Readers who love travel detail will enjoy it more than I did. I wanted fewer excursions and more of Olive and Ethan talking past midnight, which is when the book is strongest.

Vary that with one honest complaint about Olive here. She lies too easily and too long. I get why, free suite, new friends, Ethan looking better wet than any enemy should. But she feels guilty in narration and then keeps doing it. After the third toast where Sophie says you two give me hope, I wanted Olive to pull Ethan aside and say we have to stop. She waits. That delay powers the plot, but it costs her some sympathy.

Ethan stops being a cartoon villain

The slow turn is my favorite part. Ethan starts as the uptight groomsman who corrects Olive's grammar and frowns at her jokes. In Maui, tired and sunburnt and away from family pressure, he softens in small believable ways.

He is funny, first of all. Dry and quick, the guy who mutters the exact line you were thinking. He teases Olive about her fear of reef fish. He loses at pool games on purpose to make Diego feel good, then admits it to Olive later with a tiny smile. He remembers tiny facts she drops, that she takes coffee with too much sugar, that she hates being called unlucky, that her old job ended badly and she is scared the next one will too.

His backstory fills in without a big speech. He felt responsible for Dane growing up. He works hard at a job with real pressure. He carries stress in his shoulders and sleep. He thought Olive judged him as boring, the same way she thought he judged her as messy. Much of their hate turns out to be crossed wires and pride, plus one old misunderstanding neither bothered to clear up.

There is a night scene on the lanai I kept rereading. No big kiss, just talking. Olive asks about his work and actually listens. Ethan asks about her art and her job hunt and does not try to fix it. They sit close enough that knees touch and both pretend not to notice. It felt like the start of every real relationship I have seen, less spark and more oh, you pay attention.

The physical pull builds alongside. Olive notices his hands on the snorkel gear. Ethan notices her laugh across the pool and looks away too fast. When they finally kiss for real, not for Sophie's camera, it has heat and nerves. The book handles intimacy with warmth and humor rather than graphic detail. A closed door, a morning after full of awkward sweetness, Olive overthinking everything she said.

Fair note on Ethan. His change can feel quick if you track days. Day one glares, day four forehead touches. The authors sell it with stress and sun and forced closeness, plus the fact that both were performing dislike for family audiences. I bought it, but readers who want a slower burn may find Maui speeds things up. Ten days on an island with one bed will do that, the book argues, and I did not fight the logic much.

Sophie, Diego, and the promotion problem

Sophie and Diego stop being background fun and start mattering when work enters the picture. It turns out Sophie works in the same field as Ethan. Worse, she may be up for the same promotion he wants back home. Olive learns this in pieces and feels sick, because Sophie has been nothing but kind, sharing sunscreen and secrets and couple stories.

Ethan faces a bind. If he tells the truth, that he and Olive are faking, he looks like a liar to a potential colleague and loses a friendly contact. If he stays quiet, he keeps networking under false pretenses. Olive faces her own bind. She likes Sophie genuinely. Every laugh with her adds guilt. Diego, sweet and oblivious, keeps calling them goals, which lands harder each time.

Olive's job stress runs parallel. Back in California she is between roles and worried about money. Her boss at a new position is strict about time off, and she already bent rules to take this trip. Phone calls home bring dread. Emails pile up. She checks her balance and does math on the beach. That money anxiety grounds the fantasy. Free Hawaii is great until you remember rent exists.

Dane and Ami hover by text, asking for photos and stories. Ami wants details. Dane wants Ethan to be nice. Olive sends edited highlights. Ethan sends thumbs up emojis that make Olive laugh because they are so stiff. Those check ins remind you the lie is not victimless. Ami thinks her perfect honeymoon is being enjoyed by her sister in her honor. She does not know her sister is falling for the brother of the groom while using her name.

I liked how the authors let Sophie be smart. She notices cracks. Olive forgets details of the fake wedding story. Ethan tenses when work comes up. Sophie does not pounce, but she watches. That kept tension alive without turning her into a villain. She is a person with her own stakes, not a plot device.

One more gripe, handled fairly. The promotion subplot resolves a bit neatly. Emails, meetings, misunderstandings, all timed for maximum stress right before the flight home. Real hiring is slower and messier. Here it snaps into place to raise stakes for the finale. It works on a beach read level, but if you work in a competitive office you may snort at how fast things move.

The fight, the truth, and what I kept

Back home, everything pops at once. The lie comes out, as lies in comedies do, at the worst moment in front of the worst audience. Sophie learns the truth. Ami feels betrayed. Dane is caught between his wife and his brother. Ethan and Olive turn on each other because shame is easier to aim outward than inward.

The big fight hurt to read, which means it worked. Olive accuses Ethan of choosing pride and career over honesty. Ethan accuses Olive of treating life like a joke and running when things get hard. Both land hits because both contain truth. Olive does use humor as armor. Ethan does choke when he should speak plainly. I sat with my book closed for a minute after that chapter, annoyed at both of them in the way you get annoyed at friends.

The breakup stretch is short, thankfully. Olive mopes with ice cream and honest talks with Ami. Ami, to her credit, admits she pushed Olive into the trip and ignored how weird it was to ask. Their sister repair scene mattered more to me than the romance repair. Ami says Olive is not unlucky, she is brave and funny and loved. Olive says Ami is lucky but also kind and hardworking, blessed in more ways than luck alone. I teared up a little. Twins who actually talk, what a concept.

Ethan does the work too. He apologizes without excuses to Sophie and to his boss. He tells Dane the full story. Then he shows up for Olive with specifics, not grand gestures. He names what he admires, her loyalty to Ami, her humor with strangers, the way she kept trying after losing her job. He admits where he failed, judging fast, staying silent, letting pride steer. It is not perfect, but it is adult.

The final chapters give you the wedding that should have happened in spirit, a family party with laughter and food nobody fears this time, plus a quiet moment where Olive and Ethan choose each other without costumes or fake names. No epilogue that jumps five years or piles on babies and houses. Just two people starting clean, with jobs to handle and families to face and a trip they will never explain fully to customs.

Who should pick this up. If you like enemies to lovers, forced proximity, only one bed, and vacations you can taste, this hits the sweet spot. Fans of Emily Henry's banter or Abby Jimenez's family chaos will feel at home. If you hate lying plots or need every side character to get full closure, parts will bug you. Sophie and Diego vanish faster than I wanted after the truth lands. I kept wondering how brunch with them would go.

I closed it happy. Not because life wraps neatly, Olive still has bills and Ethan still has a demanding job, but because both stop grading themselves against siblings and start asking what they actually want. I thought about Ami sharing fries with Olive at the wedding, Dane laughing with his brother, Sophie waving from a pool lounger, Diego ordering another round. It felt like photos from a trip I almost took. Light, bright, a little sunburnt, worth the flight.

FAQ

Why do Olive and Ethan end up on the honeymoon together?

Ami and Dane come down with food poisoning along with nearly the whole wedding party, and their Maui trip cannot be refunded. Olive and Ethan are the only two who skipped the shrimp, so Ami begs them to go in her place.

Do Olive and Ethan pretend to be the married couple in Maui?

Yes. They pose as Ami and Dane to keep the suite and reservations, befriend fellow guests Sophie and Diego, and the lie snowballs until it comes out back home.

Who will enjoy The Unhoneymooners most?

Readers who like enemies to lovers, forced proximity, and funny family chaos will enjoy it most. If plots built on a long-running lie frustrate you, parts of the middle may wear thin.