(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Olive and Ami Torres might be identical twins, but they're nothing alike.  Especially when it comes to luck.  Ami wins every contest she enters.  Olive has her clumsiest, most embarrassing moments broadcast on YouTube and national television.  She's not bitter.  It's just a fact of life that Ami's life moves seamlessly forward while Ollie gets struck by lightning (literally).  She shouldn't be too surprised, then, by her present circumstances.  As the maid-of-honor at Ami's posh but almost cost-free wedding, Olive is stuffed into an atrocious, too small gown, which is not making it any easier to make nice with her archnemesis, Ethan Thomas, who is—naturally—the best man.  

Shockingly, Olive's luck starts to change when all the guests at the wedding dinner get food poisoning from the discount seafood buffet except for her.  From her sickbed, Ami insists Olive take the fabulous, free honeymoon vacation Ami won for herself and her new husband.  All Olive has to do to take advantage of a relaxing week in Hawaii is pretend to be newly married to the only other person who isn't sick—Ethan.  She'll keep up the pretense when necessary, then dump him on a beach somewhere and enjoy her vacation solo.  Easy peasy.  There's only one problem—the more time Olive spends in paradise with Ethan, the more she doesn't want to leave.  Him.  Will the unluckiest girl in the world find a way to screw up what's starting to feel like the best thing that's ever happened to her?  Or has fate finally done her a solid?  

From its bright, colorful cover to its engaging, zany plot to its likable characters and humorous story situations, The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren is a fun read.  It's upbeat, funny, swoony, and just all kinds of enjoyable.  I definitely would have preferred a PG-13 version, but still, this is a witty, heartfelt novel that kept me royally entertained.  It's almost universally loved by readers/reviewers and it's easy to see why.  Next time I'm looking for a diverting rom-com, I'll keep this writing duo in mind.

(Readalikes:  Hm, I can't think of anything.  Can you?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language (a half-dozen F-bombs, plus milder expletives), innuendo, and sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find