Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Honeymoon Crashers by Christina Lauren Narrator: Cynthia Farrell, Deacon Lee, Jessica Marie Garcia, Harry Shum Jr, Lee Osorio, Adriana Sananes, Stephanie Nemeth-Parker, Ines del Castillo, Kimberly Woods, Tim Paige, Jennifer Aquino, Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Series: Unhoneymooners #1.5
Published by Simon & Schuster Audio on August 1, 2023
Genres: Romantic Comedy
Length: 4 hours, 26 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Audible, Libro.fm
Ami is determined to break the Torres family wedding curse. Her own disaster of a reception ended with all the guests getting food poisoning, and she left her cheating husband soon after. But even though sheâs still processing her own divorce, Ami wonât let her twin sister Oliveâs day be anything but perfect. Olive may think she wants a private ceremony in Maui, where she and her fiancĂ© Ethan first fell in love, but Ami knows better and secretly flies the whole Torres family out to surprise the couple. Now she and her meticulously organized binder have less than two weeks to get everything together for the big day, thousands of miles from home.
Enter Brody, Ethanâs best man, who happens to be living in Maui and insists on helping with the preparations. His playfully elaborate schemes and happy-go-lucky attitude are the last thing Ami needs. When sparks start to fly, could it derail all her carefully laid plans?
What a great follow up to The Unhoneymooners! We get a novella which is audio only right now. As a recap, in the first book Ami was marrying Dean. She was enjoying planning the wedding and getting everything possible for a deal. Her sister, Olive and Dean’s brother, Ethan, weren’t well acquainted until they ended up on the honeymoon since everyone else was sick. So it was their romance.
Now we have Olive and Ethan’s wedding. In order to avoid the curse, and save money, they head to Hawaii to wed and honeymoon there. Olive also doesn’t want the family to feel like they have to spend money to go to their wedding. She also doesn’t want Ami to feel badly since her marriage to Dean failed.
Of course, Ami is determined to give Olive a wedding and again at a reasonable cost, in Hawaii. So she gathers up the family, and they all start arriving in Hawaii.  I love this big close family and Olive is certainly happy to see them. She doesn’t care about the trappings, only wanting her family there.
The story ends up being Ami planning the wedding with Brody, a friend of Ethan’s, who just happens to be in Hawaii and is going to be his best man (not Dean, for reasons!)  Ami doesn’t think she wants help, but Brody turns out to be a huge help because he seems to know everybody and be charming enough to get some great deals. Their planning is successful and lots of fun.  I don’t know why Brody keeps himself personally so hidden. Perhaps it is because Olive and Ethan asked him to help her and make sure she was enjoying it, or maybe because he just needs a break from his real life, which is why he is in Hawaii.
Definitely, this was so much fun, and I was happy to see the wedding. I hope this means there will be an actual series. There are plenty of family members available to fall in love and get married.
Narration:
I loved this with a full cast narration. I really enjoyed it and the emotion it provided to the story. There were two narrators from the first book here also. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip:Â HERE
About Christina Lauren
Yes, there are two of us! Lauren (on the left) and Christina (on the right).
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The #1 international bestselling coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced fourteen New York Times bestselling novels. They are published in over 30 languages, have received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, won both the Seal of Excellence and Book of the Year from RT Magazine, named Amazon and Audible Romance of the Year, and been nominated for several Goodreads Choice Awards. They have been featured in publications such as Forbes, The Washington Post, Time, Entertainment Weekly, People, O Magazine and more. Their third YA novel, Autoboyography was released in September, followed by a contemporary romance, Roomies in December, and their first Womenâs Fiction, Love and Other Words in April.
Lauren Billings (but everyone calls her Lo) has a Ph.D. in neuroscience and before she made writing her full-time job, would spend her days doing nerdy research-type things wearing a lab coat and goggles. She is silly Mommy to two littles, wife to one mountain biking homebrewing scientist, and an unabashed lover of YA and romance.
Christina Hobbs (but youâll always hear Lo call her PQ) used to spend her days in a junior high counseling office surrounded by teenagers. These days you can find her at her desk, writing or watching BTS videos. She grew up in Utah and is absolutely not old enough to be the mom of a 17 year old (right??), thinks sheâs the luckiest person in the world to write books with her best friend, and is an unapologetic lover of boy bands and glitter.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 23-COYER
I just picked this one up from Libro.fm and I canât wait to start it! Wonderful review!
Thank you Jodie! It was so much fun and I was happy to see the characters again.
awww I hope you get a series!!!
Thanks Carole. It looks like it on Goodreads.
Fantastic review. I enjoy this writing combo. I may yet listen to it. Glad you had such a good time listening.
Thank you Kimberly. It was just heartwarming and fun.
I have this one too and I’m really looking forward to listening to it! More so now that I see your 5 stars!
Thanks Rachel. I hope it is as fun for you.
This was fun! You loved the same things about I did. Wonderful review, Anneđ
Thank you Jonetta.
I’ve got the Unhoneymooners on my TBR list because my sister read and loved it. I’ll have to let her know about this follow-up novella. đ
yes it ties right in with the previous book as far as the characters.
This sounds like such a fun audiobook! I downloaded a copy and cannot wait to listen to it.
It’s fun and not too long either. Enjoy!
Can’t wait to get my hands on this one! Thanks for sharing your review!
I hope you love it. It’s really fun and not too long.