Lucky - My Review of The Honey-Don't List

Title: The Honey-Don't List
Author: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: 3/24/2020
Source: ARC from publisher through Netgalley

Carey Douglas has worked for home remodeling and design gurus Melissa and Rusty Tripp for nearly a decade. A country girl at heart, Carey started in their first store at sixteen, and—more than anyone would suspect—has helped them build an empire. With a new show and a book about to launch, the Tripps are on the verge of superstardom. There’s only one problem: America’s favorite couple can’t stand each other.

James McCann, MIT graduate and engineering genius, was originally hired as a structural engineer, but the job isn’t all he thought it’d be. The last straw? Both he and Carey must go on book tour with the Tripps and keep the wheels from falling off the proverbial bus.

Unfortunately, neither of them is in any position to quit. Carey needs health insurance, and James has been promised the role of a lifetime if he can just keep the couple on track for a few more weeks. While road-tripping with the Tripps up the West Coast, Carey and James vow to work together to keep their bosses’ secrets hidden, and their own jobs secure. But if they stop playing along—and start playing for keeps—they may have the chance to build something beautiful together…

From the “hilariously zany and heartfelt” (Booklist) Christina Lauren comes a romantic comedy that proves if it’s broke, you might as well fix it.

From the New York Times bestselling author behind the “joyful, warm, touching” (Jasmine Guillory, New York Times bestselling author) The Unhoneymooners comes a delightfully charming love story about what happens when two assistants tasked with keeping a rocky relationship from explosion start to feel sparks of their own. 

Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of long-time writing partners/besties/soulmates/brain-twins Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. The coauthor duo writes both Young Adult and Adult Fiction, and together has produced fourteen New York Times bestselling novels. Their books have been translated into 30+ languages. (Some of these books have kissing. Some of these books have A LOT of kissing.)


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The Honey-Don't List is by no means my first Christina Lauren novel, but it may be the most unusual. Not that the book was unusual, but the experience of reading it was. Ok, I'm not really doing a good job of explaining this so let me try again.

The Honey-Don't List was a five-star read from me when I was only expecting it to be 4 stars at most. Having read and liked other stories from this incredible writing duo, I was prepared to enjoy myself, but this went above and beyond. The title and cover had me expecting something completely other than what I got. I was expecting a light-hearted read with some zany antics and this was so much more than that. The depth of characters and the story completely blindsided me and I loved it.

As a fan of HGTV, I loved reading about what could possibly happen on the other side of the screen. I enjoyed the creative processes and the ways that Carey and James had to work together to make a successful show as well as work to save the reputation of their employers is so much fun. We knew from the beginning that things were going to blow up spectacularly, but it is so amazing when it happens. I feel like the whole story was handled expertly.

Yes, this was a little bit of a departure from the typical Christina Lauren, it was a welcome one and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

5 out of 5 stars

Chelsea Cutler - Lucky