Three Stars for ‘The Honey-Don’t List’ by Christina Lauren

Three Stars for “The Honey-Don’t List” by Christina Lauren 
Publish Date: March 24, 2020

To Sum Up: Disappointing.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Canada, Gallery Books and Christina Lauren for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review of “The Honey-Don’t List”. My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Synopsis:

“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. 

Carey Duncan 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 a 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.”

Carey and James are the hapless sidekicks to America’s top lifestyle and renovation couple, the Tripps. Unfortunately, the Tripps marriage and business are a sham. The deceit of it all is important to keep going as there is a book to publicize (about how to have a happy marriage, of course) and a Netflix show about to come out.

Trying to keep it all together rests on the shoulders of their long-time assistant, Carey and newcomer and show engineer/assistant, James.  They only have to keep Melissa and Rusty Tripp from falling apart in public for the length of their book tour and the launch of the Netflix show. Can they survive being stuffed into a bus for weeks and not have a public flame out?

James and Carey start to get closer as they survive the Tripps’ dust-ups. James learns why Carey needs her health insurance to this extent and Carey finds out what happened at James’ last job. Can these two slightly dented souls survive the Tripps and find their way to each other? 

Christian Lauren spends a lot of time on the Tripps’ disaster of a book tour and life and not a lot of time on the romance of Carey and James. The Tripps are a great train wreck and you don’t want to look away but that’s not why you bought the book. I did enjoy the plot and the suffocating world built on the bus.  The characters were unhinged and entertaining. Although Melissa Tripp is about on par with Cruella de Vil in terms of nuance and Rusty Tripp has the charisma of a telephone pole.

The romance is okay and somewhat satisfying if sweet ( I do miss old school Christina Lauren when they brought the heat). I really would have preferred a lot more romance in this romance book. Just an extra scene or five to show the actual romance of Carey and James. And the framing device of the police report was a little off-putting. You don’t expect the outcome you get. 

So, I’m giving it three stars unfortunately. I think the idea of a mean, funhouse version of Chip and Joanna Gaines appealed to them but it just should have stayed an idea. I really love Christina Lauren but they’ve become a little hit or miss for me. I wish they’d go back to their Beautiful Bastard roots. 

Goodreads

So although I gave three stars to The Honey Don’t List by Christina Lauren some of their older books are very good. Check out Smitten by Lauren Rowe if you’d like to read a Five Star Friends To Lovers Romance.