The Honey-Don't List — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Christina Lauren
Published Year: 2020
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pages: 320

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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.

First Impressions

I mean… do I even need to tell you my first impression at this point? It’s a Christina Lauren book. It was added to my to-read list before even reading the summary.

What I thought

While this wasn’t my favorite of their books, it was still a lot of fun.

Carey and James work together for two of the biggest home decorators in the US. Think Chip and Joanna Gaines big. But Melissa and Rusty Tripp’s relationship is not everything it appears to be. They have just written a book on how to have a successful marriage but there is falling apart. Carey has been working for them for 10 years, whereas James is new. They end up forming an unexpected bond when they are forced to babysit the Tripps on their book tour.

The interesting thing about this book is that it has a similar feel to a Liane Moriarty book. It starts with Carey and James being interviewed by the police regarding some event that happened. They then go back to the beginning to talk about how they ended up at this event but it is still interspersed with flash forwards to present day.

While I liked Carey, I felt like this format didn’t work for me to build a romance. I also wasn’t crazy about James and I don’t know if that’s due to the writing style, or if it was just James. I do like this book better than Twice in a Blue Moon, but it didn’t have that Christina Lauren spark that I loved in Josh & Hazel or The Unhoneymooners.

It’s not that it’s bad by any means. I enjoyed the book a lot and flew through it. I think I just automatically compare it to their other books and it falls a little short. It’s a little bit more serious than their previous novels.

I did like that Carey had a lot of layers to her story. I found her relationship with Melissa Tripp to almost be more interesting than the one that developed with James. The history that they had and the dysfunction that it led to was interesting and I would have gladly delved into it more. The relationship between James and Carey seemed like one of convenience and while James was nice enough, he was very vanilla.