A fun little novella that fans of The Unhoneymooners will definitely enjoy. It's not a necessary read, but it's nice to revisit those characters. In this little follow up (that only exists as an audiobook), Ami is floored when she discovers that her twin sister is eloping on the beach. Yes, there is the Torres family curse to think of, but how could Olivia get married without her family?! Olivia and her family decide that they will crash the honeymoon and make her have a wedding. Luckily, that is secretly what Olivia wanted all along, she just felt bad asking her family to pay to travel for a destination wedding. Ami has vowed to plan the whole wedding in less than a week for her sister and she is thriving on it. she loves her to do lists. But when Olivia and her fiancé foist the best man on her things take a turn. A romantic turn. A fun audiobook with a full cast of characters and sound effects. ( )

this was fine but the full cast reading was hard for me. i think i would have liked this better as a book-book, although it's not available like that. anyway, what i did like was the nice family dynamics and how the characters seemed mostly pretty real. not my favorite of theirs, but not bad either. ( )

This is a novella of sorts, but it was written for audio only and is performed by a cast of voice actors (all very good though the person who voiced Brady did so with a Hawaiian cadence and pronunciation, and though Brody went to college in Honolulu he is from Minnesota and has been living in LA for years so he would not sound like that.) Really it is sort of a radio play. I am not even counting it as a book read. It was the work of 2 nights going to sleep time and 2 subway jaunts at 1.5 speed.

I have a lot of thoughts, there was good and bad here but it was sweet and sexy and loving, and that covers the most important things when it comes to romance. Add into that a joyful and loving family dynamic and it is a fun, if brief, ride. I'll take it. Truly this is more of a 3.5, but I am rounding up for mature, respectful relationships between real adults and smart professional women who kick ass in life and who still have friends (in this case cousins) who harass them for details about their partners' sexing skills. It all feels relatable (if not entirely realistic) in a way that few romances do.

Briefly, this is a follow-up to the Unhoneymooners, which I liked but did not love. In that book, we meet Amy and Olive, identical twins who are as close as can be despite having completely different personalities and lifestyles. I don't want to rehash that book, but in that book Amy gets married and her elaborate wedding goes off the rails. This is not a surprise to the family, all members of which believe their weddings are cursed, and they have the stories to back that up. Olive and Ethan (brother of the groom) end up taking the Hawaiian honeymoon in place of the actual bride and groom despite disliking each other (it is all a misunderstanding) and then go from hate, to forced proximity to love in what is usually my favorite romance trope. In that book though I did not feel it. Again, most people loved it and overall I liked the read. This book is four years later, Olive and Ethan are getting married, Amy is divorced and all the family worries that Olive's wedding will be hard for Amy (it is not, she is thrilled Olive is with a great guy.) Lots of things happen, including a hastily planned Hawaiian wedding for Olive and Ethan which sees Amy teamed with Ethan's close friend, Brody for planning and execution. Amy has never met Brody since he lives in LA and everyone else here lives in Edina, Minnesota. (In the last book the narrator kept mispronouncing Edina to rhyme with "Orangina" when in fact it should rhyme with "vagina." Thank F'ing St. Olaf they got it right in this book because that shit drove me crazy! Also, in this book they refer to "The Cities" which is correct -- no one in Minnesota or surrounding states would ever say "The Twin Cities" so extra points for that.)

Brody is adorable, and he saved a lot of this for me. I did not like Amy in the last book even though I felt bad for her, and Brody really helped to humanize the character. I want a HEA for both of them, and things are looking good at the end of the book, though the whole thing happens in the course of a week so we cannot be sure about that ever after. As mentioned though, everyone here is mature respectful, and open and they are actually trying to have a good relationship despite some challenges instead of having things magically fall into place. Overall a pleasant read. Christina Lauren rarely fail me, and they have not done so here. ( )