The Honey-Don't List

by Christina Lauren

[Sam@WLABB]

The Tripps were America's favorite home designing couple. People admired their work and their seemingly stable marriage, but their relationship was full of cracks. With both a book on marriage and new series soon to be released, their assistants, Carey and James, had been recruited to keep the scandals from becoming public knowledge. Along the way, the pair developed a fondness and appreciation for each other, which turned into more, but would this relationship survive outside the Tripp bubble?

This was another solid rom-com from Christina Lauren. As always, I laughed a LOT, and I was such a fan of the book's structure. It starts after some event, which required police intervention. So, throughout the dual POV narrative, I was getting these peeks at what was coming up. They also including press releases, articles, book excerpts, and social media posts, which were well placed and really added to the story.

Though most of the book revolves around the quartet on their road trip, the stars for me were James and Carey, both of whom, were sort of trapped in their jobs. James was a well educated engineer, but he was struggling to find a new position, because his last company was shrouded in scandal. He thought a year with the Tripps would be exactly what he needed to make himself marketable once again. Carey had been with the Tripps since she was 16, and believed she would not be able to find another job due to her lack of education, and the fact that she was "just an assistant". In reality, she did a LOT more than the normal assistant duties, she just didn't get credit for it. However, she was stuck, because she needed the health insurance for her medical therapies.

The two bonded over this, and the ridiculous situation they were stuck in. They went from being enemies to partners in crime, working together to keep Rusty and Melly from any and all public meltdowns. It was fun watching them navigate some sticky situations, and seeing them form a team of sorts. There were many, many funny moments, with some even being of the slapstick variety, but the situation between Rusty and Melly made me a little sad. I hate to see something that was once beautiful fall apart, but at least something beautiful grew out of the ashes.

I really enjoyed watching James and Carey fall for each other. They would show their affection in these little ways, and they quickly became each others' friend, confidant, and champion. Obviously, there were some missteps, but I was really happy with the way Lauren resolved it all. The moments they shared were sweet, lovely, tender, and sometimes very hot. I do wish we got to see more of these moments, but I will say, that I adored all the ones Christina Lauren gifted to us.

Overall, I had a great time on this disastrous book tour, and look forward to reading more from Christina Lauren.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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