content warnings: fatphobia, food poisoning, cheating
representation: biracial (white-mexican) chubby protagonist, interracial main f/m relationship, biracial (white-mexican) main character, mexican main and side characters, gay mexican main character

“Ethan Thomas is doing something weird to my emotions.”

Christina Lauren singlehandedly invented romance and we're so lucky that they exist. This is my third read of theirs and the third 4-star I've given them.

This steamy adult romance centres on Olive, quite possibly the unluckiest person alive, who is the maid of honour at her ridiculously-lucky twin sisters wedding. Amy's luck means that she wins every contest she enters, including one for an all-expenses paid honeymoon to Maui. But then at the wedding reception everyone gets food poisoning except two; Olive and the groom's brother/Olive's arch-nemesis, Ethan. Now Olive and Ethan have to pretend to be a married couple so they can go on Amy's honeymoon, and maybe they'll fall in love along the way.

I truly loved everything about this. The characters, the romance, the setting, the themes, the familial relationships, all of it. While Olive and Ethan are no match for Josh and Hazel in terms of me loving them individually, they definitely win in the flirty banter department. It's probably no secret that I'm a sucker for a good enemies-to-lovers romance and, oh boy, did this deliver. There literally wasn't a line of dialogue between Olive and Ethan that I didn't absolutely love, and I truly think that this might be the best banter Christina Lauren have written so far.

Something I'm also a sucker for in romances is some good family dynamics, something which Christina Lauren apparently knew because they delivered in spades. Olive and Amy's relationship was so real to me as someone who doesn't have a twin but does have five sisters, two of who are twins. And their entire massive extended family was so fun to read about that I was actually sad we didn't get more scenes of the entire family just crowded into someone's apartment to provide kind of judgmental but always loving support. This was also contrasted super well with Ethan and Dane's relationship, as despite them being brothers they're not that close and don't tend to talk about the serious stuff with each other. Seeing how the brothers fit into that dynamic was also super fun, especially seeing Ethan and Amy in the few scenes they had together.

I would say that if you're a romance fan you're probably going to love this; more specifically, if you're a Helen Hoang fan then I think this could definitely be up your alley if you want your even split of big, overbearing families and swoony romance. Now please excuse me while I go out and immediately read whichever Christina Lauren book my library has.