As readers, we are always excited about welcoming a great new author into our world, which is why I am so ecstatic to have found Christina Lauren. My only regret is: why didn't I learn of her earlier?

Like Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, which I reviewed here back in September (you can read the review here), the characters in My Favorite Half-Night Stand have foibles and eccentricities that make them understandable, completely human, and lovable. Online dating has been the subject of books, movies, and TV shows, but in the hands of Christina Lauren, it is fresh and so very appealing.

Millie, a professor who's an expert on female serial killers, fits in with her group of guy friends. She doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve, in fact, her feelings are very deeply hidden from everyone, including herself sometimes. The guys have always accepted her as she was.

The beginning of My Favorite Half-Night Stand reminded me a little of a TV show I loved, which probably few people saw because it was tucked away on TBS called My Boys, and one of the actors has the first name of "Reid" so maybe the authors saw and liked the show too, or it could just be a coincidence. Poker may have been traded for Monopoly, but the drinking and jokes are there as well as the friends aspect. Millie is truly friends with these guys regardless of their gender, which is, here we go again: refreshing. That's where the similarity between the TV show and book end. The guys in My Favorite Half-Night Stand are all scientists, which, again is such a nice change of pace from the norm.

Millie and Reid, the guy she's been closest to, have a "half-night stand," and things begin to change, as you would expect them too. This brings me to the next thing I love about Christina Lauren. In the two novels I've read, the guys never act like jerks. They are good guys and any falling out aspect between the couple comes out of a misunderstanding, not out of the hero being jerky. How many novels have we read and wondered: why would she ever tolerate such behavior, much less want to get back together with him? None of that here. It's plainly obvious why she would want to get back with Reid.

Lastly, My Favorite Half-Night Stand is well written, intelligent, funny, compassionate, and definitely one of the best, if not the best romance I've read all year. If there were plot holes, I didn't see them, in this novel where the storylines are all nicely tied together at the end. This is the kind of novel you pick up, become immediately immersed in, and then don't want to put down when life calls.

If you like fresh, intelligent romantic comedies, this one is definitely for you!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There are so many things I love about Christina Lauren's books, the great romance, the swoon worthy leading men, the quirky heroines, but one of the things I love the most are the friendships. Their books have some of the best friendships.....ever. And My Favorite Half-Night Stand has to be, hands down, one of my absolute favorites.

The dynamic between these rag tag group of nerds was truly to die for. I adored them all. Their relationship, the way they interacted (both in person and through chats/texts), the witty one liners and pranks and truly the love they have for one another was just so wonderful and one of the things I loved most about this read.

In fact I would go as far as to say it was what I loved most about this read. While I didn't always feel the sparks between the love interests, I did feel them between the friends and that made the whole story worthwhile for me and one that stuck with me and made me think about all the wonderful people in my life that just "get" me.

Truly a fun story that you will quickly devour in a sitting.

Available December 4: My Favorite Half-Night Stand
***** 4.5 stars: Everything you'd want in modern fiction- with witty, real characters you'll fall in love with.



Recommended readers:

If you like Christina Lauren
If you like modern, witty writing
If like a good romantic comedy
Here's my Rankings:

4/5 for characters
4/5 for plot
4/5 overall
REVIEW FROM BOOKS FOR HER:
Millie Morris is a guy's girl: A professor and female-serial-killer expert who has the best group of friends who happen to all be guys. Maybe her guy friends are great because she doesn't like people to dig too deep or get to close - but when she and her guy friend Reid Campbell accidentally hook up, they both step back and decide to remain friends. But when the friend group decides to join an online dating site to get some dates to the university's upcoming gala, Millie comes up with a fake profile that allows her to really open up.

My Favorite Half-Night Stand is an awesome fiction and modern retelling of the classic mistaken-identity romantic fiction. Christina Lauren's newest fiction captures the hilarity of online dating - and dating after college perfectly - while pulling you in with believable characters and sad circumstances. I loved their writing duo's latest fiction for it's wittiness, characters in a classic storyline.

Available December 4: My Favorite Half-Night Stand

Thank you netgalley, gallery books and Christina Lauren for my free #arc copy of My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren.

I’m a super sucker for friends to lovers story and this for the bill.

Millie Morris is Criminology professor at UCSB, who specializes in female serial killers. She has a great group of colleagues and friends that happen to be all men. But one night Reid Campbell, her best friend spend an unforgettable night together. Determined to keep their friendship from changing they decided to pretend it didn’t happen. Now the group of friends decided to try online dating together, but when Mille isn’t getting the quality matches everyone else is she creates a new profile “Catherine”. Soon Catherine and Reid match and when a joke turns into more Mille has some big decisions to make.

I loved this one. Not only am I a sucker for friends to lovers but I love a good rom com. I laughed and had a permanent smile on my face. Reid was super sweet 😍, emotionally available and had it all going on. I enjoyed Mille’s character too - serial killer expert- need I say more. I definitely recommend this one! All the stars I can see myself rereading this one soon.

Have you added this one to your list yet? Check out this book on its Dec 4th release date!

Rating:📚📚📚📚📚/5

I loved Millie and Reid. Such a fun story. Christina Lauren never disappoint.
Thanks for the review copy netgalley.

Millie is a professor and single, but with a huge bonus in the form of four friends (Reid, Ed, Alex and Chris) and the five are nearly inseparable – sharing meals, game nights, woes about students and the academic treadmill, and provide support and laughs for one another in equal measure. In fact, their relationships are so solidly present, that you want to join in their fun – and there’s no real awkwardness with Millie being the only girl – she’s more ‘boy’ than the boys – carefully constraining and containing her emotions and hopes for herself beyond work, even being rather tone-deaf to just how she comes across to men who may be interested. One should never mix drinks and Monopoly, particularly when the drinks have her looking at Reid in a whole new light: he’s sexy, caring and one look leads to one hot connection – that just can’t happen again as they both fear losing the friendship they have and messing up their group. But, there’s a major event and while they’d all normally go stag and hang together in their own little ‘gang’, it’s decided they all should find dates – and what better way than to sign up with an on-line profile. As long as Millie helps them with what to say that is…….

And Millie does, taking rather ‘resume-like’ profiles and creates something far more honest for each of the guys – something that she believes will have women lining up. Surprising to everyone, as Millie seems to be the least romantic or emotionally connected member of their little group. What she fails to see is that her own profile, her first and carefully constructed, rather stiff and formal addition to the site is wholly unemotional and lacks the honesty and openness, or appearance of openness and willingness to trust in another human being. When the boy’s are getting multiple hits and successes, hers is far less viewed, let alone interacted with – so she creates one that is everything she wishes she could be – a fake profile with an arty photo – and near instantly it is Reid in her inbox. Just what is a girl to do – since she knows they get on like a house on fire, there’s no real ‘getting to know you’ dangers there – but the biggest and most scary moments will be in allowing herself to be vulnerable and taking that chance.

Such fun – each of the characters are wonderfully presented, and their friendships – between one another and within the group is marvelous. With plenty of good-natured teasing, lots of laughs and an underlying contentment with their situation as it stands, even as they worry about finding themselves years later still texting, playing board games and single, together yet separate. The relationship between Reid and Millie displays subtle changes, never quite hitting you (or them) over the head, but allowing the bone-deep surety that they have in knowing one another so well to slowly drop the ‘friends only’ veil and allow them to take a chance for more. Alternating moments of pure emotion with laugh out loud dialogue, some very witty retellings of moments and the slow growth of Millie’s character into someone who accepts and allows her emotions to inform her choices, this is another in the long list of titles by this author that brings people you want to know in situations you can relate to – all to a happy conclusion.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-a8U/” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

Millie Morris loves her group of friends. They are the greatest guys she has ever known, who are all ridiculously smart, funny and they share the most uncomplicated of friendships. So when she and her BFF Reid cross the line of friendship to friends-who-have-seen-each-other-naked, uncomplicated might just be a memory that they both share...

Reid Campbell views Millie as one of his closest friends, but her aversion to ever showing anything deeper in the feelings department quickly derails them having anything more than their one half-night stand. 

Moving on in friendship and deciding as a group to try their hands at online dating, the saga of Millie and Reid is just getting started... and their complex feelings are about to get in the way of the friendship they cherish so much...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Favorite Half-Night Stand is another refreshing and incomparable story from the magnificent writing duo, Christina Lauren. Hilarious, heartfelt and highly entertaining, I fell in love with Reid, Millie and their devoted group of scholarly friends.

Millie is the lone woman and comic relief in her steadfast group of friends. While her tendency to be quick with a quip keeps her from getting too deep when people ask personal questions, she starts to realize that her failure to reveal her true feelings may be keeping her from the life, and love that she wants. 

Reid has always put his work before anything else, much to the detriment of his personal life. When he and Millie spend the night together, it opens his eyes to the possibility of having something more with a woman who already means so much to him. But, when she keeps him at arms length, he follows her lead and moves on from the connection they shared. 

The dilemma: Millie, Reid and the rest of the crew decide as a group to try online dating, but those pesky unresolved feelings between Mille and Reid are suddenly under a magnifying glass when the prospect of losing each other to a real life relationship is suddenly a very real possibility.

I absolutely loved this book!! From the effortless group friendship, to Millie and Reid's journey to their well deserved HEA. I found myself at one moment laughing, and the next in tears throughout this one of a kind story. 

Mille was such a great character, with her quirky love of all things female serial killer, to her realization of her struggle at being open with the ones she loves. She has some real work to do on getting herself in a place where she can be more than just the girl who deflects with a quick joke. 

And who couldn't love Reid, with his devotion to Millie, where he wants more, but is constantly disappointed with only getting from her what is seemingly at the surface. He was a strong character, who loved his family and friends endlessly, and who at this point in his life, finds himself ready to find a deep connection with a woman, whether it ends up being his best friend, or not.  

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest and unbiased review.

3.5 Stars
I had some mixed feelings about this one. If I was willing to put on blinders, and not look too hard at it, this was a cute and sweet friends to lovers. But really, Millie is 29 and has the emotional maturity of a 12 year old. And I wanted more out of the rest of the gang. And really, the end was both predictable and too quickly resolved. I would have enjoyed an epilogue. So not horrible, but not my favorite either.

My Favorite Half-Night Stand is the third book I’ve read from Christina Lauren. If you don’t know about Christina Lauren, it’s actually two authors Christina and Lauren. Their newest contemporary romance novel follows Millie and her four single guy friends who make a pact to find dates online for an event that will contain a world-class speaker. Millie seems to have more success matching her single guy friends with dates, but doesn’t seem to have any success of her own. Well that is until she decides to make a fictional dating profile and matches up with someone she talks to everyday in real life. Overall, I was pretty disappointed in this book. I usually love Christina Lauren books, but this one just didn’t cut it. The main characters, Millie and Reid, are so unlikable. The authors say they are in their late 20s and early 30s, but they act so immature for their age. Even though there are alternative perspectives of each main character, I didn’t really see a huge distinction between the two. There are parts of the story that don’t flow as well. The ending was rushed and not well thought out. Not to spoil anything, but it seemed the authors were trying to wrap everything up on a nice bow of a pile of a mess. I would recommend skipping this book as Christina Lauren have other great contemporary romance novels to check out like Dating You Hating You and Josh and Hazel’s Guide To Not Dating.

Another great book from these two, I absolutely loved it. It is full of emotions and laughter. The characters were amazing, I truly loved them all. Reid and Millie have been best friends for the last two years and suddenly they find themselves attracted to one another. The progress of their relationship is like a slow burn and towards the end full of emotional turmoil. I can't wait to read more from these two.

I only recently discovered CL when I read Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating so I’ve been so looking forward to reading another one of their books mainly to see if I would love it just as much, or if it was just a one off. So thrilled to report that I absolutely adored this one just as much and will now read anything this dynamic duo puts out!

One thing I’ve noticed about CL books now is that while the tropes they use may seem like old news the way they execute is anything but. Their books have such a modern and fresh feel to them, totally hip and current feeling and what I can only assume is a very accurate look at the world of dating today. Millie and Reid are the best of friends who have never crossed the line into more than friends, mostly due to Millie being totally afraid of intimacy and going “deep” with pretty much any one. While I really liked them both, Millie was my fave, she’s a little quirky with an amazing sense of humor, truly one of the guys which is so my type of girl.

The world of online dating is totally terrifying to me, I can’t even imagine trying to navigate it and this book had plenty of hilarious moments based on dating apps alone. I also liked that this one focused on a whole group of friends, the super tight knit kind who give each other a hard time but also have each other’s backs no matter what. This was sexy and sweet, a combination that always slays me and left me feeling happy and light!

My Favorite Half Night Stand in three words: Saucy, Funny and Cute.

If you’re looking for a light, funny and engaging read, then look no further!

This book reads like a favorite chick-flick. (I hope there’s a movie in the making!). I spent half my time envisioning every scene, trying to cast the characters! (Renee Zellweger, Amy Adams or Anna Kendrick?) Ha! Maybe I missed my calling and should have been a casting director!

Who says friends of the opposite sex can’t stay “just friends?”
So what happens if maybe there’s moment of weakness? Just a slip one night...or should I say a half night? Can you go back to being just friends?

The laugh-out-loud antics are plentiful as Millie, and her group of academic friends dip their toes into the dating world through an online dating app.

What if everything you’ve been looking for is right there in front of you? Would you even recognize it? Would you take the chance and risk it all?

This was such a fun and refreshing read. It may be billed as a romance but don’t let that turn you away. It‘s just an all-around feel good book guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face and maybe a tear in your eye. So grab your popcorn and settle in! I heartily recommend.

This was a super fun buddy read with Susanne that left both of us smiling ear to ear and looking for our next Rom-Com read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery,Threshold,Pocket Books and Christina Lauren for an ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

It's a miracle this book survived. Y'all, I am in a reading drought. And as the moniker indicates - I can get angry about books/reading. This drought has me crabby. In one day I started books. Got anywhere between 2% and 20% before my eyes rolled back in my head and I wanted to smash something. (It doesn't help that I just started Peaky Blinders on Netflix and could eat Tommy Shelby up with a spoon). However, I need to read my ARCs. Even if my inhuman misery means that the book isn't going to get a fair shot. I do try to take my crabby into account when I'm reading/reviewing though. So here goes.

I read this in one sitting. It was cute and sweet. Easily connectable once you sort through all of the characters. The H and h are 2 in a group of 5 friends. The others play a significant role in the romance, and that required me to match names with personalities as things went down.

I liked that this was a new, fresh feel on two friends falling for one another. There was awkward after their hook-up, but it didn't feel like stilted book awkward. It didn't feel like what an author thinks awkward should feel like. As I was reading I could completely see and appreciate the scenarios in front of me. Millie and Reid kept me engaged and on my toes.

I took away a star bc - lying. Which isn't really fair since the blurb says that Millie lies to Reid - so I went in knowing it was a lying book. How do I get to take a star off for that? Well, life aint fair, kid. I will say that for a book with lying as a plot point (I cannot stress how much I loathe a book where people lie to one another but are supposed to be in love/building a relationship) this one faired better than anticipated. It may have taken my crabby ass a while, but by 46% I was invested and no longer impatient.

I'm not saying that CLo broke the slump, but it was nice to enjoy a book for the first time in the last 10 days. #CrabbyReader

Oh my gosh.... I have officially become addicted to these authors!

My Favorite Half- Night Stand was sassy, sweet, funny, and just the right amount of romance. I loved this!! I can see why so many fans are googo gaga over these duo writers!

Loved the premise behind this story! You "meet" your best friend on a dating site and he doesn't it's you until you both have fallen for one another? Can their relationship ever truly become real?

I especially had fun with this one... because I'm very familiar with online dating. I met my fiance off of it but man haha hearing some of the profile "duds".. I was thinking that happened to me!!! lol.

I absolutely loved all the characters... especially Millie. Millie is a professor and hangs around her best group of guy friends Alex, Chris, Reid, and Ed. They all love to goof around, drink, party, and just be their foursome. The problem is that they've all been stuck in this rut of not dating so they all decide to take on online dating. But of course, one night Millie had too much to drink and ended up having a "half night stand" with Reid. They both are wondering what have we done? Can we still be friends with this mix haha?

Things become a bit complicated when the online dating rounds begin with all four of them trying to find a date to this black-tie event for their university. Yikes ;).

I absolutely loved this one! I couldn't get enough of the feels and was sad to see it end. Thank you to Melissa for pushing me towards experiencing these authors! I feel a binge coming on for all their previous books :).

5 sassy stars for this one!

Huge thank you to Netgalley and Gallery, Threshold Pocket Books for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date: 12/4/18
Published to GR: 11/15/18

Review of My Favorite Half-Night Stand (Kindle Edition)
Rating
3 of 5 stars
Shelves read edit
Format Kindle Edition edit
Status
November 14, 2018 – Shelved
Finished Reading Add a date
Review Received from NetGalley for review.

Three out of five stars. I would add a half if I could. An epilogue further down the road could’ve changed the rating.

I’m still on the fence with this one. Maybe it was just me.
The characters in this book are highly educated thirty somethings, they remind me of a tv show. It starts off as a one night stand, or half night stand. The tight knit group are looking for dates. They proceed to online dating. One is not truthful and starts to snowball. Millie has things going on in her personal life and she keeps this to herself. Reid is a nice guy with good qualities. I don’t understand why the secret Millie’s keeping must be secretive to her friends. Her close friends. I wouldn’t tell everybody I meet but these are your friends.

There are funny parts, not all heavy. I love Reid’s mom. I may reread this and change my mind on the rating. It wasn’t like Roomies, I devoured that book. Good characters just not liking the choices Millie, givien her age, made.

I love the books by these two authors but this one wasn’t my favorite. I will read future books though. (less)

I was excited to read Christina Lauren's latest offering, My Favorite Half-Night Stand, because it focused on love among academics at a university and because it would be my first experience with this extremely popular author duo. Unfortunately, this book was a considerable let-down on many fronts. I almost put it down in the first 10% when the story got significant info wrong about graduate degrees and academic tenure and the characters' subsequent ages, but I plugged on. The pace only picked up in the final third, and that couldn't make up for the reality that the characters all came across as childish and immature, there was little to no chemistry between the H/h, and the plot was quite unbelievable as a set-up.

5 Sweet, Sassy and Quirky Stars for this Uber Funny Rom Com by Christina Lauren!


What happens when “meet” your best friend on a dating site and he doesn’t actually know it’s you and you fall for each other? Can your relationship ever become the “real thing?”

Millie is in her late thirties and is an Associate Professor at UC Santa Barbara. Her four best guy friends, Reid, Ed, Alex and Chris also work at the University and they are all single. Their relationship is the bomb. They hang out several times a week, play board games, make dinner together and text back and forth constantly. Their messages are hysterical.

Out of all of them, Millie is closest to Reid. They are two peas in a pod, besties. Fun, flirty and fabulous. After a drunken night of playing monopoly - the two hook up - it’s just that all of a sudden she can’t help but notice how hot he is, his arms, his shoulders and yeah, his washboard stomach. How could she not have noticed this before? Reid has always thought Millie was beautiful, the idea of getting with her has just never occurred to him, not until she gave him that look however.. Once it happens, they know it can’t happen again and somehow, just like that, everything goes back to normal.

When an upcoming Gala is scheduled where Obama is going to be the guest speaker, all of them decide to go on an online dating website to find dates. Millie, being the sarcastic, funny and witty one, writes their profiles. Since her real profile isn’t as successful as the rest, she creates a fake one for herself and wouldn’t you know it, Reid takes the bait!

Of course, complications ensue! How fun!

“My Favorite Half Night Stand” is an endearing, comical, lovable romantic comedy. Millie is an adorable, brilliant, cheeky and sarcastic gal who steals your heart and Reid is honest and refreshing and is an all around good guy! I loved every single character, including the guys who were the ultimate best friends. This rom com was realistic and I loved that - it was not overly sappy or schmoopy and I never once had to cover my eyes (LOL)! This is a novel that I highly recommend! I have now read two Christina Lauren books (“Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating” being the first), and I can’t wait to read more - as they are light, fun and are all around great reads!

Thank you to all of my GR friends who have provided such fabulous reviews for this and who recommend reads like this all of the time, one in particular: Melissa, you rock my friend!

This was a buddy read with Kaceey! We had such a great time reading this! We laughed a lot and we basically tore through it on a Sunday afternoon - it was a fabulous end to a weekend! Thanks for an awesome read Kaceey, I’m so happy that you are starting to branch out! :)

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery, Threshold Pocket Books and Christina Lauren for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley, Goodreads, Twitter and Instagram on 11.14.18.

I loved this book. This writing duo is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I can't get enough of their storytellings technique. I loved Millie and Reid and wanted them to hook up right away. I couldn't put this book down!!!

After flying high and fangirling like crazy over Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating, My Favorite Half-Night Stand was a bit of a mixed bag for me.

Here's what I loved: The group dynamic. The friendships. Ed (Lord, but I am forever a sucker for the underdog). These were all the highlights for me. I loved the group texts and how this little group of friends treated each other like family. The teasing and the good-natured frustration with each other felt so authentic to me. I generally enjoyed this group and the way they interacted with each other.

Here's what didn't work: The chemistry between Reid and Millie. It was clear to me that they had affection for each other and were attracted to each other, but I didn't necessarily feel that. I liked them - Reid more than Millie for the most part - but I didn't fully connect with them. I had trouble understanding the dynamic of their relationship - how they could be so close, and yet not really know each other at all. It didn't ring true for me. And so while I appreciate this book for its big picture storyline, the romance itself was a swing and a miss.

Ultimately, it was worth the read. I never felt like putting it down or giving up. I was drawn to the interactions amongst friends (and actually wouldn't mind a little bit more from some of the secondary characters...*cough*...Ed). Ultimately, this was not my favorite offering from this fantastic author duo, but is still one I'm glad I didn't miss! ~ 3.5 stars

Anytime I lucky enough to get an ARC of a Christina Lauren novel, I die. Then, when I resurrect myself I make sure I find the perfect reading spot in my schedule so that I can savor the reading experience I know I'm going to have.



My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren was what I can count on Christina Lauren to give me--lots of laughing and swoony romance. I went into this particular novel blind and was surprised at how women's lit-y it felt, not in a bad way at all. These writers tackled some issues that I feel like many older young adults are experiencing and really made me think about how different the dating world probably is for those way younger than me. I also appreciated the familial issues that came with these characters--it added even more depth (and, at times, humor) to Millie and Reid. And kudos to this writing duo for making me crack up laughing in the midst of breaking and mending my heart.



I so enjoy reading their novels and am looking forward to what they release next.