This is the fourth novel I've read by Christina Lauren. I really like their knack for storytelling. There's humor, drama, romance, steamy scenes, and more in each of their novels.

The Honey-Don't List was a fun read the entire way through. I enjoyed getting to know Carey and James and seeing them interact with each other and their bosses. Melly was a piece of work. Very much Devil Wears Prada. I don't know that I wanted to share a first name with her, but since authors rarely use my first name in books, I'll deal with it.

I learned about dystonia, which is not something I knew much about before. The story surprised me in some ways and I enjoyed trying to figure out where it would end up. The tweets reminded me of the kind I see about people from 90 Day Fiance, reaffirming why I would never want to be on reality television.

Overall, this was another enjoyable novel by Christina Lauren and I can't wait to add more of theirs to my queue soon!

Movie casting ideas:
Carey: Katie Stevens
James: Chris Wood
Melissa: Andrea Anders
Rusty: David Denman

Carey Douglas has worked for Melissa ("Melly") and Russell ("Rusty") Tripp since she was a teenager. They run the tight ship that is their remodeling business as well as star in their own reality television series, not to mention, they have a new book and book tour about to launch as well. The problem? The famous couple can no longer stand each other.

James McCann is a newbie who was originally hired as a structural engineer, but both he and Carey find themselves on tour with Melissa and Rusty so as to not let things fall completely apart, and make Rusty and Melly seem like the perfect couple they've always been.

It is so refreshing to finally get a story that has a leading man with a maturity level that is above a 12 year old boy! James, is a good guy and so smart, which we don't always get to see in romance books. He is so swoon worthy and I just loved him. Carey, is a little bit of a mess. She has very low self confidence and thinking she could never make it on her own tend to bring her down. Not realizing that she is in fact the one who keeps everything together. James and Carey's journey to falling in love is so sweet and crazy considering everything that Rusty and Mel are doing to each other.
I sometimes felt that Rusty and Mel's drama over shadowed James and Carey. It often felt that there were 4 main characters and two of them I could have done without. Rusty and Mel made me sad and I have never really felt this way with a Christina Lauren book. BUT, I do feel like "I get it." Love can grow from some of the ugliest circumstances. We see one story end and one love story begin, and that is the beautiful part of this book.

Dynamic duo Christina Lauren is back at it again with the Honey-Don't List. Assistant Carey Douglas and Engineer (cough)/Assistant James McCann are given a herculean task. They have to make sure their bosses can keep up their "happily married" facade long enough to survive their book tour in the age of Twitter and Instagram.

Married couple Melissa and Rusty Tripp started off as the real deal when they began building their design and remodeling empire nearly a decade ago. They lost each other along the way, and now they are lying to their fans (and themselves). Carey and James are stuck in the middle of two people who can't stand each other, and the two of them didn't quite start of as best friends either. Along the way, they'll end up exploring if there's chemistry underlying the animosity. And, they'll also find out what's more important - love or money.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Honey-Don't List by Christina Lauren was not my favorite. I loved her romantic comedies full of romance and humor. The expectations I had were high for this novel. I was so excited to read this...only to find it was less than what I normally found. Meaning, the writing was still amazing. However, the humor and huge romance themes were lighter. The story didn't feel quite as deep as her other novels either. I missed that huge emotional deep bond I got when reading books written by Christina Lauren.

This story wasn't as centered on the main characters quite as much as the previous books were. I enjoyed these characters and their journey. It was good enough to keep me reading. I just missed the big WOW I normally get after reading a Christina Lauren novel. Romance was still there, the need for the characters to be together and be happy were still present. Overall, great tale by a talented writer.

The Honey-Don't List by Christina Lauren was a pleasantly endearing novel. Usually I find CL a barrel of drunken monkeys to read but this book was different. While there were numerous laughs, I found myself in a different, more contemplative mood after finishing the last page. It was a refreshing feeling. I found an added range to the author duo which I thoroughly enjoyed.

What a fun book to read! Carey and James are assistants to the new home designer couple on TV, their job is to keep the couple from killing each other! Is too much togetherness going to work?

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

The Tripps are home design and renovation gods, known for their stores, merchandise lines at big box stores, books, and shows. Carey has been working with the Tripps since she was 16, working day in and day out to keep this empire afloat. Now everything is on the verge of collapse as the Tripps start to publicly get noticed for arguing.

This was very enjoyable, but for a romance book, it wasn’t very romance-centric. The romance just felt like it was more of a back burner plot and the actual fall of the Tripp empire was the focal point. I still enjoyed it, but it just wasn’t quite what I was expecting out of a romance.

I am really loving the range that Christina Lauren has been able to do. The Honey-Don't List is an amazing story that has you on your toes, swooning, emotional and all the things in between. Highly recommend it!

I discovered the writing duo Christina Lauren a few years ago through their Beautiful series, which is still a favorite. I found The Honey-Don't List to have a lighter, more rom-comy feel. With the popularity of married design/build married couples dotting the pop culture landscape these days, it was fun to read about a duo on the staff of one of those couples. Carey and James were so fun together and just plain charming, especially when framed again the backdrop of nightmare bosses Rusty and Mellie. After I read the book, I purchased the audiobook. Patti Murin and Jon Root were new-to-me narrators, and I found both fantastic. It appears that this is a first work for both of them on Audible and I definitely hope to hear more from them in the future. I listened at my typical 1.25X speed and it was perfect.

Good cute story. I really enjoyed the characters. I thought they were all very realistically written. It was interesting to watch a romance begin while another relationship was imploding. A nice escape during these scary times. I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

I loved this book so much! I really enjoyed the plot, the characters, I loved the romance! I just thought this was a fantastic book and really well written. Christina Lauren can do no wrong in my eyes! Highly recommend this! It has witty banner, a great romance with two awesome characters, and just a fun story.

So I would recommend it for anyone who is a loyal CLo fan, however, I found the emotional abuse and gaslighting from Melissa to Carey (boss to main character) was addressed, presented as bad and never solved. This left a really bad taste in my mouth because when you're a big writer with a loyal following you have an important role in displaying hard topics. I felt like they condoned emotional abuse in this book and said "it's okay when it's a Mom-like character, you can still rely on them", which is a really dangerous notion for a lot of people in triggering situations.

The romance plot itself was good and I did finish and relatively enjoy this book, I just can't in good conscience recommend it.

My first book by this combo author team was The Unhoneymooners last summer and I absolutely loved it. The Honey-Don't List was a cute romance story, but did not have the level of humor I keep expecting like The Unhoneymooners had. The two leads were very likable, but neither was flawed in any meaningful way, which just made this book a sweet romance, with not a lot of drama. All the drama was with two supporting characters, modeled after a Joanna and Chip Gaines type TV couple, but everyone's nightmare version of them. I will continue to check out Christina Lauren novels, but am hoping they will slow down their churning out of books enough to reproduce one that had the impact that The Unhoneymooners had on me. This one was cute and I enjoyed it, though. Thanks to the publisher for an advanced ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

Loved every second of this one! Carey and James are perfect in their roles as aides to spouses on a home renovation show, and when things get real, it turns out they may be perfect for each other too. But there is a lot more to factor in than just their feelings, and the author team of Christina Lauren hits the nail on the head.

This was so fun! I loved the premise of the design/remodel gurus and their assistants trying to hold things together when the couple publishes a marriage book while their own is falling apart. The two assistants, Carey and James, are fantastic together! Love the chemistry between them. The conflict wasn't too angsty (these days have enough angst of their own), but there were legitimate roadblocks the couple had to overcome. I thought there could have been more made of the sort of "learned helplessness" that Carey is living with, feeling trapped in her situation. In the end it turns out she has enough money to have made a switch, so something else was keeping her there. In the end, though, it didn't matter because I was invested in seeing what happened between Carey and James. They might be my favorite couple from a Christina Lauren book. (Language, sex)

[2.5/5 stars] Christina Lauren books are auto reads for me, but this one didn’t quite live up to some of my favorites by them. The premise definitely interested me and I really liked the main characters, but the faux Chip and Joanna storyline ended up being a bust because the characters were so unlikeable (and I love Chip and Joanna!!).

I wish there would have been a little more character development and relationship building between the main characters and less emphasis and details on their horrible bosses. It was a quick read and had some fun flirty moments, but it wasn’t for me.

"I am very clearly the Pigpen to his Schroeder."

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

First of all, I want to point out that the synopsis says Carey Douglass, but the story I read had a Carey Duncan. I'm not sure if it's a typo, or if the authors decided to change the main character's last name after the review copies were sent out.

The Honey-Don't List was enjoyable, but not my favorite book by this duo. I dislike it when the main conflict arises due to a lack of communication or secrets, and that's basically all this book is. Melly and Rusty don't communicate, Rusty is keeping secrets from Melly, Melly and Carey don't communicate, Melly and Rusty are keeping secrets about their business and Cary's involvement, and James doesn't communicate something that eventually turns into a secret. From the moment he said, "I'll tell her later," I knew it would be what came between their relationship. Nobody likes to be kept in the dark, especially when there's no reason for it.

I thought Carey's relationship with the Tripps was really unhealthy. I hate that she stayed with them for so long and let them get away with stealing her ideas and claiming them as their own. It's not really a spoiler, since you learn about it pretty early on (and it's alluded to in the synopsis), but it was a big issue for me in this book. Why didn't Rusty say something, if he felt so bad about it? How was their relationship able to continue the way it did for so long? How had no one ever bothered to tell Carey that she was in a parasitic relationship (before James)? It just wasn't believable that Carey spent 10 years of her life with these people, and they never fully appreciated her or acknowledged how she contributed to their success.

I hated both Melly and Rusty, so following them around the entire time was not a fun experience. Additionally, there's very little time spent between James and Carey, so it was hard to feel invested in their relationship. It was adorable watching them go from teasing co-workers, to hesitant friends, and then eventually lovers, but there wasn't really anything solid between them. At the beginning James mentions his sister and nephews, and I wish we'd delved more into their respective backgrounds. I thought their individual lives were interesting, and think more shared information would have helped them build a stronger connection. The L word was said way too soon, in my opinion. They've known each other for months, and most of that time was wrapped up in other people's craziness.

"Right now I’m looking at Carey’s face, thinking it’s like a song I’ve heard a few times now, and every time I hear it again I like it more."

I like home makeover shows, so I thought that aspect of this book would appeal to me more, but it's not really a focal point. It's always there in the background, but we mostly see the Tripps on tour promoting themselves and fighting. Always fighting. I think seeing some of the behind-the-scenes interactions would have been an awesome addition to the story. Their respective interviews with police officers started off well, but I felt like their questions led you to believe something bigger would happen at the end. After everything was said and done, those snippets felt unnecessary.

The ending really bummed me out. Carey still doesn't know who she is, or what she wants to do. James is back where he started, so it feels like everything he went through was for nothing. Carey's relationship with the Tripps is still complicated and exhausting to experience, and I was left feeling exasperated instead of elated. It wrapped up nicely, sure, but it didn't have any of the resolutions I was hoping for. (★★★⋆☆)

This was a good CLo book but it wasn’t one of my favorites (which is fine because I love so many others! 😂). I liked Carey and James’ friends to lovers trope but I just don’t think this book stands out very much. I will continue to read whatever CLo writes and am looking forward to their next one!

I chose not to post my review on Instagram because I honestly didn't much to say about this book. It had flat characters that never drew me in. Having two couples (one minor, one major) did the major characters a disservice as the minor couple distracted rather than added.

Not my favorite by this great duo. I still love Love And Other Words the most!