The Honey Don’t List is the story of A married couple who have a very successful home decorating show. They are part of a staff of professionals they cannot do without.
There is a lot of crazy things going on that end in a huge show down among the cast.
It was an enjoyable read.

Christina Lauren's books can always be counted on to be fun, lighthearted reads that make you think about your own relationships. This book was no exception, but it also had many flaws that bothered me. I thought there were many implausible plotlines, especially how quickly the characters fell in love, and also how quickly and suspiciously neat the ending came together. There were also too many topic branches, and not enough focus on or development of the main characters. All of this essentially made for a great binge read, but not a great long-standing novel. I thought this book was better than Twice in a Blue Moon, but still was not the duo's best book. I'm still very excited for their next one and hope it's better!

Thank you very much to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I see that there's another Christina Lauren book available on NetGalley, I pounce! I generally love their conversational style and their truly modern feel. Carey and James are both overworked, exploited assistants to an HGTV-esque home redesign power couple. They have to manage their bosses' rocky marriage, book tour, and launch of a new tv show. And, of course, sparks fly.

While some of the plot points and background information about the characters felt a little perfunctory and the bitchy, manipulative, highly manicured boss character verged a bit on a kind of sexism that positions down-home women as better than stylized hyper-feminine ones, I still really enjoyed the read. I particularly love the recent trend in romances of heroines having therapists and romantic relationships inspiring characters to actualize themselves rather than waiting to be actualized by their crushes. This also is a big part of Evvie Drake Starts Over, which I loved.

Funny enough, though, I was actually most interested in the manipulative boss, Melissa. As much as she exploited Carey and flew into rages when things weren't just so, I still feel compassion for her as the person in her relationship who *has* to be detail-oriented, business-minded, and future-thinking. For everyone that has had to keep it together on behalf of a sort of lazy partner and then gets called high maintentenance or shrill, Melissa is a multi-dimensional character.

The book had it's sweet moments, where a young woman learns to take charge of her own life and get out from under a domineering boss, but I became disinterested half-way through. Nothing happened to cause that, but also nothing happened to keep me intrigued and invested in the story.

The Honey-Don't List is my second or third Christina Lauren book, and one that I think fans of this duo's work will really enjoy.

The story is centered around the collapsing marriage of [fictional] HGTV-superstar couple Melly & Rusty and the two assistants [the long-suffering Casey and new-hire James) tasked with keeping their relationship publicly, at least, on-track. It took me a few chapters to invest in the characters, but they eventually grew on me and though the plot is somewhat predictable I enjoyed the unfolding romance and fictionalized realilty-TV drama of the story.

A fun and fast read!

The Honey Don't List was a cute, fun, read which is what I want in a romance and it didnt disappoint.

Couldn’t put The Honey-Don’t List down! Read it all in one day. Even managed to sneak some reading time in during the evening service at church (it was during the dinner portion of the evening—I paid attention when it counted!)

It’s everything I’ve come to expect in a Christina Lauren book: humor, great characters, steamy scenes that make you squirm in your seat while reading, and a plot that keeps you turning the page.

I do think that Carey forgives a little too easily, but as someone exactly like her (who takes care of everyone but myself and tries to make sure everything runs smoothly), I can understand why she’s so quick to forgive. I just wish she would’ve stuck to her guns a bit more in the end with a certain person (no spoilers).

The worst thing about reading romance like this is that it is the idealized version of what a relationship should be. It’s like watching those Hallmark movies during Christmas when a city woman finds a country boy who teaches her to enjoy the little things. This story is very similar, except we have a woman with a medical condition who doesn’t realize that her boss is emotionally abusive.

One of the things that I dislike in all romance is the “she didn’t know that she was beautiful or she didn’t know how special she was” trope. This book has it in spades. Basically, the plot is a quasi-enemies to lovers trope. James and Carey work for a couple who have an HGTV home renovation show, a book deal, all predicated on their perfect marriage. Their marriage is anything but perfect. As they have rocketed to success, they have been stealing Carey’s ideas and passing them off as their own and holding her need for medical insurance over her head. James brought on as an engineer for the show helps her realize that she is being taken advantage of and falls in love with her. As much as I enjoyed the complexity of the narrative, Melissa’s character, the wife of home renovation couple is a very flat vilified character without any redeeming qualities.

Why are we still reading about the “Evil wife”? Why are we still getting sympathy and empathy for the CHEATER? I don’t care what that woman did to him; THAT IS NOT OKAY. What I’ve noticed in books is the ease in which cheating is just accepted with the most minimal reason (I’m looking at you VOX). The whole catalyst for the book is James and Carey catching Rusty screwing someone other than his wife and his behavior is excused because he felt ignored..Seriously? You can miss me with that one, sir.

Overall, I’m disappointed in the message. I’m disappointed in the fact that we are still getting stereotypical caricatures of women in our own media. We can do so much better and we just don’t. With so many publications back to back, it might be a good idea for the writing team to slow down and re-evaluate the message they are putting out there

I’ve been anticipating for Christina Lauren’s newest book since it was first announced! I dove into The Honey-Don’t List the day I received it. I was pleasantly surprised to see the direction that they went in this novel. I feel this one delivers though it doesn’t exude the typical charm of their previous books. The elements I really loved about The Honey-Don’t List was that they bring up toxic bosses and feelings of being trapped in a job. I also loved the HGTV vibes in this book. My only drawback was that I wasn’t a big fan of the romance between Carey and James in this book. It felt a bit too forced and lacked chemistry. I really liked the way the authors created Melissa and James’ characters, however, I wasn’t a fan of Carey or Rusty. Despite my feeling of how I felt about the romance and a couple of the characters, this still resulted in a four star read because of the strong storyline.

I received this book throughly Netgalley. Christina Lauren does it again! This is a great romcom that has you from the first page. The plotline is unique and cute.

3.5 stars
Carey Douglas has worked for the Tripps, a couple .who appear to be powerful in love have been very successful in building their brand. for almost her entire life . Things aren’t always as they seem and Carey and James, another assistant, try and keep the peace and keep the truth of their relationship out of the public eye. Carey reaches a point where she is tired of being used and abused and decides to quit, but working for them is all she has ever known. Will she have the strength to walk away and make herself her priority?

Christina Lauren has never written a book I didnt like...until now, and I’ve read almost all of them. This one fell flat with unlikeable characters and a plot that seemed to go nowhere. I will continue to read their books but chalk this one up to a fluke

The latest by Christina Lauren was a fun take on behind the scenes of a DIY show. Carey and James are very different but both find themselves along for the ride on a book tour from hell with their bosses' imploding marriage. The authors deliver yet another fun rom-com.

I love everything about this book. A little bit of waiting to see what happened between bosses, what happened between the coworkers, and what came next. It was steamy, it was was captivating, and it was incredible. I couldn't put it down and it was kind of what I had been waiting for in a book to pull me out of a slump. I can not wait to buy this in paperback.

This book felt a little different from other Christina Lauren titles I’ve read but that definitely wasn’t a bad thing! I thought the structure of setting up the climax through those “present day” interview transcripts kept a good thread of tension and intrigue going as the plot unfolded.

Our main characters, Carey and James, the put-upon assistants who grow closer after dealing with the ugly behind the scenes reality of their famous bosses, are fun and fully realized characters who are easy to root for. And as someone who’s logged a lot of viewing hours of Fixer Upper, seeing the hot mess of Melissa and Rusty Tripp (the dysfunctional Chip and Joanna of this book) was kind of a delight, even when they were at their most terrible.

Some of the pacing felt a little off to me, particularly the way plot threads are tied up towards the end, but overall I really enjoyed this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I love Christina Lauren’s books and the Honey-Don’t List is another good one!

I enjoyed what a strong character Carey was- I felt like we could be besties! And then her budding romance with James was really fun to read as well.

Lauren always brings heat, excellent storytelling and wit!

4 stars!

Thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Having read and loved Love and Other Words, I seem to hold all other Christina Lauren books to it as a comparison. Sometimes my current CL read lives up to the standard, and other times it doesn’t. The Honey-Don’t List falls in the middle for me. Definitely more enjoyable than Twice in a Blue Moon, but not on par with LAOW. I loved the book’s premise, but wish that James and Carey had been developed more, making their story more of a focus than that of Melly and Rusty. An okay story for me, but diehard CL fans will be happy with it.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review THE HONEY-DON’T LIST by Christina Lauren. I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Five stars and here’s why:

LOVED IT! The authors did not disappoint! I’ve read a lot of Christina Lauren's books and this one is just as fabulous! Jack and Carey have chemistry in spades! While sparks flew and their love grew, their bosses’ marriage went completely haywire. It’s contemporary romance at its best! Highly recommend.

When I was on maternity leave, I devoured Fixer Upper and any home improvement show, oh HGTV. It got to the point, after watching 8 hours of home improvement, I wanted to shiplap my whole house and I mentally thought I could turn a dilapidated dresser into a beautiful TV stand. So the fact that Christina Lauren took my pipe dream passions and made it the bases of their book, meant I already had it in my pre-order shopping cart. Then they decided to add in an enemies-to-lovers trope, so naturally I automatically pushed “buy”.

I love how this is a bit dark and messy. Everyone at the beginning is the worst version of themselves. Carey is so resilient and humble, but she doesn’t know her own talent and refuses to believe in herself or even stand up for herself. She’s been broken down so much and she doesn’t see value in herself anymore which makes me so sad for her. James is a glasses wearer, engineer, who went to MIT, with a rocking body, and can cook. Basically my kryptonite (they basically described my husband), with the exception that he’s only out to get himself ahead and he’s shellfish in that respect.

Tension between Carey and James was sensational. I love how they live to push each other’s buttons. But it was sweet how they eventually become each other’s support system. It’s such a weird and unique situation that they are both in and only each other could understand. So them opening up and leaning on one another is such a sweet way to start their story.

They set up this book by slowly revealing a mystery through transcripts, excerpts, social media, and interviews that helps to enhance the structure of the plot. The mystery was so intriguing and intense. Having Melly and Rusty at the center of it and knowing how their characters unfolded, I wanted to keep reading, find out what happened. The writing was truly captivating.

It always baffles me that two authors are able to make one book flow so well. The way the scenes were described, I could see it, every emotion that every character felt, I could feel it. Christina Lauren was able to take the simple action of unbuttoning a coat and make it the most sensual act. Once the drama of Rusty and Melly got put into the background and Carey and James came to the foreground, that’s when I started to love the book. Rusty’s nicknames for James alone make the book amazing because they are reminiscent of Michael Scott and his nicknames for Jim Halpert.

It really is a heartfelt story about learning to love yourself and how to love others. It was a fun and entertaining story with a unique setup brought to life by the amazing writing talents of Christina Lauren.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I cannot begin to express how much I loved reading Never Enough by Kelly Elliott. The story was emotional, charming and angsty with characters I adored and a story I devoured. Brock Shaw broke my heart. He was a good man with a caring heart, but the past weighs heavily on him. Intent on forgetting this past mistakes, bull riding has become his escape. And yet he is full of guilt every time he leaves his son with his parents for work.

Lincoln is looking for a fresh start and this small town in Montana may just be what she needs. What she never expected was Brock and his adorable son to steal her heart. But Brock is not an easy man to love. Letting love in again was never his intention, but right from when they meet, the chemistry and connection is there. Can he learn to let Lincoln in?

I absolutely loved Never Enough by Kelly Elliot. It was emotional, angsty and heartwarming. I loved the characters so much and cannot wait to see what comes next in the series, though I have an idea! A great read and one I highly recommend.

Happy reading!