The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren Synopsis from the Publisher:

Carey Douglas has worked for home remodeling and design gurus Melissa and Rusty Tripp for nearly a decade. A country girl at heart, Carey started in their first store at sixteen, and—more than anyone would suspect—has helped them build an empire. With a new show and a book about to launch, the Tripps are on the verge of superstardom. There’s only one problem: America’s favorite couple can’t stand each other.

James McCann, MIT graduate and engineering genius, was originally hired as a structural engineer, but the job isn’t all he thought it’d be. The last straw? Both he and Carey must go on a book tour with the Tripps and keep the wheels from falling off the proverbial bus.

Unfortunately, neither of them is in any position to quit. Carey needs health insurance, and James has been promised the role of a lifetime if he can just keep the couple on track for a few more weeks. While road-tripping with the Tripps up the West Coast, Carey and James vow to work together to keep their bosses’ secrets hidden and their own jobs secure. But if they stop playing along—and start playing for keeps—they may have the chance to build something beautiful together…

Review:

I own quite a few Christina Lauren books, but to be honest, I had only read one before this, In a Holidaze. While it wasn’t my favorite, I really enjoyed CL’s writing style, so I didn’t hesitate to pull another novel off of my TBR shelf and give it a go. As the synopsis above states, The Honey-Don’t List is about an overworked assistant and a new employee who are tasked with babysitting a famous renovation couple whose marriage is quickly crumbling.

I wouldn’t necessarily call this book a romantic comedy, the way I would in In a Holidaze. There is romance, of course, but very little comedy. Much of the book’s focus is on the Tripps rather than on the blossoming romance between Carey and James. Melissa “Melly” Tripp is a nightmare dressed like a daydream (Thanks, Taylor Swift), and her husband, Rusty, is a heavy drinker with very little going on upstairs. They’re both horrible people. And yes, I did enjoy their horribleness, mostly because I was waiting for some comeuppance or some kind of public humiliation… alas…

“Probably that women are always being told to behave in a way that makes everything more harmonious, productive, accessible. They’re told how to do everything from how to dress to how to smile. Men are never told to make things easier for people, but maybe they should be.”

Anyway, while I would have liked to have seen Carey and James’s relationship develop a bit more, I did enjoy their interactions quite a bit. They both had equal character development, and I like that CL gave them both some real flaws and believable issues. Yes, I got some Chip & Joanna Gaines vibes from the Tripps, but that was probably the point.

Reading some reviews, it seems hardcore CL fans were disappointed with this book, maybe because it leans more towards women’s fiction than a rom-com? I still enjoyed the writing style, and while the Tripps were a mess, watching their relationship implode, both privately and publicly, was satisfying for me. I still think they both got off way too easily.

Have you read The Honey-Don’t List? What did you think of it? Hit me up in the comments!

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