My Favorite Half-Night Stand

Christina Lauren has been on my TBR for awhile but this book is my first. I was drawn in by blurb and the concept. Millie and Reid have been good friends for years. One half-night stand before their friend group decides to give online dating a try to find a date for a work gala definitely blurs the lines but they decide to keep their friendship and forget about the awkwardness. When Millie gets nothing but unpleasant experiences from her online matches, she decides to make a different profile that her friends don't know about. As Catherine she gets matched with Reid. As Reid and Catherine get closer, so do Millie and Reid. The lines were blurred after their first half-night stand and now they can barely see them at all. I love modern retellings of stories so I loved how this one was going to be a kind of blend of The Twelfth Night and Cyrano de Bergerac. I didn't feel like this book lived up to what I thought it was going to be. Maybe that's because I love those two stories or maybe it's because I've built up this author duo a lot but I had to force myself to finish this book. I felt like while Millie and Reid were supposed to be best friends, I couldn't really see why they were friends and it made Millie's actions that much worse. I will definitely still try another book by Christina Lauren since I think this one just wasn't for me. *This is my voluntary review of an advanced reader copy*

My Favorite Half-Night Stand is a bit Big Bang Theory-ish with its group of almost geeky friends who are more like family. Each character has his or her own issues with dating and since they all need a plus one for an event, signing up for online dating just makes sense. As if wading through the clear as mud waters of online dating isn't confusing enough, things are further complicated when Reid and Millie cross the friendship line. Given her age, Millie's actions in the book do stretch the believability scale, but she's such a hot mess emotionally that it works and of course, we get plenty of the wit and sarcasm the authors are known for. As things progress, both in the online world and for Millie and Reid, it's pretty easy to see the problems before they happen, but the journey is engaging, often laugh out loud hilarious, sexy, and loads of fun - sometimes, all at the same time. What always sets Christina Lauren's books apart for me are the characters. Even the secondary characters are interesting, love them or hate them, they add something to the story. From Reid's over-sharing mother to the ever so lovable Ed, this one has terrific characters in spades and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with all of them. All in all, another entertaining, witty romance from these authors.

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.