review: my favorite half-night stand by christina lauren

By the New York Times bestselling author who “hilariously depicts modern dating” (Us Weekly), My Favorite Half-Night Stand is a laugh-out-loud romp through online dating and its many, many fails.

Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.

So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.

But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship...but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.

Perfect for fans of Roxanne and She’s the Man, Christina Lauren’s latest romantic comedy is full of mistaken identities, hijinks, and a classic love story with a modern twist. Funny and fresh, you’ll want to swipe right on My Favorite Half-Night Stand. ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Review:

I ADORED Josh & Hazel's Guide to Not Dating and was really looking forward to this one. It seemed to have the same funny, romcom vibe. I was a little wary of the catfishing set up but decided to request it for review anyway. I should have went with my gut.

The positives:

I liked the whole gang of friends. They're kind of weird but fun and supportive in their weirdness lol

Both Millie and Reid are good people - until the dating fiasco which I'll get to.

I loved the idea of the all of the friends using the dating app together (as a way to find dates to an upcoming business function) and the look at online dating. It can lend itself to a lot of hilarious situations (like in Josh & Hazel)

The negatives:

Almost the entire plot of this book is based on lies and miscommunication between two people who are supposed to know each other better than anyone else.

Millie and Reid are matched on the dating app but Millie had used an alias. She realizes it’s Reid but he doesn’t know it’s her and she continues with the charade as they continue to text each other, with her pretending to be Catherine, even though they start hooking up occasionally in real life. One conversation would have resolved things in either direction - staying friends or moving on.

As the story went on and both Millie and Reid did more and more questionable things - I lost interest in their HEA and started disliking them as people. I did get where they were each coming from most of the time but all of it went on too long and walked a line that wasn't romantic at all IMO.

I’m tagging a few of my other negatives under a spoiler warning -

HIGHLIGHT for spoilers –> Millie's initial catfishing of Reid was understandable and not intentional. She was trying to be safe using an alias, didn’t know she would be matched with Reid and she thought he would know it was her and seriously - why didn't he catch ANY clues?? Made me start questioning if they really as good of friends as they kept insisting.

Millie carries on with the lie way too long and Reid absolutely deserves to be angry but he also was engaging in intimate (emotionally - not sexual) conversations with *Catherine* RIGHT after having sex with Millie. Egging Millie on to be jealous then storming about when she doesn't open up right away. What is he 12? Expecting her to spill her guts while he didn't bother to have an honest conversation with her either. Dude kept bailing right after they had sex .

Pot meet kettle.

But he's never called out on any of it. Again - Millie is wrong - but Reid wasn't all that straightforward either.

Then...after finding out about Catherine/Millie he could have re-read their emails and realized what Millie was going through and that she was spilling her guts out to him but nah, that would have ruined his pity party.

I don't know...I just didn't like either of them by the time I got to that point.
<- END SPOLIER

Lauren’s books are always hit or miss for me - Josh & Hazel will be on my Best of 2018 list but this was a miss.