A&E

Tuesday, april 19, 2022

The MarqueTTe Tribune Arts & eNtertAiNmeNt

page 8

Kim’s Land of Unread Stories: ‘The Unhoneymooners’

New York Times Beststelling author published novel

By Kim Cook

kimberly.cook@marquette.edu

Editor’s Note: This review contains minor spoilers essential to the plot of “The Unhoneymooners.”

Olive Torres has always been the opposite of her twin sister, Ami. While Ami is lucky in love, has a stable job and is somehow able to pay for her entire wedding with contest and sweepstakes wins, Olive has more embarrassing stories than she can count, was recently laid off from her job and lives a pessimistic lifestyle in which she considers herself eternally “unlucky.”

And having to spend her sister’s wedding day with the groom’s best man and older brother, Ethan, who also happens to be the person she loathes most in the world, is probably the most unlucky and unfortunate thing that she can think of.

So when a bad batch of shellfish leaves her sister’s entire wedding party doubled over with food poisoning, Olive’s luck seems to be taking a turn for the better as she is one of the only two people unaffected. Even better, Ami offers Olive her her all-expenses-paid honeymoon to Maui.

Then, when Olive finds out that Ethan was also offered the trip by his brother, all bets are off. Too stubborn to let the other have the trip to themselves, the two call a truce. They decide that they can both go on the trip and never have to see each other.

There’s only one catch: In order to attend the trip, they have to pose as newlyweds. Not a simple task for two people who can’t stand each one another.

But as Olive gets more comfortable playing her role, she realizes that her nemesis isn’t quite the “Satan’s errand boy” she once thought him to be, and maybe, just maybe, Ethan may not hate her quite as much as she thought he did.

My Rating and Review:

This book is such a fun, light read. I haven’t read nearly 400

Photo by of Kim Cook kimberly.cook@marquette.edu “The Unhoneymooners” follows perpetually-unlucky Olive Torres on a honeymoon vacation with a man who isn’t actually her husband.

pages in a day in a long time, and “The Unhoneymooners” was just the page-turner that I needed this week. Author Christina Lauren’s characters were clever and have a stubborn humor to them that makes for a story that doesn’t feel as long as it is thick, and left me wanting more.

Every scene made me picture what the story would look like as a romantic-comedy film and the chuckles that would come from the audience at every clever joke or comment. Ethan’s charm prove him always great for a laugh, especially when he experiences flight anxiety or when he decides to take on a group of mouthy teenagers in paintball.

While I would hate to give too much away, the book does function almost exactly like the type of rom-com that you see on the Hallmark Channel at Christmastime. It’s not that the plot was predictable, it just wasn’t as thought out as I thought it could have been.

Olive and Ethan as enemiesto-lovers in this novel was probably the best thing to happen to this story. The back and forth bickering made them sound like an old married couple, but as time progressed and the more I paid attention, the more I noticed their love and lust for each other last few pages before the book came to an end.

“The Unhoneymooners” by Christina Lauren has to be one of my favorite books that I have read this year. I couldn’t have asked for a better time to read it. This book is perfect for beach read, a day of relaxation, or for anyone who might think they are unlucky in love. I promise, this book with have you laughing, crying and feeling all of the feels.

I rate Christina Lauren’s “The Unhoneymooners” four out of five stars.

was more reminiscent of season 2 of Netflix’s “Bridgerton.”

While I do love them as a couple, overall, Ethan does a lot of the heavy lifting for the relationship with his quips and quirky romantic gestures. Olive is a decent character, but her pessimistic lifestyle and habit of jumping to conclusions for the majority of the book made it hard for me to enjoy her character and her contributions to the plot. Her character didn’t find much growth until her life had completely fallen apart and she had to build it back up again, and even then, I don’t think I got to see enough of that growth in the

The MarqueTTe Tribune

9 Alex’s Book Cave: ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’

Tale recommended by TikTok’s ‘BookTok’ online community

By Alex Wagner

alex.wagner@marquette.edu

Editor’s Note: This story contains spoilers for Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.”

Lights, camera, action!

“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” takes us through the life and career of aging Golden Age Hollywood starlet Evelyn Hugo and her wellpublicized seven marriages. From her humble beginnings in 1950s Hell’s Kitchen, New York City to her retirement in the mid-1980s. Evelyn bares all those dirty little secrets to journalist Monique Grant. Monique is confused why Evelyn would tap her for this massive opportunity; she’s not a seasoned journalist with awards and name recognition, she’s a lowlevel reporter. Evelyn promises all will be revealed in due time but warns that Monique may not like the truth.

This captivating tale moves back and forth between Evelyn’s career and her meetings with Monique. It maintains the glitz and the glam of Hollywood by addressing the nature of Evelyn being a closeted queer Cuban American woman in 20th century America.

Rating and Review:

I’ll be the first to admit it – BookTok made me do it. I saw this book come up on my “For You Page” every time I was on TikTok, and after reading the synopsis, I knew I had to give it a read. And for once, BookTok did not lie to me! I read this and immediately fell in love with the plot and most of the characters.

Evelyn has a dream: to become famous. She’s willing to do anyone or anything to become a star. In fact, that was the point of her first husband; she married him because he would take her from New York to California. She says throughout the novel that she’s “not a good person,” but I don’t think that’s the case. I think she’s opportunistic and has a strong personality. I mean she’s a woman of color in 1950s Hollywood trying to make it big, I would do the same thing if I was in her shoes.

Each of her husbands are well written too. Usually it’s hard for authors to create characters with their own personality and idiosyncrasies, but Taylor Jenkins Reid doesn’t have this problem. Granted, maybe because Evelyn’s husbands have their own distinct sections instead of being in the whole novel, this helps Reid in crafting them.

Celia St. James is the opposite of Evelyn. She’s a carefree, Type B personality, and would prefer a happy life than a successful career. I found her endearing and sweet, but otherwise annoying. I felt she expected too much of Evelyn, granted Evelyn could learn to compromise and be a better friend, but Celia should have known what she was getting into.

I felt Monique was more of a literary device for the end of the novel for Hugo’s “big reveal.” I wasn’t really attached to her as I was to Evelyn and Celia. It doesn’t help that we don’t gleam a lot from her life other than that she was raised by single mother and is divorcing her husband. These events play such a small part of the novel that I viewed them more as nuisances.

I loved the plot, I thought it was very well written. It flowed naturally between Evelyn’s career, her meetings with Monique and the stories of her marriages. Reid did a great job of crafting a real and safe LGBTQ relationship between two women without bringing in the bigotry of the time. It was a novel about two women who fell in love, not broader society in general. There’s discussion of what being openly gay would entail during that time period, and while it is important, it was nice to not to be brought down by the hatefulness. I give “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins

Reid five out of five stars. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Graphic by Lily Werner elizabeth.werner@marquette.edu

Students’ guide to show, movie streaming in summer

Picks included “One Tree Hill,” “Inventing Anna” on Netflix

By Jolan Kruse

jolan.kruse@marquette.edu

With the semester coming to an end the one thing I’m looking forward to is more free time. Although some of us might think we’ll be busy 24/7 making memories with friends, we may end up doing a lot more TV streaming than planned. Here’s a guide to your summer streaming based on Marquette students’ recommendations.

Teah Rogers, a first-year in the College of Nursing, recommended watching “ShangChi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” on Disney Plus. She gave it a rating of 9 out of 10.

“It was funny and entertaining. If you like Marvel movies, it’s a lot of action and it’s very different from the other Marvel movies. The concepts and superpowers are unique compared to the other Marvel movies too,” Rogers said. “I also love this one because it’s the first Asian superhero in the Marvel Universe.”

This movie featured Asian culture, which is different from other Marvel movies which display more Western culture. Rogers explained that Shang-Chi is a martial arts warrior who must protect the world from a villain while investigating a suspicious organization called “Ten Rings” which is owned by his father. It’s also a journey of self-discovery.

Summer Luna, a first-year in the College of Arts & Sciences, usually watches romantic comedies, romance and dramas. Luna recommended watching “One Tree Hill” on HBO Max. The show’s nine seasons follow the journey of the main characters, who start out as kids, to their adulthood. One of Luna’s favorite things about the show is the love triangles.

“It’s kind of like a comfort show and there are so many different plots, so you never get bored of it. There’s just so much going on,” Luna said. Luna rated “One Tree Hill” a 10 out of 10.

She also mentioned it’s a good show to have on in the background while multitasking, but it is also engaging and binge-worthy.

Alex Perez, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, usually watches comedy, action, anime or scifi. Right now, he is binging Hulu’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” It’s about four friends who own a bar in Philadelphia. The show follows their daily lives and the comedic situations they get themselves into.

“It’s a comedy that’s pretty raunchy but also pretty realistic in how it portrays the main characters as regular workingclass people compared to other sitcoms that show regular people living in fancy apartments,” Perez said.

Perez would give it an 8 out of 10.

“It’s a bit more down to earth than other TV comedies,” Perez said. “I also appreciate how it doesn’t try to glamorize the lives of the main characters.” Perez mentioned the show’s inclusion of social commentary in some of the episodes, such as racism, which he explains makes it even more interesting.

Rogers also recommended watching “Inventing Anna” on Netflix.

“I like investigative crime shows and this one is based on a true story, which I think is really cool. I would rate it 9 out of 10,” Rogers said.

“Inventing Anna” is based on a magazine article titled “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People.” The show is from a reporter’s perspective as she follows an heiress who used charm and wit to steal from many socialites in New York.

Another show Luna recommended is Netflix’s “Elite,” filled with a dramatic plot. “Elite” is a show about a private high school in Spain. Luna explains what makes this show unique is the drama isn’t typical high school drama, it contains murder, drugs and lots of plot twists.

“I love watching Spanish shows, they’re really good, they’re super intense and filled with drama and plot twists. They’re very addicting,” Luna said.