5 of 5 virtual stars
“I have never read anything like this.”
I say the same thing every time I finish a book by Christina Lauren.
I said it about Roomies. I said it about Beautiful Stranger. I said it about Love and Other Words.
It’s a pattern.
The premise of Half-Night Stand may be familiar to you: two people, who have been friends for years, realize that they’re in love with each other.
I have read some terrific Friends-to-Lovers books:
Head Over Heels by Serena Bell
Truth or Beard by Penny Reid
Some Sort of Crazy by Melanie Harlow
But I have never read a FtoL book like this.
The main characters are Millie and Reid. And Ed. And Alex. And Chris. A friend group that includes four guys and one girl. At first, I thought, oh no, I’ll never keep track of that many main characters. But I did!
Chris has it all together.
Alex is a player.
Ed is a 30-year-old kid who only has beer in his fridge, and answers the door in his bathrobe. (Ed is my spirit animal!)
Reid is loyal, and hard-working, and passionate.
And then there’s Millie. She’s quirky, and closed off, and not comfortable talking about her feelings. (Millie. Is. Me!)
These five friends are generally satisfied with their lives. They have jobs that they enjoy, they have a group of good friends, they have a comfortable routine. The shenanigans begin when one of them decides that they should bring a “plus-one” to an upcoming event, and figure the best way to find one is by using a dating app. This is very relevant to today’s environment, as it seems to be the only way to find a partner in this day and age. (I love that this book delves into this topic, as I’ve had some experience with online dating in the past few months, and I haven’t found many books that even bring it up as an option! People in books seem to meet other people “the old-fashioned way.”)
Each of the friends has a different experience with the dating app, called IRL. When Millie is matched with one of her best friends, she starts to look at her relationship with that friend in a different light.
I always see something new when I read Christina Lauren book. We see the group text conversations among the gang, each accompanied by an icon of each character. I’m a very visual person, so it helped my brain to have a picture to connect with each member of the friend group. This is unique, and fun, and very Christina Lauren.
With every CL book I read, I fall more in love with the style of this writing duo. They are clever, the sexy times are steamy, and they always make me cry at some point. If you haven’t read a Christina Lauren book yet, please pick one up and be sure to tell me what you think!!
Buy My Favorite Half-Night Stand on Amazon
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