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The Unhoneymooners is one of those once-in-a-lifetime books: One that catches you off-guard with peals of laughter, makes you yearn for a romantic encounter, and is impossible to put down. This week in the Bluestocking Salon, we interviewed the delightful co-author team dubbed “Christina Lauren” on their journey as writers, the inspiration behind their addictive rom-com, and the books they recommend.

Beware of spoilers ahead! If you’d prefer to read the book first, you can pick up a copy of The Unhoneymooners here. And here’s our review of the book.

This romantic beach read will have you laughing and swooning in equal amounts! Olive and her twin sister, Ami, are polar opposites: Olive has terrible luck, while Ami wins everything, including a trip to Hawaii for her honeymoon. But Ami's free wedding buffet turns out to be a twist of bad luck, so Olive has to take the trip in her place…with her new brother-in-law, Ethan, whom she finds completely insufferable. You might think you know where this story is going, but you don't know how it's going to get there—and trust me when I say you'll delight in every moment. Part of our Summer Reading Collection: Novels. (RR)

BB: We are so excited to be featuring your novel The Unhoneymooners in our catalog—and in our popular Summer Reading Collection, no less! We love fun romance novels and this one was full of hilarious banter and unexpected twists. Our readers might not know that Christina Lauren is actually a pen name for two authors: Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. Could you tell us more about yourselves and your separate journeys to becoming writers? How did you form this coalition?

Thank you so much for featuring The Unhoneymooners! We are so thrilled to be included! We met back in 2009 when we were both writing fanfiction online for fun. We both had day jobs (Lauren was a full-time scientist and Christina worked in a junior high counseling office). We read each other’s stories and admired each other’s writing so much; we met in person that summer when Lauren organized a panel at San Diego Comic Con on fanfiction and fan art, and Christina came as a panelist. We hit it off so well that we decided to write a little short story together, and that went so well that we jumped feet first into writing a book! It took us about a year to finish our first book, and another year to sign with our agent Holly Root, but here we are thirteen years later, truly best friends and business partners, with twenty-eight books published and, wonderfully, no end in sight.

BB: What is the writing process like between the two of you? What’s the easiest part of it, and what do you still struggle with?

We always outline in person; there’s just a magic in the room when we are together talking through a new project. We usually hang out for a few days where we do bestie stuff (movies, Disneyland, walks, fun meals out) and the book planning is woven throughout. Once we have a solid idea, we sit down and create an outline. From there, we split it up by POV or chapter, and get to drafting! Drafting is the hardest part for us. We try to draft fast and edit intensively, but sometimes it is hard to jump right in and start flying through the outline. Some books are easier than others and sometimes we have a lot going on in our schedule and it’s hard to carve out consistent time for writing, but no matter what, we’ve learned to be flexible in our process.

BB: What was the inspiration behind The Unhoneymooners? The dynamic between the twins—as well as their amusing backstory—is integral to Olive’s character development. Did the concept of the twins inspire the story, or did the story inspire the characters?

The spark first started with an idea for a kissing contest, of all things. We wanted to contrast a “lucky” twin with the heroine of the story, who considers herself the unlucky one. But soon the idea of the lucky twin, Ami, winning everything for a wedding started to take shape. And when we went with our families to Maui one holiday, we knew we wanted to send our unlucky Olive there on what was meant to be her sister’s honeymoon.

BB: The Unhoneymooners may, at first glance, be a chemically charged rom-com. The circumstances of their vacation force Olive and Ethan into overtly romantic scenes and, let’s be real, they’re two attractive people in Hawaii! But getting deeper, there’s this conflict of Olive’s dream job, and Ethan’s facing an internal conflict of his own. Was it important to you to add these realistic dimensions to the book? What do you hope readers took away from the main characters?

Absolutely! For an enemies-to-lovers story to work, there has to be genuine friction there. It can’t just be about not liking someone’s vibe; it has to go deeper. And building Olive’s pessimistic world-view in helped, too, because even when the reader begins to see through Ethan’s sardonic humor, Olive still can’t. And creating a sibling relationship with Dane that appeared deep but, in the end, was pretty surface was hard but also satisfying as a writer.  We don’t relish making our characters suffer during the conflict, but in this case we felt like it gave them a very satisfying HEA [Happily Ever After].

BB: [Spoiler alert!] For those of us who have already read the book, how did you decide on the ending conflict between Ami and Dane? Did you fall in love with Ami and Olive’s family? Did you fall in love with Ethan a little bit, too?

Making Dane a jerk was actually so fun. It took us a little bit to figure out how to make it all unfold, but we knew from the get-go what would happen. Of course, we don’t want to put Ami through all that, but having built such a strong support system for her meant that the reader knew she would be okay—better off, even. We ADORE Olive’s extended family. Writing such a loving and boisterous group was a blast. And of course we fell in love with Ethan! He's so snarky and solid and genuine—plus he’s hot—what’s not to love!

BB: How long would you estimate your writing process for this book lasted, from start to finish? Did COVID complicate any part of it?

This was a really fun draft for us to write. We basically just made each other laugh the entire time. It took us about four months to draft and edit.

BB: What advice would you give to aspiring authors who aren’t sure where to start? Do you recommend writing with a partner?

Co-authoring is amazing if you find the right chemistry. But what we’ve learned is to leave the ego at the door. When it comes to the books, there is no Lauren Billings and Christina Hobbs—there’s only Christina Lauren. That means we do what is best for the project, whether it’s Lauren’s idea or Christina’s, whether one of us is giving feedback that’s hard to hear. Everything is delivered with the best intention possible. So if a writer out there has someone in their life that makes them feel safe and creatively inspired, then absolutely go for it. And our writing advice for those starting out is always this: read voraciously, and then write the next book you want to read.

BB: What books are you inspired by? Can you recommend anything to our readers?

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins is the book that made us want to write romance. But we are inspired by the romance writing powerhouses Sarah Maclean, Adriana Herrera, Kate Clayborn, Ali Hazelwood, and Akwaeke Emezi.

BB: You’ve written several novels together. For readers who enjoyed The Unhoneymooners, which book of yours do you suggest they read next?

For comedy, definitely pick up Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating. For the adventure component of Unhoneymooners, try Something Wilder. And for the sheer romance feelings, try The Soulmate Equation. If a reader wants a CLo read with a little more steam, pick up Sweet Filthy Boy.

BB: What’s next for you, both as a team and individually?

For anyone out there who has read The Soulmate Equation, we are publishing Fizzy’s book in Spring 2023. And we are currently writing the next one . . . always writing, always having the time of our lives!