By Christina Lauren
My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
Released: December 4, 2018
Pages: 384
Publisher: Gallery Books
Overall: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Setting & World-building: 3/5
Emotional Investment: 3/5
"Sometimes, the thing we want is right in front of us, and we're the last ones to see it."
Wow, this was one hell of a book. Christina Lauren has done it again, creating a fun and fresh romantic contemporary. This was like nothing I had read before and it includes the classic friends-to-lovers trope.
Quick Summary: It's told in dual perspectives by our protagonists Millie and Reid. They are both professors at a university and they are part of a very close and loving friend group. One slightly intoxicated night they hook up, leading to strange emotions arising between the two. Soon afterward their friend group signs up for online dating and Millie and Reid accidentally match, except Millie used an alias, Catherine. These two soon grow their in-person relationship and this online one where Millie/Catherine finally opens up to Reid, but he doesn't know it's her. This leads to much tension and makes for a great novel.
I fell in love from the first page because right away it is established Millie's obsession with serial killers which led her to become a criminology professor. I loved this part because I am also low-key obsessed with serial killers. But it also was such a different occupation than what I regularly read in contemporary novels, that it was a nice new perspective to explore. Also right away the friend group dynamics are so clearly established and made me fall in love with all of them. Millie and Reid also have three professor friends, Ed, Alex, and Chris. All of them have such distinct personalities and unique individuality that there genuinely wasn't a dull moment in this book. I was most definitely in love with Ed. My ginger baby was amazing and deserves all the love and kindness.
A common topic of this book is the importance of honesty. Millie is a very closed off person who doesn't share much about her past with people because she doesn't want to mood-killer. This leads to copious amounts of sarcasm and deflection as defense mechanisms. Just how important being honest with your family and friends is very clearly highlighted in this book because otherwise, you will be always upset. There was a part where she like says:
"I'm lonely because I don't tell people what I need or what I want, and then get hurt when they don't figure it out on their own.".
I thought this was a very accurate quote of her entire mindset. There were sometimes where I got really mad at Millie because she seemed selfish and seemed to be using Reid, which isn't okay in any scenario.
The only downside I would have to this book is the possibility that sometimes that the individual characters' lack of communication was upsetting. Oh, and in the beginning, there was a slight info dump where all the character's names, professions, etc. were told and it was really hard to remember them all. Other than that it was such a fun read. I finished it so fast and I had no idea time had passed until I looked up and it was 2:00 am and I had 30 pages left. Totally would recommend it to everyone.
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