My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
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Web ID: 16836284Another great CL title
The forever best friend, Millie Morris is used to being in the friend-zone. She couldn't be happier doing life with her closest friends, her male co-workers at UC Santa Barbara, especially after the disaster her most recent dating experience was. But when the guys propose an experiment Millie can't excuse herself from, she finds herself back in the dating game. The university's black tie gala is approaching and the group decides to sign up for an online dating app to find their plus one's for the event. Always one to keep the tough parts of life to herself, never wanting to really open up to anyone, Millie decides the best way to be open and honest is to create a profile using her middle name, Catherine, and a vague picture. The guys profiles are off to a great start thanks to bios written by Millie but everything goes off the rails when "Catherine" matches with one of the guys, her best friend Reid. Millie is sure he would realize it was her based on inside jokes she sends his way but Reid doesn't catch on and soon Millie is stuck between her not-so-real life romance with Reid and falling for her very real best friend. Scared she might lose it all, Millie has to decide if she's willing to peel back her layers and finally let someone see who she really is or possibly lose out on what might be forever. I love the writing duo of Christina Lauren and the stories they give us. Though this isn't a new title (2018) I had yet to read "My Favorite Half-Night Stand" and I'm so glad I picked this up - also how great is this new cover? If you have yet to discover these amazing authors go check out their catalog of titles ASAP!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
it was ok
I read this book bc I was bored and it was ok but I feel like it was missing something but idk what. Still liked it though
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Wasn’t great
I randomly picked up this book and had never heard of the author. I wasn’t too into it but I hate not finishing books. It was very slow and not that interesting until the end
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Friends to lovers, online dating
Getting into a new relationship can be hard, especially trying to find someone compatible while online dating, and for Millie, Reid, and the rest of their male friend group, they were all put through the task of finding dates for a black tie gala. Millie had always had a love for serial killers and the crimes behind them, so it was a no brainer for her to purse a career teaching in that field of criminology. Working as a professor as UC Santa Barbara, Millie had a job she loved, and a friend group that she got along with famously. Alex, Chris, Ed, and Reid were her best friends, but out of all the guys, Millie and Reid were the closest. One could say that over the two years they’ve known each other, they knew a lot about each other, until one night resulted in Millie attempting to seduce Reid, and… ironically enough it worked on Reid since he too was feeling a certain way towards Millie that night. After half a night together, Millie and Reid enjoyed a night of spice, but ultimately decided to stay friends. Now, let me start off by saying that the beginning took me by surprise because, I wasn’t expecting “the sleeping together” to happen with Millie and Reid until a bit more into the story, so the fact that it happened right away was unexpected, but in a good way. Millie and Reid definitely were great friends, but there was always an underlying sense that they knew on some level that they could be so much more. The way Millie understood Reid to the point that even he thought she knew things about him that he didn’t think of or know how to put into words. Meanwhile, Millie was always guarded about herself, and Reid being Reid, always tried to find morsels of information about her, tried to get her to open up. I got the impression that Millie wasn’t one to share her feelings or talk about herself. Especially with her talking about the loss of her mom at a young age, and her father becoming sick. Millie was the kind of person who didn’t let others in, she was use to keeping things bottled up, and kept walls around her in order to protect herself. I feel like usually in books, it’s always the male character whose very closed off and keeps things about himself quiet, so for Millie to have been that way I found it interesting. Ahem, now let’s get into the prospect of this whole plot, which was Millie, and Reid (as well as the other guys) trying an online dating site. For Millie having a way with words to describe her friends in their bios, Millie’s wasn’t great. So, instead Millie ended up creating another dating profile. The profile named, “Catherine M”, (Millie’s middle name), was more open and for Millie it gave more of an actual representation of who she was without having to worry about others knowing it truly was her. With the new dating profile, guess who matched with “Catherine” at 98%?! Hehe REID!!! I mean come on, it made sense they got along, had great chemistry, and obviously felt amazing together in the bedroom, and of course other great qualities between them. The thing was… Reid didn’t know that “Catherine” was Millie. With Reid starting to like “Catherine” and Millie continuing to have mixed feelings about Reid, there was a lot to unpack. For starters, I realized that for Millie making the “Catherine” profile allowed her to be open, show a side of herself that she would normally keep tucked away, but while Reid was starting to fall for “Catherine”, Millie couldn’t help but also want to have Reid in real life… again… in her bed. I felt bad for Reid because, whenever he tried to talk to Millie about their “situation” of having hooked up, Millie would always brush it off and act like she was ok with everything. Meanwhile, it made Reid feel confused and in this weird limbo of sorts with her. Totally agreed with Reid in that it wasn’t fair of Millie to want to hook up with him, but then not offer any sort of recognition that maybe they could be more or even just be more open about how she was truly feeling. In a sense, Reid felt like Millie couldn’t have him as a “lover on stand by”. So in that regard I was on Reid’s side, and despite Millie’s original idea of creating her other account, her lack of honesty with Reid about it started to make me anxious and kind of dislike her at some parts during the story. In the end, Millie saw the errors of what she did and made actual steps to better herself with her emotional and mental Health. Millie made the big effort to show Reid she was truly sorry, and made strides to show him that she was committed to not only opening up about herself, but also becoming a better version of herself. The story was good, at moments I got frustrated with Millie, and I liked the friend dynamic between everyone.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Adorable, spicy & fun!
Synopsis: Millie Morris, a criminology professor, is an emotional concrete block. While she tends to keep everyone at a comfortable distance from her personal life, she’s a pretty solid friend. Her best friends, Reid, Chris, Ed & Alex, who all work at the same university as Millie, are used to her emotional distance. Besides, they all share one solid trait: they’re all single af. Enter a fancy gala the university is throwing; Millie & her best guy friends can’t show up alone. So they all make a pact: sign up for the same dating app & find their potential gala date. Simple, right? Theoretically yes, but things become complicated when Millie & Reid spend an ultra steamy night together. Worse yet, after some disappointing initial matches, Millie decides to create a fictional persona - Cat- who just happens to match with Reid. Millie finds it easy to be emotionally open with Reid as Cat, but real world feelings start to complicate everything. Will Millie be able to overcome her intimacy issues before she loses her best friend? Review: I’m fully convinced Christina Lauren can do no wrong. After binging five of their books, I am beyond hooked. My Favorite Half-Night Stand alternates between Millie & Reid’s perspectives, giving the reader a deep look into how each feels as they navigate through steamy hookups & dating app experiences. Each character was developed well; their unique personalities shone off the pages. Although there were times I wanted to just reach in the book & shake some sense into Millie, I did feel for her sense of loneliness. What really stuck with me was this line from Millie: “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” (pg. 236-237). Wow, I’m more like Millie than I’d like to admit. In all, the storyline was solid. You’ll either love Millie or be highly annoyed by her. My advice: give her a chance. I highly recommend this read!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com