By the New York Times bestselling author who “hilariously depicts modern dating” (Us Weekly), My Favorite Half-Night Stand is a laugh-out-loud romp through online dating and its many, many fails.

Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.

So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.

But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship…but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.

Book Type:

Contemporary Romance

Review: My Favorite Half-Night Stand

Two best friends inadvertently date each other on a dating app as their relationship teeters between breakup and romance in Christina Lauren’s latest, MY FAVORITE HALF-NIGHT STAND.

It really seems this talented duo can do no wrong, every book is a hit, each a delight to read. They have their finger on the pulse of what it is to date, to have friends, to live and interact in modern day. This latest novel is a great example, as a group of friends desperate to find romantic companionship uncomfortably reach for online dating as a hopeful save-all.

I loved the comradery of the gang—admittedly, I worked in academia and my husband spends his days in a lab, so the lingo and interactions were all too real.

Millie Morris is the outlier as the only girl of them all, but in reality, she’s the glue that holds this band of academics together. Although they are all close, it’s Reid she’s closest too and after one too many drinks one night, they tumble between the sheets for the most memorable half-night stand of their lives.

Determined to push it aside as an anomaly, they all sign up for a dating app in efforts to find a date to a gala. Trouble is, Millie is infamously terrible at getting personal. After a slew of unwanted dick pics, she decides to open up as Catherine and surprisingly, Reid friends her. She’s positive he’ll realize it’s really her, but when he doesn’t, they strike an online relationship that quickly intensifies.

In real life, the complicated is also getting more complicated as a one-night stand becomes two… becomes three. Soon enough, Millie is competing with herself for Reid’s affection and the truth is sure to shatter every possibility.

The narrative is quick-witted and fast-firing with its group messages (and avatars). The light-hearted tone is layered with moments of poignancy too. I love the characters, especially Millie whose expertise in women serial killers is fascinating (I wanted more!), and her relationship with Reid and the guys is charming and fun to observe.

If you’re looking for a smile-inducing, fun-loving, fast-paced book to cuddle up with this weekend, this is the perfect book to pick up.

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