The Expert Book Smuggler

Edited by: Emilie Rose

Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, better known as Christina Lauren, are a writing duo known for popular books such as The Unhoneymooners and Love and Other Words. The pair originally wrote Twilight fan fiction and met at the San Diego Comic Con.

It is not uncommon to see their books recommended widely across book spaces, but some readers have opted to add them to their DNR (Do Not Read) lists. Many readers cite accusations of zionism while others take issue with the way subjects such as sexual assault or representation are handled within their books.

Let’s take a look at these accusations.

Love and Other Words is a second chance romance focused on high school sweethearts Macy and Elliot who reconnect after Elliot seemingly broke Macy’s heart on the same night he declared his love for her. With a 4.23 rating on Goodreads, it seems that Love and Other Words has been well received by readers. However, many readers have found themselves disgusted with the plot twist of the book.

Readers spend a large portion of the book waiting to discover what led to the pair not speaking for 11 years only to find out that Elliot was raped at a party. Instead of framing this as something that happened to Elliot, it is framed as something Elliot did to Macy by cheating on her.

A review from Jerilyn states, “Elliot was raped. He was passed out drunk at a party, a female friend that had been interested in him for years performed oral sex on his incapacitated body, and he was so drunk he thought it was his girlfriend and physically responded and encouraged it. He did no consent to having sex with Emma. He did not cheat. He did not make a drunken mistake. She raped him.”

Positioning a victim of sexual assault as a cheater for something that caused him immense and lasting trauma is incredibly harmful. As some readers have stated, it is unlikely that Macy would’ve been labeled a cheater if the roles were reversed. This portrayal of Elliot’s assault perpetuates the idea that men who experience sexual responses during their assault may have ‘wanted it’. This rhetoric is often used to silence male victims of sexual assault.

Other issues cited by readers include:

• Elliot and Macy have a detailed sex scene while Macy is still seventeen. During this scene, Macy tells Elliot he doesn’t need to ‘worry about a condom’ because her dad put her on the pill a few months prior.
• Some readers take issue with the way the representation is handled in the book. A review from author Leigh Kramer states, “San Francisco is the most diverse city I’ve ever lived in but the San Francisco we see here is Very White. Or is it? Sometimes culture is alluded to but more often then not, there was a complete lack of description for character’s cultural background. Macy doesn’t even mention her “South American” blood or having dark skin until about 25% in. Her fiancé might be Asian American because his last name is Chen but there’s no real description of him or his daughter. Representation is so important, especially in urban settings, and this missed the mark.”
• Other reviews specify that the slur ‘ch**k’ was used in the book.

Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating

In Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, the two set each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates and eventually fall in love with each other. The idea is a rom-com situation that eventually results in an unplanned pregnancy and subsequent marriage between the two.

While reading reviews of this book, it became very clear that there is likely some sort of fetishization happening with Josh. He’s consistently described as ‘perfect’ by Hazel, but given very little depth. Reviewers note that the fact that he and his family are Korean is pointed out every time they’re mentioned. A review from Lake states, “Josh is super super nice. So nice. The nicest. And Korean. He does not really have a personality beyond this, but who needs that when you can have abs. This works really well if you’re looking for a wish fulfilment male archetype, but not if you want more relatable character studies so [your mileage may vary.]”

It may be important to note that per reviews, the authors are huge BTS (K-pop group) fans and even thanked the group in the acknowledgements of The Soulmate Equation. At one point in the book, Hazel learns that Josh’s Korean name is Jimin. Her response to this discovery?

“I look at him like I’m seeing a new person in front of me. The two syllables of his name are like a sensual exhale, something I might say immediately preorgasm when words fail me.”

However, not all reviewers feel the book veers into fetishization territory and some appreciated the representation. Despite this, even those who appreciated the representation have pointed out the language issues within the book.

Other issues cited within the book include:

• A small trans side character, Margaret, is used as a ‘joke’ date by Josh, who allows Hazel to believe she is being set up with a man. Margaret also believes she is going on a date with a man and they are both surprised to find their date is a woman. Why is the only trans character used as a joke? What made them comfortable using Margaret’s transition as a punchline?
• At one point the characters recall a time they went to the movies and a ‘redneck’ used the f-slur and ‘ruined the end for those of us who hadn’t seen it years earlier.’ Readers question why the slur needed to be included at all when the focus wasn’t on how wrong the guy was for using it, but how he ruined the experience for them.
• Ableist slurs including the use of the word ‘l*me’.

Zionism

Accusations of Zionism flared in October 2023 when the duo shared the following post from @bobbyfranks to their story:

“There are 2 billion muslims in the world.
There are less than 15 million Jews in the world.
There are 52 Muslim countries in the world.
There is one Jewish country in the world.
Israel’s entire land mass is smaller than New Jersey.
Israel is surrounded by Muslim countries who don’t think women can drive a car.
The last time Jews didn’t have a home, they had a Holocaust.

Israel supports Arabs, sexual diversity, science and innovation.

Hamas believes women are responsible for their own rapes, and murders gay people for being themselves.

#FreePalestine from Hamas.
Make Israel whole.
End the insanity.”

This post was filled with Islamophobic, genocidal rhetoric including pinkwashing. Such language has been used to justify the illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the regular torture, imprisonment, and murder of Palestinian people. When sharing this post, the duo added two emojis: an Israeli flag and a red heart.

The next day, their account shared another story claiming their assistant had shared the story without their permission, “Last night while we were at a work dinner in Germany, an assistant who occasionally helps us with our story while we travel shared an Islamophobic post. It was shared without our permission and taken down before we saw it but when we saw the post we were devastated. It in no way reflects our feelings and we have fired that assistant. We are so sorry for the pain this has caused.”

For many, it is difficult to believe that an assistant would have the confidence to post something so political to a client’s account without prior approval. If it is true, it raises the question as to what made the assistant feel they could post such bigoted content to the Christina Lauren Instagram page.

The situation was compounded by an ill-conceived giveaway around the same time. The authors shared a giveaway of two copies of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros to their account stating, “We know there’s so much happening in the world, and so much pain everyone is feeling, and we wanted to say how much we love all of you. And since we find joy in books, we thought we would bring some joy with this one.”

This post made no mention of the suffering of Palestinians despite alluding to ‘so much pain’ and many readers took issue with the giveaway including books from Rebecca Yarros due to her stance on Palestine at the time.

The writing duo would later take part in the Gaza Evacuation Fund Book Auction in May of 2024.

Where does this leave readers?

It’s clear that Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings have significant deconstruction to do in regards to a variety of issues that leak into their works. For some readers, they will likely feel comfortable continuing to consume their works. For others, this article will be enough to turn them off their work permanently.

Regardless, its important to approach these works with a critical eye. Failure to do so often normalizes the attitudes expressed in their books such as the framing of male sexual assault as cheating. One can appreciate an author’s work while simultaneously approaching it critically.