The Unhoneymooners

While Olive begins the novel certain she knows that fate has dictated the shape of her life, her relationship with Ethan and their time in Hawaii shows her that she has more agency and ability to make changes for the better. Olive reflects that Ami has paid for most of her wedding with contest winnings, noting that, “if re-engagement Ami thought of contests as the Olympics, engaged Ami thought of them as an Olympic sport” (3). While Olive feels guilty for taking Amy’s honeymoon trip, the opportunity is accompanied by a satisfying job offer in the airport. This confluence of happy circumstances leads her to declare, “I want to check my call history and redial just to be sure Kasey had the right Olive Torres” (54). Even Ethan seems surprised by the unexpected exuberance he sees in her face.

Olive’s relationship with Ethan helps her realize that her obsession with luck may be negatively affecting her life and her views of other people. When she realizes that Ethan never disliked her, and that she inadvertently proved Dane right about her sour disposition, she begins to re-evaluate her outlook. Ethan pushes her to do this more once they are a couple, reminding her that her story of being bitten by a rattlesnake had a happy ending. While Ethan carries a lucky penny, he tells Olive that it is “just a coin, it doesn’t have any great power” (263). Though Ami speaks in anger at the time, she also reminds Olive that her obsession with luck has led her to “not try’ and believe most of her endeavors are doomed before they start, rather than take a proactive approach to love and work (333). By her last major conflict with Ethan, Olive sees being fired by Mr. Hamilton for her earlier dishonesty as a kind of opportunity that will allow her to pursue a new career (342). Olive accepts her choice not to forgive Dane, knowing this is about her principles, not her luck or anyone else’s.

Ami’s character arc with Olive, ultimately reinforces this theme, as well. Her decision to trust Olive and confront Dane about his infidelities underlines that she is self-assured and also not willing to rely on luck or hope alone. She also chooses to accept Ethan’s peace offering and have dinner with him to understand his side of the story. She hopes that Olive will choose forgiveness, and that this may import more meaning to her own failed marriage than it would otherwise have. Though their initial forced proximity in Hawaii happens by chance, Olive and Ethan are ultimately brought together by deliberate choice rather than any kind of luck. Ethan realizes he owes her a public apology and declaration of love and asks her family to help him demonstrate his commitment. Olive, for her part, decides she would rather choose trust and hope over clinging to her past hurts. By the end of the novel, the pair have intentionally returned to Hawaii, and Ethan wants to remind her of their past to convince her to choose a future with him. He is even willing to accept that Olive may not want to get married, recognizing that loving her means respecting her opinions. The pair earn their happily ever after by demonstrating a respect for each other’s individual needs.