Title: The Roommate
Author: Rosie Danan
Genre: Romance
Tropes: Roommate
Edition/Pages: Ebook, 336 Pages
Goodreads page

I received an ARC copy of this from Berkley via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Summary

Clara has never done anything rash in her life. Her family is known for scandal so she has spent her life following the rules and staying outside of the spotlight. But when her best friend and life-long crush invites her to out to LA, she packs up her life on the east coast to try and win him over for good.

But when he abandons her, Clara finds herself living with a handsome and charming stranger – Josh. They probably could have worked as roommates, if only Clara hadn’t looked him up online….

Overview

➸ POV: 3rd Person, Clara & Josh’s POV

➸ Clara Wheaton: 27, East Coast elite, Over-achiever & well-mannered, Moved cross-country to live with life-long friend & crush – Everett, Doctorate in art history

➸ Josh Darling: 26, Clara’s new roommate, Charming, Secretive about personal life & career, Works in “entertainment industry, Trying to win back ex-girlfriend

➸ Content Warnings: Blackmail, Car accident, Anxiety/panic (especially over driving), Sexual harassment

My Thoughts

This was amazingly feminist, sex-positive, and laugh out loud funny.

I think my favorite thing about this book was the way it highlighted and supported sex work. This book was so amazingly sex positive and brought up so many important discussions. I loved all the conversations around why the characters chose their career, the pros and (sometimes dark) cons of the industry, and impacts their career has on their personal lives. It was so well done and I absolutely adored that aspect of the this story. 

I also loved the chemistry and banter between Josh and Clara! Their banter was hilarious and had me laughing out multiple times. I like that this book was told in dual perspective because the reader really gets to see the mutual pining happening between the main characters. The sexual tension was off the charts and those sex scenes were next level steamy. 

There were 2 things that kept this from a full 5 star for me. 

The first being – I thought Josh was more developed than Clara. Clara is constantly talking about pressures from her family back east but we never get on page interaction from them. So they never felt real or consequential. Which was a big deal since they were the main thing standing in Clara’s way.

The second was the ending. I wasn’t a huge fan of this ending. I thought it was a little corny and unbelievable. The main conflict between the characters felt really high stakes, and for the majority of the book I had no idea how they were going to work out these obstacles. And the conclusion just felt too easy and unbelievable. 

(Also these is completely irrelevant but I don’t like these covers AT. ALL.)

Overall I really loved this romance and I can’t wait for more from this series and author (Naomi’s book is coming next year!!). It was sexy, funny, feminist, and full of amazing discussions. We love to see a a sex positive, roommate romance!

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