The Roommate by Rosie Danan: Book Review

The Roommate

by Rosie Danan

Rating: 5/5 
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Steam: Explicit!
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Pub Date: September 15, 2020
Available: Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

The Roommate Synopsis:

Clara Wheaton isn’t known for making rash decisions, but when her childhood crush invites her out west away from her controlling and incident-inciting family, she goes. Unfortunately, that crush is leaving ASAP leaving Clara to live with a stranger. Josh is decidedly not East Coast snob, rather he’s just the opposite and quite possibly the biggest scandal that the Wheatons have ever dealt with. As they learn to live with each other and unlearn their histories, there’s a chance they may just change the porn world and take down a blackmailing empire as well. Now they just have to learn how to not want each other.

The Roommate Review:

And they were roommates! Sorry, I had to! Ugh, this is such an amazing novel! The characters were completely fleshed out, the side characters were phenomenal, and the plot was GREAT. I loved that Danan switched the typical childhood crush and jealous ex tropes on their heads and made me love the novel so much more. Clara’s journey to growing up from her family’s expectations was beautiful and progressed at a believable rate. And Josh? So sweet. I thought that his story was amazing and I was so freaking proud of him for stepping up and taking initiative in his life. I had only a few issues because overall this novel was *chef’s kiss* phenomenal!

Loved:

Dialogue: Can one fall in love with dialogue? Because I think that I did with this book. It was witty and quick. Just because Clara had a doctorate and Josh didn’t that didn’t put them on different grounds like so many other novels make happen. Josh was just as fast and smart as Clara. Plus I related when Clara would sometimes put things in “elevated” ways, I do that too. I loved when they were bantering with each other. It helped build their friendship and chemistry so much.

Plot: I love a good roommate trope. Especially when they’re, *gasp*, different than each other in almost every way! Omg. But seriously, it was well done and I loved watching their relationship develop through them learning to live together. This brings me to my next point: there wasn’t a time when a scene didn’t help the story along. Each moment had a purpose. I didn’t realize how infrequently that can happen in novels and I was here for this one.

Characterization: Josh was my favorite of the character just because he was given the most room to grow and he did. I learned his strengths, weaknesses, dreams, insecurities, history, everything. It was done in a way that you didn’t always notice. His story arc was stunning and the best part of this novel. Clara was a little less defined but I think that was part of her character. I wish I would have seen more of her changing. And Naomi! She was a precious badass that I am so looking forward to following into Danan’s second novel. I loved how we learned about her and she wasn’t jaded about Clara and Josh even if Josh and her had been together for so long. She was great and knew exactly what she wanted.

Dislikes:

Clara’s Ending: I loved Clara’s character. She was enduring and a little clueless, but she learned. Or at least that’s what we were told. The ending just rubbed me the wrong way because we had been dragged along with Clara’s familial baggage and her unease with Josh and her family. When it came to it, it was just ignored. Like we got a HEA in LA, but where I really wanted to see was home in NY. I wanted to watch Clara actually stand up for her new life and Josh in front of the people she was so scared of. But no.

Jill: I wanted more Jill in this novel. She gives Clara a job and shows up every once and a while but I wanted to know more of her story. I felt like that would have been good for Clara to learn and then apply to herself. And I wanted to see Jill reacquaint herself with the family than banished her. Black sheep stick together and don’t discard the other, trust me I know.

Long Story Short

I loved this book. I had originally borrowed it from the library but made a quick trip last night to the book store to purchase my own copy because I NEEDED to be able to reread it. The Roommate is funny, charming, endearing, and sexy. Strong characters, dynamic dialogue, and a tantalizing plot make it a necessity to read. While I wish the ending had been longer to face some of Clara’s problems, I am pleased enough with the novel to give it a 5/5 rating.

If You Liked This One…

Obviously I’m going to link you to Danan’s second novel in this “series” The Intimacy Experiment which somehow managed to be even more delightful than this one (how? idk). Seriously you need to check it out! Also see both of Denise Williams’ novels: How to Fail at Flirting and The Fastest Way to Fall as both are AMAZING and definitely feel similar to this novel! All of my reviews are linked in the title of the books!