I mentioned recently I wanted to read more romance and I finally started to pick up more of this genre. My most recent read is The Roommate by Rosie Danan. It’s one I’ve heard so many amazing things about and that has been sitting unread on my shelf for some time. A friend and I read this together and today I want to talk about my thoughts! Keep on reading to find more about this book and what I thought.

House Rules:
Do your own dishes
Knock before entering the bathroom
Never look up your roommate online

The Wheatons are infamous among the east coast elite for their lack of impulse control, except for their daughter Clara. She’s the consummate socialite: over-achieving, well-mannered, predictable. But every Wheaton has their weakness. When Clara’s childhood crush invites her to move cross-country, the offer is too much to resist. Unfortunately, it’s also too good to be true.

After a bait-and-switch, Clara finds herself sharing a lease with a charming stranger. Josh might be a bit too perceptive—not to mention handsome—for comfort, but there’s a good chance he and Clara could have survived sharing a summer sublet if she hadn’t looked him up on the Internet…

Once she learns how Josh has made a name for himself, Clara realizes living with him might make her the Wheaton’s most scandalous story yet. His professional prowess inspires her to take tackling the stigma against female desire into her own hands. They may not agree on much, but Josh and Clara both believe women deserve better sex. What they decide to do about it will change both of their lives, and if they’re lucky, they’ll help everyone else get lucky too.

Review

“Every body is different, but none of them are wrong.”

The Roommate definitely took me by surprise, but in a very positive way. I was going into this book thinking I was going to get the typical enemies to lovers romance and I couldn’t have been more wrong. The story is innocent & sweet, but also steamy & sexy at the same time. I definitely have to compliment the author on that, because I’ve never seen that happen before.

Our main character Clara has grown up on a tight leash with a lot of expectations she needs to meet up to. Except now she wants to take life into her own hands this summer. She thinks she’s moving in with her best friend (who she’s had a crush on forever), but he kind of ends up leaving her high and dry. Clara was such an interesting character. Her parents taught her she should behave in a certain way and how her life should end up and that’s how she thought it should be. Clara is very stuck in her ways even when she really truly wants something else. It was hard to read at times, but I also loved seeing her come out of her shell and shine.

“Change always comes with a closing cost. But it’s still worth trying. Not because the odds are particularly good, mind you, but considering the alternative. There’s value in the struggle. Value in touching the raw and bloody parts of our souls, opening them up to the sunlight, and hoping they heal.”

Clara’s roommate Josh ends up being a porn star. I can say I wasn’t expecting that at all! Josh made me laugh and just want to hug him. He was confident in many ways, but also insecure in others. I felt like he never really felt completely wanted or appreciated and working in the sex industry he had some control (well to a certain point). I loved how caring he was and how much he wanted to protect Clara even if that wasn’t what he was expecting.

The relationship between Josh and Clara was very interesting. I think they both opened a part of each other that they were trying to hide. Truly going after what you want without thinking of what others will think isn’t easy. Also, this book was very sex positive and the website they end up creating seems like something the world could really use at times. The side characters were a pleasant addition and this book left me with a smile on my face.

 

The Roommate ended up being a lot of fun and I’ll definitely be looking into getting the next book in this series soon. I have a feeling Rosie Danan will be an author that becomes an auto-read/buy author for me. What romance authors can never give you enough books? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!