Review of The Roommate

I love rom coms, so what did I think of this story about a straitlaced high society girl who ends up being roommates with an adult film star? Check out my review of The Roommate!

The Roommate by Rosie Danan. To be published on September 15, 2020 by Berkley. Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance reader copy.

Synopsis: Clara is 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. Clara finds herself sharing a lease with a charming stranger. 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. 

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Review of The Roommate

I went into The Roommate feeling excited but also a little apprehensive. Books with “virgin and player” tropes in which a guy helps a shy inexperienced girl discover her sexuality, then falls in love with her, aren’t my very favorite. I have also have been let down by a couple of super-hyped books recently.

Things I Liked About The Roommate:

I’m always a fan of opposites attract and I do love a forced proximity romance in which two people are attracted to each other and have to live in close quarters.

The Roommate was very sex positive, and in a way that centered female empowerment. I was glad the book also pointed out some of the darker elements of the adult film industry and that Clara and Josh found a project that brought his uh… talents to a more feminist platform. There were a lot of aspects of his job that weren’t discussed, but this is a rom com, so I get that.

The dynamic between Clara and Josh was sweet (yet also very steamy). Their character development was definitely on the lighter side (and I wanted more growth and development) but to be fair, rom coms aren’t always known for their emotional depth.

I liked how the romantic plot wrapped up. I love a good grand gesture and thought the one in this story was fun.

But I also felt the conflict in this could have been stronger and more developed. There would have been much more potential for conflict (and comedy) if Clara and Josh had been sneaking around behind her family’s back. Since they lived across the country, Clara’s family and their disapproval felt distant and abstract to me and I wished they’d been more a part of the story. Also, we’re never really told how they come to embrace Josh and this relationship. Which I think is fair to expect since this is the main conflict of the story.

Overall, I really did enjoy many aspects of this one and definitely recommend it if you like books that are on the steamier side. I think Rosie Danan is an author I’ll keep an eye on for sure!

Want to see all my rom com reviews in capsule form? Check out my master Rom-Com-a-Thon post!