Review: The Roommate by Rosie Danan

Item: The Roommate
Rating: 4
Author: Kate

Posted November 5, 2020 by Kate

Check out on Goodreads | Buy on Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Romance
Publisher: Berkley
Source: Libby (My Library app)

House Rules: Do your own dishesKnock before entering the bathroomNever 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.

The Roommate is a book that I’ve been seeing everywhere, and people have been loving this rom-com! I was between books when my library loan for Roommates came in, and I was between books! Three hours later, I was so shocked when I realized I was finished and was still awake, waaayy past my bedtime. The writing reminded me of Karina Halle’s writing! If you liked Roommates, definitely check out Smut by Karina Halle (and vice-versa)!

In this one, our main character Clara takes a leap of faith and moves across the county to share an apartment with one her best childhood friends, finally allowing him to see her as something other than a kid. Except when he picks her up, he informs her that, sorry she quit her job and left her (super-duper socialite family) behind screaming, but his band got a gig and he rented out his room for three months. Got to go! So she’s just uprooted her life for someone who left her in the dust, and is now living with a stranger from Craigslist. Eeep!

But turns out Josh (the Craigslist guy) is super cool and they get along swimmingly, even being completely different people. She, someone who laminates her move-in checklist that has items on it like “Check the Pipes!” and is terrfied of driving (and she moved to LA…. lol), versus he, an overall laidback, goofy guy, who also happens to be an adult entertainer.

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

I JUST LOVED THIS ONE, OKAY???! Josh and Clara had me SO hooked, and their story took totally unexpected turns that I adored! I was leery about going into this… a hero who is an adult entertainer? There’s been a bit of that with dancing (like in Top Secret for the hero, and like in Dream Maker for the heroine), but I’ve been wracking my brain, and I don’t think I’ve read a book where a character just straight does porn. But I’m absolutely obsessed with the concept of this book!

They took it in such an interesting route. I was nervous that it would be one of those “well I’m in love now so I’m going to quit my job and find something else, woo-hoo!” scenario’s, but Rosie did something totally unexpected and interesting here, and it really took the book to the next level. Rom-com, yes, But I wasn’t expecting social justice, and I absolutely loved it. Jen DeLuca blurbed this with “My favorite ‘smash the patriarchy’ couple!” And honestly, it’s apt. Go her for managing to say in a single sentence what I’m saying in six paragraphs.

There were a few niggling concerns I had, like how quickly the resolution was patched up, and Clara’s fear about landing in the society pages and her family name being smeared, and her family’s reactions… and we heard nothing from her family the whole book. But, those are little critics, and all things considered, this was such a strong, fantastic debut! I mean, Clara and Josh were a delight. I loved their friendship, how real they were for the reader, and the sexual content? HELL-OH! I want a spinoff with Naomi, that’s all I’m saying, okay? But really, the social justice views and perspective chats on how we as a society view porn and pleasure… it did it for me. I loved it.