About the Book:
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 tempting 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.
My Review:
“Our love feels like. . . freedom. The kind people give their lives for.”
Be still my heart! ‘The Roommate’ is an adult romance that is sexy and funny and smart and fresh. Usually the forced proximity trope feels dull to me and just not all that interesting. But Rosie Danan takes the trope and turns it on its head in this book. This book is filled with realistic dialogue and actually creates a very positive picture of sex workers. I found the story and the characters to be intelligent and very developed. And Josh Darling. SWOON.
Clara has impulsively left her very neat and orderly life behind in New York for a chance to room with her longtime crush, Everett, in Los Angeles for the summer. The only problem is that Everett has other plans and rents his room out to Josh Darling, an adult film star. What on earth was Clara thinking? And how will she manage to create a life for herself in a new city with no friends?
Josh and Clara are opposites in almost every way. She makes lists and lives her life according to her wealthy family’s strict rules. Josh is a caring and funny guy who basically stumbled into the adult film industry and has quite the reputation for his on-screen roles with his frequent co-star (and ex), Naomi. Even though he is a star in his profession, he still feels inadequate when it comes to a relationship with Clara.
‘If the world were fair, Josh would have been able to get into a ring and fight for what he wanted. If the world were fair, he would have a chance.’
Josh and Clara both push each other’s boundaries in a positive way and their chemistry is absolutely electric. Clara’s first impressions of Josh turn out to be wrong and they begin to develop feelings for each other in the most delicious, slow-burn way possible. But when all is said and done, Clara still feels she must hide Josh from her family for fear they would find out what he really did for a living.
‘Wanting him, she could handle. But anything deeper…anything more with Josh was impossible. Unacceptable.’
The chemistry between Josh and Clara was absolutely fantastic. Rosie Danan has a gift for creating characters I really cared about and for hilarious dialogue. Plus this book is HOT. And while Naomi could have come across as just a cookie-cutter, jealous ex-girlfriend, the author wisely avoids those stereotypes. Naomi is a wonderful supporting character here who is getting her own book! Yay!
If you are looking for a fresh and very sexy adult contemporary romance then you will love ‘The Roommate’. It is a standout in the romance genre, and I congratulate Rosie Danan on what is sure to be a very successful writing career. I laughed out loud while reading this book and I fell in love with Josh and Clara and their sweet, sexy romance. Highly recommend!
(Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.)
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