Author: Rosie Danan

Review: The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan

Posted June 16, 2021 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie DananReviewer: Rowena
The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: April 6, 2021
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Third Person
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 336
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Rowena's 2021 Goodreads Challenge
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars

Naomi and Ethan will test the boundaries of love in this provocative romance from the author of the ground-breaking debut, The Roommate.

Naomi Grant has built her life around going against the grain. After the sex-positive start-up she cofounded becomes an international sensation, she wants to extend her educational platform to live lecturing. Unfortunately, despite her long list of qualifications, higher ed won't hire her.

Ethan Cohen has recently received two honors: LA Mag named him one of the city's hottest bachelors and he became rabbi of his own synagogue. Taking a gamble in an effort to attract more millennials to the faith, the executive board hired Ethan because of his nontraditional background. Unfortunately, his shul is low on both funds and congregants. The board gives him three months to turn things around or else they'll close the doors of his synagogue for good.

Naomi and Ethan join forces to host a buzzy seminar series on Modern Intimacy, the perfect solution to their problems--until they discover a new one--their growing attraction to each other. They've built the syllabus for love's latest experiment, but neither of them expected they'd be the ones putting it to the test.

I really enjoyed The Roommate and liked Naomi’s character in there so I was really looking forward to jumping into my ARC of The Intimacy Experiment.

Naomi Grant is Josh from The Roommate’s ex-girlfriend. When we first meet her, I wasn’t a fan. I thought she was a snobby brat but the more I read The Roommate, the more she grew on me. You could tell that there was a lot more to Naomi Grant than met the eye, so I was thrilled that she got her own happy ending because I wasn’t wrong. Naomi Grant was a fantastic heroine who completely won me over…and her hero, Ethan? Yeah, I want all of his smoke. He was the perfect hero for Naomi and I never really looked at rabbi’s or even thought of a romance novel hero who was a rabbi but Ethan was all that and a bag of chips and I loved him to pieces.

Honestly, I was wary going into this book because I wasn’t that interested in a romance about a rabbi and an ex-porn star but I’m glad that I read it anyway because I really liked it. I think I enjoyed it a smidge more than I did The Roommate and I adored Josh and Clara so that was a bit of surprise. Rosie Danan has cemented herself on my radar. I will definitely be reading more of her stuff. She’s got a great writing style that is easy to follow and you can tell that she works hard in her word choices because she took an unconventional romance novel couple and made them just work.

I really loved the way that she handled the heavy topics brought up. It was honest and refreshing and I loved it so much. I loved that Ethan knew how he felt about Naomi and didn’t shy away from them. I loved how patient he was and just how he loved Naomi. Naomi was no slouch either. I freaking loved her. She was strong and she was smart and seeing her struggle with her faith had me thinking about my own faith. Rosie Danan did such a great job of making me sit up and take notice of the stuff that I haven’t given thought to and I’m glad that she did because it made me connect with Ethan and Naomi all the more.

There’s a lot to love about this book and if Rosie Danan is on your TBR list, pick up her books. Read them. I promise you’ll like it. This one was a good one for sure.

4.5 out of 5

The Roommate

four-half-stars


Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Review: The Roommate by Rosie Danan

Posted February 3, 2021 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: The Roommate by Rosie DananReviewer: Rowena
The Roommate by Rosie Danan
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: September 15, 2020
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Third Person
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 336
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Rowena's 2021 Goodreads Challenge
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars

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.

The Roommate is Rosie Danan’s debut contemporary romance release from last year. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it so I was looking forward to reading it but the massive reading slump of 2020 got to me so I haven’t gotten around to it until now. I was really engaged from beginning to end in what was going on with both Clara and Josh. Sure, there were times when I wanted to smack them both upside their stubborn heads but overall, they were great characters with great chemistry and I was rooting for them.

So this book follows Clara Wheaton, a socialite from Connecticut who leaves her life of privilege, responsibility, and expectations for the freedom of living on her own clear across the country. She ran away from the responsibilities of being a Wheaton to figure some things out while she rooms with the love of her life and best friend, Everett. But when she shows up in Los Angeles, determined to make Everett fall in love with her, he delivers some bad news. His band got asked to do a last-minute multiple-city tour and he’s leaving…right now. But she’s not to worry because he rented his room to someone else so she won’t be alone and she can still have her summer of adventure. She just had to do it all without him.

Clara meets her new roommate, Josh Connors, when she gets home and while she had no intention of getting to know him, they talk and he convinces her to stick it out and find out what she’s all about. Before Clara knows what’s what, she’s reunited with her estranged Aunt, she’s got a job and she’s developed a strictly platonic friendship with her roommate that she really enjoys. Everything was going pretty great until she finds out that her new friend and roommate, Josh Connors, is actually Josh Darling, a sexy porn star and the exact opposite of what her parents would approve of.

Josh is used to people not approving of his job and in extension, approving of him. He enjoys his work, he’s free of strings and is living his life the way that he wants to but when he befriends his new roommate, Clara Wheaton, her opinion of him starts to matter, and then before he knows what is what, he’s got a giant crush on her that can only end with his heart being shattered because he just knows she doesn’t feel the same way. When they go into business together, things really heat up between the two of them but it doesn’t come without its fair share of complications.

Seeing these two battle their attraction to each other while trying to figure out their own individual issues made for a great romance. Rosie Danan’s writing style flowed well and was easy to follow along with and I thought she told a really engaging story with a charming cast of characters. I’m glad that I read this book and I’m looking forward to jumping into her next book that I have for review.

4 out of 5

four-stars


Tagged: , , , , ,