Reviewer: 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 » No « Hide Spoiler
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 336
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Rowena's 2021 Goodreads Challenge
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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