Review: The Roommate

 

 

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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.

Genre: contemporary romance

Publication date: September 2020

Mature content: yes

Review: This book isn't what I expected, which isn't necessarily bad because I do like when a book surprises me - but in this case neither the plot or the characters worked for me. It's advertised as a rom.-com but I didn't find it either funny or overly romantic...

Right from the start it seemed strange  how an educated woman like Clara would move across the country to live with a man she has a crush on. It's true they've been friends for a long time, but since he never gave her any indication he was interested in anything other than friendship - and neither did she, from what we gather - it still doesn't make sense. 

Then said friend leaves her alone with another man he rented a room to - and instead of running for the hills, she stays there - alone, without a job and living with a complete stranger (and still waiting for her "crush" to return).

Then we find out what Josh does for a living - and I thought at least there was some originality to the plot after all...but no, what really follows are endless sex scenes, some of them "disguised" as research for a new business Clara and Josh decide to launch. 

 

The story drags on interminably and by the time Clara and Josh reached their happily ever after I was actually relieved. I had downloaded book 2 in this Shameless series first but decided to start with book 1 instead, and now I'm not sure I'll even move forward to book 2...

Happy readings!

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