The American Roommate Experiment
Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Genre: Romance
Author: Elena Armas
Favorite quote: “‘Had I Spotted you across the hall, I would have thought wow.’ He paused, his face lighting up. ‘That girl takes my breath away, she’s so beautiful. And she sure looks like she loves cake.’(Armas 270)”
“I would have crossed the busy hall, cake in hand, and I would have approached you with a dashing smile (Armas 270)”
(Context: how he would approach her if they met at Lina’s wedding-reference to The Spanish Love Deception)
Summary: Narrowly escaping the collapse of her apartment ceiling, Rosie Graham looks to seek refuge in her best friend, Lina’s, home (assuming she won’t mind since she’s on her honeymoon). She quickly realizes that the apartment was expecting a different guest: Lina’s cousin which she stalked for months consistently. Thankfully, Lucas is quite the guy she anticipated him to be. Charismatic, Charming, and willing to share the space with her for the time being. Seeing as Rosie had just quit her well-paying job to become a romance writer, she did not have the time nor money to be worrying about housing. The tight deadline that is set for her next book puts her in an exhausting writing slump. When Lucas catches knowledge of this, he excitedly proposes a deal: he will take her on experimental dates to light inspiration and propel Rosie to finish her novel. In any case, this romance could not go anywhere. Lucas is set to fly back to Spain in just 6 weeks time. Any relationship built from her online gawking would not survive. Or so she told herself.
My thoughts: The American Roommate experiment was worlds apart from Elena's previous novel, The Spanish Love Deception. I genuinely feared starting this romance because of the horrible reading slump that was brought upon me by the same writer. Thankfully, I was thoroughly surprised at the level at which I enjoyed this book. Rosie Graham has to be one of the most caring and endearing main characters I have ever read about. I enjoyed how she battled the constant worry of bothering Lucas while internally conflicting with the fact that she wanted to spend more time with him. It was adorable reading about two characters who so obviously like each other, yet shield the fact using excuses such as self-deficiency. Rosie goes into depth about her fears of becoming a disappointment and the massive career leap she has taken. It allowed readers to get a better scope of her personality and root for her success throughout the book. As for Lucas, he gave me the impression that he would look exactly like Jeremiah from The Summer I Turned Pretty. His witty responses and gentleman-like actions were hard not to love. Additionally, It was a breath of fresh air for Lina, to be supportive and understanding during Rosie’s hardships. Usually, authors would write a conflict where everything falls apart. Having the two women constantly provide emotional reinforcement adds to their deep relationship and saves me the unnecessary stress. I found myself in complete shambles during Rosie’s interaction with certain male characters near Lucas. This advocates for how much I liked their relationship and why you should pick up this book.
