I dare say that I may have come across the perfect romance book for men and women in THE ROOMMATE by Rosie Danan.

Bear with me here. It is witty. It is funny. It is sexy. It is steamy. It tells the story from both perspectives. And dare I say it explores the sexual needs of a woman, which BOTH men and women can benefit from. Sorry y’all, I told you it was steamy. 🥵 Oh and it is very OPEN door.

Clara is an East Coast heiress and as buttoned up as one can be when she first arrives in LA. She has one thing on her mind. Winning the heart of her childhood crush, Everett. But to her great disappointment, she quickly learns that he is going off to tour with his band and has rented out his extra room to some guy he found on Craigslist.

Enter Josh. Josh is a California native and he is gorgeous. He also happens to be incredibly sweet. Oh, and did I mention he is a porn star? That’s right my friends, he is Josh Darling, the hottest guy to hit the x-rated screen. Which Clara learns all about after falling down an internet rabbit hole.

The thing is, these two are the epitome of opposites attract. Their chemistry is HOT! The tension between them is nail biting. They just need to get out of their own way and let things happen.

That is all you are getting from me. Because I think that y’all should read this one. It releases 9/15/20.

What a fun read! Sexy, funny, loving, and an all around great time.

"The roommate" follows a 27 year old woman named Clara who find herself at a crossroads. Having always felt in the shadow of her socialite family, Clara spent years in school trying to avoid being an adult and actually doing something for herself. After graduating with a PhD, Clara decides to throw her fate to the wind and fly across the country to make it work with a guy she's loved since childhood; maybe this will be the life change she's been desiring. If you didn't think that would work out well, you were right. Just as she enters her new home, the supposed 'love of her life' walks out, leaving here with a stranger for a roommate... a stranger who just happens to be the opposite to her in every way including the fact that he is a famous porn star.

Beyond the obvious fact that this book is erotic and romantic, it is actually a fun novel that touches on feminist themes of pleasure and putting oneself first. An absolute joy of a read!

This was so much fun! What seemed like a fairly typical romance on the surface (girl moves in with hot roommate) turned into a really different and unique story once you find out what the roommate does for a living. Loved how the author incorporated the concept and really appreciated the modern perspective and how is impacted each characters development.

Wow, this is up there in my list of all time favorite romances! If you had told me a story about an uptight socialite and a porn star could be this steamy AND sweet I would have laughed at you, but Danan manages to accomplish so much by creating complex characters with dynamic personalities and understandable insecurities. Absolutely loved every minute!

Oh wow, where to begin! I honestly wasn't sure I'd love a book described as "raunch" com. I definitely prefer edgy rom-com to super sweet, but I feared "raunch" might be over-the-top for me. I had nothing to worry about! This brilliant author wrote the most romantic, swoon-worthy romance about...the porn industry! Yes, it was definitely steamy and centered around sexual fulfillment, but the chemistry between Clara and Josh went beyond the physical. I loved the voice, the humor, the character development, everything. I cannot wait for the author's second book!

WHOAAA! This was super fun and steamy. I loved Rosie Danan's writing style, immediately hooked me from the start. I picked this up at 8 pm and did not want to put it down. Definitely recommend. 4.5 stars! Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

I expected to enjoy this one more than I did but it kinda fell flat. It was steamy but I just didn’t feel Clara and Josh's connection?

I also wished it was more laid out what joshs job was just for transparencies sake.

rating: 3.5/5 (rounded up for amazing writing)

I only heard amazing things about this book from fellow romance lovers, and wanted to love it so badly. But for some reason, it just fell a little flat for me.

What I loved: The writing was incredible! It was funny and sexy; I legitimately found myself giggling aloud at some points. The character development felt real and I enjoyed following the growing attraction between Clara and Josh. And I love any book set in my hometown; I did not envy Clara re-learning to drive in LA traffic!

What I didn't love: I feel like the story fell apart a bit at the end. I am all for a HEA, but this seemed a bit too implausible, too neat of a bow tied on Josh and Clara. I was also surprised by the content of this novel; I didn't read any summary prior to reading about this being set in the Adult Entertainment industry, and it caught me off guard. I'm not sure I would have picked this up if I knew the full context of this story.

Overall, I would recommend this book to any romance lover who enjoys quipy dialogue and steamy storylines.

Here’s the deal: When you pick up The Roommate by Rosie Danan at the bookstore on September 22nd, make a pit stop to grab some wine and a fan because this book was STEAMY🔥. I skimmed the synopsis before reading it because with a title like The Roommate and a cover as beautiful as this, I figured I knew all I really needed to know about what was waiting for me inside…boy was I in for a surprise…

Recap:

Clara 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 realises 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.

What I loved:

–I’m a sucker for roommate romances. The tension and chemistry that comes out of these stories is usually right up my alley & TR was no different.

–The conversations surrounding the porn industry. In case you’re like me and skimmed the synopsis: Josh is an adult entertainer. And the hot topics surrounding the industry such as mistreatment of cast and crew, sexual harassment and stereotypes that come along with working in the industry were sooooo well done.

–Shameless & Shame. The idea of shame played a huge role in the story in general (i.e. Clara worrying what her family will think of her if they find out about Josh, Josh leaving his family behind and holding back with Clara because he worries that she think what society thinks of him because of his profession, and so on). Their entire idea for the Shameless website was great. I love that they wanted something to help provide education and fight against the stigma of female desires.

–Josh. *Sigh* What a great love interest. In a tweet, Danan said that in many ways Josh’s personality was inspired by Nick from the tv show New Girl & I totally got it! He was so sweet, kind and thoughtful. I adored when the POV focused on him.

Why I didn’t give it 5🌟:

-The first 25 percent of the story felt a tad rushed for me.

-There were a few moments when the third person POV switched from Clara to Josh & it took me a second to realize that there was a switch in POV.

Rating ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .5/5

Steam Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥/4 (aka did I mention that Josh is an adult entertainer?)

3.5 stars
Romance is not my go-to genre, but I have decided to challenge myself and read a genre I do not normally gravitate too, and start reading the many stories it has to offer. I have heard nothing but great things about The Roommate and I can honestly say I concur with the majority of those opinions. The Roommate is a romance book featuring great sex positive romance, excellent communication between both character and steamy, fan yourself sex scenes. There were some misses such as it felt like the book maybe dragged on a bit too long. Overall, The Roommate is a fun and steamy romance that many readers will fall in love with.

I read YA so much I've forgotten how nice it is to read about characters my own age sometimes. I really loved this book! Clara's pretty relatable for me as she's in her late twenties and hasn't experienced much, doesn't know what to do with her degree, and is terrified of driving. I really liked the dynamic between her and Josh, who's outgoing and seemingly fears nothing but confrontation and intimacy, which is also pretty relatable.

I felt like the romance is well-written and they're dynamic is really cute. Also, as this book involves the porn industry, there's quite a lot of sex scenes and those are very well-written, too. This book is cute and romantic and it also brings up an important conversation about the exploitation of sex workers and how society looks down on them. Loved it!

This was a very sweet and steamy romance.

Clara has moved across the country at the whim of her childhood best friend and long time crush. But he is completely oblivious to her feelings as he has always been. Instead, he informs her that while she still securely has a room in his home, he has a major opportunity with his band and is renting his own room out to some guy from Craigslist.

Luckily, instead of being a total creep, new tenant Josh surprises Clara with his demeanor. She is immediately at ease with this stranger... until she learns of his profession, that is.

While the two get closer over the summer they must cohabitate, the two decide to work together to come up with a business plan involving what women want when it comes to sex.

Strange as that may seem, the enticing turns this book quickly takes warms you up to these notions very fast. This was a very empowering sexy read that I will not forget any time soon. We get to see Clara, who was once this prudish perfect socialite, turn into a strong woman who gets a major grip on what she deserves in the bedroom. All the while, we get Josh... who is just the sweetest guy who is thrown completely for a loop at how immediately he falls for this reserved summer roommate.

I enjoyed the main characters and their story. I liked how romance novel tropes of were turned on their heads with the supporting characters. I will recommend this book for people who are looking for a romance that's just a little bit different.

Omg I loved this book! So fun & sexy. Loved the whole message. Will definitely recommend to romance fans!

The Roommate wasn’t quite as frustrating as the previous title. In fact I was enjoying this one up until around the 80% mark where the direction the story took wasn’t one I agreed with for the simple reason that it didn’t make sense in the narrative and felt unnecessary to me, but I digress. Let’s start from the beginning.

I really liked the concept of this book. A socialite type woman who goes chasing her lifelong crush cross-country just to end up being left in dust and rooming with a guy she doesn’t know who also happens to be a porn-star. This sets up for an opposites attract type scenario where she is very uptight, a bit stuck up too and he’s a very laid back type person who’s open about pretty much…all things, but instead of clashing, the two of the them found a way to compromise and work well as roommates first, then friends and eventually lovers.

The romance between Clara and Josh felt well paced, there was a good balance between both cute and hilarious dialogue, domestic scenes and hot smut which was EXTREMELY well written, this genuinely has one of the most memorable oral sex scene I’ve ever read about and I gotta give credit to the author where it’s due. The story didn’t grip me and wasn’t set up to be a new favorite but not every single book has to be, I was enjoying it and having fun with everything it was doing up until around the 80% mark. Now where the story missed the mark for me is the final conflict, or what is commonly called the third act break-up.

I want to preface by saying that I do not have any issues with the actual story breakdown, it’s a formula that works in romance but the conflict that results in a breakup has to be convincing enough for me to buy into it, it has to bring something to the relationship, but sadly here, it didn’t. It was overly dramatic and instead of focusing on a single conflict, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong and it was all over the place and over the top. Especially since there was an external conflict that was big enough to completely disregard the possibility of a break up and still give the story some pretty high stakes to develop on and that’s what made the break up unnecessary and quite frankly annoying to me. It wasn’t needed for some good character and relationship development, especially since not every single thing that was done and said to provoke the conflict was properly addressed at the end.

What I genuinely loved about The Roommate though is the discussion around two things.

1- Sex work and the negative brush it’s always painted with. The way sex workers, including porn stars are always seen as lesser than while the same people who judge them still benefit from and enjoy their services. With a special focus on the porn industry and how corrupt it is as well, since that’s what Josh does for a living.

2- Albeit a bit binary, it opens the discussion on the focus on male pleasure in the porn industry and how most of what is made there is made with that in mind while putting unrealistic expectations on women and not taking into consideration what they might enjoy etc… and thus resulting in giving a false image to everyone involved in the equation.

First thing's first -- THIS BOOK IS STEAMY!!! I mean I thought my iPad was going to catch on fire hot! I am incredibly impressed by what a talented writer @rosiedanan because the book is super steamy, not at all raunchy, and had such substance! I absolutely LOVED it! The storyline was so entertaining and each chapter left me wanting to read more and more!

The dynamic/relationship between Josh and Clara was perfection. I could actually see the scenes play out in my head it was written so well and they had such great chemistry. I’m also glad that although Elliott was her longtime “love” she wasn’t harping on him too much in the story (that always bothers me!)

This is a must read in my book so go ahead and pre-order this and thank me later! 😜

Thank you @berkleyromance @netgalley and @rosiedanan for the eARC!

When I started this book, I was unsure how I felt about it. I definitely felt like it was a little all over the place, with a lack of world building and background. I felt like I was missing something. As the story went on, these issues resolved themselves and I was captivated. I loved the secondary plot line about Shameless, and I loved the way that the characters forced each other to change and question their perspectives and implicit bias. There was heart, there was humour, and of course there was a great love story.

An amazing debut by author Rosie Danan! The MCs were both relatable, sweet and, most importantly, lovable. Fiercely sex positive. I found the pacing lacked at times, but really, for a first novel, The Roommate was delightful and I will definitely be first in line to read what Ms. Danan has next in store! Highly suggested!

Hello, it is I, Founder, President, and CEO of the Bitches Who Love Good Dialogue™ Club, and I hereby bequeath The Roommate BWLGD-approved.

When it came to banter and never-ending sexual tension, Rosie Motherfuckin' Danan DID NOT COME HERE TO PLAY. She delivered a saucy, hilarious, and heartfelt story that was truly sex-positive and also sex work-positive, and I greatly enjoyed every second of it. Josh is quickly slithering his way up the book boyfriends leaderboard, and I loved Clara's arc really unpacking what it looks like to take risks in life. She has a couple of beautiful monologues towards the end of the novel about what it means to love that left me simultaneously tearing up and cackling.

I'd say the only real drawback for me was we never got a full account of Clara's family history and why they loom so large for her (and in the minds of American society). Even just a few pages scattered throughout the novel explaining the Wheaton family's notable scandals and giving us a little more interaction with her mom and dad would've sufficed and added more depth to Clara's character; her family background was harped on so much without any actual explanation. (I also wanted more of Aunt Jill! She sounded rad!)

Thank god this book is being turned into a movie, because I need this franchise to take all of my money. This one's somewhere between 4-4.5 stars!

This book is such a fun romp through sex-positivity, pleasure and opening yourself up to love! I adored Josh, an adult performer who takes pride in his work and refuses to be ashamed of what he does best.