I have always enjoyed novels about boarding schools. Something about going through the difficult teenage years without parents nearby seems both terrifying and liberating. In “Room and Board,” we meet Gillian a former publicist who left her previous job because of a sexual harassment scandal. Not sure where to go next, she takes a job as dorm mother at the boarding school she attended in the mid-nineties. Bombarded with memories both good and bad, Gillian is forced to reconcile with her past and she prepares for her future.

I loved the premise more than the delivery, though I thought the novel was heavy with clichés and stereotypes (especially of some of the students). This was an easy read and if you could get past the believeability (I doubt the school would randomly reach out to someone and offer a job without a thorough background check), I did enjoy the story. Though touched upon, I thought the novel could go more into Gillian’s background—she felt very superficial, though she did go into publicity where what people see is what matters. I also found the romance between Gillian and her former classmate (who is now a father to one of the school’s students) was a bit contrived.

But, if you can get past this and looking for a fun read, I do suggest you may enjoy this book.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. My thanks also to the publishermand the author.

Gillian was running her own PR firm, based in NYC, working with celebrity clients before her career imploded leaving her friendless and unemployed. Then she hears from some one in her past, who is offering her a job at her alma matter Glen Ellen Academy as a dorm mom. Glen Ellen Academy is set in idyllic Sonoma, California surrounded by many beautiful vineyards and wineries. Gillian takes the opportunity to return to her comfortable roots, even though she does not have the fondest of memories from her senior year at Glen Ellen.

Initially Gillian is surprised to find herself quickly acclimating and loving her new life, she finds friends, becomes a mentor to many teenage girls who look up to her, and even runs into the man who she had loved in high school. However, the complicated web of new and old relationships starts to tangle Gillian in a mess, leaving her to decide what is truly important to her and if she can truly have it all.

Although this book is categorized as Women's Fiction, it very much read as a young adult novel that I would have loved from ages 13-18. I was initially very excited about the premise of this book, however the story line and characters fell flat for me. The conversations between all characters was oddly stilted and not compelling, even the love interest story line had no real feeling or connection to their relationship. Overall, the story line was predictable and boring, but still intriguing enough to finish the book, although majority of the time I found myself not really caring about the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for giving me the opportunity to read Room and Board early in exchange for my honest review before it comes out on August 16, 2022.

I was excited to read this one, but it read more like YA and I wasn’t expecting that, nor was I looking for it in a story about a MFC in her late 30’s.

I found the story arc to be fumbling, the dialogue stilted and awkward, the shifts between present day and past were not well defined, and I didn’t really understand the romantic relationship between Gillian and Aiden at all - the reader is told more than shown; that didn’t work.

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me.

Famous NYC publicist, Gillian, is sent back in time (figuratively, not literally) when her life in New York quickly ends due to a major scandal within her job. She wasn’t sure what she would do for the next chapter in her life until she received a job offer to become the dorm mom at the same private high school that she attended. The school is in a small town in wine county, California, which means that everything changes for her. With the exception of the school she had a semi-traumatic social experience at.

Gillian is reminded of how good of a publicist she is when she is asked to handle the PR for twin singer-songwriter students who go viral, as well as when an embezzlement scandal takes place inside of the school. With both of her lives merging into one, city publicist meets kind and caring dorm mom - all in a lovable character named Gillian.

Will she be able to handle the memories that come back when she is living in the same dorm she resided in for high school? What about when the boy she loved, who also broke her heart, reappears in her life as a parent of one of her dorm students?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Room and Board by Miriam Parker is a story about finding oneself and second chances. The story follows Gillian, a publicist who thought she had everything she wanted in life. When her job turns sideways, Gillian finds herself back at her alma mater working as a dorm mother to high school aged girls. While her new position is vastly different than her career in PR, Gillian finds joy in her new life, an unexpected community and is even able to reignite a relationship with an old flame.

The meat of the story is focused on Gillian and while there is some character development there, overall, the characters fell flat for me. Parker had many opportunities to help the characters grow but it just wasn’t there. They were constantly quick to change their minds on things without any real explanation or believability. I was disappointed in that regard.

If you like stories that revolve around boarding school culture, then give Room and Board a try.

Thank you to NetGalley, Miriam Parker, and Pengin Group Dutton for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of Room and Board in exchange for my honest review.

#RoomandBoard #NetGalley

Miriam Parker's Room and Board is an engrossing and optimistic read. It explores the all-encompassing fear and exhilaration of starting over and reimagining your life. It encourages the reader to think of what could go wrong, all of the ways it could go right. Themes of friendship, tenacity, home, and second chances make this a heartwarming story. But don't let the positivity fool you! This story is sharp and action based, with PR crises at every turn. Parker does a great job of pulling the reader into Gillian's emotions and fears, while not dwelling there too long to slow down her momentum. Gillian's loneliness feels tangible and relatable, but her willingness to keep trying keeps the reader invested and engaged.

The only true issue I find with the story is the utilization of the #metoo movement. While I can understand that working in publicity for someone who turns out to be a monster is the catalyst for Gillian's lifestyle change, there could be other situations that would have better served the story. Because the #metoo movement is only involved in the story as a plot point, it uses the movement to move the story along, as opposed to validating its import and impact. I thought that the issues concerned in the #metoo movement may crop up at GEM, therefore, anchoring the reason for this choice, but the only crime noted was embezzling. The story would be better off without using #metoo, such a traumatic issue for many people, in a way that feels flippant.

I really enjoy Parker's characterizations, pacing, and imagery. This book is a fun read that kept my attention and left me wanting more. I feel that if #metoo was replaced with another PR disaster, as it easily could be, its message and core themes would only be made stronger and clearer.

**SPOILERS**
2.5 stars

Gillian brings the passion she used to have as a publicist for celebrity clients to her new job as dorm mom at her alma matter after a very public downfall leads to shutting down her business, pushed out of the industry she had invested all of herself in. 

Revisiting her high school days brings back many emotional memories, including the painful break of her close knit group of friends after learning her two best friends had been seeing each other behind her back (and the subsequent events that left her as the school pariah). Now one of those ex-best friends (and former crush), Aiden, has a daughter in her dorm... Luckily she has perspective now that she's on the other side of her school days. 

Gillian's connection with the students in the Vallejo house is sweet and endearing, and it's lovely to see her grow within the role, although the voices of the students felt inconsistent. She really hits her stride when the school finds itself at the center of media attention and she steps up to advise her students and those at the school about how to navigate those waters. This is the strongest point in the book. Gillian is strong, knowledgeable, and caring and builds great trust from those around her. 

After that point, it slid downhill for me. A large arc wanted to hinge on the re-blossoming relationship of Aiden and Gillian, but their dialogue wasn't compelling and there wasn't a strong pull between them. The author chose to draw out the timeline revealing Gillian & Aiden's history and while this may have been by design to bring his trustworthiness into question, it leant to the disconnect I felt between them and with them as a couple.

There was a heightened level of drama over the comparing the Miranda/Aiden vs Lila/Aiden dynamics in correlation to Gillian's friendships with these women and her choices in what she pursued with Aiden, which felt forced. Why would she feel as if she was deeply betraying Lila, who seemed to not have been with Aiden for long and she was just becoming friends with? 

The other major arc towards the end was the discovery of the headmaster's embezzling, which ultimately leads to his ousting.This is out of my area of expertise but why would she take this embezzlement finding to the head of the PTA instead of President of the board or an alternate person in power at GEM? 

Certainly by the time GIllian learns this news will be out in the press, there's someone at the school who would be responsible for managing this news? While the initiative and desire to protect the school is admirable and believable, the idea that she would then take it upon herself to be the spokesperson in announcing to press that the headmaster has been dismissed is irresponsible. Thankfully, she reaches out to the Board President while walking to the press conference and gets confirmed details but the scenario reads overly fantastical overall. 
Insights as to how a publicist is an asset in many situations (as well as the scope of their work) was believable but the politics of the school in crisis seem to be a free-for-all and made me cringe. 


It's no surprise how this story ends but I'll just say it: I wish she'd stayed with "I'm coming into my own and happy with me" instead of partnering back with Aiden immediately. While this book had some sweet moments between Gillian and the kids, and likable moments shared by GIllian and Lila, it just didn't do the trick for me overall. 

* Received an ARC from NetGalley and Penguin Group/Dutton. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

An unexpected career changing event sees Gillian returning to her high school as a dorm parent, charged with the care of a group of teenagers. As she reconnects with an old flame, Gillian is taken back to her high school years and past feelings. Set in the beautiful Northern Californian wine country, the description of the school and surrounding areas provide a great background to add to an enjoyable read.
This book refers to contemporary issues facing women including the Metoo movement. Whilst an enjoyable read, I found myself more interested in the setting than the main character, whose actions I sometimes found difficult to connect with and left some unresolved threads.

I liked this novel!
It brought me back to my own days in the college dorm (modern day) not my HS days as portrayed in this story, but many of the feelings were the same. Some things just never ever change.
The insecurities, going for cool, but not too cool, friends, enemies, and trying to get good grades to move forward towards "real" adult life are all there.
Then throw in a romance that you cannot give up, but do you really want too?

This is just a fun book! You should give it a try!
Thank you to #Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for allowing me to read and provide my own review.

For the first 75% of the book, I did enjoy reading. I wasn’t trying to make time in my day to read it more often, but it was fine. I think the writing and plot could have been tightened a little more on a conceptual level. There were also a bunch of typos. I know this is an uncorrected proof, but it was still more than I usually see from a galley.

Then at the 75% mark I snapped and all the little things that bugged me made me hate the book. Mostly the writing style grated, but there were plenty of other things to be fed-up about.

Things that bugged me:

#1: The "romance". Until the last 3% of the book I honestly wasn't sure if this was a romance (HEA or HFN ending) or Women's Fiction. I feel like you should know? And worst of all, I couldn’t tell what Gillian saw in Aiden, either in HS or in the present timeline, and even worse I couldn’t tell if we were supposed to like him as a reader. I was pretty convinced that we weren’t because the author did nothing to make him likable or sympathetic at all. He was basically just there. when they go on their first date I was internally cringing because I was convinced Aiden didn't even like Gillian romantically at all. And even worse, at the end of the book I still couldn't tell! There was a lot of telling and not showing. “He was her dream man”. What you want a cardboard cutout? WHY is he your dream dude, Gillian?? He broke up with you twice, used you, and doesn't appear to even enjoy spending time with you if it's not for sex. Girl, you can do better. My left elbow could do better.

Lila. Gillian said she was so happy that Lila “came back” to her as a friend but… literally it was 24 hours and Lila was never that pissed off? She just needed time to process. Even when Gillian says she would be okay with not having love because she has Lila … ? Okay? Doesn’t seem like a deep friendship or anything. These two characters have as much chemistry as two rocks, and given the nature of her relationship with Aiden, imma have to blame Gillian for this one. She's the common denominator, after all.

I won’t spoil anything, but you could see all the “twists” coming a mile away. Including one I thought would happen but apparently I gave the author too much credit.

TL;DR: The stakes just aren’t there. We aren’t invested in Gillian's relationship with Aiden or Lila at all we are sort of invested in the Gem, but since even Gillian thinks she may peace out after one semester it's hard to even take that seriously.

I enjoyed the California setting of this novel, and I liked hearing the little snippets of being a publicist. It's always interesting to hear a story about rich people behaving badly, too. Unfortunately, the character building fell flat and felt immature. It was frustrating how stuck in the past the main character was. The prose was more telling than showing, including the dialogue, which also made it feel more like YA than women's fiction. If the author took out some of the wine and wrote it from one of the students' points of view it would have been a pretty interesting YA novel!
Overall, it was a pretty light read and being a fan of wine I enjoyed reading about that area of Cali, but in general the story fell flat.

This sounded like an interesting premise when I read the promotional material and looked forward to reading this novel. Unfortunately, my experience fell short of my expectations. While told from the perspective of the protagonist, a 38 year old professional publicist, the storyline reads mora like a YA novel about private high school students and the administration.

Gillian rose above the constraints of her lower middle class upbringing through hard work and the benefits of scholarships to attend an exclusive high school and ivy-league university. When her highly successful business disintegrates, she accepts the opportunity to serve as a dorm mother at her alma mater, Glenn Brook Academy. She feels insecure in this new role, but sees it as a temporary position while she reevaluates her life goals. Much to her surprise she is embraced by the students, makes a new friend, reconnects with an old love interest and helps the school through a scandal by drawing on her publicist skills.

I had several problems with the book. First is the predominance of melodrama around a variety of relationships. Perhaps this is to be expected with a novel set in an elite high school setting, but Gillian seems immature for someone who excelled at business and is 20 years post high school herself. The dialogue is pretty lightweight and the book is devoid of any levity. I never felt invested in any of the characters and many were stereotypical…i.e., the poor rich girl apparently banished to boarding school by parents who travel and party in foreign countries; a stage mother whose ambition seems to override the needs and wishes of her talented children; and a second chance at love that runs hot and cold. It all gets resolved in the end, but overall, this turned out to be a “just okay” novel for me.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

Room and Board by M. Parker, published by Penguin Group Dutton/ Penguin Randomhouse LLC is a stand-alone contemporary romance.
Gillian is back at her school. After years away and a career of her own, after having a bad year, she just took a job as dorm mom.
And she connects with some of the students, some not so much.
Room and Board is a slow burn with twists and turns I never saw coming.
I really, really wanted to love this book, but it took me some time to get into the story. I just couldn't easily connect with the characters. The writing is good and the storyline is unique,4 stars.

Based on the blurb, I was excited to read this one. I loved the fancy boarding school setting, but outside of that, the book missed the mark for me. It's not labeled as YA, but the cover and plot seemed to fit that. The storyline and dialogue was clunky and seemed too immature at times for the characters. Many of the flashbacks were confusing to follow and keep straight. I expected more character development than I found, and that made it hard to connect with or care about them. Sadly, the twists really weren't that unexpected.

3.5 stars. Cute book. The premise was fun and the main character, Gillian, was relatable and likable. I do think the author could have spent more time on the big plot points and less on some of the unimportant details and flashbacks. It felt like there were several parts that should have been more detailed but she summarized in a few sentences or told the reader what happened instead of walking us through the scene. Overall a good read and I will likely read more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Based on the blurb, I was excited to start this book. Glamorous career girl suffers fall from grace and returns to her roots, which happens to be a fancy boarding school? You had me at hello. Unfortunately, this book fell totally short of expectations and was just not my jam. It's not designated YA, but it reads very juvenile. Some of the dialogue is downright clunky and cheesy. The flashbacks are not well defined, and I spent more time than I should have seeing if the timeline of Gillian's senior year and Rainbow's senior year actually made sense. The characters are really one dimensional with not a lot of growth, the plot is paper thin and I could see the conflicts coming a mile away. Honestly not a whole lot actually happened over the course of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book, in exchange for this honest review.

4.25 stars

After her life and career implode, Gillian returns to the boarding school she attended to serve as a dorm mother. She plans to stay there just long enough to get her life in order again. When a scandal threatens the school, Gillian takes charge and realizes just how comfortable she is in her new life.

I thought the characters in this book were terrific, especially Gillian - she’s taken a hard fall and is picking up the pieces and putting her life back together again. I rooted her from the beginning and enjoyed her journey.

I enjoyed the storyline, too - parts were predictable but there were still a few unexpected twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. If you enjoy women’s fiction and/or boarding school stories, you’ll want to pick this book up!

I wanted to love this book - as someone working in communications, previously in a Greek organization, lover of YA, I wanted to love this but I never could. I never came to care about the main character- what happened to her career was said but not with many details, and definitely not felt so it was hard to connect to her. The drama issues were too many, not expanded on, not wrapped up. Promising premise but the execution lacked.

Independent thoughts, book provided free of charge from NetGalley.

When a #MeToo scandal leaves Gillian's life in New York City in shambles - and her career as a publicist destroyed entirely - she's left with a surprising option: return to her alma mater high school and work as a 'dorm mom' for a group of high school girls (with names like "Bunny" and "Rainbow," you know they come from money) she's never met, Gillian's own experience at the Gem was bittersweet, with the emphasis on bitter. But now here she is, decades later, building a life for herself and even, perhaps, reconnecting with an old love interest. The question is: can she move forward and build something truly new in the wreckage of her old life, when scandal seems to be dogging her still?

As I read "Room and Board," I kept feeling the most potent sense of missed potential. There was so much this book could have been, so much it had going for it. I love a good boarding school novel as much as the next gal, and the premise of this was compelling. It just seemed, to me, that the execution fell flat. I had a hard time with the writing style, and the dialog felt very unnatural. Gillian made some choices that didn't make a ton of sense to me, which pulled me further out of the story. Overall, It's a decent read, but not one of my favorites.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Review and thoughts are my own.

I really wanted to love this book but I am sad to say that some thing about it fell flat. I thought that the second chance romance element wasn't really deserved between the characters and I think that's because the characters never really felt flushed out and multidimensional to me. Maybe I'll revisit this in a few months and give her another chance but right now I don't think it's for me.