This book ended up being way more emotional than I was expecting. I was expecting a fairly standard rom com with a dash of ghostly antics. And that's what I got for the majority of the book. Then the ending happened and it was like a punch to the gut - in a mostly good way. I didn't realize how much I'd come to care about the characters until that point. It moved the book from a 3.5 rating to a solid 4 for me.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet had such a fun, weird premise—I mean, a literal ghostwriter writing for a literal ghost??—and I was definitely into the quirky setup, but the execution didn’t totally vibe with me. It had moments of charm and wit, and I appreciated the emotional layers around identity and legacy, but it felt like it couldn’t decide if it wanted to be a heartfelt queer rom-com or a full-on satire. I didn’t hate it—I even laughed out loud a few times—but it didn’t fully land the way I hoped. Still, if you’re into slightly absurd, slightly sad gay ghost stories with a side of snark, this one might just be your thing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Roland Rogers Isn't Dead Yet by Samantha Allen!

Award-winning journalist Samantha Allen has crafted a witty and intriguing story that takes on contemporary Hollywood. What happens when a ghostwriter (one who authors an autobiography for someone without receiving credit) meets a real ghost? Roland Rogers, a charismatic, gorgeous, and, in short, very hot action star, dies. His body is frozen in a snow bank, while his consciousness "wakes up" back in his Malibu home. Allen's ghost is not typical of the genre. Roland is now a basketball-shaped energy field. With concentration, he can merge with electrical appliances, even computers. This gives him the chance to hire someone to tell his life story.

Adam Gallagher, a writer whose biography in some ways parallels Allen's own, is Roland's total opposite. Author of the best-selling Salt Lake City Sodomite, Adam is paunchy, bedraggled, and quite depressed. He has cynically accepted a very large stipend and agreed to write the memoir in one month while living in Roland's home. This is hardly a "meet cute." Instead, this cinematically inspired story, with plenty of allusions to films, sly takedowns of current celebrities, and glorious use of food as sexual metaphor, is laugh-out-loud funny. Allen's strength lies in the dialogue. Whether through bantering, deeper philosophical discussions, or the characters' inner monologues, the characters' voices consistently reveal personality through carefully selected word choices. Yes, the novel is written by and for the LGBTQ+ community; its message, however, belongs to everyone. Highly recommended for book clubs and readers of rom-coms looking for something new.

Full disclosure: I received this ARC from NetGalley.com and Zando in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you for this opportunity.

I wanted to like this so much more than I actually did. I enjoyed Patrica Wants to Cuddle but I didn't even notice it was the same author until halfway through. Despite this, I was constantly annoyed by Adam and felt like Zoya being a minimally-complicated bitch who wanted her own spotlight was a little bit of a cop out

The idea for this story was pretty cool, and while there were some parts that could’ve been better, I still liked it overall. The ending wasn’t really my favorite, but I still had fun reading it. It had some good moments, even though it could’ve been improved in a few spots.

<i>First, a thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</i>

I was really looking forward to this book since I really enjoyed [book:Patricia Wants to Cuddle|59093587] and all its weirdness. And while this book also had weirdness, it wasn’t the same sort of weirdness - and maybe this is on me, but that is what I was expecting/hoping for, so I was a little bummed.

Listen, this is a sweet and unexpected story about queer love, coming out (at any age), and has some really fun moments/scenes. It’s well written, the characters are fun, and I love the idea of the story.

But with all that being said… it just didn’t spark joy in the way that I expected it to.

I almost wish I had read this one FIRST, and then maybe I would have ended up feeling differently about it.

PS - I get really annoyed at publishers who have shitty formatting in their eARCs. It is 2025! How hard can this be?? When the formatting comes across all wonky, it really negatively affects the reading experience. I am not asking for much. But breaks that make sense and no loose floating letters doesn’t seem like that big of a request.

This was a great concept for this story, and although there are definitely places that it could’ve been improved, I overall liked it (even if I wasn’t a fan of its ending).

At first I didn’t know what to think about this book - but then it grabbed me right away. Truly powerful story about the coming out process and how painful it can be. I hope that if anyone who claims to be an ally will read this book and understand what it is like to feel the shame of being gay and then trying to spend your life trying to put the past where it belongs. To be proud of who you are and to find love and be happy.

“You saw me without seeing me. You touched me without touching me. If something good comes after this, I’ll see you there.”

Time to put the ghost in ghostwriter! Bad-dum-tsh!

Samantha Allen, author of the hilarious, hyper-violent and extremely fun Patricia Wants To Cuddle, returns with Roland Rogers isn’t dead yet - a rom-com featuring a ghost. Sign me the hell up. Adam Gallagher, ex-Mormon, memoirist and struggling novelist, knocks on the door of Roland Rogers, the most famous man in Hollywood. He’s here to ghostwrite his memoir, which, most importantly, will see him come out to the world at large. HOWEVER. When Adam arrives at Roland's beautiful, fancy home, he discovers that Roland is dead, and he’s been hired by a ghost. The two enter a race against time (Roland’s body is under a snowdrift, and won’t be found for weeks) to get the book on paper. But guess what! Sparks fly along the way! YES!
I loved this’ Samantha Allen is a very funny writer, and Roland Rogers is stuffed with good jokes. She balances the jokes with astute observations on the film, TV and memoir-writing industries and a compassionate look at what life is like for an ex-Mormon who has lost everything. There a lot of big topics in here that she writes with tenderness and compassion; both Roland and Adam are pretty fucked up in different ways, and it’s nice to watch them heal one another as the novel progresses. She also (spoiler alert) writes M/M romance extremely well - the sex scenes in this book are weird but also tender, and, well, pretty hot!
Other elements don’t entirely come together - the introduction of a third-act character feels like forced conflict, it’s unnecessary and, I'm not going to lie, she’s really annoying! She feels like an intrusion on the narrative, which is kind of the point but it bugged me a lot.

Nevertheless, a really fun read, establishing Samantha Allen as an author I will always pick up.

tuesdays at morrie's meets the seven husbands of evelyn hugo!!! samantha allen had me kicking my feet and giggling and crying all at the same time

4.5*

Adam Gallagher's career is...to put it bluntly...in the shitter. A gay, ex-Mormon writer, he hit it big with the release of his salacious debut memoir over a decade ago. But now the interviews, the TV spots, the gigs, and honestly, the will to even put pen to paper have all dried up. So when Hollywood A-Lister Roland Rogers requests him *specifically* to ghostwrite his upcoming tell-all memoir (in which he wants to finally come out of the closet after over 50 years), it all feels a little too good to be true. (Not enough to not do it, but.)

The only problem? Roland Rogers is already dead.

Upon arrival to Roland's disgustingly lavish Malibu home, Adam is surprised to learn that, for the biggest opportunity of his career (and maybe his life), he must ghostwrite for a literal ghost. Hilarity ensues, sparks fly, you know the rest.

I am such a huge fan of Samantha Allen's first novel, Patricia Wants to Cuddle, so I knew that her second novel would be just fun, weird (non-derogatory), and unexpectedly tender. What I didn't expect was to have my heart *literally* shattered several times over by this story and come away with two incredible characters I'll be thinking of for the rest of the year.

Because the character work really is the star of the show here. I felt so invested in both of their backstories and motivations, and it was so satisfying to trace the shape of their separate arcs throughout the story and look at the ways that they intersect and the ways that they differ. Just brilliant. There is a lot more depth to Adam and Roland than (most of) the characters in Patricia Wants to Cuddle, and I think having a smaller cast in a much more isolated setting with way less going on really helped with that.

I think that the one qualm that I had with this book was that the third act just didn't feel like it flowed quite right. The character and the conflict that's presented made sense logically, but it came so abruptly after such an emotional crescendo and went on for so long, only to be wrapped up super quickly and easily at the end.

Overall I really had a great time with this story. It really feels one-of-a-kind and I think Samantha Allen's fiction is something really special.

Thank you to Netgalley and Zando Projects for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Roland Rogers Isn't Dead Yet is out now!

✨ Review ✨ Roland Rogers Isn't Dead Yet by Samantha Allen; Narrated by Chris Henry Coffey, Nick Mills

Thanks to Zando and Recorded Books and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

Okay - first off, this book is kind of weird and definitely won't be for everyone!

I was intrigued by the premise though that Adam goes to write the memoir of Roland Rogers, famous Hollywood actor under some strange circumstances. When he gets there, he finds Roland died in a ski accident and his returned to his Malibu mansion as a ghost. This is such a wild premise that I was hooked before I even started.

I loved all sorts of things about this:
-that Roland and Adam found such a meaningful connection
-the wild way that Roland was able to communicate through electronics was a fun new twist on ghosts
-the addition of Roland's ex-gf into the mix
-the tackling of serious issues like coming out, Mormon identity and ex-communication, and disordered eating

Some of the other pieces were ... weird .. and I won't spoil them here, but also intriguing and so overall I found this interesting and unusual

🎧 I enjoyed the audio for this, and it kept the pace up more than reading the text I think.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5)
Genre: m/m romance, contemporary fiction
Setting: Malibu
Length: 7 hours 38 minutes
Pub Date: Dec 03 2024

Yikes. Possibly one of the worst books I’ve read this year. Just not for me I suppose. The writing didn’t work nor did the characters.

I wasn't sure what to expect after reading Patricia Wants to Cuddle and being introduced to Samantha Allen but this was so fun and kept me sucked in. There was so much weird, and it was entertaining as hell! Lots of poignant themes were explored and it was great to pass the time with.

I was excited to read this book and went in to it knowing very little about it -- and I am so glad I did it that way. This book is so quirky and so different from anything I've read before -- I really loved it. It's also so funny, I loved all the pop culture references and it dealt with heavy topics in such a gentle and compassionate way.

I loved both Adam and Roland, they were so endearing and I found both of their stories to be so interesting and thought provoking. I'm a sucker for any books about Hollywood and this one had some fun parts about that.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes very quirky stories and can handle a little brain bending. I am so excited to check out Samantha Allen's older work and everything she writes in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

This was a super quick and fun read...about death and religious trauma. Allen's style is gay, goofy, and a touch of the paranormal--a combo I'm really loving.

I expect an element of weird when it comes to Samantha Allen now, and this did not disappoint. This is weird and wild and funny and so very earnest. If I hadn't started late in the day, this would have been a one day read. Wonderful all around

Roland Rogers is dead—mostly. Having suffocated in an avalanche while skiing, his disembodied consciousness wakes up in his Malibu home. Once he adjusts to his new status and learns to manipulate circuitry, his raison d’être becomes getting his autobiography written before the snow melts and his body is discovered. He refuses to let his legacy be his role as Crag Dynamite, the uber-masculine, uber-straight action hero in a series of big budget blockbusters that are a mashup between the Taken and Fast & Furious franchises. He wants to come out and be remembered as a serious actor, and the person he wants to tell his story is Adam Gallagher, whose acclaimed coming out story touched Roland deeply.

Reaching his literary peak after his debut novel about being an ex-communicated gay Mormon, Adam has slid into apathetic stagnation. Between his book flops and his confidence whittling ex-boyfriend, Adam has accepted his fate as a mediocre has been with no marketable skills. When his agent asks to meet, Adam assumes he’s finally getting the boot, but is instead blindsided by the once in a lifetime opportunity to ghostwrite for the Roland Rogers’ earth-shattering coming out. Adam is thrilled to get started, but is colossally unprepared for the challenge of interviewing a dead man via speakers. His excitement also quickly becomes frustration with Roland’s maddening reticence about himself, especially as Adam is hamstrung by a one-month deadline and longhand requirement for the manuscript.

When an unexpected sensory connection grows between Adam and Roland, it creates a bond that slowly helps them lower their guards. Falling in love is definitely not on their radar, and when their precarious situation is brought into sharp focus, they begin to doubt themselves and their undertaking. With time running out, will their interlude be cemented in regrets or soul-altering love?

Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet is a delightful story about two polar opposites who come together for a singular purpose and end up helping one another find missing pieces of themselves. In different ways, Adam and Roland have both given up on life due to fear and acceptance of their status quo unhappiness, but they see the memoir as the key to changing that. Roland and Adam have very set ideas about what they want the memoir to be, and the story alternates between being funny, bitchy, and touching, with a deft hand (mostly). Roland wants his memoir to be a surface level, charming walk down memory lane, with an emphasis on his artistically elevated work and him being a gifted, serious actor tragically trapped in the closet by societal and fan expectations. However, Adam doesn’t want the memoir to be a boilerplate “but make it gay” biography. He sees Roland as a symbol whose story could change lives. Roland’s star status and action hero masculinity would shake up persistent sexuality stereotypes and possibly help millions of people.

Unfortunately, their oppositional goals make them frustrated fighters rather than compatriots. Roland resents Adam’s insistence on going deeper and wants him to just write the folksy anecdotes and ‘hey I’m gay’ statements and move on. Adam resents Roland trying to make him write shallow drivel. However, their unexpected bond gives them a visceral connection unlike anything either has experienced and provides a surprising freedom and vulnerability. Adam stops viewing Roland as a potential symbol of queer resistance and beacon for closeted people. He recognizes that Roland is a man who missed out on milestones and aspects of being a gay man that are commonplace for Adam and that Roland’s fear of coming out didn’t magically disappear after death. Roland comes to understand that Adam isn’t being nosy or intractable and remembers that there was a reason he chose him, and it wasn’t for Adam to simply be a stenographer. Roland starts being more honest and less performative, and he finally faces what really kept him in the closet and how it changed the trajectory of his life and choices. The two men help each other live and give one another love without artifice, hiding, or shame.

There’s drama at the end that is meant to bring to fore an area that needs closure, but the manner of the resolution falls flat for me. Something happens that shakes them up and heightens the urgency and emotion. Then, the tension is momentarily released by a bout of stupidity that is too comedic and poorly timed for me. Adam is a sad sack, but even at the beginning of the book, this Curb Your Enthusiasm level of ridiculousness would have barely worked. Here, at the end, it is jarring and annoying. Plus, I experienced emotional whiplash because as soon as it happens, it smash cuts back to urgency, fear, and sadness. It almost made the ensuing moments less affecting, made worse by the fact that the solution is something a child would have suggested. Maybe the extremity of the situation facilitated the quick resolution, but it felt like a rushed and somewhat cheap way to introduce and then wrap up a last-minute chapter in Roland’s life. However, Samantha Allen is talented enough that soon the deep emotional momentum is recovered and returns to the bittersweet heart of the story.

Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet is an unconventional journey to love and self-acceptance that’s a compelling blend of the fun, the serious, the weird, and the heartbreaking. If you’re in the mood for an enemies-to-lovers(ish) story featuring an arrogant, recalcitrant ghost and his equally obstinate ex-Mormon ghostwriter, you might want to give this a try.

A fun, weird book with a lot of interesting themes to explore. It was more unconventional and dug deeper than I was expecting it to. It surprised me in a lot of different ways, and it was hard to put down. The final act struggles a bit and feels rushed. The tone also sometimes feels a bit off. A really enjoyable read though.