The Roommate

By: Rosie Danan

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Teddy Hamilton

"Warmly funny and gorgeously sexy." (New York Times Book Review)

A LibraryReads Pick

House Rules:
Do your own dishes
Knock before entering the bathroom
Never look up your roommate online

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 perceptiv - 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.

©2020 Rosie Danan (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“What an incredible debut! Danan gives us strangers to annoyed-roommates to kinda-friends to angsty-pining to finally-lovers with humor, wit, and just a hint of pathos. Josh and Clara are easily my favorite ‘smash the patriarchy’ couple, and The Roommate is easily one of my top romance reads of 2020!” (Jen DeLuca, author of Well Met)

"The Roommate is laugh-out-loud funny, bananas sexy, and deeply romantic. Danan’s voice is fresh and sharp, and the romance between Clara and Josh is both sizzling hot and heartwarming. Everything I want in a romance." (Andie J. Christopher, USA Today best-selling author)

"Nuanced, funny, super steamy and surprisingly tender, The Roommate raises the bar for rom coms in 2020 - a smashing debut, and I can't wait for more by Rosie Danan!" (Evie Dunmore, author of Bringing Down the Duke)

Fun story but I really disliked one of the readers.

The male reader (who covered the chapters from the male protagonist’s POV) really took me out of the story. His voice came across as arrogant and smug. The way he voiced any female dialogue felt almost condescending, like the woman was dumb and breathy or a nag. I wish the while thing had been performed by the female reader.

Cute

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book about the porn community- that was a nice change. Some parts were meh but for the most part I thought it was a really fun book to listen to. I had to speed it up because the narrators are too slow for me but that’s been an issue with the last few books I’ve listened to. You could literally cut two hours off if you read a little faster

HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU LISTEN TO THIS BOOK!!!

Well done Rosie Danan! I can't wait for your next book because this one was so fun and delicious. The story was great and I couldn't stop listening. The narration was also spot on!

Loved it!

Loved the story! I, too, fell over when I found out his 'occupation'! I found myself laughing so hard at parts! And, of course, the narration was soot on!! A must listen!

Shrew Meets Rake in San Fernando Valley

It was ok: structure was shrew meets rake. I like the feminism in demanding to have a space for women’s pleasure, but the porn star angle just didn’t sit comfortably with me. I will accept this as fantasy, but I tend to think a lot more damage constructs such identities. Fallout has got to be even more brutal. But, whatevs—America loved Pretty Woman, too.

File Under: He Just Wants You to Feel Good, Baby.

pretty so-so

The male narrator is terrible. I finished it but it was pretty so so. The storyline is pretty out there and the cheese level is high.

Enjoyable enough

Fun premise, well paced storyline. I found Clara a bit too prude and unrealistic, even grating at times, for a woman her age. For most of the book I had a hard time believing the chemistry between her and Josh really extended outside a physical attraction because of it. This didn’t stop me from enjoying the story as a whole but it was a little cringey to get through some of her cornier, almost teenage-like moments. Willing to read this author again if the lead female protagonist is less stuffy/cheesy.

slow burn with angst

I love yearning! this book captures yearning so well without a too early relationship! Slow burn with the just right amount of spice

I think I’m in love with Josh.

This book surprised me based off of the reviews. The story is really sweet. Having a male lead be true to his feelings was refreshing, and I liked that though Clara was prudish, she owned it. Not to mention, what a take on female
pleasure! I love both narrators, I have tons of books read by both, but dude, Teddy Hamilton gets it done. Whoa 😳

Sexy Chick-lit

Fun and somewhat funny story about uptight east coast trust fund bred woman falling for west coast porn star.
Original premise with predictable but satisfying outcome
Entertaining per the genre