Sometimes you take a chance, do something totally unexpected and it goes horribly horribly wrong. That seems to be the position socialite Clara is in when she decides to travel to Los Angeles to stay with long-time best friend (and secret crush) Elliott only to be told he’s off on a last-minute tour with his band. Instead of a summer sharing past memories, Clara learns she’s going to have a new room-mate, Josh, who Elliott has leased a room to after seeing an advert on a social media site.
Determined to try and salvage the best from this predicament - and because we know it has to be this way - Clara stays...and finds herself learning things she was not planning on learning.
There’s an immediate attraction between them, and when Clara learns that her roommate is actually Josh Darling, current darling of the adult entertainment industry, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that we’re in for something a little more intimate than seemed to be on the cards.
What I wasn’t expecting was to find myself so amused and entertained by these two. There’s a believable chemistry and yet the sassiness and humour between them was what really made it work. Though each has their own issues, together they work.
Great fun, and I’m grateful to NetGalley for letting me read this before publication in exchange for my honest review.

Rosie Danan’s ‘The Roommate’ follows Clara, a socialite that spent her life avoiding any scandals, as she does something out of character and moves spontaneously to LA to pursue a (childhood) crush, only to be left in his house with Josh, a stranger renting another room.

Without too many spoilers, Josh’s job has taken me by surprise, and added another interesting layer to the already tense situation in ‘The Roommate’, and allowed Clara to look at things differently – both in relation to her family as well as sex in general. While I felt that sometimes Clara or even Josh’s reactions to the situations (especially towards the end of the book) have been a bit exaggerated and didn’t feel completely believable, I have enjoyed the story. ‘The Roommate’ is unapologetically open and honest about sex, and touches upon some heavier topics related to that.

Overall, ‘The Roommate’ has been full of awkward and funny moments, making it a quick and enjoyable read for fans of (steamy) contemporary romances.

I loved this. It helped me escape reality and I was enthralled throughout. I also didn't predict the ending which I loved.

The roommate
Pub date 15 sept 2020
By Rosie Dana’s
May contain spoilers
Clara is Everett friend and he invited Clara two stay with him in the USA she was living in New York and wanted a change so she agreed and was excited two except his offer her mother fought she was sightseeing around the beeches and museum instead she was doing the opposite. Clara was gutted that Everett had two go away on a band tour for a bit and he left her a roommate called josh both never met each other they just met she like him he was considerate they went shopping they unpacked they stuff they got two know each other Clara found out he a porn star in la and quite famous two he just broke up with his ex and deciding on the next chapter in life they get on great they make dinners for each other they watch movies he takes her for driving lesson in his car two get used two the road. Clara can drive but she haven’t for ages so she uses josh car. But it wasn’t a good idea they go bowling she get two meet his ex Naomi and they talk about things all night. Clara really like josh and josh like her and they set up a project a new porn project. They looking for cast crew two join them in the making of porn star movies. Josh was organising it all. Clara was in a car crash she manage two crash josh car and landed in hospital she dreaded telling him he found out the police phoned him and said how bad the car was he didn’t care he bought the car only if Clara was ok. He gave Clara flowers and a doughnut and told her not two worry and when they go home he look after her showed her made her food she felt stranger about it because they both had feeling for each other but couldn’t do much about it josh knew he couldn’t risk having a fling with her over Naomi he really did like her though that was the trouble. Clara received a lovely bunch of flowers from Everett her mum told him about the crash and he felt guilty he was not there. She missed Everett he was the reason she moved her from New York she was gutted he was away.
Clara and josh eventually do get together for a while but it not working out they concentrate on work and get embarrassed with each other he couldn’t help how he feel for her but he no it can’t be. Clara left josh for two days she went two see Everett in a pub but she realised he wouldn’t love her like josh did and suddenly she realised she had two tell josh how she felt and when they were on the radio she told him she loved him and he said he did two they made up and things were working out between in the end it was a happy ending.
My thought.
I like this book the chemistry between josh and Clara I like I was hopping they get together it was such a beautiful love story for sure.
I gave this four stars .

I don't want to be dramatic here but this was hands down one of the best books I have read this year out of over 160 so far! I was hooked from the first page and could not put it down as it is unlike anything I have ever read before. And if you don't like books that talk about sex in any sense, maybe skip this one but personally, I loved it. This book is basically all about sex, the porn industry and a whole lot of romance and that is why I am so obsessed with it. The fact that this book is being traditionally published is incredible. I find that with a lot of traditionally published romances sex scenes are usually fade to black but this book is incredibly steamy!

This book is so sex-positive and we need more books like this out in the world and in bookshops. There is a lot in this book that made my feminist soul so happy. I really liked and appreciated how the porn industry is handled in this book, everyone needs to read this book. Our main characters are Clara and Josh, Josh is a porn star and Clara ends up being his roommate for the summer. Clara is a little stuck up in the beginning but she has some great character growth throughout the book which I love to see. She's a very sweet and innocent character and Josh is the complete opposite!

This book is written in the third person which I sometimes struggle with but this book was well written and easy to read a follow with. The Roommate has a lot of my favourite tropes and I didn't really dislike anything about it so it got a full five stars from me! This was a fantastic rom-com debut and I cannot wait to read Rosie's next book out in the Spring.

This was my most anticipated romance of the year and it was everything I wanted it to be!! I'm not a huge romance reader so I don't really know how this compares to others in the genre, but I personally loved it! It has some of the best sex scenes I've ever read, the two characters are adorable, and it's all about overturning the porn industry to focus on female pleasure!

Let's start with the characters, I love romances with complete opposites because it always results in hilarious moments and we definitely had that here! Clara is a button uped rich kid from Greenwich who hasnt ever stepped a toe out of line, but who moves across the country to chase a childhood crush when she realises she could walk out of her life she was living and nothing would happen. But when she gets across the country, the man she crushes on says he's going on tour with his band, leaving her alone in the flat with none other than popular porn star, Josh Darling. Josh Darling is confident and sexy and so freaking adorable it hurts and Clara knows he'll never ever fall for someone like her. But then they get drunk and decide it's time to topple a porn empire by making their own platform that focuses on partner intimacy and female pleasure. These two humans are just so so different and yet so so perfect together. Josh brings out all of Clara's confidence and self doubt and she does the same for him. They both make each other into these powerhouse individuals who are going to fight for what they want. And what they want is to say fuck you to an exploitative porn corporation.

I loved how sweet and innocent Clara is. I could relate so much to her, she's so full of self doubt and this horrible self esteem thinking she could never be attractive to someone like Josh. She's so focused on never letting her family down that she forgets how to live which is just so sad. But Josh comes into her life and helps her get out of her shell and find freedom and joy in life.

And omg THE SEX. HOLY SHIT IT'S HOT. It's so good, Danan is definitely now one of my favourite sex writers. Every scene was just so different but so powerful and fun. I loved reading from Josh's POV because he is just so blown away by Clara and it was just so lovely to compare that to Clara's POV who is so shy and self-hating and all I wanted to do was scream at her to look at this man drooling over her?!?

This book was everything I wanted. I needed something fun and lighthearted and this is definitely that, but also has a running theme exploring the adult entertainment industry and both the exploitative practices some corporations use, but also emphasising the autonomy of sex workers.

Thank you to Netgalley, Little Brown Book Group UK and Rosie Danan for providing me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it was a romance with the perfect amount of yearning and angst and a hell of a lot of sexual tension. The book focuses on Clara, a prudish, uptight socialite who leaves New York to move to LA and chase after the guy she's had a crush on for the past 14 years. On arrival to New York though, the guy she liked packs up and leaves to go on tour with his band, leaving her with his lodger Josh in the meantime. Josh turns out to be a very well known porn star and pretty much the exact opposite of Clara...

I think this book was written fairly well and was an enjoyable read. The discussions surrounding sex and sex work were also done really well and handled with a lot of maturity. It really highlighted that sex should be something healthy and that women should get pleasure from it too, though the point that relationships should also be healthy faltered at times due to the miscommunication between the two characters.I'm also really glad that despite the addition of an ex girlfriend, there was no kind of tearing down of the other woman and the women respected one another and got along. However, I really didn't like Clara's character that much at all. She just wasn't that interesting to me and I really struggled to relate to her at all, she was quite weak and it annoyed me a bit that lots of things seemed handed to her (I mean she is a socialite but it was frustrating and felt unrealistic in some contexts). I really enjoyed Naomi's character though, she seemed like a really cool character that was a boss, and when Clara was around her I liked her a little more.

(Slight spoilers ahead) I wasn't overly keen on the ending either, I think everything came together a little too well for my liking, and I really didn't like that after a miscommunication Clara reacted so dramatically and drastically as to fly away to Vegas just to turn straight around again. It just made me roll my eyes. Other than that though I really enjoyed the book, it totally took me by surprise as I didn't realise what Josh's job was before and didn't expect it to be as raunchy as it was. However, it was still like a normal romance with fluffier moments too. Ultimately if you're looking for a fun angsty book with slightly steamier scenes I think this would do the job!

Josh’s profession nearly put me off reading this novel, but the excellent reviews by other readers convinced me to try it and I am glad I did. The book was an excelllent, if a bit too graphic in places. The author was really good in separating the romance of Josh and Clara from Josh’s prior role. The characters leapt of the page and the story held me hooked throughout.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read a preview copy of this book.

The Roommate by Rosie Danan blew me away! I went in expecting a light-hearted contemporary romance between two complete opposites who become roommates by chance, something fun and easy to read on my plane to Crete. Instead, The Roommate was a delicious feminist romance between an uptight socialite and a renowned laid-back porn-star who toppled the misogynistic porn industry by putting female-pleasure front and centre. It was brilliant!

Danan's does a great job of quickly defining the characters and the world they live in. Clara and Josh felt very fleshed out and real as characters. They both had insecurities and challenges to overcome - Clara needed to learn to stand outside of her family's shadow and Josh needed to stop assuming the worst about everyone when it came to his profession. I was immediately invested in the relationship developing between Clara and Josh, who both have their own reasons for avoiding getting attached. Clara because she's in love with her long-time friend Everett and Josh because he thinks he's incapable of love and therefore doesn't date people outside of the industry. It was great to read the mutual pining with both parties thinking the other wouldn't be interested or want them for the long-term.

It was also great to see the feminist message throughout the book that prioritised female pleasure, both from Josh and Clara's interactions but also the wider storyline of the porn industry, the sex education. system and the shame placed on women for enjoying sex. I really hope Rosie Danan writes more books in this world as I really want to read Naomi's story, she Josh's on-off girlfriend before Clara and also his main partner in the porn industry. They're famous for doing couple plotlines/scenes. I liked that Naomi wasn't cast as the evil ex-girlfriend but instead had more depth, with her and Clara becoming friends/business partners. We also got to briefly meet Naomi's childhood best friend and find out a little about why she got into porn in the first place.

Although a lot of this book focuses on sex, porn and female pleasure I wouldn't consider it an erotic romance. There are a fair number of sex scenes but the romantic relationship, in general, develops external to the sex scenes rather than because of them.

Overall a five star read for me! Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a feminist, contemporary romance novel.

This book had so many more layers than I was expecting from a romcom and I really loved it for that. I was a big fan of the sex-positivity message as well as it's take on the porn industry. Something I never thought I'd say about a romcom! The characters were really interesting too! So I raced through this book! A great read!

“He pulled a folded sheet of loose-leaf paper out of his pocket, “I took the liberty of making a list of pros and cons.”
“You did?” Clara stared at the document, “That’s so romantic.”

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.

“The Roommate” is one of my most awaited reads and I have no idea what I expected, but this book definitely turned out to be much better than what I imagined it would be. From the summary alone, readers might expect to read about two strangers moving in together and the shenanigans that come with their growing attraction, while living in close quarters.
Well, at least that’s what I thought.
Imagine my pleasant surprise when this book turned out to be way juicier yet, in a way, more serious than I thought.

Clara is a prim, sheltered, wealthy East coast socialite. And Josh is everything she’s not: laidback, outgoing, loud and sociable. He’s also way too charming for his own good and definitely trouble for Clara. Then she finds out what Josh does for a living and “trouble” suddenly becomes the understatement of the century.

Clara and Josh are lovable characters with whom I laughed a lot. There were so many cute and swoon-worthy moments, sweet scenes, sexy ones, and of course some longing and pining because I could never like a book without angst. But what I loved most is how well these two characters complimented each other. While Josh helped Clara come out of her shell and drop off the weight of her family’s expectations, she helped him earn back the self-esteem he’d lost due to his line of work.

I definitely recommend “The Roommate” by Rosie Danan if you’re looking for a fun (and steamy *winkwink*) romance with opposites attract… and they were roommates! Oh my god, they were roommates.

Out September 15th 2020.

2.5 stars

Like always I dove into the book without reading the blurb or knowing anything about it as that’s what I prefer.

Unpopular opinion but I didn’t really enjoy the book. It did have the potential but I didn’t find the story interesting personally. I felt some parts were quite repetitive and I couldn’t wait to finish the book and get it done with.

I liked the premise of the book. But there was just too much professional work talks and obviously too much physical stuffs. While I understand the story is of a man who works in an adult entertainment industry, the most of the story only revolves around the same thing. Nevertheless, I appreciate the author for highlighting the exploitations the porn workers face as its something hardly talked about or almost never! I kinda liked and disliked Both Clara and Josh. I loved Naomi’s character the most. I would have loved to see the chemistry built up between the characters with other romantic gestures rather than the way connected. It could just be me though because the story is quite out of my comfort zone.

3.5-4*

This book was a lot of fun to read, and I've had my eye on it since I first saw the synopsis circling around a couple of months ago. The story follows Clara, a 27 year old high society woman, who moves to LA on a whim to declare her feelings for her childhood friend and crush, who she's also renting a room from while she's there. When she arrives, Everett is leaving on a last minute tour, and Clara is left staying in his flat with Josh, the guy currently renting Everett's room while he's gone. Unbeknownst to Clara, Josh is a famous porn star, currently undergoing contract struggles with a large corporation in the industry, a company known for poor treatment of their staff and performers. Clara and Josh form an unlikely friendship that they both feel could be more, and begin to work together on a new company focused on female pleasure, something they feel is missing from the modern porn industry.

The premise of this book is really fun, and definitely interesting. I really appreciated the sex-positive stance the book takes, and doesn't shame the industry or sex workers in general. It was actually pretty refreshing to read, and I appreciated it a lot. It discussed a lot of important topics regarding the porn industry, from the treatment of its workers, to the prominent catering to the male gaze.

I liked Clara and Josh as main characters, and their relationship was really sweet. They're complete opposites, and their interactions were funny and sweet. I will just say that if you came to this book after seeing "porn star roommate" and you're expecting some super steamy book with sex scenes out the wazoo, you're not gonna get it here. This takes more of a romcom stance, but it definitely has some steamy sex scenes scattered throughout, and the tension is definitely there at times. I wouldn't say I'm disappointed by this because I do enjoy this type of romance book too, but I definitely was wanting just a liiiiiittle bit more. I was a little worried when we were introduced to Naomi's character, expecting the book to take the "competition with a scorned ex" route, but I am SO glad it didn't. Josh's ex is a fairly big character in the book, and I was glad to see that there was no competition between the two, and no unnecessary girl hate. I liked that they were able to actually form some kind of friendship and work together, this was refreshing for sure.

Overall, this was a good little romance book that I had fun reading. It wasn't the best I've ever read, but I'd still recommend it for the sex positivity and discussions it brings to the table.

This book was funny, a little bit sexy and a whole lot of romantic goodness. Josh and Clara were so likeable from the start and the chemistry between them was equal parts hot and warm. I really liked Josh and his sex positive attitude but at the same time I also liked Clara in all her cautious, rule and list making entirety. This book had a lot of heart and some really lovely movements. Josh and Clara helped each other step out of their comfort zones and I appreciated the balanced way the author made both characters cheerleaders for each other.

I also liked how the author dealt with the complexities of the porn industry. There was a good balance between the good and bad of the industry. I especially liked the focus on the performers and the crews/behind the scenes workers. Some good supporting characters as well,( Naomi was a treat And I look forward to her story). A really enjoyable read.

So weirdly, I finished a book right before this one and wasn't a huge fan, mostly because it was porn with very little plot.

This one, however, despite being about porn stars, had aaaaaall the plot.

I loved it!

This was so well written, not at all the seedy story you'd imagine about a male porn star finding himself with a socialite roommate. It was amazing, I loved Josh, I loved Clara and I especially loved Naomi.

Not only that but it actually looked at issues and stigmas within the porn industry and in how it is widely perceived by the Conservative world.

Ah. Maze. ING.

Will definitely be reading this author again!

The Roommate is this authors debut novel and the premise certainly grabbed my interest but unfortunately it was just okay for me. The story follows Clara as she moves across the country to move in with her crush Everett who abruptly leaves town with his band leaving Clara with a new mysterious roommate Josh. Oh...and Josh is a porn star. There are some comical moments in the book but I never felt the spark and genuine attraction between these two characters and therefore the book just fell a bit short of the mark for me.

I liked it but didn’t love it overall.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start this review by saying how much I love this book!! I read ‘The Roommate’ over a week ago and every day since I have thought about this book because it was just so good!! The chemistry between Josh and Clara was everything. The writing was amazing. I loved Josh and Clara so much. I want to reread this book already!

‘The Roommate’ starts with Clara moving to LA in order to live with her childhood crush in the hopes that he will finally fall in love with her, but when she gets to LA, Clara finds out that she will actually be living with her new roommate Josh instead, and he happens to be a porn star.

I loved everything about this book. I loved how it was so sex positive and it shined a positive light on the porn industry. I loved how Clara and Josh decide to set up a sex positive porn website that focuses on helping people to find pleasure in sex by giving them advice and tips.

I don’t know what to say to explain my love for this book and how much I want to reread it already. I can’t wait to read more books by Rosie Danan as this one was so good.

Clara Wheaton moves cross-country to spend the summer with her childhood crush, unfortunately he and his band are going on tour and instead she is forced to share the apartment with a random stranger from Craig's List. Said random stranger Josh is gorgeous, like male-model looks and a perfect body, then Clara finds out that he's a porn star (or adult film entertainer!). As a typical good-girl Clara has very limited experience with guys and (of course) has never managed an orgasm with a man, could Josh be the man to show her what she's been missing?

Josh loves his job but he's just split up with his on-screen co-star Naomi and the studio is pressuring him to move to films with stronger themes, he has to make the decision to go in a direction which he isn't happy with, or potentially torpedo his career.

This book is hard to categorise. It's a raunchy porn star teaches innocent to enjoy sex, mixed with a friends to lovers romance, mixed with an indictment of the adult entertainment industry and an empowering story of female friendship (and OMG how rare is that in Romancelandia?).

Overall, a fun, sexy romance with heart and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review – thanks so much to Netgalley for sending this to me!

The Roommate is a book I’ve been fighting to get my hands on for months. Ever since I heard the premise, I was hooked – a forced proximity romance revolving around a sexy start-up? Sign me up. Sure enough, this book was a delight. I tore through it in just over a day, and I’m so glad I did.

We have an excellent cast of characters here. Josh – a confident porn star with secret hang-ups, took a little while to win my heart. At first I found his attitude a little off-putting, I found him arrogant and a bit condescending, but I warmed up to him fast and was completely won over by the end. Clara was a lot easier to love – she reminded me of Amy Santiago from Brooklyn-99, which is never a bad comparison – but honestly the real hero of this story for me was Josh’s on-again-off-again ex-girlfriend, Naomi. Naomi is a badass, plain and simple. I really liked how this book ignores the standard romance trope of the evil ex and has Naomi be present and awesome throughout the story. She’s like a sexy sage, giving advice and kicking ass – and stealing the show.

In terms of plot, I thought this one took a little while to get going. The porn start-up is emphasized so strongly in the blurb that I was surprised it took so long to integrate into the plot, though I suppose it makes sense; it would probably be a little odd to start a business with someone you’ve literally just met. Once it did, though, it was fun and brilliantly paced. I really enjoyed the journey of watching Josh and Clara begin to trust one another, and their interest in one another grew very organically. I loved their banter, and I adored the exploration of sex work in this, which I think was a very nuanced take. There’s never any sense of shame towards the profession, but the book also acknowledges the complications of the profession and the predatory side of the porn industry, which often takes advantage of performers. Overall I thought it was a fascinating exploration of a misrepresented industry, and I think the author did a great job striking a balance between light moments and the more serious discussions around sex work.

Another balancing act the author did brilliantly was with the sex scenes. It was amazing how she flipped the switch between the porn scenes – which always felt quite professional and clinical – vs the sex scenes between Josh and Clara, which were ON POINT. They were fantastically written, and I loved how we’re deceived into thinking that things are going to get steamy really fast, but then it’s like a false positive, because we then get this delicious build of sexual tension that’s just… *chef’s kiss.* Masterful.

Unfortunately, though, the last 20-30% of this book were a bit of a letdown. It was like we’d been racing down the street with the top down, having the time of our lives, and then suddenly stalled the car and couldn’t quite get it into gear, leaving us to shudder and stutter over the finish line. It wasn’t that the conflict felt inorganic – it actually made a lot of sense. However, I feel like the issues that drove them apart really needed to be explored more throughout, rather than appearing at the end to throw a wrench in things and then being immediately fixed with a grand gesture. I’m generally wary of grand gestures in romance, because sometimes they feel like the equivalent of slapping a plaster over a gaping wound – oh, everything is fine now, they love each other and it’s all perfect! When in reality, such a deep-seated issue would really need a lot of discussion and work to overcome. The ending really exposed a few weakness, dropped plot threads, things that I hadn’t thought about much until they became an obstacle at the end and I realised they should have been addressed way earlier. Things like Clara’s infatuation with someone else, her fear of pressure from her family (who have a huge impact on her behaviour throughout the novel and yet remain conspicuously off-page until the very end.) Then we have Josh’s dalliance with my personal pet peeve: miscommunication.

There’s a great book on romance plotting/structure that I use myself, called ‘Romancing the Beat.’ The author’s advice is that all romance heroes/heroines should be ‘hole-hearted,’ and your purpose as a romance writer is to make them become ‘whole-hearted,’ healing from their trauma throughout the course of the novel. Josh has his own hang-ups about his profession, which again I thought were well thought out and made a lot of sense – until he finally confronts the issue and it turns out that he could have solved this issue that’s haunted him for years by just… picking up the phone. Realistic? Sure. But from a narrative standpoint, it’s infuriating. As the author of Romancing the Page states, if your big conflict can be solved with a phone call, you need to go back to the drawing board. I do sympathise – the moment where it all falls apart is a huge staple of romance, and it’s so hard to toe the line of finding an issue that’s enough to drive your leads apart without the damage being irrevocable. That being said, it really killed the momentum of the book for me. It was the equivalent of making a really nice cake, sliding it out of the oven, and then when you flip the cake tin to slide it out, the whole thing disintegrates. You’re left with a pile of delicious cake that’s still satisfying to eat, but you can’t help but imagine how much greater it would’ve been if it hadn’t fallen apart at the end.

Overall, I still really enjoyed The Roommate. It was fast-paced, fun, funny, and heartfelt, and it was a really interesting concept for a love story. The characters were loveable and it gave me all the excitable feelings that I love from a romance. If it had managed to stick the landing, it would probably have been a five-star read for me, but as it stands, I'd give this one a solid 4, and I'd still recommend it for anyone looking for a romance with a bit of a twist!

Thank you for the oppurtunity to review this new novel!

When I requested this I thought it was gonna be a sweet romance, which it also is, but I didn't expect this very steamy thing, ha ha!! I have to say, the cover is fooling you into this notion. Anyhow, I read it and it was funny, cute and romantic. Clara and Josh are adorable with their story.

I wonder if the things in the story about the porn industry are true or are they even worse?

Well, I enjoyed this sweet, little gem and thank you!