This book was both sexy and sweet. The chemistry between Clara and Josh was undeniable. It also provided a good, honest look into the adult film industry.

All right, so the premise of this book was unlike others that I have seen and I think that's what drew me to it! And overall, I liked it, but oh my goodness. The way the main girl spoke was beyond infuriating. She felt like a caricature instead of an actual fleshed out character. I couldn't stand the way she spoke or the stupid little lists she made. Like, who does that? Oy vey!

Clara is an East Coast socialite who moves to California to chase her 14-year crush Everett. But when she arrives, he drops her at the front door and says sayonara. Instead of rooming with her childhood best friend, she gets to room with a perfect stranger: oh joy. But, yeah, oh joy, is exactly right because the new roommate happens to be Josh Darling, porn star. With Josh's help, support, and --dare he admit it-- love, Clara steps out from her family's thumb, learns how to enjoy sex, learns how to be a powerful woman in her own right, learns what love actually is (Everett who?), and sets the business of pleasure on fire.

The Roommate does exactly what Josh and Clara's new company Shameless does: sets the world of sex on fire... but for women-- NOT men. It's steamy, has all the right fireworks of emotions, and characters that /both/ grow into their best selves.

On the chaste to steamy scale, it's 8.5.

I loved The Roommate, and I read it in giant gulps. Clara is a socialite from Connecticut who is always very concerned about what her family will think, and is all about avoiding scandal. That is, until her lifelong crush offers her a place to stay in his LA house, and she abandons her life to live with him. Too bad once she arrives she finds out he's going on tour with his band and that he's found her a roommate on Craigslist. I really don't want to give up any more of the plot. I will say that Josh, her roommate, is super dreamy, and that I loved their relationship. This book sucked me in and it's definitely one I can see re-reading a bunch. It's funny and feminist and just so good. Highly, highly recommended.

This was an enjoyable read. The romance scenes are served with an extra side of steam. This, and the general theme, would not be for every reader. The characters were well drawn and the story had humor and heart. The last chapter was anticlimactic. Two years is a big time difference and only a couple of pages of exposition is really not enough to tie up the story.

This was a very swoony and sexy book! Loved the characters and the inherent sex-positivity. A thoroughly enjoyable debut!

Is Hallmark made erotic movies this would probably be the type of movie they'd make.
I'm not making fun and I'm not saying that the author didn't make a really good story is this hard to compare it to anything else . The heroine in the story was really irritating and annoying at times because I just wanted her to grow a freaking backbone! She grew on me and in some ways grew up so to speak.
If you ever need a reminder about living your truth and doing the things that need to be done regardless of what people think this is a good book for that and sex....lots of sex....lol.

Went into this one not even reading the synopsis and I am going to recommend THAT IS THE WAY. Oh my god this one surprised me. It was so funny and the little twist you learn at the beginning is GOLD. This was such a welcome surprise and if you need a dynamite read to bring to the beach this summer I promise you this one delivers on the heat 🔥🔥🔥! Add it to your preorder lists I promise you won’t regret it!! ☕️☕️☕️☕️ 1/2

This book. This book was not at all what I expected it to be. It surpassed my expectations and tugged on my heart strings.

Josh and Clara are electric. Clara is an uptight high society princess and Josh is, well Josh has his own baggage. But this story is so much more than that. It's incredibly sexy, heartfelt, sweet, funny and beautifully written. The author pulls out these power house one liner character revelations that manage to be both incredibly complex, but also so real and easy to empathize with.
Danan manages to write their character flaws, prejudices, and vulnerability in a way that's raw, honest, and heartfelt.

I absolutely loved it.

Don't let the book description fool you! I read it and went into thinking oh, it's going to be a forced-proximity love story. It was that, but the book description leaves out that Josh, Clara's new roomie, is a porn star.

I have no idea why the publisher chose to leave that out of the book jacket description, but readers are going to be in for a surprise! This was cute and I enjoyed reading something a somewhat out of my comfort zone.

The second half was definitely a lot better than the first half and this was very steamy. VERY steamy. It's open-door, so I just want to forewarn you if you prefer the lighter side of steam.

This was easily one of my most anticipated reads of the year. From the second I saw Rosie's promo for it last year I could NOT WAIT to get my hands on an ARC of The Roommate (endless thanks to the Netgalley and Berkley Gods!)

Clara needs a change from her elite East Coast life and well-known family. She moves to LA with the intention of finally convincing her life-long crush and friend of falling in love with her. Her plan is solid, become his roommate and let forced proximity work it's magic. Little does she know that he booked a summer long tour for his band and sublet his room to a stranger he found off Craigslist.

Going in I knew this was going to be a rom-com about the porn industry, but I know some people were surprised when Josh is introduced as a well-known porn star. I do worry Berkley is doing the book a disservice by NOT making that aspect of his career abundantly clear in the synopsis. There are definitely readers who might go into the book expecting a cute romance and be upset to find that a large part of the plot is around the porn industry. I'll be really curious to see how reviews play out once the book is published.

I will say that the first half of the book was good, but it wasn't great for me. I went in with really high expectations after early rave reviews. It's a slow burn (to an extent, there's some early steamy bits), and there's a LOT of information about working in the porn industry. I did really enjoy those parts but the first half was still missing something that made me love it immediately. I will always give a book I'm enjoying the second half to convince me that its worthy of five stars and holy wow did The Roommate convince me!

Somewhere around 50-55% I went from "okay this is interesting" to "omg I LOVE this!" I loved the friendship between Clara and Josh, their relationship developed so naturally as they went from roommates to business partners. Once I got into the second half I could not put it down, both because of how the plot evolved and the steam. Good lord the steam *fans self* Josh is swoon city and I loved how he treated Clara through the whole book.

I love love loved what this story says about female sexuality and the porn industry. This story has some really amazing feminist undertones that I was 1000% here for, both in regards to women not being ashamed of their sensuality and respecting people working in pornography.

I can't get over how fantastic Rosie Danan's debut was and I highly, highly recommend it! Five steamy, forced proximity, roommates-to-lovers stars!

This book was actually better than I expected it to be, which is more uncommon than not. I am a sucker for light romances, especially after reading books with darker content, and this was just what I needed. I actually found the content of this book to be somewhat unexpected (in a good way), and the storyline brings to light social issues that most people rarely think about but are nonetheless important. The romance was both sizzling and cutesy, a fun combination, especially if you are into the whole "opposites attract" trope. I highly recommend this read if you are an avid romance reader.

This gets four stars. Overall, I loved the premise, the setting, thought the porn stars plot was aces.
The characters took a little getting used to, and the end scenes were a little dramatic, but the middle bits were great and the sex was fantastically written. This is the sort of thing that would be great adapted to film.

This book was so much fun!!!!

When Clara decides to pick up her life and move across the country to chase after the one who got away, she doesn't expect him to ditch her and leave her in California on her own, with a stranger as a roommate. The roommate situation seems to be off to a bit of a rocky start when Clara looks up Josh on the internet, but they soon form a solid business partnership, and sparks start to fly.

Clara and Josh are the epitome of opposites attract. I adore the subtle ways that they influence each other throughout the book: with Josh helping Clara conquer her fears and let loose, and Clara helping Josh to stand up for himself and take charge of his career (and eat his veggies!). They're exceedingly supportive of each other and it was wonderful to watch the progression of their relationship. The banter and humour was on point, and I actually found myself laughing and smiling throughout the entire book.

Additionally, I love that this book set out to subvert typical romance tropes, as Naomi, Josh's ex, enters the scene not as a rival of their relationship but as a partner and friend. Also, it address stigma against sex workers and promotes sex positivity through both the portrayals of a variety of different people and their stories of how they entered the world of adult entertainment as well as promoting the fact that sex is nothing to be ashamed of.

I absolutely adored this book and can't wait to reread it. I've already recommended it to friends and can't wait to buy a copy once it's released. The Roommate was my favourite new romance this year and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a funny and steamy romance.

So much fun and super steamy. I really enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, as I I worried might be a bit too much based on the premise. Excited to see more from this author.

Hilarious and hot! Rosie Danan had a tough needle to thread making a male porn star a swoony hero, but damn did she do it. This book is romantic and smoldering and laugh out loud funny (seriously, I barked out laughing so many times reading this), and all that while being really freaking empowering and sex-positive. I can’t wait to read whatever she writes next.

Well, that was fun! I knew it was going to be an opposites attract storyline based off the synopsis, and I wasn’t disappointed. East coast socialite good girl overachiever meets West coast carefree porn star. Like I said, fun.

When Clara throws caution to the wind and switches coasts to follow a lifelong crush, it was the first time she did anything remotely daring. But when she lands in LA her childhood best friend and crush ditches her to go on tour with his band and leaves her with a roommate that he found on Craigslist a few days before. Lucky for Clara, Josh is cute and willing to work with her roommate agreement and laminated rules.

When she finds out that Josh is an adult entertainer she does what anybody would do; she Googles him. And boy was there a lot to Google. As someone who never watched porn, Clara thought it would be crass, but she found it rather artistic and arousing. She soon realizes that she’s been missing out on a lot and with the help of Josh she learns to take charge of her own pleasure. Inspired by Josh and her willingness to acknowledge that women deserve pleasure from a partner (not to just take matters into their own hands when said partner doesn’t live up to expectations) they come up with a business plan that champions the right for a female orgasm.

While working towards their relationship the author also brought to light some players in the porn industry and how mistreated and underrepresented some employees were. She emphasized that sex work was in fact real work and not something that should be stigmatized. She also showed that there are many reasons someone may choose to do porn and those reasons are valid and need not be judged. She humanized sex workers and challenged us to think beyond the stigma and preconceived ideals of what a sex worker should be.

But she also showed us that porn stars have got some moves. Whew boy! Talk about some spicy scenes. Overall this was incredibly fun and I’d definitely recommend it.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley publishing for releasing this ARC to me in exchange for an honest review.

The cover I saw with hearts all over it is all wrong because while it is a good story, it is not sweet. It is explicit.

I almost gave up when I realized she was supposed to fall for a porn star because it sounds ridiculous, but it actually worked. Both characters helped each other grow as people throughout the novel in ways only they could.

I had no idea what I was in for when I picked up The Roommate by Rosie Danan, but I absolutely adored it. {Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for my advance reader copy.}

I am a sucker for a fun, flirty romance novel, so when I started to see The Roommate pop up across bookstagram, I crossed my fingers and requested a copy, and then I squealed when I was approved and subsequently downloaded it onto my kindle. I mean, the book is pink and covered in hearts. It couldn't have been more on brand.

But this is what happens when you don’t read summary blurbs. You’re caught completely off-guard when you realize one of the main characters is an *ahem* adult entertainment star.

Context: I grew up incredibly conservative, wearing a purity ring, and chanting “True Love Waits.” I was not prepared. AND YET.

This book blew me away. The characters were so refreshingly real. Clara was rich and privileged without being off-putting. Josh Darling--his stage name--was so down to earth and charming. I learned quite a bit about the adult entertainment industry--it’s definitely more nuanced than one might think. And their whole business endeavor together--creating an educational online resource about women’s pleasure? Let’s just say I wish it were real. It was such a simple concept, and yet such a revolutionary one.

Anyway, I hate reviews that spoil the book, so I won’t say more, but just know that like all good romances, Josh and Clara get their happy ever after. Their whole story just made me so darn happy. And I love reading books that are so sex-positive. Characters who just love their bodies and feel good in their own skin? That’s the kind of person I want to be. And I’m getting there, slowly, one day at a time.

If you're a sucker for sweet yet racy romances, The Roommate should definitely be on your TBR.

A unique premise and great pacing and prose. The sexual and emotional tension are earned and pay off. Some primary characters are in the adult entertainment industry, and this is going to be a turn off for some readers, but those are the people who need to hear the message of this book the most.

One issue I had with romance between the two MCs is that the innocence and naivete of the female MC is presented as a key part of why she's desirable to the male MC. This seems a bit at odds with the overall message of the book and the female MC's character arc.

Overall, an enjoyable romance and a great debut.