Reviews

The American Roommate Experiment – Die große Liebe findet Platz in der kleinsten Wohnung by Elena Armas

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sachachi's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

colecordium's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

this book could have been 250 pages shorter and still tell the same story. elena can yap so much and it’s literally saying NOTHING. i had the same problem with TSLD too, it was unnecessarily long. i skimmed the last few chapters because it felt like the real story was hidden between a lot of nothing. also my copy was full of grammatical errors? like what is up with that, who allowed this to go to print?

bookishhana22's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

katdh13's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

lizratliff030201's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

It was just so cringey and cliche and predictable. Truthfully I could not stand it.

yaramightbereading's review against another edition

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3.0

2.5/5 -- SPOILERS

Okay, so I read (listened) to this book as someone who really disliked TSLD. I thought I would give Armas a second chance, and I also just wanted to listen to a romance book.

The first half of the book is pretty good! The slow burn was written well and the tension build up was convincing. I liked Lucas a lot until the end (probably just a personal thing) and I thought Rosie was a neat lead. There were some really great scenes, and overall, I would say I was enjoying the book during the first half-- probably right before Rosie's brother came home. I definitely enjoyed it better than TSLD. I thought the writing was good, and that I could actually empathize with the characters for a majority of the book. Also, I loved the premise of the book! Yippee to forced proximity and fake dating. The ensemble characters (including Lena and Aaron) were fun!

But I did have some problems with it. First of all, I feel like the book tried really hard to have an actual plot outside the romance, but it just fell flat, and the conflict felt forced. Magically, Lucas solved all his problems in the last chapter of the book, and it just wasn't convincing. ALSO, I love the fake dating trope, but like, the fact that Rosie kept going like "ugh, this is an experiment, he doesn't have any feelings for me" after some very CLEAR AND OBVIOUS signs that Lucas actually liked her was so annoying. I don't love reading a book when the MC is so naive and oblivious. I also think the same about Lucas. Like, come ON, it is so obvious that Rosie is in love with you, PLEASE STOP BEING DUMB. On top of that, he suddenly became a loser at the end of the book. I'm supposed to believe he had a valid reason to let her embarrass herself at the airport and leave her there if he loves her that much?!??!?!?!! That bothered me so much, but I get it, final conflict and what not. That's also definitely just my personal opinion about the characters themselves. Also.... some of the (pepper emoji) scenes were just a little weird. This could very well be personal preference, and maybe it's just not my cup of tea, but some things (like when the BROTHER WAS IN THE ROOM) were just plain weird and uncomfortable.

Finally, the ending was SO CHEESY AND CLICHE. Don't get me wrong, I like cheesy and cliche, but only in moderation. Basically the whole book was sprinkled with a bunch of trendy cliches, and the ending just made it even more cliche. I couldn't really take it seriously, like, at all. But hey, I get that the ending was a cheesy cliche romance because Rosie always writes about it and now she gets to experience it yadda yadda yadda.

In conclusion, I just wish there was more depth for the character arcs. I wish the conflict wasn't so forced. I also wish the ending wasn't so rushed and cliche. But, overall, I enjoyed the book and the characters!