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blackveilbeccy's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I liked this better than the first one and connected better with the characters overall, but this series still doesn’t wow me. The story, romance and characterisation were all solid if not spectacular. I felt the ending was rushed and we got very little of the “what comes next”. There were several loose ends - I really would have liked to have heard more about the subplot with the FMC’s brother. I did enjoy the use of romance tropes as a way for the both the main romance and the FMC’s writing career to progress.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Dementia, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Violence, Alcohol, and Abandonment
Minor: Confinement, Trafficking, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Death
annahamburger's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Cursing, Grief, and Sexual content
Moderate: Dementia, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Blood, and Trafficking
vicixyz's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Toxic relationship
kam_be's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Toxic relationship and Alcohol
chloelj27's review
emotional
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
4.0
Even though this book was about Rosie and Lucas, Catalina and Aaron made sure to remind me of why I love them both so much with their little appearances!
I loved the glimpses we got of Rosie in TSLD, so was excited to learn more about her. I really liked her character and how she quit a well paid job to pursue her dreams was inspiring. I loved who she was as a person - protective of those she loved, family-orientated, bubbly, and outgoing. Having said all that, I wasn’t keen on the whole idea of her cyber stalking Lucas before they ever even met, so it did let Rosie’s character down a little bit for me.
Lucas was a great love interest for Rosie. His personality really shone through despite him processing recent events in his life. We all love a protective, sexy, romantic man who can cook and he bought it all and more! Both Lucas and Rosie really bought the best out in each other and I adored them as a couple and their journey.
I thought the take on the plot was cute, fun and a perfect fit for these two characters. It was definitely slow burn, but it was all worth it when that moment came. Definitely some cheesy and cliché moments/dialogue but I LOVED it and it fitted the premise well. Don’t even get me started on how incredible, thoughtful and beautiful those dates were! I probably didn’t connect as much with Rosie and Lucas as I did with Catalina and Aaron, but I still love them all!
I loved the glimpses we got of Rosie in TSLD, so was excited to learn more about her. I really liked her character and how she quit a well paid job to pursue her dreams was inspiring. I loved who she was as a person - protective of those she loved, family-orientated, bubbly, and outgoing. Having said all that, I wasn’t keen on the whole idea of her cyber stalking Lucas before they ever even met, so it did let Rosie’s character down a little bit for me.
Lucas was a great love interest for Rosie. His personality really shone through despite him processing recent events in his life. We all love a protective, sexy, romantic man who can cook and he bought it all and more! Both Lucas and Rosie really bought the best out in each other and I adored them as a couple and their journey.
I thought the take on the plot was cute, fun and a perfect fit for these two characters. It was definitely slow burn, but it was all worth it when that moment came. Definitely some cheesy and cliché moments/dialogue but I LOVED it and it fitted the premise well. Don’t even get me started on how incredible, thoughtful and beautiful those dates were! I probably didn’t connect as much with Rosie and Lucas as I did with Catalina and Aaron, but I still love them all!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Toxic relationship
lifeonasofa's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The American Roommate Experiment 🛋 Review
“Lina me va a cortar las pelotas” - Elena Armas 😂
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 Stars
Thank you @tandem @bib @simon for sending me this copy of The American Roommate Experiement as part of a readalong. ☺️
I was SO excited to get my hands on this! And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I’ve been in a slump for quite some time, but this had me invested pretty early on. 💕
I’m a big fan of the forced proximity trope and the best friend banter throughout was top tier. It gave me The Flatshare flashbacks, which is the book that got me into rom com reading 2 years ago. Sure the plot was predictable but if you’re after a cozy, light and fun read - this is perfect. 👌🏻
Rosie was warm and kind and just lovely. Nothing we haven’t seen in a romance before but I wanted a happy ending for her. Lucas STOLE the show. He was perfect, definitely too perfect. I couldn’t WAIT for their dates and sofa scenes, I was like a moth to a flame. 🔥
The food scenes were great, the Spanish family were TOP TIER, I wanted even more Lina and we got the dog too! What’s not to love? I like that they both had back stories though these could’ve been more fleshed out. I loved how they both became what the other needed in this book. 🥰
I’m not sure what happened to the pacing by the end of this book. The airport moment didn’t play out how I expected, it didn’t feel very them. And whilst the ending was great, I needed a bit more. I wanted to see what happened NYE 👀 I almost wanted Ro to give a bit of push back too! For a 400+ page book, it all came to an abrupt stop. 🙈
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship
lovelymisanthrope's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I read "The Spanish Love Deception" last year, and loved it, so I was so excited to pick up Elena Armas's newest release. Overall, I thought this book was fine, but I did not love it as much as her debut book.
"The American Roommate Experiment" follows a young aspiring author named Rosie. Rosie has recently written and published a successful romance novel under a pen name. She has decided to take the plunge and go for her author dreams fulltime, so she quits her job and begins trying to write her second book, under a strict deadline. Unfortunately, she has extreme writer's block. Even more unfortunately, her apartment becomes unlivable, so she goes to stay at her best friend, Lina's, apartment until her apartment is fixed. Lina is currently enjoying her honeymoon and failed to inform Rosie that her very attractive cousin, Lucas, will be in town...and crashing at Lina's place. With nowhere else to go, Rosie and Lucas are forced to live together until they both can catch a break and go back to their normal lives.
With companion romance novels I often see that we get a taste of the other characters from previous books, but they are never a pivotal character to the new story. With this book, Elena Armas made Lina important, and I loved getting to see more from her and see that she is still in love with Aaron just as much as she was in "The Spanish Love Deception". I also really enjoyed seeing how much Rosie loves and cares for her little brother, however, his story takes an extreme and unnecessary turn that I did not enjoy seeing. I feel like I keep seeing this trend in romance novels of extreme plot twists that are really dark or really violent. I know these types of stories have an audience, but I do not like seeing them in romance stories that are pitched as a lighter, fluffier romance.
This book is well written and engaging, but I did think it was a little longer than necessary. I enjoy a slow burn from time to time, but this book takes a LONG time to finally get there and there is a lot of unnecessary plot that I did not want to read about. Rosie also began to annoy me because I felt like Lucas was so clear with his intentions and she was not getting it. I did enjoy that this book does alternate between both of their perspectives.
I will definitely pick up more from Elena Armas in the future, and I hope to find similar magic in another book of hers.
"The American Roommate Experiment" follows a young aspiring author named Rosie. Rosie has recently written and published a successful romance novel under a pen name. She has decided to take the plunge and go for her author dreams fulltime, so she quits her job and begins trying to write her second book, under a strict deadline. Unfortunately, she has extreme writer's block. Even more unfortunately, her apartment becomes unlivable, so she goes to stay at her best friend, Lina's, apartment until her apartment is fixed. Lina is currently enjoying her honeymoon and failed to inform Rosie that her very attractive cousin, Lucas, will be in town...and crashing at Lina's place. With nowhere else to go, Rosie and Lucas are forced to live together until they both can catch a break and go back to their normal lives.
With companion romance novels I often see that we get a taste of the other characters from previous books, but they are never a pivotal character to the new story. With this book, Elena Armas made Lina important, and I loved getting to see more from her and see that she is still in love with Aaron just as much as she was in "The Spanish Love Deception". I also really enjoyed seeing how much Rosie loves and cares for her little brother, however, his story takes an extreme and unnecessary turn that I did not enjoy seeing. I feel like I keep seeing this trend in romance novels of extreme plot twists that are really dark or really violent. I know these types of stories have an audience, but I do not like seeing them in romance stories that are pitched as a lighter, fluffier romance.
This book is well written and engaging, but I did think it was a little longer than necessary. I enjoy a slow burn from time to time, but this book takes a LONG time to finally get there and there is a lot of unnecessary plot that I did not want to read about. Rosie also began to annoy me because I felt like Lucas was so clear with his intentions and she was not getting it. I did enjoy that this book does alternate between both of their perspectives.
I will definitely pick up more from Elena Armas in the future, and I hope to find similar magic in another book of hers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Toxic relationship
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