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A review by whendevreads
The Roommate by Rosie Danan
3.0
I received this book as a gift, my friend had purchased a “blind date with a book” for me off of etsy for my birthday back in September. I didn’t get around to reading it until now.
What piqued my interest with this book was the amount of sex positivity and insight into the adult entertainment industry. As someone who grew up Catholic, sex positivity was a foreign concept to me until I became an adult. There is such a shame and a stigma around sex, and specifically the adult entertainment industry. I thought that using this concept in a book was an incredibly fresh take on the “adult” romance genre. I can’t think of any other romance books that are currently out that have one of their MCs as an adult entertainer.
I do think that some of the 1 star reviews or DNFs are a bit harsh. I also have my critiques of the book but I would absolutely rate this book higher than one star. For example, for it being a book about adult entertainment, the spicy scenes were extremely vanilla. In all honesty, I expected the author to go full throttle on that aspect & she didn’t, which was disappointing. I think, when you’re already featuring a topic that is taboo, even in the spicy romance genre, you might as well go all in. Because no one who is freaked out or even just lukewarm on the porn industry is going to pick this up if they read the blurb. Only people who are sex positive (imo) will pick this up, so why not give the people what they want?
Even though this book does feature the adult entertainment industry, it’s a romance book… nothing in it is going to be super groundbreaking. It did feel as though the main focus was on that and not the romance, but honestly, I am not mad at it. The romance felt like a subplot to me but in my opinion it worked. I will say that I didn’t connect with either MC or their romance like I have with other couples. But, once again, I believe that is because the author chose to put the focus on the adult entertainment industry aspect. I think if this book was categorized as simply contemporary fiction that simply features a romance, it would have been received better.
What piqued my interest with this book was the amount of sex positivity and insight into the adult entertainment industry. As someone who grew up Catholic, sex positivity was a foreign concept to me until I became an adult. There is such a shame and a stigma around sex, and specifically the adult entertainment industry. I thought that using this concept in a book was an incredibly fresh take on the “adult” romance genre. I can’t think of any other romance books that are currently out that have one of their MCs as an adult entertainer.
I do think that some of the 1 star reviews or DNFs are a bit harsh. I also have my critiques of the book but I would absolutely rate this book higher than one star. For example, for it being a book about adult entertainment, the spicy scenes were extremely vanilla. In all honesty, I expected the author to go full throttle on that aspect & she didn’t, which was disappointing. I think, when you’re already featuring a topic that is taboo, even in the spicy romance genre, you might as well go all in. Because no one who is freaked out or even just lukewarm on the porn industry is going to pick this up if they read the blurb. Only people who are sex positive (imo) will pick this up, so why not give the people what they want?
Even though this book does feature the adult entertainment industry, it’s a romance book… nothing in it is going to be super groundbreaking. It did feel as though the main focus was on that and not the romance, but honestly, I am not mad at it. The romance felt like a subplot to me but in my opinion it worked. I will say that I didn’t connect with either MC or their romance like I have with other couples. But, once again, I believe that is because the author chose to put the focus on the adult entertainment industry aspect. I think if this book was categorized as simply contemporary fiction that simply features a romance, it would have been received better.