The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas on September 6, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Multicultural & Interracial, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
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“Remember to pick the boy that will plant a garden for you instead of just getting you the flowers.”
Rosie Graham has a problem. A few, actually. She just quit her well paid job to focus on her secret career as a romance writer. She hasn’t told her family and now has terrible writer’s block. Then, the ceiling of her New York apartment literally crumbles on her. Luckily, she has her best friend Lina’s spare key while she’s out of town. But Rosie doesn’t know that Lina has already lent her apartment to her cousin Lucas, who Rosie has been stalking, for lack of a better word, on Instagram for the last few months. Lucas seems intent on coming to her rescue like a Spanish knight in shining armor. Only this one strolls around the place in a towel, has a distracting grin, and an irresistible accent. Oh, and he cooks. Lucas offers to let Rosie stay with him, at least until she can find some affordable temporary housing. And then he proposes an outrageous experiment to bring back her literary muse and meet her deadline: He’ll take her on a series of experimental dates meant to jump-start her romantic inspiration. Rosie has nothing to lose. Her silly, online crush is totally under control, but Lucas’s time in New York has an expiration date, and six weeks may not be enough, for either her or her deadline.
I did not do my research on this one before reading and jumped into it, not quite knowing it was somewhat of a sequel to her novel, Spanish Love Deception. Though you do not need to have read it before this one, it will however, spoil the Spanish Love Deception, because now I already know what happened. That aside, I super enjoyed this book. I am normally not a big fan of huge romantic gestures, but this book just felt right. Armas is the queen of slow burn, but once it hits, BOOM! Whoop there it is! Rosie was a breath of fresh air to read about. Her character is one of my favorites I have read in a romance book in a while. She was strong willed and fought for what she wanted. But she also had a soft and sweet side to her. She was a perfectly balanced character.
I gave this novel a four star-rating. Rosie and Lucas are well written, and I especially loved how Lucas has to come to terms with his demons to feel worthy of Rosie’s love and of course, Rosie is such a gem. I loved her leap of faith with her writing, and we can all learn from Rosie that sometimes you have to follow your passions and heart.