Book: Roomies
Author: Christina Lauren
Published: December 15, 2017
Rating: ★★★★
Marriages of convenience are so…inconvenient.

For months Holland Bakker has invented excuses to descend into the subway station near her apartment, drawn to the captivating music performed by her street musician crush. Lacking the nerve to actually talk to the gorgeous stranger, fate steps in one night in the form of a drunken attacker. Calvin Mcloughlin rescues her, but quickly disappears when the police start asking questions.

Using the only resource she has to pay the brilliant musician back, Holland gets Calvin an audition with her uncle, Broadway’s hottest musical director. When the tryout goes better than even Holland could have imagined, Calvin is set for a great entry into Broadway—until his reason for disappearing earlier becomes clear: he’s in the country illegally, his student visa having expired years ago.

Seeing that her uncle needs Calvin as much as Calvin needs him, a wild idea takes hold of her. Impulsively, she marries the Irishman, her infatuation a secret only to him. As their relationship evolves and Calvin becomes the darling of Broadway—in the middle of the theatrics and the acting-not-acting—will Holland and Calvin to realize that they both stopped pretending a long time ago?

What initially drew me into this book was the fake marriage trope. I am a sucker for this trope. There is something so satisfying about seeing two people pretend to be married/in a relationship only for those pretend feelings to transform into real ones. Plus, they lived together in a small New York apartment, so I was ready for all the sexual tension filled moments between them. And this book delivered!

The Good:

• I loved that this was basically set in New York in the backstage of a Broadway musical. It made the book so much fun.
• Two complete strangers marrying and moving in together is such a wild idea, yet the authors execute it in a way that made the whole situation seem plausible.
• Holland and Calvin have chemistry right from the get go which made me super excited to see how their relationship would develop throughout the story.
• The relationship development did not disappoint! The authors peppered in the perfect amount of heartfelt moments,  flirty moments, and sexy moments so I was either aw-ing or swooning at any given moment.
• They also showed the realities of how many gray areas there can be in a newly developing relationship. The insecurities that Holland feels when she is unsure of where her and Calvin are standing or where their relationship is headed is something that many people–especially people in their twenties–can relate to.
• This book was super relatable. A lot of the struggles that Holland went through are struggles that I’m currently going through. I really saw myself in her, which was comforting.

The Bad:

• The book touches on Holland learning to believe in herself and take control of her life, but I wish it would have been a bigger aspect in the book. I feel like the resolution to this part of her life was rushed and left me feeling unsatisfied.
• I wish the authors would have spent a bit more time with Holland and Calvin’s relationships with the side characters in the book. I wanted more exploration of the deteriorating relationship between Holland and her best friend. I also wanted to know more about Holland and Calvin’s relationship with their respective families.

The Ugly:

• Absolutely nothing!