Book Review: Roomies

How was your weekend? Mine was alright, we didn't really do a whole lot, but that was just fine. I organized my desk (again, don't judge me) and I was able to get the Valentines made for Penelope and Lucy's class and helped Penelope make her Valentine box. I did get some reading in so I can stay on top of my Goodreads goal this year so I'm not reading like a maniac at the end of December. Like last year. Gulp.  

Roomies - Christina Lauren

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?

Normally I am a big fan of Christina Lauren, they are usually funny and/or steamy, and reliably good. Unfortunately.... I didn't love it. I think my problem is that I've discovered after this book that the friend or stranger getting married in order to solve a problem trope is not my favorite. I don't think I even like it at all, in fact, so I know now to just take a pass on those ones because yeah... not my thing. 

In Roomies we have Holland, who becomes mildly obsessed with a man named Calvin who plays music in the subway. She almost dies but he saves her, only to mysteriously vanish when police come around. Once she finds him again, she gets him an audition but soon after she learns that he isn't a legal US citizen and because he has gone past his Visa requirements, he will be deported. 

Unless he gets married. 

Naturally, obsessed Holland is totally on board, and Calvin reluctantly agrees. They have to make their relationship believable for the immigration inspector, so it becomes a very crash course in getting to know you that honestly, nobody with half a brain would believe. 

On face value, this sounded fun and interesting, but as we get going I realize Holland is a bit much. She wasn't likeable for me at all and I can see how Calvin is reluctant, she would be difficult to get rid of. But, he moves in with her because you know, you have to look like a married couple, and in my head I'm like- who agrees to marry a stranger AND move in with them? I listen to enough crime podcasts to know statistically, this usually doesn't work out well. Holland in general was just... I definitely wouldn't want to hang out with her and I'm not sure if she was supposed to be immature and awful or her character just wasn't developed enough, but I just couldn't like her. Calvin was alright and honestly, I wanted him to run and never look back. Shack up with anyone else other than Holland because she is seven shades of nuts. 

I know this was supposed to a comedic, "isn't this a hilarious but also fun 'how you met'" story, but I just didn't think it was funny. I felt oddly uncomfortable through it, and I am a fan of romance novels and can generally get through one in a day but this one took me weeks. For real. Weeks. 

If you're looking for a fun and light romance, keep looking because this isn't the one.