Roomies by Christina Lauren

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Title: Roomies
Author: Christina Lauren
Published by: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release Date: December 5, 2017
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: K.C. Sheridan
Length: 9 hours and 35 minutes
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Source: Libby
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER With Friends
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes
My rating:

Blurb:

Marriages of convenience are so…inconvenient.

Rescued by Calvin McLoughlin from a would-be subway attacker, Holland Bakker pays the brilliant musician back by pulling some of her errand-girl strings and getting him an audition with a big-time musical director. When the tryout goes better than even Holland could have imagined, Calvin is set for a great entry into Broadway—until he admits his student visa has expired and he’s in the country illegally.

Holland impulsively offers to wed the Irishman to keep him in New York, her growing infatuation a secret only to him. As their relationship evolves from awkward roommates to besotted lovers, Calvin becomes the darling of Broadway. In the middle of the theatrics and the acting-not-acting, what will it take for Holland and Calvin to realise that they both stopped pretending a long time ago?

My Review:

4 stars — Ahhhh, a marriage of convenience to screw over immigration!  I’m a sucker for that trope…and the meltworthy Irish accent didn’t hurt either.

This was my first book narrated by K.C. Sheridan, and she was delightful to listen to.  I loved her pacing, her level of emotion, and her Irish accent for Calvin was swoonworthy.  The only thing keeping her from the Love column for me is that her voices for different characters weren’t super distinct, and so I had a hard time knowing who was talking quite often (Robert was the only exception).  Because her accent comes through a teensy bit in her normal narration, I even sometimes wasn’t sure between Calvin and Holland.  I will admit I also had a hard time knowing when Holland was thinking something vs saying something.  I rely heavily on both of those things when listening to audiobooks, so I always prefer it when a narrator can make it easier for me.  But otherwise she was fantastic!

I really love the way Christina Lauren writes unique but relatable characters.  This was another story where I legitimately saw pieces of myself in Holland.  Not all of her obviously, but that feeling of being a background character in your own story, of not having anything remarkable to contribute to society, I felt that SO HARD.  It’s not something I see so starkly addressed in romances, but I sincerely doubt I’m alone.  I really felt for Holland, and how trapped she felt by her own anxieties over failure.  And I loved the fact that she had this crush, but never intended to see it through…I think we’ve all had those.  She was adorable and awkward, a combination I can always get behind.  I wanted her to figure out her worth maybe a bit earlier, and ditch Lulu, but I also understand how high those barriers are.  I loved Calvin’s line about outgrowing friends, because I’m sure we’ve all had those too.  I really appreciated that while she was insecure in so many ways, she stood up for herself when it really counted.

Calvin was such a strange hero for me.  There are aspects of him that I absolutely ADORED and totally swooned over.  But his missteps were HUGE.  I think my ability to connect to him was limited by not seeing anything from his POV.  I would have loved to just catch a glimpse.  A consequence of only having Holland’s POV is that she is an extremely unreliable narrator when it comes to Calvin and his intentions, and I had moments listening to this book where I honestly started to doubt him along with Holland.  I’d tell myself I have to be mistaken, there has to be a happy ending.  But I was just so disappointed with Calvin’s avoidance and lack of backbone.  Don’t get me wrong, Holland didn’t help herself with the misunderstandings and lack of communication, but the whole Amanda thing really brought Calvin down a bit in my eyes.  Bummer.  Despite that, though, he was ADORABLE, and hilarious, and having come out at the end of the story, he was really genuine and sweet and caring.  I seriously loved the way he would tease Holland, and you could tell he was genuinely interested in getting to know her.  As such, they had pretty great chemistry.  Again, only marred a bit by Holland’s unreliable narration.

One of my favourite aspects of this story was the whole setting of a Broadway musical, and the struggles that Uncle Robert faced along the way, and the way Calvin fit into it all.  I want it to be real, and I want to hear that music.  I loved how Holland FELT Calvin’s talent, and how much it affected her.

I will admit, there were a few moments in the story where I was distracted by continuity/inconsistency type things.  Probably nothing anyone else would notice, but I have a stupid ear for details, and I think about the weirdest things (when did he bring over his stuff, when did she get her cast off, where did he go live, etc).

So basically, a solid romance, just a few things keeping it from being an absolute fave from Ms. Lauren.