The American Roommate Experiment: A Novel (2) (The Love Deception Series)

I don't know how anyone is rating this 4 stars. Maybe I'm just an absolute sucker but this book has immediately gone onto my favorites of all time list. Lucas is the new standard. I don't usually like the more "sunshine-y" male MCs, but dang Lucas is ridiculous. In the best possible way. Every time he talked to Rosie, or went out of his way to make her comfortable, or freakin COOKED FOR HER, I died a little more. The way that he immediately noticed she was uncomfortable with their situation at first won him his first gold star. Something about a guy who respects a girl's boundaries without demanding to know why she is wary-or getting all weird and alpha-is just ridiculously hot. And yes, I know, the bar is in hell. But come on, Lucas cannot exist in real life. He has some very tangible faults though, which I appreciated even more. Without spoiling, I really liked how he was a strong character who had very real insecurities. It made my heart hurt sometimes, but I also understood. Rosie's struggles with her career and responsibilities really hit me hard. It just made sense why Lucas was the one for her. Having always been the responsible, put-together girl, made her falling for Lucas' caring personality a no-brainer.xxx *minor spoiler*: I wish we had gotten more about what exactly her second book was about. I felt like her writing wasn't explored enough, especially since it was pretty much the basis for their experiment. It would've been nice to hear about how her inspiration from Lucas manifested in her novel.xxxokay, rant over. I'm usually a die hard simp for "He falls first" books, so consider me pleasantly surprised. Rosie technically fell first, after all she has been insta stalking him for months (lol); but somehow it felt like Lucas fell just as hard and fast. Their dynamic is unreal-such an amazing balance of respect and care. I saw some reviewers commenting that this book was slow, to which I say: go read from a different author. I'm not saying this book is necessarily realistic, but the two characters actually developed a healthy relationship and FRIENDSHIP first. I love a good short, spicy read too, but this book reads like a real love story. I know we have to anticipate the third act conflict, but it still tugged at my heart. I was so glad to see what came out of this though. The healing both characters underwent by the end made all the tension worth it, and made their relationship seem even more real to me. So to summarize, I didn't say most of what I wanted (the Lina and Aaron cameo, Lucas being the best date planner - AND TACO <3), but I loved this book. Yes, I know it isn't really probable for a relationship like this to exist, but we can all hope, right? This book felt real. More so than SLD somehow, and more than any of my other reads this year. I never thought I would rate it 5 stars, but here we are. So, please go read it.

It's always a little terrifying to read the sophomore effort from an author whose debut you loved, hoping that it will live up to the weight of expectation. And, honestly, this didn't at first. The beginning is MUCH weaker than the second half, and it takes awhile to find its footing - but it definitely gets there along the way. The second half has the swoony goodness that I was hoping for; the payoff of a slow, torturous burn, and the intimacy that gives the romance weight. I loved Lucas and Rosie together - the roommates to lovers situation provided for many scenarios that ratcheted up the tension, and Lucas is just a sweetheart of a guy. Completely different than the dynamic between the characters in the first book, this romance is softer, sweeter, slower, and still just as sexy.The story follows Rosie, a woman who temporarily moves into her bestie's apartment when hers becomes damaged. Unfortunately, she didn't give her friend a heads up that she was coming, and it turns out that the studio apartment was already promised to someone else - Lina's sexy Spanish cousin who is in the States temporarily. Both nice, easygoing people, Rosie and Lucas come to an agreement to share the apartment while Rosie's is being repaired... which is how Rosie ends up becoming roommates with the guy she's been secretly stalking on the internet for months. Spending time with Lucas does nothing to diffuse the crush Rosie has been harboring, nor does going on (mostly) platonic dates in the hopes of getting inspiration for her writing. It does make the living situation a little more tense, however, especially once Rosie realizes that Lucas might not be completely immune to her charms after all.The Spanish Love Deception was one of my favorite books of last year, so to say that I was eagerly anticipating this would be an understatement. Which might be why I was so disappointed by the beginning, though that could also be attributed to the audiobook narration (which I abandoned). Whatever the case, there was something about the beginning that just did not work for me. It was obvious from the start that Lucas and Rosie were both smitten with each other, and the low-stakes situation made it feel less like a slow burn and more just SLOW. As other readers have mentioned, it felt like I got 150-200 pages in and the book hadn't really gone anywhere yet. There's also a subplot revolving around Rosie's budding career as a romance author, and how she's having trouble finding inspiration after a successful first book, which... did not give me any reassurance that it wasn't a real life issue for Armas as well. There has to be an enormous amount of pressure placed on any author who has such a wildly popular debut, so I can certainly empathize with that. The good news is that this recovers well in the second half, and I started to get the swoons back. The tension kicks up a notch, the pace moves a bit faster, and the romance is more overt. The back half has everything that I want from Armas, which easily earns this a 4-star rating from me. Had the rest of the book been that solid, it would've been an easy 5.Audio note: Not gonna lie, I abandoned the audio partway through, and I do not regret it. Not that it was poorly executed, it simply wasn't resonating with me. I'm not familiar with either narrator in this dual narration production, but neither one was a win. The female narrator makes Rosie sound so upbeat, peppy, and bubbly that those first few scenes were extra cringey. The male narrator was trying to sound like a flirty Latin lover, with a thick accent and too much pompous attitude. It didn't match how I envisioned either character, and jumping between those two narration styles was very, very jarring. So I ended up abandoning ship and switching back to the text. Coincidence or not, that was about the same time the plot began working better for me. The runtime is also around 15 hours, so you'll likely need to listen over the course of multiple days. It does make a great choice for a workday listen though, as the slow burn romance lends itself well to the format. It's also light and upbeat enough that the format would've been ideal if the narration had been smoother.

The American Roommate Experiment was a cute, fun, romance between Rosie and Lucas.I could never put this book down! Had to keep reading to find out how they get together.Fantastic, fun read.

Ainda não comecei a ler mas estou super ansiosa! sobre a qualidade do livro, achei confortável em questão de tamanho , a página não chega a ser branca mas tbm não é aquelas bem amareladas , achei bem confortável em questão de visão.. a qualidade das folhas tbm achei boa. acho que no valor total nem chegou aos R$40 e por ser em inglês me surpreendeu muito.. a entrega foi expressa , pedi no domingo e recebi na terça! muito satisfeita:))Ah , e coloquei uma foto da primeira página pra terem uma noção;)

elena es una gran autora en mi opinión así que ya quiero acabar esta novela!!!

i thought the expectations were to high after the spanish love deception but elena is a genius and everything she writes is gold, i indeed recommend it

Alees Bestens. Schnell geliefert und für gut befunden