The Roommate by Rosie Danan

Narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Brittany Pressley

In The Roommate, début author Rosie Danan takes the classic uptight-meets-laid-back trope, mixes in a little of the close-proximity trope and adds a touch of insightful comment to produce a thoroughly enjoyable, cute and sexy rom-com.

Trust-fund baby and east coast socialite Clara Wheaton has had a crush on her best friend Everett Bloom since childhood. Their families move in the same social circles and seem to expect them to get together, but more than twenty years have gone by and Everett shows no sign of getting with that particular program. When he suggests to Clara that she should “follow her bliss” and move across the country to California and live with him (platonically) she decides to do it. All her life she’s been the quiet one, the responsible one, the one who did everything right while her other family members caused scandal after scandal, and she decides it’s time for her to get out from under her mother’s shadow and do something for herself for a change. Unfortunately for Clara, Everett is an oblivious dickhead; he collects her from the airport with the news that he’s off on tour with his (not hugely successful) rock group and that he’s sub-let his part of the house for the summer. So she’ll be living with a complete stranger. Great.

After his most recent break-up with his on/off girlfriend Naomi, Josh Darling had resigned himself to a summer of couch-surfing, until he lucked out by finding a cheap summer sub-let. He’s thrown a bit off balance by his new roommate, by her awkwardness and stiffness, and he employs the easy charm that usually works to set people at their ease, but which doesn’t seem to help much. When Clara whips out a laminated list of house rules he can’t stop himself from teasing her about it… which only stokes Clara’s already obvious annoyance.

Despite that inauspicious beginning however, Clara and Josh do manage to start figuring out how to get along and a tentative friendship soon develops between them. Josh is surprised at how insecure Clara is; she’s obviously well-educated and well-heeled, yet she can’t accept a compliment; Clara can’t help but notice that Josh is gorgeous but is just as taken with his kindness and the way he seems to see her, Clara, and not someone who hasn’t lived up to her family’s expectations. Their relationship undergoes a seismic change however when Clara finds out that Josh is a hugely popular porn star and a minor celebrity. She – of course – freaks out. She’s worked so hard all her life to be squeaky clean and now she’s living with a porn star? Plus – it was hard enough not to think about what Josh might look like without his clothes before, but now? Aaaaaand also of course, Clara can’t resist Googling him and watching him ‘in action’ ;). She’s so caught up in the heat of the moment (so to speak), she fails to realise he’s returned home and… busted.

This is undoubtedly one of those ‘only in a romance novel’ moments, because after Clara’s mortification at being caught watching porn fades (well, a little bit), she owns up to her uninspiring sex life (like, never had an orgasm with a partner) and Josh, affronted on her behalf, offers to show her what she’s been missing so that “the next time you have sex with some Melvin you meet at the library, you’ll be prepared to demand what you deserve.” Predictable, yes, but fortunately, the book then veers off in an unexpected direction.

Josh and Naomi – who is his most frequent on-screen partner – work exclusively for Black Hat Studios, and Josh’s contract is up for renewal. The trouble is, the company wants him to move into their hard-core/extreme division – it’s more profitable – and Josh isn’t prepared to go there. But Black Hat controls most – if not all – of the porn studios in LA and threatens to blacklist Josh if he won’t sign a new contract.

On hearing this, Clara comes up with an idea. Josh believes, fiercely, in a woman’s right to sexual pleasure and Clara knows from bitter experience that not all men know how to deliver that. So… why not start a production company that will make use of Josh’s…er… know-how and industry knowledge and connections to create a website dedicated to women’s pleasure that will showcase videos that empower women to ask for what they want in the bedroom and will perhaps help remove some of the stigma around expressing female desire. Clara and Josh team up with Naomi (who is awesome, ballsy and thankfully not an evil-ex) to get Shameless up and running – although of course, it’s not going to be easy.

I’m not a big reader/listener of contemporary romance, but I enjoyed this one a lot. Josh is a fabulous hero; he’s charming and kind-hearted, and I especially appreciated his attitude towards his job; at one point after Clara has just found out he has sex on camera, he suggests that maybe she’s waiting for him to confess his “secret pain” because nobody undamaged would want to have sex for money – but Josh is all ‘fuck that noise, I do it because I love it.’ And while Clara starts out as something of a stereotype – a controlling, repressed fish-out-of-water – I was impressed when she broke out of that mould and stood her ground, facing all the changes and challenges life was throwing at her and embracing them wholeheartedly.

The chemistry between Clara and Josh is sizzling and the slow-burn romance is both sweet and sexy – which isn’t surprising for a book focusing on the porn industry, but the sex scenes between the two leads are nicely done and done in a way that enhances their deepening physical and emotional connection. Downsides? Well, it’s possible to see the third-act conflict coming a mile off, and while I did like Josh and Clara together, I was never quite sure what drew Josh to Clara to start with. That he found her attractive wasn’t in question – I just don’t recall any build up to it. And I suspect the depiction of the porn industry in the book is very idealised; everyone we meet seems well-adjusted, enjoys their work and, like Josh, isn’t hiding any secret pain, which I’m sure is rarely the case in real life.

Something about Teddy Hamilton’s voice always screams “boy-next-door” to me, so Josh the boy-next-door porn star is kind of the perfect role for him! (Because Josh is totally the b-n-d type – handsome, charming, kind and wholesome, despite his profession!) Mr. Hamilton’s performance is terrific; his portrayal of Josh oozes charm and sex appeal, he’s great at bringing out the humour in the text, and in the banter with Clara. He’s equally good in the quieter moments, especially when it comes to conveying the inner vulnerability Josh keeps hidden – there’s a heartfelt late-book scene with Josh’s mother (who is awesome) that illustrates this really well. I’ve listened to Brittany Pressley a few times and have always enjoyed her work – not many American female narrators work for me, but she’s one of them. Her portrayal of Clara is perfect, and I really loved the way she conveys the character’s gradual ‘loosening-up’ and increasing confidence; her tightly-controlled delivery at the beginning very slowly changes over time, losing that clipped quality and gaining a sense of assurance and poise. Both narrators are skilled at depicting characters of the opposite sex (Ms. Pressley’s male voice is particularly good), the secondary cast is well differentiated and the performance is well-paced. The Roommate was a very entertaining listen; the story is a lot of fun but doesn’t lack depth, and the narration is superb. Recommended.

Caz

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Buy The Roommate by Rosie Danan on Amazon