Roommate by Sarina Bowen

Narrated by Teddy Hamilton & Stephen Dexter

Teddy Hamilton’s narrations are a powerful draw here at AudioGals and I am not immune. I’m also a fan of Sarina Bowen’s books so the combination was irresistible. I had not listened to Stephen Dexter before but the sample I tried was good and anyway, if it came to it, two out of three ain’t bad as they say. Roommate continues the True North series, and the very end introduces the True North World set in and around the gastro-pub of Vino & Veritas. There are more queer romance books coming from authors such as Garrett Leigh, Annabeth Albert and many more.

Roderick Waites was born in raised in the Colebury area of Vermont but left home at age 18 when he was kicked out on account of being “gay AF”. He was homeless for a while and then found a shelter for queer teens which helped him get on his feet. He went to culinary school and, most recently, he’s been living and working in Nashville. Now 26, he had been in a three-year long relationship with a closeted country singer, but it imploded spectacularly and he’s come home for a fresh start. He has an old car, his clothes, his knives and skillet, his precious sourdough starter and about $600 to his name. He hopes his parents will have softened toward him and will let him stay with them until he can afford his own place. He is to be quickly disappointed on that score. ☹

Kieran Shipley was a year behind Roderick in high school. His parents have a farm, and he still lives at home, performing regular chores on the property and also working part time at The Busy Bean café in Colebury and also part time for an ad agency doing graphic design in Burlington. He’s trying to get enough money together to move out of home and sort out his life. He knows he’s not straight but needs some time and space to sort things out. What to do in his career is another issue. He’d like to pursue art or graphic design, but his father strongly disapproves. His father seems to strongly disapprove of him in general, actually. His older brother, Kyle, is the golden child. Kieran doesn’t even get paid for the work he does on the farm, unlike Kyle, and it is understood that Kyle will have the farm after their dad dies and not Kieran. Their dad has a serious back injury which makes him even grumpier, and this strains their relationship even further. On top of all that, Kieran knows something he’s not supposed to know about his family origins. He doesn’t look like the other Shipleys. He already feels like an outsider in his own family. Coming out would only amplify that, he thinks.

Kieran is very much the strong silent type. He’s not a big talker. He’s kind of hidden himself for most of his life. He’s big, burly and tall but he nevertheless tries to make himself invisible.

Roddy on the other hand, is not silent. He’s out and proud and a little chaotic. He’s open and talkative and generous with his smiles and his heart. He is also desperately lonely, and he longs for family and a partner who will actually look after and care for him. In this way, he is not so dissimilar to Kieran actually, notwithstanding that Kieran has a large and loving extended family.

Roddy picks up work at The Busy Bean and he and Kieran end up sharing a house near the village green.

The attraction between the two men is immediate (historic even, given their paths did cross somewhat in high school) but Kieran is not out and so it takes a while before Roddy understands that Kieran is not entirely straight.

Once this revelation is made however, the pair begin an intimate relationship but keep things quiet. Kieran does not want to come out to his family. He is open about his sexuality if they go to dinner at the next town over, but he cannot see a time when he will want his family to know his business.

Roddy has been there, done that and he does not want to be pushed back into the closet.

That is essentially the conflict between them, but it is not one that lasts a long time (I think we all know where it ends given it is a romance) and most of the book is actually Kieran and Roddy embarking on a relationship and learning each other and finding out just how perfect they are together. Roddy teaches Kieran to cook and inspires and encourages him to pursue his art more actively. Kieran provides all that Roddy ever wanted in a partner and brings with him a large extended family of great people – the only shadow on their horizon is that Kieran is not out to them.

The narration is very good. I preferred that of Teddy Hamilton, however. Mr. Dexter’s pacing was a bit off kilter for me. There was not enough of a pause between sentences, and this led to most of his sections feeling rushed. Most of the time Kieran was not actually in a hurry so the performance did not match the text in that way. That said, in all other respects, his narration was very good. I liked the character voices, including the female cast members and I also enjoyed the emotion and the way the intimacy was depicted. It was just that one thing that let the experience down a little.

Teddy Hamilton is just excellent. He has such a charming and soothing voice to listen to. It’s like warm honey or something. Smooth and delicious. His pacing was just right and so was everything else.

I’ve given the narration overall a B+ – that’s an average between a B for Mr. Dexter and an A for Mr. Hamilton.

I did think the turnaround in the relationship between Kieran and his father was a little too convenient. I couldn’t quite square the circle with the idea of Kieran being such an unreliable narrator when it came to his dad. The scene with Roddy’s parents at the beginning of the book was hard to read because they are so bigoted and awful and how could they do that to their own son?? but for the most part the book is not super angsty. I liked Roommate very much and I’m sure it was only better on audio.

Kaetrin

---

Buy Roommate by Sarina Bowen on Amazon