Book Review: The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas

The American Roommate Experiment is Elena Armas’ second published novel and the second book in Love Deception duology. So was it as good as its big sister or did it fall victim to the second book curse?

BOOK SPECS:

• Number of pages: 406

• Format: Paperback

• Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy, Cosy Romance, Multicultural Romance

• Tropes: Fake Dating, Best Friend's Cousin, Forced Proximity, Not Good Enough for Her

SHORT REVIEW:

If you love a slow burner, you’ll love this book. If you like pacier romance, then this will annoy you silly until it gets moving further down the line. I'm scoring it two stars mainly because I'm not into slow burners, otherwise, when things started moving, I really enjoyed this novel.

HEART RATE:

SMUT SCORE:

Buy it on Bookshop.org

Buy it on Amazon

---

FULL REVIEW:

Plot & Characters

While this is the sequel to Armas’ first novel, and Lina and Aaron are still around, The American Roommate Experiment doesn’t actually focus on their story. Instead, it rotates one hundred and eighty and points the pen at Rosie and Lucas – Lina’s best friend and cousin respectively.

The plot is interesting… Rosie had an Instagram crush on Lucas for months. She was hoping to meet him at Lina’s wedding, but it never happened. And now he’s in The Big Apple and they have to share Lina’s flat for a couple of weeks. Problem is... Lucas is keeping a big secret. From everyone.

Rosie didn’t get much air in the first novel. She was there, but she wasn’t, if you know what I mean. However, she did come across as a really good friend to Lina and, as you read about her disastrous love life, it's nice to see her getting a second chance at love too.

Romance and Smut Score

While the sexual tension will have you at the edge of your seat and in love with Lucas, you won’t get a whiff of a single kiss until three-quarters in. And it’s around there that their relationship really gains momentum. Once it gets going, though, there are a few smut and teasing scenes that will make it worth the wait.

Writing

Departing from the first instalment on the duology, which is written in Lina's point of view only, The American Roommate Experiment is written in first person but from the dual point of view of both Rosie and Lucas - which I thought was great - and Armas made the two voices sound very distinct.

I really like and enjoy Elena's writing. However, the pace on this novel made me wait at the love bus stop for hours. H-o-u-r-s! It was just too slow for me (bangs book against forehead). I know Armas is quite partial to a slow burner, but this was just snail pace. You could remove 50% of the pages and still keep in all the essential scenes.

WARNING: SPOILER INCOMING - Jump this next paragraph if you don’t want to read it.

There are also a couple of things that almost seem superfluous, for example, Rosie’s brother’s story and even the fact Rosie was writing a book. Even though said book is why they go on dates and what makes Lucas change his mind in the end. But really? It could have been anything. He could have suggested she showed him around the city, their attraction and sexual tension would have built just as much. They could have been mugged while sightseeing, the effect on Lucas would have been the same. So some of the subplots and plot lines just seem a little nonsensical and overcomplicated.

SPOILERS FINISHED

Needless to say, I was gutted. I really wanted to love this book.

Buy this book on Bookshop.org

Buy it on Amazon