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For six months, Holland has had a crush on a guy who plays guitar in the subway. His music moves her, and his looks are certainly compelling as well. So even though she doesn’t need to take the subway, she still goes out of her way to visit his usual spot when she knows he’ll be there. One night, she gets up the courage to speak to him, and it’s coincidentally that same night that a vagrant pushes her onto the train tracks, at which point Calvin saves her by calling 911.
Holland’s uncle is the creator and musical director of a hit Broadway musical, and when a musician vital to the show quits, she has the idea that Calvin could step in. His audition goes spectacularly well and he’s offered the opportunity of his dreams. But there’s a problem: He’s from Ireland, and he far overstayed his student visa, so he’s in the U.S. illegally.
Although (because of, really) she considers herself not much of a risk-taker, Holland decides to offer to marry Calvin. It will help him, it will solve a huge problem for the uncle she’s very close to, and she will get to be with the gorgeous musician she’s only observed from a distance for months. But he doesn’t know she’s actually interested in him.
As the two get to know each other by living in a small apartment together and going to work together every day at the theater (Holland has a low-level job working there, thanks to her family connections, since she just hasn’t found any other work or inspiration to start on a novel after she earned an MFA), and by cramming to learn details about each other’s lives to be able to pass muster with immigration, they enjoy each other’s company. They even begin to fall for each other, even as Calvin quickly becomes a star. But Holland still can’t be sure what’s real and what may just be pretend in her marriage of convenience, and she is afraid she’s only going to be left with a broken heart when it’s no longer actually necessary for them to be married.
Roomies is entertaining and cute and romantic. It’s now the third book I’ve read by Christina Lauren, but I think this writing duo’s best work is their very latest, In a Holidaze, which just felt more substantial to me, with characters who felt deeper and more real and a relationship that had me “shipping” it right from the beginning. In this, Calvin is described as hot and sexy and good-looking and talented, but he doesn’t have much of a personality, doesn’t feel like much of a real character, until at least halfway through. Holland herself doesn’t feel as rich a character as Mae in Holidaze, either. So I definitely had a good time with Roomies, but I feel the writers grew and created a particularly strong and more complex novel with their latest. A good book to pick up for an easy and entertaining romance read.
Rated: High, for 44 instances of strong language, about the same number of uses of mild and moderate language, and several uses of the name of Deity. Sexual content includes a few sex scenes with a good amount of detail, plus talking about it, fantasizing about it, and some references to self-pleasuring, including using a device.
