Book Review :: The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas
ISBN: 1668002779
Series: Spanish Love Deception #2
on 6 September 2022
Genres: Romance
Pages: 400
Source: HarperCollins NZ
Goodreads

Rosie Graham has a problem. A few, actually. She just quit her well paid job to focus on her secret career as a romance writer. She hasn’t told her family and now has terrible writer’s block. Then, the ceiling of her New York apartment literally crumbles on her. Luckily she has her best friend Lina’s spare key while she’s out of town. But Rosie doesn’t know that Lina has already lent her apartment to her cousin Lucas, who Rosie has been stalking—for lack of a better word—on Instagram for the last few months. Lucas seems intent on coming to her rescue like a Spanish knight in shining armor. Only this one strolls around the place in a towel, has a distracting grin, and an irresistible accent. Oh, and he cooks.

Lucas offers to let Rosie stay with him, at least until she can find some affordable temporary housing. And then he proposes an outrageous experiment to bring back her literary muse and meet her deadline: He’ll take her on a series of experimental dates meant to jump-start her romantic inspiration. Rosie has nothing to lose. Her silly, online crush is totally under control—but Lucas’s time in New York has an expiration date, and six weeks may not be enough, for either her or her deadline.

Last updated on 10 October 2023

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What is The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas about?

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas is about Rosie, who is, quickly frankly, in a bit of a pickle. She’s ditched her cushy job to chase her dream of being a romance writer (even if people don’t know it’s HER that’s writing – not even her family), and she’s got writer’s block hitting her like a ton of bricks.

When her New York apartment’s ceiling literally crashes down on her, she needs somewhere to stay. Lucky for her, she’s got her best friend Lina’s spare key and so moves into Lina’s apartment for a while while Lina and her new-hubby are on their honeymoon. It was a good plan, theoretically, but what Rosie doesn’t know is that Lina’s already lent her place to her cousin Lucas – the guy Rosie’s been Insta-stalking for months.

Lucas, in New York after time overseas, isn’t in town for long, but when Rosie opens the door to his cousin’s apartment, it’s not what he’s expecting. How are they going to stay in the same apartment when they barely know each other? How indeed.

Lucas offers Rosie a place to crash until she sorts out her housing mess, and then he proposes a wild idea. What if the two of them go on fake dates to try to reignite her creativity and meet her writing deadline? Rosie figures she’s got nothing to lose, but what she doesn’t know is that these six weeks with Lucas might be more than she bargained for – in more ways than one.

My Thoughts on The American Roommate Experiment

After reading The Spanish Love Deception, and enjoying it, I was looking forward to reading The American Roommate Experiment, which is basically a sequel to the former. You don’t have to have read The Spanish Love Deception to read and enjoy The American Rommate Experiment at all, but if you’re planning on reading both, I’d start with TSLD. Just so you know some of the characters and backstory before diving into TARE.

“Remember to pick the boy that will plant a garden for you instead of just getting you the flowers.”

I enjoyed this one, too! It was fun to have the cameos of Lina and Adam, but it was very much Rosie and Lucas’ book. While it was predictable, that’s what we love in a book like this. It’s light-hearted (with a touch of deeper topics), where you like most of the characters, you’re rooting for them, and you’re just waiting for them to hurry up and get together already.

It was a bit Inception-like, as Rosie was a romance author, and while the book side of things wasn’t really emphasised as much as I would perhaps have liked, it was nice to have a book-ish character in a book.

Like TSLD, there’s a Spanish element to the book (Armas being Spanish herself), so Lucas speaks some Spanish throughout, just as Lina did. As someone whose family grew up in Chile (alas, not me!), this is always really nice to read. Can’t say it helps with my own Spanish, but it’s fun all the same.

So overall! 3.5 stars from me! A fun read, even if it was a little too long I think, and I’m looking forward to reading more books from Elena Armas in the future.

So whaddya think? Have you read The American Rommate Experiment? 

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Disclaimer: This book was gifted to me by Harper Collins NZ, in exchange for a review. This does not affect my review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.