I've come to have something of a Kindle Unlimited addiction lately. Whenever I'm bored, I go through the KU section on my Kindle and give books a try. I can't remember exactly what led me to this book in particular, but I know for certain
I snagged it because of the cover and title. It looks cute---ice skates, indicating a hockey player, and girl shoes. So I assumed that this would be a cute and funny read where this hockey player and this girl have to be roommates and all that jazz. And with that tagline!
I was seriously looking forward to this. But... it didn't turn out that great at all. My enthusiasm and enjoyment went downhill fast.
The premise was still great. It was exactly what I thought it'd be, in ways of how the story was set-up. And the characters had so much potential. But I think the biggest downer here was the execution. There was so much here that could have been GREAT. Instead, I kept getting angry. And bored. Neither of which are things I really want to feel when reading a book I was hoping would be cute and funny (or any book AT ALL, for that matter).
One thing that
seriously got on my nerves was the descriptive sex scenes between
Brady and girls who were NOT Nat. As in,
we get to see him with random chicks. Just because.
It serves no purpose... other than to make me rage, apparently. I never ever want to see the hero with someone else other than the heroine, even before they get together. It bugs me and sticks in my head and just drags me down. But what really gets me here was that there was no point here.
We just got to see his hook ups because. Just because. *shrugs* I hated it.
Another thing that lacked about the execution was the possibility of Nat becoming good friends with Brady's friends. Don't get me wrong, they get along just fine. Have some laughs, play some games. But it never developed as much as I'd hoped it would---as much as it truly could have. Which leads into the next issue I had, which was
the humor. Sure, I laughed a little. But so
many of the jokes fell flat. Situations that I knew were supposed to be humorous but actually had me rolling my eyes.
The plot in general ended up feeling pretty weak. I'm more of a character driven reader than plot, anyway, but when the characters aren't filling that gap, the plot becomes the focus. Brady had so many points knocked off because I had to read him with other girls (his stupid "Clintoning" that was unnecessary for us to even know about, let alone read in graphic detail), and while Nat was cool, she bothered me. I get that her parents (specifically her mom) were the way they were, but she still didn't sit right for me. Maybe because I wanted her and Brady to become more than friends faster, or maybe it was because we didn't get to see a whole lot of them and their friendship develop. Whatever the reason,
the plot was weak and the characters didn't pick up the slack.
The romance wasn't terrible. I wanted more from it, but I can't say there was anything I specifically disliked about it, either. I'd wanted Brady and Nat to be a couple from the beginning, so seeing that happen was good.
Another good thing about the book was Nat and Brady's friends. Sure, Nat didn't have that bonding thing I'd hoped for, but they were cool dudes and great friends to Brady. And Nat's friend Sami was nice. They, along with Brady and Nat getting together, were bright spots in this story.
Overall,
Roommates was a sadly disappointing read. I'd hoped for romance, humor, and cuteness, but only ended up getting very small doses of those amidst anger and boredom. I'll probably pick up another Erin Leigh book at some point, because a couple of them look kind of interesting (one in particular), but I'm not really itching to do so right away, and I don't exactly recommend
Roommates. But if you do pick this one up, I hope it turns out better for you!
