Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The American Roommate Experiment

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Forced proximity, fake dating, slow burn.
POV: First person dual POV - Rosie & Lucas
Ending: HEA

This can be read without having read The Spanish Love Deception first. However this wasn’t as good as the Spanish Love Deception 😞. Lucas Martin is no Aaron Blackford and that’s all I have to say on that 😛.

We follow Lucas Martin, Lina’s pro-surfer cousin and Rosie Graham, Lina’s best friend. Their paths cross when they both find themselves in Lina’s empty apartment whilst she is on her honeymoon. They agree to live together as roommates while Lucas is on holiday from Spain and Rosie’s apartment ceiling gets repaired. Rosie has quit her job with InTech to become a full time romance writer but she has an upcoming deadline, whereby she needs to submit a draft of her second book and to top it off she has the worst case of writer’s block.

After confiding in Lucas they hatch a plan to go on four experimental dates where Lucas will show Rosie what dating can really be and the one rule … they won’t fall in love with each other. But I mean these dates!!! OMG Mr Martin has set the bar high for every other man who dares to date a romance reader. These dates were absolutely beautiful to read about and I really loved seeing the effort Lucas put in for Rosie. It was heartwarming!

Unfortunately I don’t have too much to say on this one because it wasn’t my favourite. Rosie wasn’t my favourite FMC of all time. I really couldn’t connect with her the way I did with Lina sometimes I just felt the writing was slightly off. I didn’t fully become invested until much closer to the end hence the three and a half stars.

⚠️ Content Warnings: Parent abandonment, PTSD and panic attack depiction, traumatic event, sexual content, gaslighting (very brief scene), Alzheimer's.

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cady_sass's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

1. Main character named Lucas
2. Other main character had her first kiss with Jake Jagielski
3. First date at a record store
4. “Pick me” speech in the rain

This definitely isn’t one tree hill fan fiction but there are way too many odd similarities. I mean, Jake Jagielski???? Lmao

(this was 100% a hate read)

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mezzoanddolce's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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macykey's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I am a hole for Lucas Martín, a Lucas Martín girlie, a stan, his biggest fan. We all need a Lucas Martín in our lives. But this book was a little lacking for me. The writing was a little more elementary than TSLD and there were some parts that didn’t fit in the plot. For instance, the whole Olly bit. I feel like that could’ve been reworked
,

Spoiler

him being a stripper because of a girl he wasn’t even dating didn’t make any sense.

Also, I wish we would’ve gotten more about Lucas’ situation, but it just seemed kind of tertiary.

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abibliophobic_nerd's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

1.5

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things100's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

It took me a little while to finish it because I ended up in a reading slump but I adore Lucas and Rosie

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natashahillier's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I devoured this after finishing the Spanish Love Deception. The plot and the characters just felt so personal and relatable. Looking forward to Elena's next book!

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pikapikachu's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Ah! I’m so glad that I finally got the chance to read this book! Here are the things I loved about it.

🤍 The sweet friendship that blossomed between Rosie and Lucas
🤍 The time that was taken for the two characters to get to know one another.
🤍The slow burn chemistry
🤍 How the characters from the first book were still present in the second book.
🤍 Really I just loved how these characters got to know each other through these dates, and how they tied into Rosie’s career. It was sweet, swoon-worthy, and I know that I will come back and enjoy reading this book again.

A few things that I wanted more of:
- I wished Lina and Aaron had been more present in this book. I feel like they were really secondary, and I wished that Rosie would have been more open with her relationship with her cousin.
- I think I wanted to know how Rosie’s book ended up doing and if it was received as well as the first one. The book ends and we know that Lucas is working on self healing and moving on, but I wanted to know where Rosie was at!

Overall, this was a really lovely romantic comedy, and I would recommend it to anyone who was looking for a sweet, lighthearted low stakes romance book. Can’t wait to read another book by Elena Armas!

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