A review by kim_momreadsbooksinbtwn
Room and Board by Miriam Parker

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The concept of this story was cute, a young woman loses everything due to a workplace scandal and then ends up becoming a dorm mother at her previous boarding school. I think this book was probably more character-driven than plot-driven. The storyline seemed somewhat slow for me, I had a hard time staying interested. Although the exotic nature of a private boarding school in Sonoma, California was unique. A boarding school full of rich kids behaving badly, that were dumped there by their rich parents while gallivanting the world. 

 

At first, I felt bad for Gillian, because of the workplace scandal with a client, she had to close her publicity company. While her personal and professional life was imploding, she had an opportunity to escape back to her boarding school in California and take time to remake herself and her future. This part of the story kept me intrigued, about what was going to happen and how was she going to turn things around. Only to find out that when she was a senior at Glen Ellen Academy, she was also part of a school scandal. I kept waiting to find out the details of the scandal and how salacious was it, let’s just say I was disappointed. Once it was revealed, I said to myself “That’s all it was?” 

 

Most of the story revolves around Gillian rekindling her relationship with Aiden Lloyd, the boy who was the source of her high school scandal. Come to find out that Gillian is his daughter’s, Rainbow, dorm mother. So this was another interesting twist to the story, but her continued angst about her previous friendship with Aiden and Miranda (her high school best friend and Aiden’s high school girlfriend), became a bit annoying. I wanted her to snap out of it and grow up! She had her own publicity company in New York and went to Yale. 

 

I am curious to know who was the target audience for this book, it seemed to be more of a YA novel than romance. Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. The good thing is that it is a pretty short read, at only 291 pages.