A review by tawnyad2004
Rebel Roommate by Jeannine Colette, Lauren Runow

3.0

Not gonna lie, I was disappointed in this book. I bought the preorder because I really, really enjoyed the previous 2 but this left me feeling sad that I’d spent the money. Some of it has to do with me. I don’t always love the college books, they tend to veer towards the immature with the frat parties, sleeping around and childish characters. This one wasn’t so bad in that aspect. One of the problems is I didn’t care for the characters. Wes is so wishy washy it becomes annoying. Plus I get that he’s trying to hide his relationship with Stacey but he still plays up that he’s sleeping around. Did he not think this through?!!!! I mean eventually he’s going to have to tell Chad (is best friend and Staceys brother) that they are dating. Wouldn’t it have been better to not pretend to be sleeping around with a bunch of other women? Then there’s Stacey. I just didn’t click with her, she was a forgettable character to me and that’s never a good thing. The story got better as the two started dating, granted secretly but still. Wes started opening up more and showing her the real him. The drama in the book is where I have a real issue. ***SPOILERS*** Chad, oh Chad you hypocritical jerk. Throughout the book I didn’t mind him, in fact I really enjoyed his girlfriend Nicole. However by the end of the book I did not care for him at all. So he comes home to the apartment and hears Wes and Stacey getting it on (not realizing at first that it’s his sister). So what does he do, leave and come back later? No of course not. He goes and knocks on the door saying keep it down bc his girlfriend is there. Forget the fact that Nicole’s roommate had made comments about how she’s sick of hearing them knock boots every night (hypocritical). Then he finds out it’s Stacey and he looses it. Yelling at him, saying mean cruel things. Telling him he’s incapable of love, that he’s not good enough. This was it for me, the point where I REALLY started to hate Chad. Wes was emotionally abused his whole life by his parents. The only love and loyalty he was shown was by His grandma and Chad’s family. To take all his insecurities (which Chad knew about) and throw that back at him was just downright cruel.) so Wes leaves, I mean the only people who have every loved him just said he wasn’t good enough. Stacey puts up a little bit of a fight but not much and when he leaves she doesn’t go after him or fight for him. So then for her and Chad to hold that against him is wrong. NO ONE has ever fought for Wes before and when things got tough Chad and Stacey both turned there backs. I know that’s not how it was written, that Stacey was heartbroken believing Wes only saw her as a challenge but she’s a smart girl she should have know otherwise. My favorite character of the book, Nicole, is the only one who continued to stand up for Wes.

“Wes has been through a lot. Chad’s told me all about it. I think he was in shock. I don’t think it’s over between you two, and I know it’s not over between him and Chad. Friends like that just don’t stop one day and never look back. Everyone just needs time. Things will calm down soon. Don’t give up hope.”

She’s the only one who saw it for what it was. A man who was hurt, tossed aside and emotionally battered. They do eventually get together and the way Wes does it is super cute. Overall I didn’t hate the book (I know it probably seems otherwise). I just hope the next book in the series is more on par with the first two rather then this one.