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A review by lezreadalot
Up on the Roof by A.L. Brooks
3.0
Hmm, this is a hard one. My enjoyment level is about at a 2.5, maybe 2 if I'm feeling cranky. But also the quality is there, and I see and understand and really appreciate what the book tried to do, which is why it gets a 3. But it's on the lower end of 3s.
Lena and Megan are new neighbours in an apartment building, and unexpectedly end up becoming roommates after a weather mishap makes Lena's flat unliveable. Lena is estranged from her most of her family and her OCD makes her crave order and routine. Megan has a big rambunctious family, is a bit of a messy klutz and a has a habit of letting people take advantage of her. They don't mesh well at first at all, but Megan's friendly overtures and general sweet nature, and the fact that they have to be roommates, kinda catapults them into becoming closer. The pace of the romance is nice and slow, just like I always want but... so much of this just didn't feel romantic. And see, I like what the author did with the character work. Lena's OCD isn't just a mild character quirk; it affects her life and relationship in tangible ways, and we see all the ways things deeply impact her. She sometimes overreacts or reacts rudely, and her anxiety can make her lash out or self-sabotage. I get that, and I'm glad it was addressed in such a detailed way. I actually really liked the aborted sex scene, and the fact that Lena's anxiety made her stop halfway. Sexual desire isn't a cure-all, especially when you have OCD like hers.
But I know that I've read books like this with characters like this, where the writing of the romance didn't suffer. Here, it did. I don't know! I just didn't see or like their chemistry, and they didn't seem particularly well-suited to each other. They really did feel like people who would be better off as friends; maybe casual ones. Ugh, but IDK if I'm being too harsh; I DO see the ways they helped each other out. But there were no butterflies, no swooning. I was so disappointed that we skipped over certain pivotal firsts, like everything that would have happened the first time they had to share a space together, moving around each other in the shared flat, getting Lena set up in the spare room, and everything that would have happened that night. In a forced proximity romance like this, those are the kind of moments that I really want to see, because they can be the catalyst for bringing the characters closer. And we didn't see those first moments, and a lot of other developmental moments. So even though this was slow burn, I still didn't get the satisfaction I wanted.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Justine Eyre, and I did like it a lot; more than I liked the book itself, unfortunately. Again, I really do appreciate the mental health discussions and this specific kind of OCD and anxiety rep. I love prickly women, and I don't mind that Lena was a little hard to like. But it didn't come together to make a wholly satisfying romance, and it's sad, because I know it COULD have.
Content warnings:
Lena and Megan are new neighbours in an apartment building, and unexpectedly end up becoming roommates after a weather mishap makes Lena's flat unliveable. Lena is estranged from her most of her family and her OCD makes her crave order and routine. Megan has a big rambunctious family, is a bit of a messy klutz and a has a habit of letting people take advantage of her. They don't mesh well at first at all, but Megan's friendly overtures and general sweet nature, and the fact that they have to be roommates, kinda catapults them into becoming closer. The pace of the romance is nice and slow, just like I always want but... so much of this just didn't feel romantic. And see, I like what the author did with the character work. Lena's OCD isn't just a mild character quirk; it affects her life and relationship in tangible ways, and we see all the ways things deeply impact her. She sometimes overreacts or reacts rudely, and her anxiety can make her lash out or self-sabotage. I get that, and I'm glad it was addressed in such a detailed way. I actually really liked the aborted sex scene, and the fact that Lena's anxiety made her stop halfway. Sexual desire isn't a cure-all, especially when you have OCD like hers.
But I know that I've read books like this with characters like this, where the writing of the romance didn't suffer. Here, it did. I don't know! I just didn't see or like their chemistry, and they didn't seem particularly well-suited to each other. They really did feel like people who would be better off as friends; maybe casual ones. Ugh, but IDK if I'm being too harsh; I DO see the ways they helped each other out. But there were no butterflies, no swooning. I was so disappointed that we skipped over certain pivotal firsts, like everything that would have happened the first time they had to share a space together, moving around each other in the shared flat, getting Lena set up in the spare room, and everything that would have happened that night. In a forced proximity romance like this, those are the kind of moments that I really want to see, because they can be the catalyst for bringing the characters closer. And we didn't see those first moments, and a lot of other developmental moments. So even though this was slow burn, I still didn't get the satisfaction I wanted.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Justine Eyre, and I did like it a lot; more than I liked the book itself, unfortunately. Again, I really do appreciate the mental health discussions and this specific kind of OCD and anxiety rep. I love prickly women, and I don't mind that Lena was a little hard to like. But it didn't come together to make a wholly satisfying romance, and it's sad, because I know it COULD have.
Content warnings: