The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas Book Review

“‘Maybe you could even treat this as . . .’ She trailed off, then continued more enthusiastically. ‘As research. Field work. As if you were running an experiment. Pick a man and do whatever you need to get those creative juices running. You don’t even need to tell him.'”

(pg. 234)

About

Author: Elena Armas

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance

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The Spanish Love Deception

Synopsis

Rosie Graham has a problem. A few, actually. She just quit her well paid job to focus on her secret career as a romance writer. She hasn’t told her family and now has terrible writer’s block. Then, the ceiling of her New York apartment literally crumbles on her. Luckily she has her best friend Lina’s spare key while she’s out of town. But Rosie doesn’t know that Lina has already lent her apartment to her cousin Lucas, who Rosie has been stalking—for lack of a better word—on Instagram for the last few months. Lucas seems intent on coming to her rescue like a Spanish knight in shining armor. Only this one strolls around the place in a towel, has a distracting grin, and an irresistible accent. Oh, and he cooks.

Lucas offers to let Rosie stay with him, at least until she can find some affordable temporary housing. And then he proposes an outrageous experiment to bring back her literary muse and meet her deadline: He’ll take her on a series of experimental dates meant to jump-start her romantic inspiration. Rosie has nothing to lose. Her silly, online crush is totally under control—but Lucas’s time in New York has an expiration date, and six weeks may not be enough, for either her or her deadline.

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To all those with new dreams,

Gosh, you know those books that just make you smile, laugh, and feel like have literal bubbles in your chest? You know the book that you can’t put down, but yet you want to put the book down because you never want the book to end? You know the book that has your whole heart before you even know it? You know the book that instantly becomes your book?

The American Roommate Experiment is that book for me 💙💗💙.

I would love to live off of the feeling I felt when I read The American Roommate Experiment.

I literally do not know what to do with myself now that the book is over and there’s this piece of me that still wants to live wrapped up in Elena Armas’s world. Like, where do I even start? How do I human?

I just loved loved loved The American Roommate Experiment and that’s it. That’s the review 😂.

Joking. I need to talk about every little scene and detail I loved because I want to remember how this book made me feel, even though the words I write in this review cannot encapsulate every ounce of pure giddiness and joy I felt while reading The American Roommate Experiment.

The American Roommate Experiment is a stellar—phenomenal—companion to The Spanish Love Deception (TSLD), and dare I say better. No, I double dog dare because that’s how confident I am in that statement. The American Roommate Experiment was so fun, hilarious, cute, sweet, charming, and absolutely precious. I loved how many tropes were in this book because the tropes were a reader’s dream!! I also loved the main characters with Sophie’s kindness, but spunkiness, or should I say ballsiness. And I LOVED Lucas, which I will go into a whole rant about later. But I LOVE Lucas. He’s such a sweetheart and a charming young man and a dream.

I kind of laughed about this to myself before writing this review, but I feel like I’m really in my nice guy era 😂. Not that that’s something to laugh about.

But before writing this book review, I was re-watching Shadow and Bone, and do not judge me when I say I loved Darklina. Now now, you cannot tell me that the Darkling in the books had more personality and was more intriguing than Mal and Alina’s relationship in the books. Mal had the personality of a rock in the books—DULL. Also, Ben Barnes 😅!!! Yea, tell me I’m wrong. So yea, I was a Darklina stan. But I was re-watching it today and the Darklina moments didn’t hit as hard as they did the first time 🤧. I still love Ben Barnes, but I was starting to, dare I say it, like Mal 😂 because I could actually see how good of a guy he was and has been to Alina. For sure, the show gave him more personality and more of an adventure than the books, but gosh, I was like, “What’s wrong?” I absolutely didn’t like Mal before and gagged at the idea because of how boring he was in the books. But gosh, something about a nice man who didn’t manipulate her, really got to me. I’m in my good-man era. Like legit, get yourself a good man. I still like the Darkling as a character because he’s interesting, but man, don’t get yourself a bad boy, but a good man 👏🏼.

I digress 😂.

Sorry, that was an absolutely unnecessary tangent, but that’s where my headspace was at, and it just made me think about Lucas and how is the epitome of a good man.

Anyway, I loved everything about The American Roommate Experiment from the romance, the tropes, the adventures, the dialogue, the grand gesture—purely everything.

We got glimpses of Rosie in TSLD, but I feel like we didn’t really get to know her.

And was it a joy to get to know Rosie 😊.

I really admired her kind and tender-heart that wanted to help other people. Rosie was also very family-oriented because she grew up with her dad and brother, Olly. They didn’t have it easy, and the dad was mostly the provider in doing everything he could for his kids, which I respected and loved. When Rosie went to college, she got an engineering degree, which was not something many women did. Rosie’s dad was incredibly proud of her because Rosie was a successful woman and built a life for herself where he didn’t need to worry about. I thought the dad’s pride was so cute and how he told everyone who lived near them about Rosie, and then how Rosie got a new promotion at InTech.

Rosie was also quite a romantic, so much that she was now a romance author 💙.

“‘I think I would still be happy working for InTeach if I hadn’t found something that I . . . finally loved. Something that made me understand what really loving what you do is. Something that completed me in a way engineering never did, even if I didn’t yet know and was never unhappy.'”

(pg. 54)

I loved that 💙.

I was kind of confused at first when she alluded to leaving her job because she just got promoted at InTech in the last book, so I was like, “Why would she leave her job if she just got promoted?” But she was doing something that brought her heart joy, and I loved that. I wished we got to see glimpses of Rosie typing or writing, just some sign that she was working on a book in TSLD because her becoming an author felt out of the blue for who we knew in TSLD.

The thing was not everyone knew Rosie was a romance writer because she wrote under an alias. She wrote a romance about a time traveling military man, which sold very well. Rosie was offered a book deal, so she quit her job at InTech to pursue writing full-time. I could understand how terrifying that must have felt for Rosie to give up her job—the one thing she was sure of—to pursue a job that she had no idea where it would go. Rosie took a leap of faith for writing. But that’s what life is about—taking leaps of faith. I loved that she trusted her heart to do what brought her true love because I feel like most adults work to live and don’t live to work. Not that there is a right way to go about work or life itself, but I grew up with many people saying that they hated their job, and it always made me feel disheartened that these people would go to work everyday, for most of their day, and they would hate it. And we wonder why so many people are miserable or unhappy. It’s sad. So I am a strong believer that you should do what you love or have a bit of love for. Because maybe what you do isn’t your true passion and you do your true passion on the side—a side job—and that’s okay, but I would wish for everyone to do what makes them happy. Being a teacher is what I always wanted to be, and now that I am a teacher, I feel so much love right now for what I do, that I wish everyone to feel that way about what they do.

Rosie’s dad and brother didn’t even know she was an author because she was terrified to confide in them. She didn’t want her dad to feel disappointed in her after everything he sacrificed for her to go to college and get a stable job. Also, that must have been extremely nerve-wracking to tell her dad that she quit her job after he gloated to the whole neighborhood that his daughter got a raise at a big tech company. I know the dad was happy and there’s nothing wrong with boasting about his daughter he was proud of, but that made the situation more complex—how could she tell her dad she was no longer that big tech person 🥺? I also highly understood how she felt like no one would understand why she would give up her job. Writing romance books seemed like a frivolous, ridiculous dream then a stable career. Even the idea of “romance” books has this stigma of being raunchy or stupid because it’s “romance,” but to be quite honest, if anyone were to be a romance author these days, they for lack of a better word, SLAP 👏🏼 😂.

I mean, if you can write a 300 page book with characters with just the right tension and the right trope the right backstory, the right side characters, setting, trauma, hardship, love, dialogue that flows well?????? That’s such a feat to be proud of, and gosh knows writing a book and then selling it is a whole other business that is unheard of. It’s wild. I have so much credit for authors in general. One of my dreams is also to be a published author one day, so I researched how to become published . . . and it’s a process. The publishing process truly is by chance and I didn’t realize how much of a business it is. I have been wanting to write publishing blog posts for a long time because the process is so much more complex than I thought, so I should, but then again, I’m no expert. But yea, romance writing is a market and romance books are so popular, how could not be proud of someone who writes a whole world that other people imagine and it becomes their world?

Incredible.

However, I felt for Rosie because was insecure about being a new writer. She had imposter syndrome.

“I just wished I felt confident in theses new shoes I had slipped on. But I didn’t, not right now. Mostly because . . . could someone who had written one single book be considered a writer?”

(pg. 53)

Abs-freaking-lutely.

I read the acknowledgments before starting this book because I have grown to love reading the community it takes to write a book. In the acknowledgments, Elena Armas wrote about how this story felt more personal, which makes sense. TSLD got a lot of hype and blew up because of book-tok and the recent surge of people in the book community. I mean, that’s how I heard of TSLD. And that’s so amazing that there’s more people in the book community than I grew up with, but having a book be so hyped, creates this pressure to live up to that hype in the following books. I would not know how to handle all that pressure because it almost feels like you are writing to the people rather than yourself when writing is a solitary endeavor that starts with writing a book that you need to write.

I think most first books we write are stories we needed to write for ourselves.

I wrote books, and there’s just one that I wrote when I was eighteen that was purely from my heart and for myself. So I know the feeling.

But a second book, I feel like, would be trying to live up to what a first book was, when it’s hard to put so much pressure on what that book can be because you don’t want to fail. That’s a difficult feeling to reconcile with.

” . . . every day that passed without me writing a single word or being able to access whatever had been inside of me for so long, I felt like it was falling. Like I was failing.”

(pg. 54

I felt that 🥺.

“‘ . . That’s probably why it’s so hard for me to talk about it. Because this new thing, this new dream, seems so fragile. Like I’m holding it in my hands, but the feel of it is so . . . new, so unfamiliar, that’ I’m terrified I might drop and shatter it, so I just . . . stand there and look at it in silence.'”

(pg. 54)

When you finally achieve your dream, that dream feels so precious because you don’t want to lose it.

love the way Elena Armas put into words such a common feeling of what your heart speaks when you are on top of your dream, looking down, not sure how to move forward. It’s scary, it’s fragile, like any step you take can break what you have and your dream is gone—slipped right from under you without ever starting it.

The feeling above is how I felt when I started as a teacher this past year. The first semester, I had absolutely felt like an imposter. I was twenty-one-years-old, in charge of seventeen five year olds–a child looking after children. I had no idea what I was doing and how to teach kids so young. I didn’t feel like I belonged there in front of the classroom. But I also felt so much pressure to be this great teacher for my students, and for my school because they hired me. The principal was very selective with hiring someone, and the fact that she hired me made me feel like she saw something in me to hire me. I didn’t want to fail her or let her down. But there were so many voices in my head from people who always told me I couldn’t be a teacher because I was too quiet and shy, and those voices really got to me and made me doubt myself everyday leading up to starting. But when I did start teaching, I realized how much those voices were voices that weren’t mine. I knew what I could do, and I could teach. And I did. But each day, I was terrified that I would suddenly get fired or the rug would be pulled out from under me and it would feel like my dream would be taken away before I ever got a chance to live it.

So that’s why I could highly related to Rosie and Elena in how dreams are so precious because they are born of love.

But dreams are also so worth it when you do give yourself a chance to believe you can do it.

Rosie was having a heavy bout of writer’s block because I feel like all the pressure she put on herself for her sophomore book. Also, she didn’t want to feel like sacrificing her job at InTeach wasn’t worth it to go after her dreams.

Thus, cam Lucas Martín and the experiment breaking down her door 😂.

I liked how the beginning of this book started on an exciting note with the idea of someone breaking into “her” apartment made. Really the “burglar” was Lucas Martín, my man 👏🏼!!!

Rosie was in Lina’s empty apartment because Rosie’s apartment was literally breaking down with the roof concaving in and her looking up at her neighbor’s unmentionable bits through his robe 😂. However, Lina had promised her cousin Lucas the apartment while she was away on her honeymoon with Aaron. Rosie didn’t know that Lucas was coming, so she thought he was a burglar, hence, feeling absolutely apprehensive when she heard a sound coming from the door. We knew about Lucas from TSLD from how Rosie hinted at liking him from her social media stalking. I don’t blame a girl for liking a guy through his social media page because gosh knows we live in the 21st century and liking someone from their social media is not as weird these days 😅. But I did question a lot in the beginning if she liked Lucas because he was attractive or she liked the idea of him. I mean, I find myself liking the idea of someone far too often because, I too, have never been lucky in the dating aspect and so we romanticize any guy that we think is the right one.

So Rosie knew who Lucas was when she heard his voice. I wanted to laugh-cry when she opened the door and saw him lying on his back. She wasn’t nervous that he was a guy she didn’t know, she was terrified because she was a guy she knew far too well and that was awkward considering they never met. I wanted to cringe for her when she said it was nice to finally meet you, insinuating she knew of him and always wanted to meet him. But I loved how he played along and didn’t make Rosie feel awkward and said later that it was nice to finally meet her too 🥺.

Lucas was just sooooooooooo sweet. Like melting your heart on a scorching summer day sweet. Like giving you cavities sweet.

Unbearably sweet.

He was just so kind because he thought Rosie felt uncomfortable around him—the way she tensed up—so he left the apartment and said it was no big deal and that he would find some place to stay. He also said that they could forget this “break-in” ever happened and start over, which I felt was sweet because she really liked him and was probably mortified. So him saying he was going to look past whatever awkwardness that day was so nice of him. He was just so kind to know how she felt even if the nerves weren’t the reason he thought it was.

Also, the fact that he didn’t find a place to stay and slept at a dinner across the street 🥺💙! I was like, awww Lucas. What a nice man.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED having the double perspective. Authors who do double perspectives, are doing something right 👏🏼. Period. I just love being in the mind of the main character and love interests to see what they are feeling and thinking about the situation because often times when I read from the main character’s perspective, it’s not really how other people perceive them or what the situation is about. So it’s so refreshing to have both perspectives because both perspectives is truly double the joy and makes the book so much fun.

Lucas didn’t really sleep at the dinner, but he went to the dinner to find something to eat, but then he realized he lost his wallet, so he had no more money. He had to cancel his card and file for a new one to be shipped from Spain, which sucks, but also like wow that they would send a card so fast. He fell asleep when he was trying to look for a place and Rosie just happened to see him the next day when she was getting her dad’s favorite pastry.

I loved their banter and their little get-to-know-me game 🥺. They were just so incredibly honest with each other, the kind of honesty reserved when comforted by the fact that a person doesn’t really know you. And I loved how wonderful a listener Lucas was when Rosie opened up about quitting InTech and being an author. When listening to someone and being non-judgmental, it truly opens up this well of undeniable trust between that person and the person opening up. Rosie also just needed someone to be honest with because I could tell how much her lies were hurting her.

I freaking LOVED how when Rosie returned from visiting her dad, Lucas was in the apartment and made a whole a** meal 😫💙!!!

Excuse me?????

A meal!

Okay Gordon Ramsay.

I loved how they chatted and ate together, and how cute it was when he said he enjoyed her company because traveling a lot was lonely, so it was nice to have a meal with someone 🥺. I also loved how much deeper their conversation got from that morning and how she felt like an imposter being a new writer, but he just sat there and validated her.

They were also highly similar in what they were going through.

Lucas wasn’t ready to talk about why he was on a three-month trip, the last leg of his trip being three weeks in New York. Lucas was a professional surfer and would travel everywhere to surf. He was supposed to go to Lina and Aaron’s wedding where he would have met Rosie, but he never went. When Rosie said he didn’t go to Lina and Aaron’s wedding, that raised flags for me because obviously something had to have happened for him to not go. I don’t think Lucas would have missed his cousins wedding unless it was something important. And then Lucas had this dream of drowning when he was in the dinner before Rosie woke him up. So in my head, I figured Lucas had a surfing injury where he almost drowned.

What happened was Lucas was in France at the time for a surfing competition and the beach and a spot that was dangerous for its shore break and could hurt your spine or break a bone. Lucas, I guess, rode the wave and he hit the shore break where he broke his knee and injured his right leg, which is why he had a limp in his right leg—a limp he tried very hard to disguise the whole book. The accident happened sometime around Lina’s wedding, but he was in France and couldn’t go anymore because he was injured. As soon as he could walk without a noticeable limp, Lucas stopped physical therapy and left for Spain to his abuela’s house. Afterwards, he went on a “vacation” to get out of the house because deep down he didn’t know what he was doing and that scared him.

The narrative that I got from Lucas was that he thought lowly of himself because of his accident—like he wasn’t strong anymore and was a broken man.

“‘I went under, Rosie. Sunk straight to the bottom.’

‘You didn’t . . . You’re here. Breathing. Whole. Alive.’

Lucas’s features pinched.

‘You lost so much that day, and yet, you’re here.'”

(pg. 293-4)

Lucas calling himself a broken man not only hurt my heart, it hurt my spirit 💔.

He wasn’t a broken man just because he broke his right leg and couldn’t surf the same way again. He was a man who was injured and his whole life changed, but that didn’t mean he was broken.

But his situation did suck.

That sucks to achieve your dream and be successful at it, all for it to be taken away in one moment. That’s heartbreaking. No wonder he said he experienced heartbreak.

I never realized how heartbreak didn’t need to be a person, so much as an experience.

Lucas had a difficult time speaking about his injury to anyone because the pain was as fresh as the limp in right leg. He should have stayed for physical therapy to get better, but I think he was so hurt by losing something important to him that he didn’t see the point of getting better fully if he couldn’t surf anymore. He was lost at what to do with his life now that he couldn’t do what he loved first. That’s so hard. I would feel lost and hopeless.

I loved this moment later in the book when Lucas had a nightmare, and Rosie laid by his side on the couch to be there with him through his nightmare like he had been there for her through many things. I just loved how she wanted to look after him the way he looked after those he loved. Because I do agree that sometimes the people who take care of other so much forget to take care of themselves, that it’s like, who is taking care of them? Who is there for them? So I loved that Rosie showed him she cared by being there.

So in many ways, he was just as scared as Rosie when it came to the future—Rosie with her dream making her nervous and Lucas with his dream lost and not knowing what he was doing anymore.

I loved how after they ate dinner that night, he didn’t really want Rosie to leave because part of him felt like she needed to stay at Lina’s place for a reason. I loved how absolutely repulsed and protective Lucas was of the condition of Rosie’s place when he visited with her later. I freaking laughed was like, “I can see his balls,” but Rosie cut him off before he could mention the balls part. I could not when Lucas got her a cronut the next day because she went off on the landlord and everyone because she really wanted a cronut and she was upset. I LOVED when Lucas just gave her a hug without saying anything or her asking because he could just tell that she needed someone to be there for her when she was falling apart and her apartment was literally crumbling. Lucas was just so sweet in giving her his shoulder to cry on. And the fact that he remembered she wanted a cronut was even better because, again, get you a partner who is a good listener 👏🏼.

I loved how he tricked Rosie into watching TV with him on the couch and he let her pick a show to watch. I laughed when she picked some paranormal drama that I bet looked a lot like Vampire Diaries or something, but Lucas joked about how he was watching his show. I loved how he watched it because Rosie liked the show. Rosie fell asleep during the show, and it was so cute that he carried her to Lina’s bed so she could rest better. What a gentleman 🥺. Like literally, so gentle.

And the way that he treated her—cooked for her, listened, carried her to the bed—-was so kind, so trusting.

“‘You know you’re safe with me, right?’

Oh.

Something in my stomach took a deep dive at the seriousness in his tone. ‘I know,’ I told him. And I meant it. I did know I was safe with him.”

(pg. 59)

And he always promised her to keep her safe.

I mean, how could you not LOVE Lucas 😫💙!!!!

I just LOVED Lucas. He was literally like sunshine in a human being.

Lucas was a good-listener, he was supportive, he could COOK, he was respectful, he kept his word, he loved dogs, and he gave the BEST hugs.

Tell me that’s not a whole a** man 👏🏼🤪!!!!

Lucas Martín is a literal dream.

“I was starting to understand that where Lucas Martín was concerned, chances were, I’d never find anything I didn’t like. And what was much worse, nothing I didn’t love.”

(pg. 84)

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

After that first night where she accidentally stayed, they came to an agreement where they would both stay in Lina’s apartment where she would sleep on the bed and he would sleep on the couch. I kind of had a feeling they would fight over who would sleep where because Rosie would insist on the couch because she was intruding on him, but I loved how he was like, “Don’t fight me on this.”

I loved loved loved Rosie and Lucas as roommates.

“There were about a hundred rules in the Roommate Handbook for Civil and Not Creepy Cohabitation that I might have broken by looking at his crotch.”

(pg. 88)

I would have LOVED to live with Lucas. I mean, he said he would cook meals for them and she said she would buy the groceries, which is a great deal. Free meals? Sign me up. I also loved the overall sense of initial awkwardness of living together when they didn’t really know each other. I FREAKING CRACKED UP when they were getting ready for bed and Lucas wore gray sweatpants because of course 😂. Whenever I hear about gray sweatpants and men, all I can think about is the gray sweatpants ween thanks to Lauren from Wild ‘Til 9 (a podcast). Rosie was definitely checking him out, and I loved how Lucas was such a good sport about Rosie obviously ogling him.

That’s the other thing I liked about Lucas: he was cocky and confident, but in a funny way that didn’t come across arrogant or wrong. I just loved his humor 😂.

“‘Oh yes.’ Rosie nodded her head vigorously. ‘Totally. You could stroll around completely naked and I wouldn’t even bat an eyelid.’

‘Good,’ I answered, letting her think I believed her. I didn’t. She’d be affected. . . ‘I’ll make sure to remember that. Nakedness, okay.’

‘Awesome,’ she croaked. ‘Really great.'”

(pg. 65)

HAHAHAHA.

I bet Rosie was beating herself up in her head for being so dumb as to say she wouldn’t mind if he walked around nude. Like heck, she wouldn’t mind 😂. I just loved how he played along and she just went with it too.

I liked the cute moment when Charo, Lucas’s sister, called and she talked Lucas’s ear off. Then Lucas reintroduced Charo to Rosie, where Charo wanted to catch up with Rosie and talk about how she had been single. Like my gosh, this woman could not not say that in front of the guy she obviously liked 😅. I laughed when Rosie faked hearing a fire alarm and then Lucas got on because he also wanted the call with Charo to end. They were so in-synch together, that their blooming relationship was endearing.

They just had such a nice routine together where Lucas would make dinner and then they would watch their show, which turned out to be the paranormal show. I loved how Lucas was so into the show now, and they had their own little thing they bonded over with the show. I loved that. wish for that with someone 🥺. I also loved how they got to know each other on an intimate level that had no expectations—they could be themselves. Rooming with someone in a relationship I think feels different because you know the person, but you never knew the person so far as to see them every waking moment—how they wake up, what they look like when they wake up, what their routines are, etc. So when moving in with someone, I feel like it can be a jarring, not in a bad way, to realize that there was more to this person’s life than just dating or seeing each other once in a while. Now you’re their for their whole day—their life.

With Rosie and Lucas, there was no pressure or expectation to appear perfect or like you had it all together. They were honest and real, which meant so much more. I loved how Rosie and Lucas fought over the remote when she “hid it.” I loved that he called her Bella Durimente, Sleeping Beauty because she hit her knee on the table getting up when trying to go to bed. But then he said “yeah, not Bella Durimente. You’re a tougher princess” (pg. 87). I also liked that he gave her space to write during the day and went out to sight see. He was so respectful of letting her work even though he wanted her company. I also thought it was SOOOO CUTE when he talked to her before bed because they both couldn’t sleep. I wanted to melt when he asked her “How many words away from your dream are you?” (pg. 89).

******MELTS******

HOW SWEET!?!?!??!?!

Like what? That’s an unreal question!!!

Lucas Martín believed in her dream so much that he was interested in her progress, and supporting her. I loved when he was like, “I’m #TeamRosie.” 😫

Over the course of the book, whenever he got home, it was like he had his own little I Love You Lucy moment with asking Rosie “How many words away from your dream are you?” I could not with this man. He’s just too good. Love love love.

As if I really could not love Lucas further, he had to go and agree to be Rosie’s experimental dater.

No matter how hard Rosie sat at her computer, nothing would come to mind. As someone who has attempted to write manuscripts and who has written a manuscript in complete, it’s freaking hard to sit in front of a computer, drawing inspiration when all you’re staring at is a white screen with a blinking cursor. It’s daunting, especially with the pressure Rosie felt. But I also understood where she came from from having a lack of inspiration. I was on a roll from 2018 where each year I would work on a manuscript or toy with the idea of a new book, but in 2020, I just couldn’t write as freely as I used to. I haven’t been able to sit down and write a book each summer like in 2018 because ever since 2020, I just felt really dry of inspiration and unmotivated to write. Especially in 2020, I wasn’t going out and experiencing things for me to feel inspired about people or memories for me to want to write. There was a time in 2020 where I felt like something was wrong with me like I was losing my passion for writing. But I was really just lost.

Rosie was in the same place where I did feel like she had pressure and a lack of experiences or things in her life that excited her to write. I like to think I’m a writer of experience and feeling—that I draw inspiration from things I do or what I observe because gosh knows I’m an observer. Oh my gosh, I never felt more seen when Rosie was in a coffee shop and she saw this man in a tux and was thinking up all the plots of why he was in a tux. I laughed because that’s exactly what my brain would do whenever I would go out, and it’s still something my brain does, but not as much as I would like it to since becoming an “adult.” But I loved the mention of a writers-brain and imagination.

“A pang of jealousy surged through me. The good kind. The kind of longing that made me wonder if I’d ever find what they had. Ironically, this had been the kind of longing that had pushed me to flirt with the idea of writing all that time ago. To bring to life the kind of love that never seemed to happen for me.”

(pg. 109)

I felt that 🥺💙.

We write stories we wish were real or were things that happened to us. We write stories of people we wish we could be or meet.

There’s also this feeling that not many talk about and how you’re happy for people who are in relationships, but there’s also a part of you that feels sad because you want that kind of love one day. Or at least, that’s how I feel sometimes. Sorry, I love love. Anyway, I loved how Rosie had a conversation with Lina because she needed her best friend to reassure her about making the right choice to write. But also, no one hypes a person up better than a best friend because they know who you are, and they know your fears like the back of their hand. I liked Lina’s idea of getting back out there to get experience in romance she could use as inspiration, but I also agreed with Rosie that using someone for research felt wrong, especially if they didn’t know about it.

You could tell Lucas’s repulsion was just OOZING off of him. He said, you set the bar below low.

“Your bar is so low, Rosie. It drive me insane.”

(pg. 193)

But gosh, what trash she dated 😑. No judgment on Rosie because she couldn’t have known how these people were beforehand. Gosh I know most people meet people on dating apps these days, but I still don’t know about that. I mean, someone cheating on her? I’m sorry, kissing another woman is definitely cheating and using her for screenplay inspiration 😦. JAIL. What is that?!?!?! Literally, dated her and would act like Jekyll and Hyde, stringing her along all so he could better his play. Absolutely awful. I also felt for Rosie that she stayed in these relationships because she had the hope that these people actually loved or cared about her. I don’t fault her for being in these awful relationships, but she truly deserved better than someone cheating on her, suing her, and not treating her like the queen she deserved to be treated like. Honestly, how dare these guys she dated call themselves men. They are jokers.

Lucas offering to pretend to date her for experiment-sake was perfect because first, he was starting to very well like her and I felt like doing this experiment was going to help him know her better. And two, she would also get to go out with Lucas, which had been her dream. the only thing that sucked was how this experiment would blur the lines of being roommates and friends. I knew for sure that they were both going to start feeling like these dates were real and they would fall in love with each other, but that was something they were going to have to navigate when they came to it. Haha, not Lucas literally saying he promised not to fall in love with her when we know exactly that is what he is going to do. You don’t fool me Lucas.

UUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH 😫. The four dates were EVERYTHING and more. Perfection.

Lucas can be a professional date planner because hot damn.

Literally 😂.

I loved every single thing about the dates they went on. I loved the giddy first date, the interested second date, the tense third date, and the win-you-over last date. There was not a bad date that Rosie and Lucas went on.

I mean, Lucas might say differently because his dates ended badly, but his dates be dating 👏🏼!

Even his before dates be dating in how he got her a matching New York hat from the one he sent her a picture of and she said she loved.

The first date was taking Rosie to the record store so she could buy “their” song 🥺💙.

Just writing that sentence made me feel all sort of goose bumps. I mean, where’s that kind of energy in real life 😂.

I loved how Elena Armas captured the nerves of going on a first date even if their date was experimental–the nerves were real.

I loved how they walked around looking for the right song, and how Lucas joked around with her about being very picky. I also loved how they shared embarrassing stories with each other and how Rosie didn’t want their song to be a Coldplay song because she had her first kiss to a Coldplay song. I CACKLED when Lucas’s instant reaction to Rosie saying that was, “What the he** did he do?” (pg. 144) like he just knew the story was awful. My gosh, this boy asked her to the dance and he was so nervous, but he kissed her and threw up all over her. I could not 😳. I felt sorry for the boy, but also that’s an uncomfortable situation to be in. I also laughed the mostest when Lucas told the story about his first time failing to lose his virginity. He was a typical heterosexual boy whose parents weren’t home and he was “doing his thing” 😅 as Lucas put it, and then the abuela came in and basically whooped his a**. I wondered what happened to the girl, Lorena. I would have felt embarrassed for myself if I was Lorena because she was probably naked and caught too. Young love 🤪.

Rosie ended up choosing Dancing Queen by Abba because they were getting kicked out of the records store. I loved loved loved how Lucas bought a record player from some random lady’s basement for Rosie. I loved loved loved when Lucas eased her into dancing with him and how they also sang at the top of their lungs together. Just what a cute and fun moment. Also, I laughed when Lucas thought to himself how Rosie couldn’t sing, but still loved the way she was so free and effervescent when she sang or danced that her hitting wrong keys was more than okay.

I’m just going to keep using the word love because there’s no better word for saying how much I loved how he carried her to the kitchen counter when they heard a rat and she freaked out. I loved when she said, “Please, tell me that’s not a rat!” And Lucas was like, “I can’t tell you that because he would never lie to her.” 😭. Even the simplest things, what a man of honor. But you know what got me? When he took the rat outside and told Rosie, “You’re safe,” because he promised her that she would always be safe with him 😭.

Lucas Martín had no business setting my expectations even higher

I liked how after their first date, their relationship didn’t change, bu there was still a lot of cute banter because they understood each other more. I could not stop smiling and laughing with their texts, especially when Lucas texted her #TeamRosie and xoxo, you know you love me because she joked he was gossip girl. I didn’t get his follow-up message until I read that xoxo text back and I could just hear Kristen Bell’s voice 😂. Great job Elena Armas.

#Iwantwhattheyhave 🤪. For real, though.

The second day was a date idea I would absolutely love to go on and dream of going on—or something similar: he took her to Alessandro’s where they cooked pizza together.

I loved how Lucas gained Alessandro’s trust in such a short time because that said a lot about Lucas’s character. I loved how Lucas set the whole restaurant up with rose petals and tea lights, and how nervous he was to have tea lights because he promised not to burn the place down. I just thought the whole date was so cute because Lucas loved to cook, and he wanted to share that with her. He went in early to prep the dough and everything, and they were going to choose their own toppings. I loved how Lucas loved watching Rosie cook because usually the roles were reversed. I CACKLED when Rosie was checking him out yet again and he’s like, “Nice to know you’re a** woman” (pg. 175) 😂. I could not.

I loved how they had a flirty food fight!!!!

“‘You want me messy or cute, Rosie?’

My belly took a deep dive at the quality of his voice, of his gaze, of his words. I swallowed. ‘Both.’

. . . ‘You can’t have both. Choose. What will inspire you tonight, Rosie’

‘Messy,’ I breathed out.

. . . ‘Then I’ll make a mess of you, too.'”

(pg. 187)

Is that a chokehold or is that just me 🤪?

No DUH, they burned the pizza. I felt awful because Lucas felt awful that he ruined two dates with the rat and then the pizza, which he shouldn’t feel bad because his dates were so thoughtful and fun. I personally wouldn’t have minded any of the mishaps that happened because he couldn’t control that. I loved how Rosie was kind in reassuring him that they could get Japanese food and watch TV, and everything would be alright. I loved how Lucas secretly fell in love with chicken karaage. It just made me sad that he thought he wasn’t good enough for Rosie because of his date failures. Lucas’s was so hard on himself not just in the past two situations, but in general. He just didn’t see what others saw in him—what a gem he was.

“‘You shouldn’t be content with a date that ends up with you scraping an oven clean . . . or standing on top of a counter, terrified. . . You deserve so much better than any of that. Whether it’s an experiment or not, you deserve more.'”

(pg. 193)

Before going to bed that night, Rosie said she wished she met Lucas at Lina and Aaron’s wedding because of how good a man he was to her—that if they met sooner they could have shared something already in that time.

In between the second and third date, Lina and Aaron came back.

I liked how much Lina and Aaron were interwoven in this book, but Lina was low-key more unhinged when she saw that Rosie and Lucas were together in her apartment. I mean, she kind of had good reason when she felt like her best friend was sleeping with her favorite cousin without her knowing. Lucas also came out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel while Rosie looked like she just rolled out of bed, soooo 🙈. It looked exactly how Lina assumed.

I just didn’t like how Lina yelled at Rosie and warned her off of Lucas as if Lucas was the bad guy. Just because Lucas tried to sleep with someone when he was younger and gave off this debonair attitude, didn’t mean that he was a player or awful. I wish people saw Lucas in a better light than assume he would break hearts. I understood Lina’s protective nature over Lucas though because he was her favorite cousin and she didn’t want to beat him up if he broke Rosie’s heart. But she should have been thinking how cool it would be if things with Rosie and Lucas did work out. She could literally call Rosie family at that point.

I freaking LOVE Aaron and how he knew what was up with Lucas 😂. I thought Aaron would have been more male-protector role because Lina was angry and he knew Rosie, but his freaking knowing grin at Lucas was hilarious. Aarons’ been there, pinned for that.

You know, I thought the book couldn’t get better after the music date and the cooking date?

I was WRONG.

A masquerade ball?!?!?!?!??!?!

Let’s go 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼!!!

Sign me up. Sign me up for these dates!

Lina and Aaron invited Rosie and Lucas as “friends” to the masquerade ball or auction event thing from TSLD. I FREAKING LOVED that they were going to a ball together. I loved how they had matching vampire costumes inspired by the show they watch together. I could not when Lucas showed up with a corsage for Rosie because he remembered that her prom date didn’t get her one.

We love a territorial Lucas. He was by Rosie’s side all night, trying to seep his eyes above the horizon if you know what I mean 😉. Hahaha. But my GOSH, Elena Armas really had to go and make this ball STEAMY and SPICY.

“It made me want to dip my head and place my nose at her neck. Take a good, honest whiff, as if I were nothing more than an animal. Like the unsophisticated man I was.”

(pg. 228)

I’m sorry, what???? Repeat it louder for the people in the back. An UNSOPHISTICATED MAN 👏🏼.

When that dude spilled his drink on Rosie’s dress, all propriety went out the window.

Lucas followed Rosie into the bathroom to help her dry off, and Rose knew EXACTLY what she was saying when she kept repeating, “I’m so wet.” Absolute jail 😂. Yea, because how else was a man who was interested in her supposed to react when she kept saying she was wet. We know she meant the dress, but Lucas was probably imaging something else. I love the zipper trope and you cannot say you don’t enjoy it as well. It’s the shaking and fragile fingers for me.

Okay, Lucas. He said, I am no longer serving Edward Cullen because my Jacob is coming out tonight because I am letting the animal come out. I freaking laughed when there was a line about how Lucas wanted to howl at the moon 😂. In all seriousness, I liked how we have seen Lucas be nothing but the proper gentleman and of the utmost sophistication and respect around Rosie, but there were moments that made him question his gentlemen-ness because he wanted more with her.

I really wanted Lucas to not be noble when he was in the bathroom stall with Rosie. Sorry, not sorry. I felt heart-wrenched for Rosie when Lucas closed his eyes and she thought he didn’t want to look at her because he wouldn’t like what he saw. That’s not why he’s closing his eyes sis. But when she said she needed him to look at her, I was like, “Lucas.” He needed to open his eyes, not in a perverted way, but so she knew that he liked her. I mean, I respected he even shut his eyes in the first place and turned his back.

I WANTED TO SCREAM when Lina walked into the bathroom just when things were getting good 😫.

Seriously.

And not Lina joking if Lucas was hiding with her in the stall. Little did she know.

I was more surprised that they acted like nothing changed when they were literally going at it in that stall. I would have liked for things to feel awkward even, welcomed the awkwardness. Just something to show that what happened was real or effected them. I knew Lucas was jealous the minute he saw Rosie talking to Adrian, said guy in the suit I mentioned earlier. Adrian was the contractor for her apartment and told her that her apartment was ready to be moved in on Friday. A big part of me revolted at the idea of Rosie not being with Lucas—not being roommates. I didn’t want her to move out because that meant their time together was coming to an end.

The reason Lucas was jealous was because Adrian was wearing a suit and it looked like Rosie was flirting with him. My lips did a whimper pout at how Lucas looked down at himself probably thinking “man, I don’t have a suit to impress her.” 🥺 However, Rosie kindly turning Adrian down to spend time with Lucas who had bought them dinner and was excited to share something with her. I mean, I loved how a nice guy was interested in her because she struck up conversation, but she has something more with Lucas, something that made her heart beat a little bit faster—-like falling in love.

“And I. . . I wasn’t okay.”

(pg. 263)

MY MOOD the ENTIRE book.

The last date near about RUINED ALL MY HOPE IN REAL MEN 😂😭.

I mean, WHAT. A. DREAM.

First of all, I loved when he spoke Spanish to her, too. I loved how he really amped up speaking Spanish to Rosie because he realized the effect it had on her. And don’t even get me started on how he called her ángel. If your partner doesn’t call you àngel or angel, do not accept less!

Second, can we just have moment for the effort Lucas and Aaron went through to set up Rosie and Lucas’s last date 😫💙!!

I mean, c’mon! Lucas planned a rooftop night date where there were string lights—because nothing says romance more than muted lights—a screen, a blanket, cake, and a whole GARDEN.

Sobs are about to ensue with how Rosie’s dad always

“Remember to pick the boy that will plant a garden for you instead of just getting you the flowers, Bean.”

(pg. 268)

This reminded me of the Inej Ghafa quote about how a man who really knows. your heart will know your favorite flower. Rosie’s dad really said don’t settle for the flower, he should plant you the whole a** garden 👏🏼! in many ways, I liked that the dad was reminding Rosie to not settle for someone who would just give you one beautiful thing that could be easily picked or bought. But someone who truly loves you, will go through the effort to plant something for you—make something with you.

So when Lucas took her to a rooftop garden, the moment was just perfect 💙.

But what really had me in a chokehold 😅 was how he said that he was trying to recreate Lina and Aaron’s wedding because Rosie always said how she wished she met him at their wedding, so he was giving them a do over 😭😭.

My brain just couldn’t fathom how thoughtful one person could be.

I kept thinking about back when they first met and how he said let’s start over, and now on their last date, they were starting over back to the very beginning, which seemed fitting.

Lucas made the exact strawberry cake that was at Lina and Aaron’s wedding, he had the music that played at their wedding, and he had a whole a** slideshow of pictures from their wedding to imitate the scene. You cannot tell me this dude was being fake. At all. Nope. I loved how Aaron went behind Lina’s back to help Lucas with putting up the string lights and getting the video together; Aaron did it for love 😅.

They were just so cute, making up this scenario of what would have happened if they met that day, and how much they would have flirted. I wanted to cry when Rosie thought Lucas didn’t want her, but he really did, he just didn’t believe he deserved her.

“‘If you want anything from me, you only have to ask.” Lucas’s forehead came to rest against mine, his breath no leaving him shakily. ‘Don’t you see that I’ll break my back to provide anything you could possibly need? Have I not made myself more obvious?'”

(pg. 275)

I loved when they started dancing together, but GOSH Elara Armas really said let’s make the audience absolutely lose it and she made them kiss in the rain 😭!!!!!!!!!! Honestly, at this point, I would have been disappointed if they didn’t do something as iconic as kiss in the rain 😂. I loved loved loved the kissing in the rain, which truly became a freaking storm, which I was starting to think they needed to get the heck out of there. But also, I wanted them to keep kissing on the roof and have their moment.

Of course, when they started to really kiss, they had to be interrupted by a freaking phone call!

Low-key upset.

Rosie’s brother called, saying that he needed her and was ready to come home. That’s was an important phone call to answer, so understandably she and Lucas left to go to the brother.

Rosie’s family situation was complex in the way that the brother was hiding something because he barely wanted to go home and communicate with his family. The brother not talking to the dad and Rosie, made them feel awful like they did something wrong to push him away. There was one moment where Rosie saw Olly outside of a club and he had a black eye and everything. I mean, if I was Olly’s sister I would feel terribly concerned because being beaten isn’t healthy, and that situation didn’t look healthy or safe. I would have also felt terrible because I was his sister and should protect him or should do something. But she didn’t know what to do when she didn’t know what Olly was doing.

You know, there were soooo many favorite parts of this book, but my hands down favorite part that really got to me—glittered every heartstring–was when Lucas asked Rosie if she needed a hug 🥺💙.

“‘Hey, Rosie?’

I sighed. ‘Yeah?’

He looked at me with something that was a lot like that intestinally from our experimental date, but different. Fiercer. Softer. ‘Do you want a hug?’ he offered.”

(pg. 171)

Rosie came home after seeing Olly all beaten up, and she felt helpless about what to do. She was ready to break down, but she also felt sucky because she had cried so many times in front of Lucas that she didn’t want to ask for a hug or need a hug because she didn’t want to take more from him or seem needy. So Rosie said she didn’t need a hug when obviously everything about her body language was saying she absolutely did.

But there was just something so precious about him reading her to know that she wasn’t okay and needed to be comforted. I can’t even describe the amount of times where I broke down and all I wanted was someone to see me and give me a hug or a shoulder to cry on, so I felt like I wasn’t alone or like my heart was breaking by itself. If only I had a Lucas or someone like him who saw something so sad in me to offer something that could be so light.

The most beautiful part of this scene that makes it my favorite was how he knew that she needed hug even if she said no because he knew she felt embarrassed form breaking down so much. So he said:

“‘Do you think you can give me me, though? Maybe I’m the one who needs it.'”

(pg. 171)

Lucas didn’t need a hug, he just wanted to give her a reason to hug him so it would feel like she was helping him—giving him something—rather than her feeling bad about needing to be comforted again; Lucas wanted Rosie to think she was giving a hug for him, when really the hug was still for her.

I mean, 😭. That’s it. Just tears.

And Lucas gave valid, but not real real reasons about why he needed a hug like he missed Taco his dog or he had a hard day. When they did hug, I could just feel the strength and love encompassing Rosie in that moment and how much Lucas wanted her to feel safe and feel better. I could just imagine how good of a hugger Lucas was. His hugs could cure wars. When he said that he felt better now, I tearing up! He felt better because he made her feel better and she felt better because he gave her a hug when she needed it.

The power of a hug. I need a good hug after reading this book.

If I’m being quite honest, I thought the brother side-plot was a bit underdeveloped or wasn’t as fleshed out as I would have liked it to be if we were going to include such a plot. I just felt like there was this mystery of why the brother was awol, and then when we found out why he was awol, I had more questions than I did answers.

From the get-go, I guessed either Olly was a stripper or a drag queen because he worked as a dancer in a club, making good money. I was leaning towards wanting Olly to be a drag queen because I felt like that plot line would have ben so interesting and meaningful to develop in the sense that he would feel ashamed or embarrassed to tell his family that he was doing drag. I would just like to say that there is absolutely nothing, NOTHING wrong with doing drag, but in the story, I felt like Olly wasn’t confident about sharing what he was doing, so that’s why I would assume if he was a drag queen, he would have felt that way about telling his family. Because it’s terrifying to open up to your family when they know you as one way when that’s not who you feel on the inside or who you want to be. Olly being a drag queen would have also been such a powerful moment between Rosie, the dad, and Olly if Olly was a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and he wanted to come out to his family.

Olly was a stripper though, which there is nothing wrong with that. But I still am kind of confused why he was stripping when he was in college. I mean, broke college student is real, but I don’t think for a second his dad wouldn’t have supported him if he needed it. Rosie would have also helped Olly if he needed it, but he never let them in. Apparently, he was caught up in some girl trouble where someone named Lexie wasn’t safe, so he was a stripper for some dude named Jimmy who owned a club-bar-thing. I still don’t get what kind of trouble Lexie was in or what Olly did exactly to help her get out of trouble. Like how did he know for sure Lexie still wasn’t in trouble? How did Olly know Jimmy wouldn’t go after him again when Olly left? I don’t know. I just didn’t think the whole secret stripper thing made sense.

But I was peezed 👏🏼.

When Jimmy kicked Lucas in his right leg, I wanted to FIGHT. Someone give me a purse so I can swing it like Rosie 😂. Gosh, I loved how Rosie was ready to swing her purse at Jimmy because he kicked her mans. I loved though how Lucas didn’t fight back when Jimmy was obviously goading him for a fight, but Lucas said he was a man of his word and told Rosie he wouldn’t engage, and I loved that. I love a man of his word. I also loved how he wouldn’t have let Rosie go into the club alone or even go behind the curtain by herself because they were a team. I loved that they were a team now.

I have a bone to pick with Elena Armas 🤪.

First, it was Lina walking in when Rosie and Lucas were about to on. Second, it was the phone call from Olly that ruined their steamy rooftop kissing-in-the-storm moment. Third, it was Olly literally being on the couch so they couldn’t do anything 😂. She was doing them dirty. Honestly, the opposite dirty; Elena Armas said PG-13.

Not that Olly on the couch really stopped them from trying anything. Haha, I was literally for them in all their lavender haze glory, but also I could only imagine if I was Olly on that couch, how GROSSED out I would have felt if I heard my older sister and her “boyfriend” canoodling five feet away.

Also, not the steamy shower scene. I have no words for what went down in that shower 🙈. I legit thought that Lina was the one who walked into the apartment when Rosie was with Olly talking to the dad. I was going to say how mortifying I would have felt if I was Lucas and Lina walked in. But thank goodness Lina was’t there. I would like to say though, I would have loved to know what happened when Rosie brought Olly back home and they had a family conversation. I felt like that would have been such a pivotal chapter to bring family healing, but it almost felt like the Rosie and Olly going home chapter was missing—like a chunk of the story wasn’t there.

After all the dates and drama, Rosie was moving out of Lina’s apartment because her apartment was mixed and Lucas was going home soon. The experiment was pretty much over because Rosie was writing again. I was really sad to see Rosie leave the apartment because it almost felt like her apartment wasn’t hers anymore because of how much love and life Lucas and Rosie breathed in Lina’s apartment. Rosie was texting Lucas on one of her nights back at her apartment, and she said that she wanted him back in a joking way, but not really. All I could think of after that text was how Lucas said that he would do anything for Rosie if she just asked, and sis just asked for him back. When he showed up at Rosie’s door in the middle of the freaking night because she said he wanted him back . . . a man of his word 👏🏼!!!

They finally had a intimate moment together away from phones and bathroom stall walk-ins, and it was every bit of spicy as well as worked up to in this whole book. I laughed when Rosie was like, “Oh, gosh,” and Lucas was like, “Not gosh, Lucas,” because he wanted Rosie to say his name in that moment. I liked the morning after and how Rosie found Lucas dancing in her kitchen, cooking them breakfast. I mean, what a homey and cute moment. I cackled when Lucas saw Rosie in his hoodie and he was like, “you know what? how about you keep all my hoodies, t-shirts, pants, too” (pg. 340) 😂. We love his selflessness. Joking.

The ending really had me upset, frustrated, and hurt (for both of them, mainly Rosie if I’m being honest).

Lucas was going to leave New York soon, and it made sense how Rosie didn’t want to say goodbye to him because goodbye felt like forever—like they were never going to see each other again. I truly thought it was the wrong move when Lucas did leave without saying goodbye to Rosie. I mean, not saying goodbye was what they talked about and it was probably easier. But really? Leaving in the middle of the night without saying anything was cowardly. Sorry Lucas. He should have at least gave Rosie a goodbye in her apartment even if it pained him to face her. At least, then he would have had said his piece or whatever to him before he wrongfully left. I still didn’t understand why he was going when there was nothing in Spain that was keeping him there. He still needed to extend his visa to stay in America if he wanted, but he was running away again because he didn’t want to fully process his injury to move forward.

And that meant leaving the best thing that happened to him. Honestly, I was shouting what a loser for him to give up on someone he loves because he thought he was not enough when he was. I knew he was going to regret his decision.

You often regret the love you did not follow if your heart rang true.

When Rosie ran through the airport, I wanted to applaud for Elena Armas for giving us such a tropey airport moment, but also for Rosie who took a chance at being the protagonist of her own story. Her whole monologue came from the heart, and I was incredibly proud of her for speaking how she felt, even confessing to having stalked him online. But she waned to be with him, and bro needed some brain cells if he didn’t realize that she didn’t run through that freaking airport just because she wanted him to stay—Rosie loved him. No one would ever go through that much effort or be so vulnerable if it weren’t for love.

But all Lucas had was shame for himself, and when he didn’t respond to Rosie, I wanted to SCREECH. IDIOT. You lost her. That tiny step away from him must have felt like the ocean that was going to separate them.

I would have shattered on the ground if someone I love and laid my heart bare to didn’t seem to return that fervor. I could just feel both of their hearts breaking and Lucas was breaking it. He broke her heart, he deserved to feel guilty 😢. When that single tear fell . . . I was done. I was not okay. How dare he.

I mean, I still loved Lucas, but gosh, what an idiot.

I wanted to give Rosie the most comforting hug ever after that day in the airport. I loved the feel of raw heartbreak in how our usually sunshiney Rosie felt blocked by omnipresent storm clouds. I loved how she went to her dad’s house because she knew that what she felt with Lucas was true heartbreak and she needed the comfort of home and someone who had always protected her. I bet the dad wanted to break Lucas’s face for breaking his daughter’s heart so badly. I loved the moment when Lina came to comfort Rosie because she wasn’t Lucas’s cousin in that moment, she was Rosie’s best friend. Lina kind of knew the heartbreak was coming, just not the severity of what Rosie would feel. I liked how gentle Lina was with Rosie and didn’t tell her I-told-you-so or make her feel more awful. Lina tried to understand the very real love she saw between Rosie and Lucas, but I also felt like Lina was trying to understand what went so wrong when Lucas left if Lucas loved Rosie as much as she and Aaron knew. Honestly, if there was anyone who I felt could get through to Lucas’s idiot actions and thoughts, it was Lina and his abuela.

Not Lina literally blowing up his phone, and then texting him about a serious emergency. I mean, a woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do.

I respected how Lina respected Rosie’s privacy in the heartache and that Lina was more loyal to her best friend. When Lina told Lucas that Rosie ran to the airport out of love, again, I was like, WHAT AN IDIOT. How did he not know she loved him? I think he had to know but was denying it because he thought he didn’t deserve her love because he wasn’t the man he could be for her. But when Lina told him that Rosie’s new book was basically a love letter to him . . . 😭. I knew Rosie’s new book had to draw inspiration from Lucas and how he made her feel, but man, if she’s writing a love story based on you, she obviously LOVES you. And he broke her heart 🙃. I wished we got to see some of Rosie’s writing to see the parallels between her characters and her romance with Lucas. I think that would have been sweet. Imagine in the grand gesture that Lucas recited a line that the love interest in her book said. That would have been a beautiful moment.

I was more surprised it took Lucas soooooo long to get it together to finally make it up to Rosie!!! Dude really waited until New Years Eve to make his grand gesture move. Okay, but I understood that he needed to figure out what he wanted to do and he needed time to better himself before going to Rosie to hopefully grovel to take him back. But it broke my heart how Rosie wasn’t even in the holiday spirit because he heart was so shattered and scattered to the wind 😢. I know what it’s like to lose some holiday cheer, and it sucks. Also, it sucks when you feel like everyone around you is happy and then you’re miserable because you’re going through something hard.

“And that took time to . . . deal with, to learn how to live with the notion of missing a future I’d barely had any time to imagine. To learn how to live missing him.

Because I missed Lucas.

I missed being in love with the idea of love, too.”

(pg. 368)

When Aaron and Lina couldn’t stop smiling like stupid idiots during New Years Eve, I was like they are up to something. La duh. Either that or they were entirely too drunk. But when Lina told Rosie to make a wish because it might come true, Rosie started to count down and Lucas was right in front of her and told her to open her eyes. I SCREAMED!!!

What a great way to do a grand gesture—like she was wishing on a shooting star that the person she loved would be there just like something in a movie or book, and her wish did come true. I loved loved how he was just there. Took him long enough 🤪.I really liked how the ending didn’t feel rushed with the conversation Lucas needed to have with Rosie about his insecurities and how he needed to be the man she deserved. He was going back to physical therapy and he was also going to go to culinary school to work on his second passion of becoming a chef 😭. I loved that! I knew he just had to be a chef after his passion for cooking and when he met the neighbors who owned a fusion restaurant. I loved loved loved when Rosie and Lucas’s song came on at the end because what a full circle moment that was so meaningful for what they developed in their time together.

The epilogue wasn’t as wholesome as I would have liked, but Lucas surprising Rosie with his early flight home was very cute. They were trying to do long distance because he was in culinary school and she was writing back home. I would have liked maybe a cheesy proposal scene where we got to see Aaron and Lina and how they were doing now. Or maybe Lucas at Rosie’s book launch for her second book and him being the ultimate hype man and then he proposed 😂. Or maybe the epilogue could have been way in the future where Rosie had another book released and to celebrate, we were in Lucas’s restaurant or at the neighbor’s fancy restaurant where Lucas was the chef and they were having a celebration with everyone. There could have been Dancing Queen in the background, tea lights, and strawberry cake. I thought something like that would have been more cute than just seeing them see each other after being long distance.

Obviously, based on this too long review, I loved The American Roommate Experiment with all my heart because the book had so much heart, levity, and love 💙. There really wasn’t a page that didn’t make me smile, laugh, or tear up with angst or frustration. I do wonder what Lucas’s future looks like and what he will do with his culinary degree. I also wanted to know more about Rosie’s career and how she felt about writing—if she would always feel like an imposter in her craft. Overall, a definite read that I will always keep in my heart.

And also, where is my American Roommate Experiment 💙????????? Lucas Martín can break down my door any day 😂.

What was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part? What did you think of the book? 

What’s an embarrassing or sweet roommate experience you had?

Honestly, I haven’t had many roommates, but when I was in college I had a roommate and she was quite nice. I guess, it was awkward when her friends sat on my bed when I wasn’t there and got it all dirty—literal dirt, not the dirty–, and I’m not a confrontational person, but I told her they dirtied by sheets and she said sorry. Awkward.

Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.

And as always, with love,

Rating

5 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: I love Rosie’s passion and reltability of the fear of carrying a dream so precious. Also, I LOVED Lucas Martín 💗 Literally a perfect man, and now I’m raising my standards 🤪.

Plot: Everything you would want in a fun, light-hearted rom-com that will leave you laughing and crying with so many incredibly sweet moments that you will be wishing were real

Writing: I liked TARE much more than I did TSLD with the tighter writing and plot. Also, I LIVED for all the cheesy tropey moments—they will never get old

Romance: *sigh* Lucas Martín, that is all 🥺