Roomies | New Adult Pre-University Contemporary Story

Roomies
Tara Altebrando & Sara Zarr
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Age Group: New Adult (Mild Adult Content)
Publication Date: 24th December 2013
Number of Pages: 288
Source: Netgalley

Add to your TBR shelf:

It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful e-mail that assigns your college roommate.

Roomies is a story following the lives of two soon-to-be University freshman roommates and the email correspondences they share between each other before ‘moving in’ day. Both girls are given details of the other from their University Boarding office and soon strike up a chatty, share-all-the-gory details email relationship which allows both girls to share their inner most thoughts with someone new and unconnected. Both Lauren and EB (Elizabeth) lives couldn’t be more different however the events that both goes through during the summer are very similar and it’s through these similar situations that they bond.

The characters in this book are both hit and miss in my opinion. I loved Lauren’s character and her family in general where as I found EB to be far too dramatic and over sensitive about everything – yes, the girl did have some major sucky situations unfold during the summer but she always seemed rash in her decisions and lashed out at innocent people. Although I didn’t really like EB’s chapters, I did enjoy the book overall and I certainly really liked EB’s thoughts about ‘What Would Keyon’s Dad Do or Think’ – Keyon’s Dad was also another character I really liked.

I devoured this book in two sittings which is rare for me, I think the fact that the writing style was quite chatty rather than description helped me race through this book. I also really enjoyed the email aspects of the story too and the fact that they weren’t just emails inserted, they actually included the characters thought process when writing the email too. This really helped build my perspective of both characters really quickly as well as ongoing throughout the book. It even hurt a little bit as the book ends abruptly when the two girls meet in their door room on ‘moving in’ day – I knew it was going to happen that way from the synopsis but I was so involved with the story by then that I wanted to know more. Oh the pain!

This book is an incredible read for any future, present or past students, during this whole book I was constantly thinking back to my experiences before starting University and my facebook messages back and forth with my soon-to-be flat mates. A lovely quick read with a fast pace.