Review: Broadway-inspired ROOMIES by Best-Selling Author Duo Christina Lauren now available!
By: Bonnie Lynn Wagner Dec. 21, 2017
If you eat, live, and breathe musicals, you're going to want to pick up ROOMIES by Christina Lauren. The newest novel from the New York Times Best Selling Author Duo Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings is set in the heart of New York City.
Readers follow Holland Bakker, whose Uncle Robert composed what has now become the biggest musical on Broadway, It Possessed Him. (Think of how crazed fans are for everything Hamilton and you have how popular this show is in the world of ROOMIES!) Her uncle got her a job as the show's official Archivist, and she also sells merchandise before and after the performances. Thanks to her uncle, Holland is able to scrape by a living in the glittering city of New York.
She's not a performer herself, but has a great ear for talent. She's obsessed with listening to a guitarist named Calvin McLoughlin busk at the subway station near her house, and when a leading position becomes available in It Possessed Him, Holland and Robert want him for the role. The only problem? Calvin's student visa is long expired and he's no longer in the United States legally. To get him the job, Holland decides to marry the Irishman she has a hidden crush on, never dreaming of the twists and turns her decision will take her.
ROOMIES definitely plays on the "romance of convenience" trope in Christina Lauren's latest entry into women's lit. The romance is a slow-burn and will have readers rooting for Holly and Calvin to get together for real and stop pretending. The great thing about slow burns is that readers often want to bash the characters over the head to "stop being stupid" and just "admit your feelings already!" Because when they don't, misunderstandings always ensue, which leads to drama, drama, drama. Yet we can't get enough! Christina Lauren has a great balance of slow-burn that makes you see the way the couple will be great together, even though they don't know it yet. Their situation is crazy and shouldn't work, yet they make a great team and you can't help but hope they'll get together and be happy.
Setting the book in New York City and centering it around Broadway was also a great decision. The show It Possessed Him became a part of the story itself, even though readers never know what the show is about. (But YOU will if you check out this amazing BroadwayWorld feature where the duo tell you what inspired the show! [Seriously. After reading this, I wanted the show to actually exist; or a historical fiction novel about it! Maybe a new direction for Christina Lauren in the future...!? ;-) ]) I adore books that take place on the stage and live vicariously through them, since I'm not a performer myself. ROOMIES fulfills the wish fulfillment I covet and makes me feel like I'm there with Holland and falling in love with It Possessed Him myself. When you leave a book wishing you could score tickets to the show everyone is raving about, even though it's completely unobtainable or even, you know, real, you know the world was built well!
ROOMIES is out now and makes a great holiday gift if you're looking for one more thing to add to someone's stocking--or even if you're finished shopping and ready to treat yourself!
Reader Reviews
Videos