The American Roommate Experiment

The Spanish Love Deception wasn't my favorite book, I found it a little bit too overhyped and I didn't understand why everyone loved it so much. But I decided to give The American Roommate Experiment a chance and I absolutely loved it, I devoured this book, I couldn't put it down. I fell in love with Lucas and Rosie and their fun relationship that went from friends to lovers.

The chemistry was not what I had hoped for. Rosie seemed to have less personality than Lina, meaning she was boring, very dull and all the other synonyms for bore. I liked Lucas, sorry, loved Lucas but maybe that had a lot to do with fictional men written by women thing because he was too perfect. It seemed like he could do no wrong.

However, the storyline, the plotline, the climax, all of that was bland. I'm glad that Elena Armas didn't have a major plot twist that would have given me anxiety or had my stomach twisting into knots, but I mean, the trope was kind of...eh. Friends to lovers is my second favorite trope (people you meet on vacation by emily henry is my favorite romance book) but even though it got better at the far end, the beginning was just cringeworthy, the dialogues the characters used were bland, there was awkwardness rather than meet cute stuff and even if that was the purpose, I felt no sparks between them. Especially when I read from Rosie's POV, as soon as I started Lucas' then I'd notice, oh it's happening.

The first book was a lot more fun to read and get through. The trip to Spain was probably the highlight of it but still, Aaron and Lina had more chemistry and connection than these two.

PS. Is it just me or Lina didn't sound much like herself? Maybe it's because I read her book a year ago and forgotten what she's like.

Elena Armas might be my favorite romance author. Her male characters are just so good. I squee at the most minor interactions between the characters, let alone the spice. The characters are vulnerable and self-aware without being self-hating sad sacks. There are multiple swoony moments and hijinks that kept me flipping through at a rapid pace. I loved Rosie and Lucas. Lately, I feel like it's rare that I absolutely love both the fmc and mmc in a romance. I didn't have any faults with them. I did feel like Olly's story wasn't fleshed out well at the end. Did the club owner just let him go? What happened to the girl he was doing it for? Other than that, I loved every aspect of this book.

I'm never quite sure if I enjoy Elena Armas books or not, and I'm actually more inclined to think they are not for me. There's something about her writing style that annoys me a bit. Additionally, I have a feeling while reading that the story is dragging on and feel a strong impulse to start skimming through the bookThis book follows the story of Rosie, Lina's best friend, and her crush Lucas (Lina's cousin). Both Rosie and Lucas are facing some struggles in their personal lives and search for comfort on each other's company. What I liked about the story:- Lucas is a cinnamon role and he's probably a better book boyfriend than Aaron (ignoring the last chapters). The dual POV helped as contributed to build some personality on this character.- The dates were really nice. Obviously, they could only have been planned by a man written by a woman. I also enjoyed the domestic scenes with Lucas cooking, and some of them might be better than the dates.- Both characters support and help each other and I liked to read about their friendship growing.What I think it could have been done better:- I've felt that Rosie, as Lina, think her happiness in life is strongly correlated with being in a romantic relationship. I prefer to read about female characters that can stand on their own. Additionally, I hate to read about characters who only had awful dating experiences, it just doesn't feel real to me, and I refuse to believe this may happen.- Their personal thoughts and internal dialogues were extensive and repetitive which made me loose interest in the book.- The book had too many tropes. It could have been just roommates and forced proximity, there was no need to add fake dating (again) to the equation.- There is slow burn and there is this. Rosie had a crush for Lucas and he was obviously attracted to her from the beginning... there was no justification for such a slow execution.- Romances have cringe moments, it's part of it and I usually don't mind. Here, however, there were just too many of those moments for me.- I did not particularly like the end. I understand Lucas was suffering as well but that is no excuse for the way he treated Rosie. I did not like his attitude at the end of the book and if I were Rosie, I'll probably had started dating Aiden.- The book had a LOT of drama and not all of it added value to the story. I would have taken every piece of Ollie story out of the book. This also happen on TSLD, with the unnecessary cancer bit in the end of the book, which makes me wonder if Elena, as Rosie, is too much worried about her word count.This is a book that will appeal to all [b:The Spanish Love Deception 54189398 The Spanish Love Deception (Spanish Love Deception, #1) Elena Armas https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1610900883l/54189398.SY75.jpg 84555384] fans.P.S - I might decrease the rating after digesting the book a bit more.