Review of Roomies by Tara Altebrando and Sara Zarr
Roomies by Tara Altebrando and Sara Zarr
Source: Thanks to Little, Brown for approving me for an e-ARC on Netgalley.
Plot Summary for Roomies by Tara Altebrando and Sara Zarr:
Review of Roomies by Tara Altebrando and Sara Zarr
I love YA books that take place the summer before college. It’s such a momentous summer, a time when you’re saying goodbye to your old life and embarking upon a new adventure. A time when you’re poised awkwardly between childhood and adulthood. A time when you are about to be forced to share a teeny-tiny room with a complete and total stranger.
I’m not a huge fan of stories told in letters, emails, poems, texts, and such. Luckily for me, Roomies was told through both emails and prose, as the girls correspond and also take turns narrating in first person. Roomies is also a collaboration by two YA authors.
Roomies did a great job of balancing the girls’ online correspondence with what was going on in their real lives. Both E. B and Lauren are embarking on new romantic relationships in real life, and each is trying to figure out if that new relationship is just a summer fling or something with more long-term potential. All the respective parents (except the dad of Lauren’s crush) are pretty awful, which creates additional problems for the girls. One parent-related plot twist struck me as improbable, but there was another that I loved because it nicely encapsulated some of the sticky situations that can arise when virtual friendship extends into the real world.
I really enjoyed Roomies. It’s contemporary YA that’s fun to read but also that manages to touch on a lot of interesting questions about communication and friendship — both real and virtual.
And check out my list of other YA books that take place during the summer before college.
Darn I thought it was going to be told completely through emails and that made me super excited. Still I can handle a balance between the two types (that's how Rainbow Rowell's Attachments is told.) I'm so bummed that my copy was archived before I could download it 🙁
Ha — you and your epistolary fixation. I was happy with the balance. Hope you get to read it soon!
I didn't get this one. I think I went to download it the same day the announcement came out, but they were already all taken. Great review. My only issue might be the awful parents on both sides. Sometimes it bothers me when this is so consistent in YA. I don't think – at least I would hope not – that in real life most parents are so dramatically terrible. One parent or set of parents maybe, but both or all of them all the time? It's just too much for me sometimes. I'll have to check this one out sometime, though, since I do love this stage in life too.
I was happy there was one excellent parent, and the rest ranged from rude and self-centered to downright horrendous. But don't let that stop you — it's a fun premise and a fun story!
This sounds really good. I like the idea of it having to two types of writing styles in the book. This is my first time hearing about this book, but I'm definitely curious about it now! Great review 🙂
Janina @ Synchronized Reading
Let me know what you think!!
I was offered this one for review and I adore the premise/cover but needed to catch up on other books first. I might give it a shot though.
Yes — I think you'd like it. It has some similarities to Fangirl. Without the Fanfic.
I was wondering about when you said at the beginning you thought you knew which author had written which girls part but then in the end you were not as sure. Why? What changed? Did they lose their distinctive voices during the course of the book?
I know you were really excited for this one, so I'm glad you enjoyed it. E-mail me the improbable parent thing and the cool real world/virtual parent thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm glad to hear there was a good balance between the emails and their real life. I tend to skim email sections in books so I was worried about that here. 🙂
I usually read books in text/email form much faster. This sounds good.
I just heard about this one on another blog…and then read your review! I'm sold. For me, being in Australia, that whole concept of "summer before college" is totally foreign. But it's fun to read about anyway. I think I'd have trouble reading this as an e-book, if it's told in mixture of emails and prose. Might wait until I can get a physical copy. Great review! (As always!!)
I haven't gotten to this one yet, but I've heard it's not the fluffy little contemp I was expecting. I do appreciate the fact that it's a cross between an epistolary novel and standard prose…that should be fun.