beat the backlist | A Library of Sorts

Hi everyone! I can’t believe it’s already March. Two months have already flown by, and I’m still not sure about all my goals I want to accomplish this year.

Anywho, here’s a recap of the books I read the last two months!

January

Roomies by Christina Lauren
Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer
Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

February

#Famous by Jilly Gagnon
Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde

Total of Books for Beat the Backlist Read: 4
Reviews Written: 1

I know! I know! “Nicole, why haven’t you written and submitted your reviews yet?” Well, I’ve written them, but I just haven’t edited and posted them up yet. I also am hesitating about putting up my review for Spontaneous because of the nature of the book and what’s been going on lately. I’d love your opinion on if I should put up the review. I don’t wish to seem insensitive at this time, posting about a humorous book of high school kids dying/exploding. I do have a disclaimer as part of the review, but again, still hesitating. Thoughts?

Anywho, I’ll be sure to update this page with the links to my reviews once I post them. Goodreads links are with the book covers.

How are you doing with your reading goals? If you’re part of Beat the Backlist, how is that going for you?

Until next time, my fellow adventurers!

Publisher: Gallery Books
Published Date: December 2017
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult,
Series: N/A
My Source: Own Copy
Links: Goodreads
Review Also On: Goodreads and Amazon

Goodreads Summary:

Marriages of convenience are so…inconvenient.

Rescued by Calvin McLoughlin from a would-be subway attacker, Holland Bakker pays the brilliant musician back by pulling some of her errand-girl strings and getting him an audition with a big-time musical director. When the tryout goes better than even Holland could have imagined, Calvin is set for a great entry into Broadway—until he admits his student visa has expired and he’s in the country illegally.

Holland impulsively offers to wed the Irishman to keep him in New York, her growing infatuation a secret only to him. As their relationship evolves from awkward roommates to besotted lovers, Calvin becomes the darling of Broadway. In the middle of the theatrics and the acting-not-acting, what will it take for Holland and Calvin to realise that they both stopped pretending a long time ago?

(I tried my best to keep this major spoiler free.)

A great way to start the new year is with a good book, and I’m glad Roomies was it for me.

There were a lot of things that drew me to this book: New York, main female is a struggling writer, love interest is an Irish musician, a fake marriage, and beautiful Broadway. What more can you ask for in a contemporary romance?

Holland is a 25 year old struggling writer and post-graduate school. She’s currently being supported by her uncles Robert, a famous Broadway director, and his husband Jeff who is an accountant. They pay for a majority of her rent and got her a job at the theater selling merchandise and being the photographer. I do appreciate that Holland recognizes that she lives a pretty privileged life and she doesn’t wish to take everything for granted. So when her uncle Robert’s show is falling apart, well, she makes a drastic decision to help. Marrying a stranger to save the show.

The stranger being the subway musician that Holland has been crushing on who happens to save her one night, AND who happens to be a Julliard-trained musician that would be perfect for the Broadway show.

I enjoyed the romance in this story, but I enjoyed the character growth even more. Holland, as her uncle Jeff describes her later in the book, only sees herself as a secondary character in life. She doesn’t take risks, she’s had writer’s block since graduating, and she has tons of doubts. All that changes when she “gathers the courage” to talk to her musical crush and demands answers when he saves her but leaves when the cops arrive. As you can see from the summary, he leaves because he’s not in the United States legally and doesn’t want any trouble. Throughout the story, Holland hides her crush from Calvin, knowing that it’s only a marriage to keep him in the country and to save the show. But as her feelings grow stronger, she has a hard time fighting her desires and has to decide if it’s worth it to take the risk of loving him. Holland’s relationship with Calvin is pretty rocky since their relationship is based on a lie. I was happy with a lot of Holland’s decisions on her relationship with Calvin.

Her relationship with her best friend Lulu also becomes rocky throughout the relationship, as Lulu starts to show a jealous side to her personality. What I love is that Holland’s relationship with her uncles is strong and consistent throughout the book. I love the love they have for one another.

While I did enjoy this book, I did question a few things like the speed of the immigration process and how they were conveniently able to speed it along with knowing people on the inside. Because I’m not familiar with the immigration process, I can’t say for sure if that doesn’t happen to some, but it seems strange that a process that could take months was able to happen in a matter of a couple weeks in this story. Then again, maybe the it’s who you know thing works in this kind of situation as well. Still, I enjoyed the adventure of Holland and Calvin and the shenanigans they went through.

4.5 STARS ~ Fantastic! Like, you don’t understand how fantastic this was. READ IT.