ARC Review + Giveaway: RoomHate by Penelope Ward

“ROOMHATE is an unexpectedly sweet second chance at love between two best friends.”
~ Under the Covers

So I have read and enjoyed Penelope Ward in the past, and then you have the title which makes me all kinds of giddy for some anger sex and I was sold from the very beginning.  But I have to admit, ROOMHATE wasn’t quite what I expected.  Yes, we have two people that currently hate each other (sort of) and have to live together.  But at its core, this was actually a pretty sweet story!

This is the story of two childhood best friends, Justin and Amelia, they used to live next door to each other until something happened and Amelia up and left.  Through the years they grew up together, they were each other’s everything.  Including first love.  And there’s nothing I love more than to see a relationship like this end up getting a happy ending!

Amelia’s grandmother has now left them the house where Amelia grew up as both of their inheritance, and they end up both staying there for the summer.  Justin is now an up and coming singer, and he brought his girlfriend with him.

I fell in love with Justin right away.  He’s my favorite thing about this book because I really kept falling for him more and more as the book progresses.  Especially when we hit a certain point when something major and life changing happens and how he reacts to it.  Melts my heart.

This being my third book I read by this author, I find that she has a way of writing that leads to that slow burn feel.  About half of this book (maybe more) was full of angst while we try and figure out what really happened 9 years ago between them.  When the big reveal comes, I thought it wasn’t such a big deal to have created this mess!  It was just a big case of acting immature.

ROOMHATE is an unexpectedly sweet second chance at love between two best friends.  They had many obstacles to overcome and it was a lot of fun to go on that ride with them.

EXCERPT

Copyright © 2016 by Penelope Ward

His eyes darted to the side, and he noticed me standing there. We just stared at each other. It was ironic, but the only times I could ever feel the remnants of our old connection were in fleeting moments of silent eye contact. Sometimes moments of silence spoke the loudest.

I left him alone again, making my way back down the hall and into the restaurant to tend to the customers I’d been ignoring.

Things really started to get busy. Without Jade working tonight, we were short-staffed, and I was having a hard time keeping up with the orders. Sandy’s had indoor and outdoor seating. Normally, I would only be working one section, but tonight I was going back and forth between the two.

It was nice out, so I knew they would have Justin performing outside. I kept glancing over to the small stage to see if he was there. It was past eight, and he hadn’t made an appearance yet.

Sometime close to eight-thirty, I was in the middle of serving a large party of ten when I first heard it: the chilling sound of a soulful voice that was not familiar in the least. He gave no introduction. No warning. He just started to sing out the first few words, followed by the strum of his guitar. The song that Justin had chosen to start with was a cover of Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers.

The entire room soon quieted down, and all eyes were on the stunning blond male specimen with the spotlight shining down on him. Despite the fact that I was carrying a large round tray of dirty dishes, I couldn’t move. The vibration of his thick, smoky singing voice had completely paralyzed me, penetrating my body and soul.

Aside from the lone teardrop that fell the night he lost it on me during steak dinner, I hadn’t shed any more tears—until now. It was all too much. Hearing how different his voice sounded, how he’d trained it over the years, was a wake-up call as to how much I had missed. All of the hours of practice that must have gone into honing that beautiful voice, and I wasn’t there for any of it. The guilt, the emotions, the reality of a decade gone…everything started to pummel me at once. Not to mention the song—about a girl leaving. It probably had nothing to do with me, but in my mind, it sure as hell felt like it did.

[about-author author=”Penelope Ward”]

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