Narrated by K.C. Sheridan
In Roomies, Holland Bakker is a single twenty-something living in New York, still finding her professional feet after completing an MFA. She dreams of being an author but hasn’t been able to put pen to paper (or fingers to laptop) since graduation. Her family are from Iowa but her beloved Uncle Jeff and his husband, Uncle Robert are surrogate parents to her and both live in New York. In many ways, Jeff and Robert are parents to Holland even though she gets along with fine her own mother and father. Robert is the composer and musical director of a massive Broadway hit and, to help Holland out, he got her a job with the production. Nominally, she is the “archivist” but mostly she’s an assistant who sells merchandise, takes photos and does whatever else is required by the Stage Manager. Robert and Jeff (who is a successful financial advisor) also help Holland with her rent, enabling her to live in a nice, albeit small, apartment.
Holland has been taking unnecessary subway trips through the Fiftieth Street Station for about six months, to listen to an amazing busker who’s there regularly. She calls him “Jack” and has a huge crush on him both for his good looks and his prodigious talent.
Jack is Calvin McLoughlin, an Irishman who has overstayed his student visa by four years. He graduated from Julliard and has been hoping for his big musical break. In the meantime, he’s been busking and playing guitar with various bands to make ends meet.
Robert’s musical is about to undergo a seismic shift, as the main performer’s contract is up and a new one is about to join the production. At around the same time, the temperamental violinist who accompanies the star in critical places in the show quits and Robert is scrambling for a replacement.
Holland has the brilliant idea to use Calvin, playing classical guitar instead of a violin and convinces Robert to listen to him play. It takes about thirty seconds for Robert to be convinced. But of course, Calvin is an illegal immigrant and he can’t join the production without a valid work visa.
A joking suggestion about Holland marrying Calvin so he can get a green card is made by the Stage Manager and Holland runs with the idea – all the way to City Hall where she and Calvin enter into a marriage of convenience.
Of course, they fall in love but there are loads of hurdles for them to get over before they reach their HEA. Does Calvin really care about Holland or is he just saying that he does because he so desperately wants to stay in the Broadway production? Can she trust him? Is he just grateful? Complications ensue with Immigration and his family and also with Holland’s bestie, Lulu, who is not a very good friend it turns out.
Through it all, Holland is still searching for what she wants to be. Robert (or perhaps it’s Jeff) comment that Holland places herself as a secondary character in her own life and a significant part of the story is Holland taking her own centre stage.
I enjoyed the story while I was listening but there were some things which bothered me when I thought about them later. Calvin doesn’t seem to have many friends, Holland only has Lulu. Holland does not tell her parents about her marriage and doesn’t appear to have any contact with them for the entire book – notwithstanding we are told that they get along well. There is a big misunderstanding to draw out the ending which grated because it was both obvious and unnecessary. And, Calvin was often opaque. The story was told completely from Holland’s POV and toward the end, some of what Calvin revealed made me question his character a little. While I understood his actions, I didn’t quite get enough of him in the book to be 100% confident he wouldn’t default to taking the easy way in difficult times.
The story ends on a hopeful happy note. I ultimately believed in Calvin and Holland’s HEA but I’d have liked an epilogue to see how some of the remaining issues were going to be resolved – not least of which was what they were going to tell her parents. And, I still had questions about Holland’s career that I’d have liked answered.
The narration was fine but there were numerous times when Calvin’s voice was used for Holland or vice versa. Calvin had a lovely Irish brogue. It was clear to me that KC Sheridan has more than a little of the Irish in her – because the accent sounded so natural and because there was a bit of Irish in the non-Irish characters from time to time as well. I appreciated that the Irish accent was genuine though so I didn’t hold that touch of Ireland in Robert, Jeff and Holland against her.
More than that, I found it a little difficult to connect with Holland. Something about the narration kept me at a bit of a distance. There wasn’t quite enough emotion in the performance – often if felt more like reading rather than… well, performance. It wasn’t terrible by any stretch but it wasn’t what I was hoping for either.
Roomies was entertaining and I liked the slice of Broadway musical life and I do enjoy a marriage of convenience story so all in all, it comes out as a net positive.
Kaetrin
Buy Roomies by Christina Lauren on Amazon
