Roomies by Sara Zarr

Roomies by Sara Zarr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The countdown to university has begun...

When Elizabeth receives her first-year roommate assignment at the beginning of summer, she shoots off an email to coordinate the basics: TV, microwave, mini-fridge. She can't wait to escape her New Jersey beach town - and her mum - and start life afresh in California.

That first note to Lauren in San Francisco comes as a surprise; she had requested a single. But if Lauren's learned anything from being the oldest of six, it's that you don't always get what you want, especially when what you want is privacy.

Soon the girls are emailing back and forth, sharing secrets even though they've never met. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives ... and each other.


I received this for review and thought it sounded really interesting. I though I would be able to relate to it having previously been to university.

I loved the idea of reading a series of emails between the two girls who are going to be room mates when they go to university, I have read books before in this format and really enjoyed them. This book was not all emails but also the girls views, which was ok but not what I originally expected.

Unfortunately I think that maybe I am was not the intended target audience for the book and actually felt a little old reading it.

So Lauren lives in San Francisco and Elizabeth lives in New Jersey they begin exchanging emails and begin to find out about their room mate. I felt there was a lot of American terms in the book and at times this annoyed me a little. I also found the girls yo be immature at times, (that could be down to me not being the target age group for this!)

Another issue I have with the book is that race is bought up quite a few times and I just don't get it. There is nothing in the blurb that suggests this is going to be a big focus in the book. However not that far into the novel Elizabeth begins to plant the seed in the readers head about Laurens boyfriend being black. This is something I do not understand and why it matters, maybe is this the part I began to see the girls as immature but in today's society surely it really doesn't matter?

The two girls point of views are very different in the story and it sometimes felt you were reading two separate books. There is a huge mount of drama in the book and I found it extremely easy to read and I read it quickly.

I was a little disappointed with the structure of the book too, I liked reading about the girls before they went to uni however I was unsatisfied with the ending. I would have liked to know a little more. (I won't say how it ends in case you wish to read this for yourself.)

I would like to thank the publisher for sending This in exchange for an honest review.