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nerdinthelibrary's Reviews (926)
content warnings: explicit sexual content, mentions of racism
representation: Black fat wlw protagonist, Black wlw main character, Korean main character, M/F/F main relationship, biracial (Black-Korean) main and side characters
God, what a great feeling to read one of your new favourite books! This is the third book I've read for this round of smutathon, and the previous two underwhelmed to say the least. This, though. This book that I had absolutely no expecatations of managed to knock it out of the park, seemingly with complete ease.
The Roommate follows Celeste, a college student who is going to spend a few weeks over winter break with her roommate's family. But there's a problem the second she meets Mr. and Mrs. Yu: they're both smoking hot and Celeste pretty much can't look at them without being turned on.
This book is so well-written. There isn't any gorgeous prose or complex ideas, but I think it's more difficult than people realise to write something in the conversational tone that this book does without it coming across as lazy or obnoxious. There are times when Celeste talks directly to the reader as she recounts her winter break and that's something that usually drives me up the wall, but Brandy Bush makes it feel so natural, something which I found even more impressive when I reached the end of the book and discovered it was a debut!
It's not just the writing style, though; the characters are also given exactly as much depth as they need in something like this. I don't know anyone's entire life story but I know a few key things about each main character that makes them easily identifiable and, most importantly, makes me root for them to achieve their goal. I'm aware of how basic and simplistic this sounds, but once you read enough erotica you realise how rare these things actually are.
The sex scenes are also written incredibly. A lot of erotica falls into the same trap that action movies do (go with me here) where they won't end the book with their best sex/action scene, but not The Roommate. Oh, no, The Roommate over and over again makes you think you've read it's best sex scene and then somehow has an even better one a chapter later.
This is one of my favourite books of 2020 and I truly cannot wait to read Bush's second book, The Nanny. I implore all smut lovers to read this because odds are it'll become one of your favourite's too!
representation: Black fat wlw protagonist, Black wlw main character, Korean main character, M/F/F main relationship, biracial (Black-Korean) main and side characters
“‘And since you’re our visitor, you should let us take care of you,’ Mrs. Yu says as she stands from her chair and walks toward me.
I’m a good girl. I was raised right. I was raised to respect my elders, but every thought that enters my brain in that moment is very disrespectful. [...]
My thoughts are anything but respectful — they’re filthy and needy, and my pussy is getting wet. Disrespect never felt so right, though.”
God, what a great feeling to read one of your new favourite books! This is the third book I've read for this round of smutathon, and the previous two underwhelmed to say the least. This, though. This book that I had absolutely no expecatations of managed to knock it out of the park, seemingly with complete ease.
The Roommate follows Celeste, a college student who is going to spend a few weeks over winter break with her roommate's family. But there's a problem the second she meets Mr. and Mrs. Yu: they're both smoking hot and Celeste pretty much can't look at them without being turned on.
This book is so well-written. There isn't any gorgeous prose or complex ideas, but I think it's more difficult than people realise to write something in the conversational tone that this book does without it coming across as lazy or obnoxious. There are times when Celeste talks directly to the reader as she recounts her winter break and that's something that usually drives me up the wall, but Brandy Bush makes it feel so natural, something which I found even more impressive when I reached the end of the book and discovered it was a debut!
It's not just the writing style, though; the characters are also given exactly as much depth as they need in something like this. I don't know anyone's entire life story but I know a few key things about each main character that makes them easily identifiable and, most importantly, makes me root for them to achieve their goal. I'm aware of how basic and simplistic this sounds, but once you read enough erotica you realise how rare these things actually are.
The sex scenes are also written incredibly. A lot of erotica falls into the same trap that action movies do (go with me here) where they won't end the book with their best sex/action scene, but not The Roommate. Oh, no, The Roommate over and over again makes you think you've read it's best sex scene and then somehow has an even better one a chapter later.
This is one of my favourite books of 2020 and I truly cannot wait to read Bush's second book, The Nanny. I implore all smut lovers to read this because odds are it'll become one of your favourite's too!
content warnings: gun violence, gang violence, death, loss of a loved one, incarceration, racism, police brutality (mostly discussed), drug dealing
representation: Black main cast, bisexual Black main character
Every single book that Angie Thomas writes is going to be a classic. In a few decades, she'll be discussed in English classes and The Hate U Give will be a regular on reading lists. I just know it. Her books are so easy to read yet so dense, and that's something that very few authors (especially YA authors) can pull off successfully.
representation: Black main cast, bisexual Black main character
Every single book that Angie Thomas writes is going to be a classic. In a few decades, she'll be discussed in English classes and The Hate U Give will be a regular on reading lists. I just know it. Her books are so easy to read yet so dense, and that's something that very few authors (especially YA authors) can pull off successfully.
This is the first thing I've read in far too long and it was kind of the perfect thing to dip my toe back into reading with. I'm not big on poetry but this collection really hit me, to the point where I nearly started crying.
you: artemis is a lesbian
shelby eileen, an intellectual: artemis is aro/ace
you: artemis is a lesbian
shelby eileen, an intellectual: artemis is aro/ace
content warnings: sexual assault against minors, violence, murder, parental abuse, drug addiction,
representation: bisexual protagonist with a stutter
God, I really loved this book. Despite its difficult subject matter, I found it so incredibly easy to binge and read it all in two days. The audiobook, as you've likely heard, is phenomenal, especially in the sections where the book is being told from the perspective of the true crime podcast. I think that if I were reading this physically it would have taken me a lot longer to read.
I've seen that the ending is a bit controversial and I definitely understand why. I can't imagine Courtney Summers wrote the ending that she did without expecting people to not like it. But I absolutely loved it. To me, it was the only way that this book could end without betraying itself.
This book is also very unintentionally poignant currently. There's a moment when the host of the podcast is talking with Sadie's mother and says that his reason for caring so much about this case is that he has a young daughter, to which Sadie's mother tells him he shouldn't need daughters in order to care. Considering what Scotty from Marketing said fairly recently, this moment really enraged me in a very good way. This book also doesn't shy away from how inherently exploitative true crime podcasts are, no matter how respectful they say they are.
representation: bisexual protagonist with a stutter
God, I really loved this book. Despite its difficult subject matter, I found it so incredibly easy to binge and read it all in two days. The audiobook, as you've likely heard, is phenomenal, especially in the sections where the book is being told from the perspective of the true crime podcast. I think that if I were reading this physically it would have taken me a lot longer to read.
I've seen that the ending is a bit controversial and I definitely understand why. I can't imagine Courtney Summers wrote the ending that she did without expecting people to not like it. But I absolutely loved it. To me, it was the only way that this book could end without betraying itself.
This book is also very unintentionally poignant currently. There's a moment when the host of the podcast is talking with Sadie's mother and says that his reason for caring so much about this case is that he has a young daughter, to which Sadie's mother tells him he shouldn't need daughters in order to care. Considering what Scotty from Marketing said fairly recently, this moment really enraged me in a very good way. This book also doesn't shy away from how inherently exploitative true crime podcasts are, no matter how respectful they say they are.
This was objectively pretty terrible but I had kind of a good time so I think I might continue?? Idk it was somewhat entertaining even if it was total trash.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest
Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault
I’ll talk about this more later but holy shit this is one of my favourite books now.
Wow. Just wow. I don't think I could've started the year off better. RTC soon.
And with that I’ve completed my reading challenge! RTC in the new year.