ROOMIES by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando {Review}

ROOMIES
by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando
Age Range: 12 and up
Grade Level: 7 and up
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (December 24, 2013)
Amazon | Goodreads

The countdown to college has begun.

When Elizabeth receives her freshman-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 mom, and start life over in California.

The 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 can'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 really like this book. It feels real and honest, sweet and funny, sad and joyful and real. Elizabeth Owens of New Jersey and Lauren Cole of San Francisco, CA have been assigned as roommates for their upcoming freshman year at Berkeley. They begin to exchange emails in an effort to get acquainted with one another as well as to answer those age-old questions--"Who's bringing the microwave and who's bringing the mini-fridge?" Over the course of the summer the girls get to know about each others' family, best friends and boyfriends. Those last few weeks at home are times of transition for both girls--some similar and some very different. Although they share intimate details of their lives in their emails, there is still the underlying truth that they don't really know each other.

I like the characters in this story and the way the authors wrote the book in alternating voices. This gives the reader the opportunity to know both girls, their family situations and what they are thinking and feeling about each other. I would recommend this book to high school and above. I enjoyed it a lot.

Content:

• Sexual Content: Heavy
• Profanity: Very Heavy
• Other Notables: parties, with drinking, skinny dipping etc.