Roomies

Roomies 
by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando

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. (description from Amazon.com) 

I LOVE the concept for this book. It's a great and interesting way to look at that time period when so many teens' lives go through a really significant change. Leaving high school and starting college is terrifying in some ways and having to try and adjust and make new friends can be totally intimidating.  Add into all of that, some personal drama and you've got a great storyline for a book.  

The best part of this book, though, is really the format.  The alternating chapters reveal what's happening in each girl's life as the summer progresses and through their emails to one another, they filter their stories into the versions they want to tell each other. I love that the book ends right as they actually meet in person at school for the first time!

So many topics get covered in this book. Family, friendships, romance, pressure to have sex, homosexuality, truth/lies, and pressures about where life is going... This book touches on all these topics in a lighthearted and yet very authentic feeling way. I would recommend this book to just about anyone. 

Full disclosure: eARC received from Netgalley