Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
From the publisher:
When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl’s summer — and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.
As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. 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. Even though they’ve never met.
I’m a huge fan of Sara Zarr and always read her books, but Tara Altebrando is a new author for me, so I went into this book with a mix of curiosity and excitement. It turned out that these two author’s voices work extremely well together, and the two of them wrote an engaging, fun, adorable novel about that weird time in life between high school and college.
Elizabeth and Lauren are very different people, and over the course of the summer they take the time to get to know one another through email, in the hope that when they begin living together it will be slightly less awkward. I had fun getting to know these two girls and the book brought back powerful memories for me of my own summer between high school and college. It’s such a unique time – full of anxiety, excitement, bittersweet feelings of leaving home for the very first time, all of that and more was captured in Roomies very well.
While the book had a premise that resonated with me and likable characters, I’m finding that I don’t remember a whole lot about it almost a month after reading it. So, I would say this is a very enjoyable read, but not one that really will stick with you. I did like that the last part of the book was just before they met for the first time in their dorm room, leaving it open to a possible second book about their time at college, which I wouldn’t shy away from reading. So, overall, good book but nothing that knocked my socks off.
Book Addiction 
I really liked this book and felt it dealt with some important issues for teen girls.
That’s a riot about not remembering it. You last longer than I do. If I don’t write a review within two weeks, it’s gone gone gone, even if I thought it was “memorable” LOL
It is SUCH a weird time of a person’s life, and even way different now than it was when I was that age (back before computers and Facebook and cell phones). It probably would make a bigger impact on someone actually going through it, but for those of us that have moved on, it just goes in the “nostalgia” category.