Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando Giveaway

Everyone has heard about the what can happen when you get your new roommate. Sometimes they are awesome and other times they are your worst nightmare well Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando which came out in late 2013 is a new book that explores that relationship. 

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.
With humor and heart, Sara Zarr, National Book Award finalist for Story of a Girl, and Tara Altebrando, acclaimed author of The Pursuit of Happiness, join forces for a novel about that time after high school, when everything feels like it's ending just as it's beginning.

In honor of Roomies I am going to share my freshman roommate story and courtesy of Hachette I have a chance for you to win a copy of Roomies down below.

My freshman roommate experience was not that bad. I was going to be living on an engineering floor in my dorm so I figured my roommate was going to be a fellow engineer. Luckily I was right and both my roommate and suite mate were both engineers. When I first got my assignment obviously I did not know my roommate and so I reached out so we could decide our room colors etc. It was very pleasant and I was excited to start school.

Neither of us was from Boston so we relied heavily on each other for the first couple of months. We ate dinner together and talked to each other, mostly about our classes. We made a list at the beginning of the semester outlining who would clean the bathroom and when and everyone followed it pretty much to the tee, the only issue was with my suite mate which I will get to in a bit. My roommate joined the dance team and so she was gone a lot which I liked because it meant I got to have the room to myself. Overall after getting used to living with another person it was a good relationship.

Now, to my suite mate. She had her own room attached to ours and she shared a bathroom with us. She had to be reminded more than my roommate to clean it but she did her part. For the most part we all got along and it was good, until the second semester. I don't mean to sound fatalistic it honestly wasn't that bad, but during the second semester my suite mate got a boyfriend at our school. Before that both my roommate and my suite mate had long-distance boyfriends but all that changed. Suddenly we couldn't go take a shower because she was in the shower with her boyfriend, and I who shared a wall with our suite mate was being woken up at dawn to the noise of well... I mean go ahead do that, but don't do it so loud when I am trying to sleep please?

But I cannot complain, I had a pretty good experience compared to lots of people. Both my roommate and my suite mate were nice and we had no big issues.

If you are interested in seeing how Elizabeth and Lauren's roommate situation turns out be sure to check out Roomies. And if you are interested in meeting the authors be sure to see if they are coming to your city!

• January 12, 2014 – New York, NY: McNally Jackson [venue link]
• January 15, 2014 – Salt Lake City, UT: The King's English [venue link]
• January 16, 2014 – Provo, UT: Provo Library [venue link]
• February 4, 2014 – San Francisco, CA: Books Inc, Opera Plaza [venue link] 
• February 5, 2015 – Petaluma, CA: Copperfield's Books [venue link]

Now for that giveaway. 

I have one copy of Roomies to giveaway to a U.S. address (sorry no P.O boxes) 

This giveaway will only last for two days so be sure to sign up!

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