Title: The Roommate Pact

Title: The Roommate Pact
Author: Allison Ashley
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Romance
Trigger Warnings: Death
Explicit? Yes.
Summary: The proposition is simple: if ER nurse Claire Harper and her roommate, firefighter Graham Scott, are still single by the time they’re forty, they’ll take the proverbial plunge together…as friends with benefits. Maybe it’s the wine, but in the moment, Claire figures the pact is a safe-enough deal, considering she hasn’t had much luck in love and he’s in no rush to settle down. Like, at all. Besides, there’s no way she could ever really fall for Graham and his thrill-seeking ways. Not after what happened to her father…

Just as things begin to heat up way before the proposed deadline, Graham’s injured in a serious rock-climbing accident—and he needs Claire’s help to heal. She’ll do whatever it takes to nurse him back to health…even if it means moving into Graham’s bed and putting up with his little dog who hates her. But with this no-strings arrangement taking a complicated turn, keeping “for now” from turning into “forever” isn’t as easy as they’d planned.

Anyone who has talked to me for more than five minutes knows that one of my deepest love is first responder shows, especially those to do with firefighters. I don’t know why but I’ve been this way since I was a kid, so this book? Right up my alley.

These two characters separately are sugar and spice, and not always nice to each other. But when pushed together? Well, they’re spicier than ever. I wasn’t sure if I would like this book, and I did have a slow start with it, wondering if they would find their way to each other but once it got going I devoured it in less than 48 hours with no looking back.

Also give me a grown man, in a position like that of a firefighter who has an ugly-cute dog who he openly loves and cares for? I cannot handle it. You can also really feel it when Graham is frustrated with being stuck at home instead of our adventuring, after all alone with your thoughts is a dangerous place to be at times.

Claire is a truly caring character and though she tries to hide her feelings for Graham, and pull back from him it’s clear the attraction is there.

Also, can we talk about how nice it is to read a book about people in their 30s? It was so nice to have this. I will definitely read this author again, because this semi-slow burn with forced proximity was so freaking good.