[Audiobook Review] Under One Roof by Ali Hazelwood
The story:
Mara wasn't expecting her mentor Helena to leave her a house in her will. Okay, well, half a house. Turns out, the gorgeous house located within walking distance to Mara's job at the EPA is already home to Helena's big, bulky nephew, Liam. Liam, who happens to be a lawyer for a big oil company. On the surface, the lawyer who works for people who destroy the environment should not get along with an environmental engineer. Mara and Liam are complete opposites in every way. But after living together for months, the walls start to come down and Mara realizes Liam isn't the cold giant she thought he was. In fact, he might just be the one for her. . . .
I absolutely loved The Love Hypothesis, so I was very excited to see that Hazelwood was going to be releasing a series of STEMinist novellas. This first one did not disappoint. Mara gives us all the same characteristics I loved in Olive - smart, science-y, and often underestimated by the men in her field. However, Mara brings her own uniqueness to the story, making her just as lovable as Olive while she remains her own character. Liam was gruff and grumpy at first, but I loved all the little things he did to warm up along the way. However, what I absolutely loved the most about Liam is his demisexuality (Please highlight to read in order to avoid potential spoilers). While Hazelwood doesn't specifically label him as such, I was very surprised when he essentially described himself this way. I love seeing this representation - especially in romance! Do I wish Hazelwood would have given name to it so readers know it's a real thing and can further look it up? Yes. But I'm happy to see it either way.
Hazelwood created such a fun novella filled with pop culture references, late night kitchen attraction, and spice where I least expected it. While I felt like the actual STEM side of things was less prominent than in The Love Hypothesis, I loved the characters and plot in this novella. And, while Under One Roof is an addition to Hazelwood's STEMinist world, it is definitely not a continuation of her previous writing and readers can wholly enjoy Under One Roof without having read Adam and Olive's story; in fact, this story is completely unrelated to everything in The Love Hypothesis, featuring different characters living on the other side of the country.
The audiobook:
I adored Emma Wilder narrating this story. Wilder's voice was clear and had perfect timing for even the most awkward of Mara's quips. I thought Wilder gave such wonderful depth to both Mara and Liam. Even though Wilder's voice isn't the deepest when giving voice to Liam's parts, it was still very easy to understand who was speaking at any given time. Overall, I found Wilder's narration to be wholly entertaining, with perfect pacing and just the right amount of comedic timing to make all of Mara's best internal dialogue shine bright. I loved Hazelwood's story, but I know I enjoyed it more and found it to be much more humorous all because of Wilder's fabulous narration. If you listen to audiobooks at all, I highly recommend the audiobook version of Under One Roof.
A huge thank you to Libro.fm for providing a listening copy of Under One Roof as part of their librarian ALC program! This one has definitely been a highlight of the program for me!
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Release date: 2/8/22
Format: ALC
ALC provided via: Libro.fm
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