I just loved this. The steam and the banter and the friendships and the chemistry. I can’t wait for the next in the series. 

Clara picks up her life in New York and moves to California on a whim, ready to declare her feelings and embark on a new kind of relationship with her best friend after nearly fifteen years of unrequited romantic feelings. When she arrives, though, she discovers that said beat friend is actually going off on tour and sticking her with a wholly unexpected, goofy, and underclothed roommate. 

As it turns out, said roommate is actually a porn star, celebrated for his attention to women’s pleasure and well-known for his on-again, off-again relationships with one of his co-stars. Josh Darling is honestly a perfect romance novel protagonist. He is sexy, goofy, confident, and well-adjusted, equally appealing in serious conversations, joking banter, and the bedroom (or out of it, as most of the sexy scenes happened to be in this case). 

As prudish Clara reconciles her discomfort with porn and her budding friendship (and then more) with Josh, Danan’s novel deftly addresses prejudices against sex workers, the orgasm gap (and sexism in general), and complicated parent-child dynamics. I truly fell in love with the characters, appreciated all of the extra details of their backgrounds that were incorporated into the plot. 

This is the kind of romance novel that reminds me how much I love the genre beyond the occasional opportunity for a brain break when I literally cannot handle reading anything else. This one kept me up all night in the absolute best way.