Unfortunately, since I've been in a reading funk I haven't read the book yet, but I was intrigued by the premise, the cute cover, and the fact that the two MCs were headed to my Real Life alma mater: UC Berkeley (Cal). On top of that, I was fortunate enough to have had incredible roommates for my entire college experience. So when I received an email asking bloggers to share a "roomie story" to help launch Sara and Tara's book tour for ROOMIES, I felt I had to participate!
AND at the end of this post, there's a chance for you, dear readers, to win a copy of the book!
But first, see if Sara and Tara are stopping by in your town and go out and see them if they are! Here are their tour dates:
January 12, 2014 – New York, NY: McNally Jackson
January 15, 2014 – Salt Lake City, UT: The King's English
January 16, 2014 – Provo, UT: Provo Library
February 4, 2014 – San Francisco, CA: Books Inc, Opera Plaza
February 5, 2015 – Petaluma, CA: Copperfield's Books
As I mentioned, I was super lucky when it came to my college roommates. I essentially lived with the same girls the 4 years I was there. Let's call my roommates M, S, and R. (There was a 5th roomie and she was wonderful too, but she only lived with us for the year that S was studying abroad.) I went to high school with M, my first roommate (the one I dorm-ed with), and after freshmen year, we moved out together to an apartment, which we shared with S & R.
Sure there were moments of frustration- undone dishes, trash that wasn't taken out before it started smelling up the place, pretty sure I hogged the TV (and that one corner of the couch)- but overall any roommate drama anxieties we might have had remained thankfully and mercifully in our heads. (At least, I thought so?)
We had so many fun and odd times that I don't know which one to pick - from living room picnics to late night cram sessions helped along by late-night sushi deliveries to seeing the newest Harry Potter movie at midnight! So instead of ONE story, I'm just going to share 3 incidents I recorded in my journal from our years living together at Cal.
From sophomore year of college: Toilet Troubles
This afternoon as I sat around doing whatever it is I do in the living room, I heard a cry for help. Literally. It went something along the lines of "HELP! BRING THE MOP!"
And then the phone rang, and I had a split-second moment of being torn between getting the mop and getting the phone. Then S said, "Believe me. THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT."
But I managed to get the phone (telemarketers) and the mop and ran to the bathroom, where there was a full blown Situation. It's not as nasty as it sounds. It was just toilet water, but it had overflowed and spilled out onto the tiles and was creeping its way across the tiled sink area. Luckily, our floor mats were unharmed.
So S and I spent a good hour (or so...or more) mopping it up and then Pinesol-ing that shizz, and the reason it took so long was because we tried to flush the toilet again. Bad idea.
From sophomore year of college: Finals Week
R went off to the library to study. She IMed me around midnight. The following ensued:
R: naked people!
Me: what?! where are you?!
R: did you know every semester during finals, naked people run through the library?
Me: i think i've heard that before...
Me: IT'S TRUE?!
R: LOL
Me: It's not even safe in the libraries!
R: it's sooo funny
R: embrace the berkeley culture.
From sophomore year of college: RE: Finishing a final
S: We went and we conquered.
M: Um, I don't know about conquered.
S: No, we vanquished that final. Destroyed it.
M: Annihilated.
From our senior year: A Momentous Occasion
November 28, 2007: We finally ran out of trash bags.
[Context for this is that at the end of freshman year, I had a ton of meal points left over. But at the time, meal points were basically like money at campus restaurants, cafes, convenience stores. So I used my considerable meal points to help furnish our new apartment. Basically, I bought a ton of trash bags - so much that we didn't need to by any until mid-way through our senior year!]
Over the course of 4 years, I lived with a bunch of smart, funny girls with minimal drama. I am so, so lucky to have had them as my roomies and to have them for friends.
GIVEAWAY Details: To enter to win a copy of ROOMIES from Little & Brown Books, please fill in the rafflecopter info below. Name and mailing address are required. Sorry international peeps, this is US only. Winner will be announced next Wednesday, 1/15.
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Q4U: What's your Roomie Story? Everyone's got one.
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5 comments:
I didn't realize that ROOMIES took place at Cal! I adore Sara Zarr, and I can't wait to read this one. Thanks for sharing your fabulous roommate stories (I, too, had great roommates in college!), and thanks for the giveaway!
I think you know all of my stories since they all involved sabotaging Eva's life.
(umm, my thing sent without my address, so....)
Also, I have yet to have a roommate of any kind. Ever. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing...
I have roomie stories but if I go public, they might track me down and give me hell for dishing!
My freshman year roommate was basically the very best girl I could've ever met. We got along perfectly from moment one. However, my very favorite story is that when I received the letter from JMU, they listed her legal first name, which is Katherine. I called her and asked if she went by any nicknames, like Kate (which was my favorite Ben Folds Five song at the time). She said yes, so I always called her Kate. Turns out, she'd been called Katie her entire life, but everyone at JMU called her Kate because of me and Ben Folds. Um, whoops?
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