The Man Who Feels Like Home by Roxana M. Rotaru is a fun and funny story of love and relationships. Allie, our lively heroine, takes readers along on her personal journey to love, commitment and personal fulfilment. Allie’s experiences are so honest and so dramatic at the same time, and readers will find themselves rooting for her right from the straight.
The writing style is conversational, creating the feeling that our friend Allie is just chatting about her dating mishaps, maybe over a drink or a coffee. Some of her romantic experiences felt familiar, like when she’s dating a man who’s clearly not treating her well or someone who’s clearly cheating, and she just keeps hoping things will work out. Some of her experiences — like getting a little too drunk and attacking her ex’s new girlfriend at a bouquet toss — are unique to just Allie.
I particularly liked the framing story in The Man Who Feels Like Home. The book opens with Allie today, comfortable, confident and in love with her partner. This lets readers know that her romantic and discovery journey will have a wonderful resolution. I think in romantic comedy stories, we readers expect the usual genre ending, so I often like any attempt as suspense or questions feels fake. Here, I was told from the very start that all of these first dates, breakups, ice-cream binges, travels, dating app mishaps, and so forth were just steps on Allie’s path to fulfillment. It’s a completely different vibe, and worked well for me. The book is about the journey, not only the end.
The focus is definitely on Allie’s love life, but I also enjoyed meeting her friends. This secondary characters also felt realistic, whether she was getting lovingly teased or deeply supported by friends, and the short scenes about friends’ romantic relationships felt vivid too.
The Man Who Feels Like Home is vivid and lively, with relatable moments. The story is thoughtful and blunt by turns, with believable experiences and wild adventures. Allie does some wild things in her attempts to find true love, she experiences true growth and discovery, and we’re along for the ride.
