The Roommate's Secret
A Forced Proximity on the Road, Forbidden Rivalry Contemporary RomanceBy Emmy Sutton
Length8h 8m
About this audiobook
Dylan Mercer keeps her reasons in three places: a Moleskine with a coffee ring on it in a desk drawer, a legal pad under her mattress, and an encrypted file behind two-factor authentication. Paranoia is a survival skill she has perfected.
The podcast is called Hidden Histories, and it records the love stories of queer elders in Texas. Mildred Chen is ninety-four and wants to talk about a woman named Eleanor who brought her husband's shirts in every Tuesday, and about the rain on her face behind a dry cleaner's. Dylan records from a black cave of blankets in her living room, through a modulator, so that the voice could belong to anyone.
Nobody in her life knows. Her father least of all.
Then the new roommate turns up a day early with two suitcases, a messenger bag and a paper bag of beignets. Jules is a documentary filmmaker. She spent five years in New Orleans interviewing people about how queer people survive in places that do not want them, and she has hours of footage and no structure.
She also, it turns out, is a fan. *The host's voice is so distinctive. Like gravel and honey. I'd recognize it anywhere.* She says it with her fingers about an inch from the backup recorder Dylan forgot on the bookshelf.
So they live together: two women working the same material from opposite sides of a wall, one of them hiding her equipment behind winter coats, the other humming a theme song she does not know was commissioned in cash so there would be no paper trail.
And Theo Reeves, who has the distribution deal and none of the patience, has stopped asking. He starts by looking up Dylan's brother on Facebook. Her father, Franklin Mercer, has only ever given her one instruction, and she has heard it in quiet rooms ever since.
Then Theo has a video. Two women, a public archive room, and, as he points out, no context required.
A contemporary lesbian romance set in Austin, about an anonymous voice, a roommate who recognizes it, a family name worn like a collar, and what it costs to stop whispering. The romance is closed-door.
Audiobook details
GenreRomance, Biography and Memoir
Length8 hrs 8 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateSep 15, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Dedication
2Chapter 1 - The Lie I Built My Life On
3Chapter 2 - The Shirt I Should Have Burned
4Chapter 3 - The Coffee I Didn’t Order
5Chapter 4 - The Birthday I Never Told Anyone About
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6Chapter 5 - The Document I Should Have Burned
7Chapter 6 - The Audition I Never Wanted
8Chapter 7 - The Photo I Couldn’t Delete
9Chapter 8 - The Church Where Nothing Changed
10Chapter 9 - The Moment I Let Her In
11Chapter 10 - The Door I Didn’t Lock
12Chapter 11 - The Brother Who Knew Better
13Chapter 12 - The Letter I Never Mailed
14Chapter 13 - The Taco That Tasted Like Truth
15Chapter 14 - The Mother Who Didn’t Run
16Chapter 15 - The Sins of the Father
17Chapter 16 - The Visit I Couldn’t Cancel
18Chapter 17 - The Video That Ended Everything
19Chapter 18 - The Speech I Never Thought I’d Give
20Chapter 19 - The Aftermath That Wasn’t a Victory
21Chapter 20 - The Silence That Almost Ate Me
22Chapter 21 - The Bedside That Couldn’t Wait
23Chapter 22 - The Coffee I Was Afraid to Drink
24Chapter 23 - The Family I Chose (And the One I Got Back)
25Chapter 24 - The Crawl That Changed Everything
26Chapter 25 - The Call That Could Have Broken Us
27Chapter 26 - The Pew I Didn’t Expect to Fill
28Chapter 27 - The Roommate Who Became My Home
29Epilogue
30The End
31About the Author
32Also by Emmy Sutton
33Acknowledgements
34A Note from the Author
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