Roommates by Ola Tundun is an enjoyable yet somewhat predictable read that explores the dynamics of shared living and the quirks of its diverse characters. Tundun captures the complexities of cohabitation with humor and warmth, highlighting both the tension and camaraderie that can arise. The characters are relatable, and their interactions offer some funny and heartfelt moments.

However, the story lacks a certain depth and originality, with some of the plot twists feeling foreseeable. While it may not leave a lasting impression, Roommates is a light, entertaining read perfect for those looking for a quick escape into the world of roommate drama and friendship.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Dreamscape Select and the author for the ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We have 2 MCs with diametrically opposite lives, we have Ariella, whose life is so picture perfect that it scares to the point where she decides to walk out on her perfect home, fiancé and job, and then we have Caleb resident smart ass player who can charm the pants off anybody, according to him and Ariella.

I had so many.... I mean so many problems with this book! There was little to no explanation of anything as to what is going on in Ariella's head!! She was just too too naive about her life, she could see everything wrong with everybody else's? like girl!! and Caleb!! Jesus Mary and Joseph!! The ending was so frigging abrupt!! sorry wth? I went back and listened to the chapter 3 times, then removed my Netgalley download and redownloaded again to confirm it was not the file's fault. I will stop complaining here or this will 10 pages long!

But one thing I have to note is the <spoiler>non-consensual consent smut scene which in my opinion was sexual assault and this happened to the MMC. SA in men are already so less talked about, the way it was just brushed away left a bitter taste in my mouth</spoiler>

So basically I feel like I watched a drama for 7 seasons and then they decided to scrap the series finale!! left me so annoyed and frustrated! I can't even! I have never never felt so much disappointment after reading a fast paced book. There was so much confusion, so much what the hells and also some sweet moments here and there. Not even the good narrator's could lift my mood after this debacle - but will I read book 2? probably! and may be that will save one star for this book!!

If only there was less smut and more real conversations to start to deal with all the shit that happened and may be even give me an epilogue? or the likes of one?

TW: Sexual assault, thinly veiled consent, drug abuse, avoidant parenting, unprocessed grief, loss of a parent, Racism, domestic abuse, spiking of drinks, manipulation, controlling behavior, gaslighting.

Ariella is a brilliant character and I dod enjoy hearing about her story. So much fun and funny moments

Took me some time to get through this one. I lost interest from the very beginning but I don’t believe in DNF’ing… at least not yet… I guess that means it wasn’t the most terrible book in the world.

I really could not connect with the characters. I got lost at who was who and who was screwing who.. and the way that they spoke about sex was cringy 😖

The characters were pretty mean to each other and it just seemed unnecessary. I just don’t think I’ve ever witnessed any actual humans be so snobby at one another or maybe I’ve just been living under a rock and people are really mean or hide it well 🤷‍♀️

Not trying ti be negative here… it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Just because I didn’t love it, doesn’t mean someone else won’t find it absolutely amazing 🤩 and it also doesn’t mean that I won’t be reading book number too because you never know!

At the half way mark is when I finally started to get the storyline. I did like that the FMC had a difficult choice to make for herself which seemed like it could have gone either way really.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed the Roommates for its realness. The characters and situations felt messy, just like real life can be.
The chemistry between Caleb and Ariella was so good!

There was a great selection of tropes!

What you'll find in Roommates:
Forced proximity
Dislike to friends to lovers
Playboy mmc
He falls first
Opposites attract

Thanks to NetGalley & Dreamscape Select, Storm Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Are you looking for a flatmate romance read? 'Roommates' by Ola Tundun might be the right choice! I had huge expectations as I loved Beth O'Leary's novels that were compared to this one. What will happen in Ariella and Caleb's romantic flat-sharing?



-what is it about-
Ariella had everything she'd ever dreamed of. However, she suddenly rents the spare room and moves in with Caleb. They are complete opposites, yet something makes them closer. What happened that Ariella changed her life? And what is she going to do next?


-what I loved?-

→ I adore the themes that Ola Tundun used in her storyline. Forced proximity and opposites attract are my favourite ones so I was truly happy to see how the author developed the relationship between the main characters.
-> Dual point of view made it possible to get to know characters better (I preferred Ariella's narrative style but I believe that some readers will have fun seeing Caleb's emotional journey as well).



-what did I not love?-

→ I could not stand the characters in this novel. Both Ariella and Caleb were childish and unlikeable. I wanted to see their growth throughout the storyline. It did not happen.
→ The story was too long. I felt like Ola Tundun wanted to force the readers to follow every step of the characters' journey, even the most unneeded ones. The lack of action and repetitive themes also did not help this novel.
-> I had an issue with the romantic relationship in this story. The toxicity, sexism and misogyny presented in the novel made me want to stop reading it.

rating: 2/5 ✮✮
genre: Romance, contemporary fiction
themes: love, race, toxicity, forced proximity

I thought Roommates was kind of cute. Honestly I felt it was too long and the ending with pretty abrupt. The characters were not the best to each other. I felt the story could have been condensed way more. With all that said it was still cute. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a copy in exchange for my honest review. 2.5 stars rounded up.

❄️ Mini Book Review ❄️

Title: Roommates
Author: Ola Tundun
Series: Roommates, #1
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Release: September 20, 2023
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Ebook | Audiobook
Length: 417 pages
Finished: January 2nd, 2023
Thoughts:

Oh my goodness, OH MY GOODNESS! What a way to start the new year. I have no idea what I was expecting, but this book took my soul for the day. I literally sat at 6pm and finished this book at 1am with maybe two breaks. It was THAT GOOD. This is one of those series that needs to be a movie or a tv show. I need this on the screens pronto!

The feeling of the story and chemistry between Caleb and Ariella is so real. SO REAL. This could happen to you or your best friend, and having that feeling that you can relate made me love it so much more. Ola is a fantastic writer with such a beautiful observant style. She builds the scenes around you, instills the feeling of the MCs within you. It was such a delightful reading experience. I am a fan! She is now Autobuy for me!

Caleb is an absolutely sexy MMC. Not because of sex appeal alone, but because of his heart and when he recognized he loved that girl…woo! Nothing was going to stop him! Ariella, our FMC, is so pure, trusting, and humble. Because she was constantly surrounded by such a protective loving family, when she recognized that she wanted to go out into the world and find out who she is, you have to root for her. She cares soooo much about everyone and everything and seeing people try to hurt and manipulate her broke my heart. But she is such a strong woman who truly fought for her own. I LOVED THAT!

I read along with the audiobook and the narrator, Savannah Davies was fantastic! I really hope she narrates the sequel, Complicated.

The ending broke my heart for Caleb (it is also triggering moment) and I hope to explore that situation more in the sequel. I want to avenge my boy!!! Luckily I have the ARC for “Complicated” and will start that ASAP. I highly recommend this series.

I was drawn to the book because of the cute cover. I partially liked this story up until the ending, but it definitely has its issues. This book deals with serious topics (i.e., non-consensual sex, spiked drinks, domestic abuse, and emotional or mental abuse).

I felt for both characters, but they definitely have issues they need to work out before ever being in a relationship. They work well together without the other characters getting in their way, and they are alone and able to be themselves, but it still doesn’t make up for their problems and mistakes.

I wasn’t a fan of the way it ended. I’m slightly unsure if I want to finish their story, but part of me also wants to see how the author decides to continue on if she decides to.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.

Once I started listening to this book I couldn’t put it down. It was a twist on a workplace romance/enemies to lovers. I was engaged right up to the last page, when the book just stopped. I had to double check that I didn’t have a technical malfunction because I thought there was no way that could be the end of the book. I’ll probably read book two, but it was maddening. Five stars until the very end…

I love a good Rom Com, between the cover & synop I totally jumped on this.

I think I was very underprepared for how serious or emotional this book was going to get, once we get past the slower start of this book it unravels into something much more. The way the characters grow in this book, together and individually is so well done & I really loved seeing it all play out. I’m so glad I got the audiobook for this one I think it really helped push along the story, that might sound bad but personally some books are just better as audiobooks & I truly think this is one of them.

The low rating is due to the ending, I feel like it could have / should have ended a lot better. It just felt so sudden, just a little odd of an ending in my opinion.

This was a bit boring and hard to get into. I didn’t make it 50% through. I couldn’t connect to the characters or care about them either.

I think may be closer to 3.5 stars.

Without spoiling anything, I would say the main characters of Ariella & Caleb are, at times, equal parts frustrating and wonderful. And sometimes they were just plain annoying.

Ariella's ex-boyfriend is the worst. So much so that I literaly don't even remember his name, I've blocked it from my mind!

The ending was nice but maybe a bit quick. There was a point that I felt like the book was dragging on, but then the ending seemed like it came up quite quickly?

Overall, I did like this book though and would consider reading more by the author.

I absolutely loved Roommates by Ola Tundun. It did not follow conventional American style romances. Honestly, it was so refreshing. Ariella leaves her childhood best friend-turned fiance one day without warning. Just packs up and leaves him without explanation; leaving the perfect life we are all told as women to aspire to. She moves in with Caleb, the fuck-boy at her office who happens to have a room available. When I read the synopsis of this book, and began reading it, I thought I knew how the story would go; how the characters would act, and maybe all the circumstances that brought them together. This was not the case. This novel exhibited complex human emotions, like loving someone deeply but knowing that love is not enough to move a relationship forward, and what I appreciate is that it wasn’t in the way I expected. When most authors write romances where the characters begin “as friends” we never really see the foundations of the friendship actually being built. Often characters are “friends first” but within the narration you see that someone is usually already pinning for the other. In this case, you can truly see the characters feelings gradually change and blossom. They actually challenge each other in meaningful ways.

Romance, love, family… none of these things are perfect and while we often see them come together in that perfect idealistic way, Tundun has written a story where these things come together in a realistic way. The emotions, the characters, they all felt so real.

If you aren’t afraid of a slow budding romance, so slow that even the characters themselves almost don’t realize that they are falling, i recommend you pick up this book.

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The narrator did a great job and was very engaging. The story was engrossing and kept bringing me back to it. I loved the development of the relationship between Ari and Caleb. I was a little let down at the end, however, when the book ended and there were still questions that needed to be answered. I’m not sure if this was done to set up a second book or if the author is planning to just leave it as a standalone, but when the narration ended, I literally yelled “WHAT?” At the top of my lungs. The story dynamics are very interesting and I liked how the author brought in so many different areas an cultures; it made the novel that much more accessible. I would recommend this to friends for sure!

Cw rape, gaslighting, domestic abuse, drug/alcohol abuse, racism spiked


I enjoyed this friends to lovers, forced proximity read and while it dealt with a lot of heavy issues the main will they won't they really lead it through. At times I found the main characters SO frustrating and felt parts of the story went on too long/weren't needed.

I also wish there has been more clarity over who's narrative we were listening to at each point.

Engaging and entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where contemporary romance and WF are popular.

Ariella - everything is perfect, until it's not. Caleb - sex and fooling around is a three-ring circus, until it's not. What happened and why? Read to find out. Pick your team...Team Caleb or Team Jasper. Who emerges as the winner? The story is enjoyable, but the ending is very open-ended; does this mean a sequel is on the horizon?

Not the most exciting of arcs, there is room for a sequel which may hopefully make things better. You have a break up, lots of toxic traits, 2 characters that you like at times, don't at others but you get to see things through both of them point of view, feelings developing, a dash of sexism, and a story not feeling like it's ended. Not the worst thing, but definitely could have been more.

I did not finish this book

Eu não terminei essa leitura, acho que até ia gostar, mas não deu tempo de terminar antes da data de arquivar. Como faz pouco tempo que comecei a usar o netgalley, ainda não sabia que existia uma data limite para você pegar o livro, e acabei deixando arquivar antes de ler/ouvir, mas vou dar uma chance novamente no futuro.