I didn’t really enjoy this book. It had so much potential but it just didn’t get there in the story for me. It felt like so much was going on but nothing ever went anywhere

Enjoyable audiobook with good narration and pacing. I did find it daunting to get to the will they or won't they part of the narrative. Main criticism is that the book feels a tad too long.

Can opposites truly attract? Arielle, the prim and proper young woman, and Caleb, the notorious playboy, find themselves as roommates and eventually lovers. While the 'roommates turned lovers' trope is quite common, this particular story didn't offer anything refreshingly different. I kept listening, hoping for a twist or unique development, but it never quite materialized. It could have benefited from a dual narrator, providing distinct voices for both characters.

I’m going to give this 4⭐️ with the disclaimer that this is novel is pure women’s fiction even though we get dual point of view from the male and female characters. It’s not a funny romp of a romcom. There are serious situations at play within Caleb and Arielle’s relationship. Caleb is an unapologetic playboy. For that reason he hits different but his character arc is well done. Ariella is the prim and proper one, who undergoes a kind of coming of age arc even though she’s an adult.

This novel tackles a lot of issues amongst their friend group, too. Modern love with all its difficulties, blurred lines, and loose boundaries. I was invested enough to continue, but the unresolved ending is either setting up for a sequel or rushed to death. FWIW this could have had a solid ending and the story tightened up.

My only complaint about the audiobook is the dual points of view NEEDED dual narrators. At times I forgot whose chapter I was in because the female voice throughout was not nuanced enough to indicate Caleb’s chapters.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ariella’s life is perfect, every aspect is perfect because she is a perfectionist. Until she’s not and decides that she wants to turn her life around but what exactly does that look like?
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to listen to this book in exchange for my honest feedback!

I was excited to listen to this book when I learned it was British. Unfortunately it fell flat for me, and I only made it about halfway through before deciding not to continue.

The book was a slow read, and I felt like it was taking a long time for the story to actually take off. I couldn’t tell if the author was being overly cryptic about certain aspects of the plot (such as Ariella and Jasper’s relationship) or if there really wasn’t much else to it.

Some pros of the book outside of the British accents, were the occasional humorous moments and the message that even if you’re in your 30s you can leave a guy you don’t enjoy being with and make changes to your life!

Roommates is great for someone who loves the common boy gets girl toxic romance. Unfortunately I feel like this story has been done a million times over and it didn’t bring anything new to the table. The characters were all toxic and having while having a playboy main character would be good idea, the sexism and arrogance was a huge turn off. I usually enjoy the bad boy turned good type of stories but this wasn’t it. I did enjoy the dual point of view. Which unfortunately was the only thing I liked about this book.

2.5/5 stars(bumped to 3). If you love books with playboy MMCs, opposites attract, forced proximity, and friends to lovers(okay, they start out by not really liking each other, to friends to lovers) then this might just be the book for you!

For me, this book perpetuated a lot of toxic traits in hetero-presenting relationships and I'm not here for it, honestly.

Ariella needs to figure her stuff out. At every turn we see that she just doesn't have healthy relationships with anyone.

Ariella and Jasper, the ex fiancé, seems forced.

Ariella and Caleb, the MMC, meh. I don't know if the author tried to show growth in Caleb's character by turning him into her protector but.... it didn't work out. Caleb is a sexist little bish and turning him into someone that will take care of a woman(because... let's face it, Ariella wont be doing that for herself apparently) only after she turns into his version of what's acceptable is BIG ICK energy.

anywhozzle, uhhh... I tried.

I'm usually okay with a premise like this but I couldn't finish this one. I really wanted a light, feel good read but I couldn't get into this one.

thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for early access to the audiobook! now available as of oct. 4th, 2023.

nepo baby with something close to stockholm syndrome leaves her seemingly "perfect" fiance, jasper, randomly and rents a room let out by the charismatic playboy with a troubled past, caleb black, having never spoken to him... even though they work at the same company. although she literally can't for the life of herself get over jasper (whom everyone - except for her and her family- can see is extremely controlling and manipulative?), she finds herself drawn to caleb because of the way he lives his life with freedom (ie. messing around with everything that moves and not caring about them; or anyone else for that matter). it feels long af, the side characters shine, ariella is insufferable after a while, and of course caleb, after sharing a space with the one woman whom he doesn't want to sleep with, can ~finally see what love can be~

good if you like multiple plot points.
bad if you want to see them all to completion.

the dual pov on this was masterfully done, i will say. we'll often see something from ari's POV, and then go a bit back in time and see it from caleb's POV, meeting somewhere in the middle. i felt really connected to the story in that way.

this was an interesting one. the narrator ate this uppp, she was so good! her different accents were on point.

it's only 400~ish pages, but the audiobook felt so <i>loooong</i>. <b>a lot</b> of things happen, and while it did drag, i never felt bored. however, at this point, i can feel that i've already forgotten half the book. i enjoyed the character development between caleb and ari, i honestly think this would have worked platonically. they brought out the best in each other by showing each other a different side of life.

there are so many plot points and different things happening that i'm honestly at a loss for what to include and what not to, so i'll just say - for a book as long as this, the ending was horribly rushed. criminally rushed. it has a second climax around the 90% mark and so much is left to just, think about?? also one of the mcs basically gets SAed and nothing is said about it, the book ends before they get to tell the other person about it? for sooooooo much to happen, so many tiny, little plot points to be dragged out, i was really disappointed that the mcs were left to dry by the end. like, it's so much of a cliffhanger, i'm wondering if they're gearing up for a book two?

i won't hold my breath, though.

there is great character development in the first half of the book. then, seemingly out of nowhere, it's almost like they just reverted back to how they were in the beginning, the great communication they had replaced by (eye roll, please) rampant miscommunication. i think we as the readers understand why ari left jasper, but it really bothered me that she, herself never came to understand why, only that she started to feel more for caleb. and (without too much info) for all the development caleb went through, for ari to apparently stop taking that into consideration and think of him one-dimensionally made me want to throw something.

i liked it because it mostly felt realistic. the people and their families are flawed, and it touches on some quite sensitive topics, albeit only lightly for most. had this had the fleshed-out ending it deserved, it would've been a four, possibly five.

Thank you to Dreamscape Select, Storm Publishing, and Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Roommates was just a mid read for me. I wanted it to be so much more but it never came.

Breaking up with a guy for a playboy via Post-It note?? It was a hard pill to swallow. I never quite liked the characters.

I was so excited to read this book and the premise seemed so promising. I love close-proximity/roommate romances but this was a miss for me. The main characters were un-likable and frustrating. I didn't love the whole 'playboy' main male character.

I will say that the writing wasn't bad and the narrator of the audiobook was phenomenal, I just didn't love the characters.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me a copy for a honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Ariella was such a sweet main character and I only wanted the best for her. I enjoyed the banter between Caleb and Ariella and could not wait for the two of them to come to their senses and become a couple. They were a great couple and worked so well together. The roommates to lovers part of this book was great.

Roommates by Ola Tundun and narrated by Savannah Davies.
Ariella Mason and Caleb Black, colleagues at Ivory Bow, end up as roommates when Ariella leaves her seemingly perfect life and perfect fiancé, Jasper, breaking up with him via a Post-It note. Caleb is known as the guy who has slept with the whole office females and uses his sex appeal as a wall to protect his feelings, but he has managed to turn his life around despite a difficult childhood.

At first, Caleb is hesitant to live with a female, while Ariella is just searching for a place to hide for a while. However, they soon begin to enjoy each other's company and establish a routine. As the story progresses, they face various challenges, such as rumours at work, ex-fiancés seeking answers, and family members who disapprove of their living arrangement. Caleb helps her loosen up, while Ariella helps him become more empathetic towards others. g to

Although Ariella is a woman with issues, and her actions with both Jasper and Caleb can be frustrating at times, I enjoyed the book's narrators but had to increase the speed. This was the first time I had ever done this, but once I did, the story flowed better. I was not happy with the ending so I really hope the author is going to give us book 2.

DNF @ 45%. I have started and stopped this book multiple times but just can't get into it. I hate both Caleb and Ariella. Caleb is a misogynist and a pig who treats women like dirt and has women in every city he frequents. His blase, better than everyone attitude sickened me. Ariella has been afforded every privilege in the world. While she is nice at times, she acts like she's a victim when everything that happens to her she did to herself. We are supposed to root for these people to get better and eventually be together, but I can't get past my disdain and loathing of them. It's not cute, funny, or meaningful, and I am struggling to write anything else about this apart from my anger about it. Savannah Davies is an excellent audiobook narrator, and I hope to run into her again under better circumstances.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Select, Storm Publishing, and Ola Tundun for the complimentary ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

Wait, where’s the rest of the book??

That’s how good it is — I didn’t want it to end!!

Roommates by Ola Tundun is a story about Caleb and Ariella— co-workers — turned roommates — turned friends.

Ariella seems to have it all — fancy house with doting fiancé Jasper. But she needs and wants more.

Ariella needs to find herself and moves out of her fiancés house. Enter bachelor play boy Caleb who happens to have a room for rent.

Between Caleb’s random hookups and Ariella swiping right, the two form a friendship and feelings ensue.

I really enjoyed listening to this story and wasn’t ready for it to be over.

🌟🌟🌟🌟1/4 stars. Well done!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Select for the advance listen in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ariella has been in love with the same man since she was a child. Jasper is her brother's best friend, and she's never known any other love. Yet something is missing. To find herself, she decides to leave, but when she does, Ariella simply leaves Jasper a note with no real explanation of why she's leaving.

She rents a flatshare from Caleb who is a known womanizer with a different female in his bed every night.

As they come to know and appreciate one another as nothing more than friends, a spark develops that's complicated by the will-she-won't-she question of whether Ariella will return to Jasper or not and whether Caleb can become a one-woman man or not.

While this is positioned as a rom-com, it's not one. One male secondary character is physically abused by his fiance, another is essentially raped. And while Caleb tells us he comes to believe that the truth is the only way to get what he ultimately wants, in the end, he never tells it and still gets what he wants. But we're left with a sense that in the end, he just might lose it all.

So, while there were aspects of this book I enjoyed, there was a lot of it that was just too dark to be satisfying.

Thank you to Ola Tundun, Dreamscape Select, and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

Caleb is a bad boy, he has only flings with no strings. Arielle is a good girl, engaged to his big brother's best friend and family friend since childhood. Or it seems. But there is more than see the eye and Arielle rents a room in Caleb's apartment they become more than roommates and will help each other face their fears, been brave and finally finding love. The end is a little rushed. The audiobook is good but sometimes is difficult to follow which characther is speaking.

Thank you Dreamscape Select and NetGalley for the e-ARC of the book.

Ariella has everything that a girl might dream of - job, fiancé, loving family. As she feels that something isn’t right, she abandons her fiancé and moves in with her colleague. Caleb, the new roommate, is totally opposite of Ariella. He has a life of a joyous bachelor. As their worlds collide, things start to change.

This book isn’t a regular romcom, there are some serious and sad conversations and situations. As I read I truly wasn’t sure whether Ariella end up alone, with Caleb or her ex-fiancé. I liked most of the characters, they seemed real and unpredictable.

The narrator Savannah Davies did a marvelous job giving a voice to all the characters. I had to double check and make sure that there was only one narrator as she imitated accents and moods perfectly.