This is probably the most misleading book cover I've ever seen in my life. The colorful flat design illustration of the two characters casually sitting on a couch does not reflect the mood of the book. As for the tagline or whatever it's called "His space, his (our) rules", well it has nothing to do with anything. Also, this book being described as "hilarious" in the synopsis is beyond my comprehension.

Mediocre marketing aside, I enjoyed listening to the audio recording of this book, even though it wasn't a particularly "happy" experience. The writing was good and the narrator did a good job reading it. The story was kind of slow-paced, or maybe just felt so because some events were told twice (once from each of the protagonist's pov), some behavioral patterns also gave the impression that the story was repetitive, but maybe that's what makes it more realistic.

This is the story of Ariella, a spoiled, fragile and sheltered little thing that enjoys the two most precious privileges life can offer : having daddy's money and being naturally pretty. Ariella is a kind and generous person, but never really puts herself out there. She works hard, compulsively helps everyone around her and is the perfect fiancée to her childhood friend. Ariana seems to have the perfect life and also seems to have found the perfect man, but she wonders if she's truly happy. To find that out, she very suddenly decides to leave her fiancé and move in with a random guy who works with her. His name is Caleb. And he is two things : a macho and a manw**re.
The story is what I'd describe as a love triangle between Ariana, her ex and Caleb (it could also be an octagon if we take into account all their f-buddies, dates, exes etc).

I'll try not to judge the characters based on their personalities or actions because it wouldn’t be fair - meaning, I hated practically every one of them. However, I'll be judging how they are presented to us, how their dynamics work, how and if they grow / evolve thoughout the story. I liked the fact that the characters were flawed and had to deal with real-life problems. I LOVED that they had baggage and exes that weren’t just forgotten about or only mentioned in passing.

Ariella needs a good therapist. I don’t know where this story is going (some readers say that there will be a second book) but I do hope that the girl will do something about her problematic relationships (all of them). Her best friend using their friendship to cover-up her professional misconduct? Her brother meddling in her love life? Caleb's friends being suspiciously nice to her just to get into her pants or something ? Her colleagues that made bets and gossiped about her? It truly was painful and cringy to (kind of) witness everyone trying to manipulate her in some way or another.

As for Caleb, despite his sob-sorry I mean "back" story, that was supposed to make him more human and help us understand some of his shortcomings, it was impossible for me to root for him. It doesn’t really bother me that Caleb was a jerk, but having Ariella defend him by saying that "he's honest with the girls he's with" seems so misguided. Some of his "conquests" (like that French girl) obviously got attached to him and felt used, so don't bring the "we're all adults here" speech. But hey, that was Ariella speaking, and she truly was the most naive and clueless character ever written.

One of the main criticisms that I'd give to this book is that it's trying too hard to be socially relevant and tackle too many sensitive topics at once : mental health, gender equality, domestic abuse, classism, racism ... It seems disingenuous and gives the impression that whoever insisted on including all those topics were following a check-list.

No scratch that, my real biggest issue was with the end that was so rushed that I had to listen to the last chapter twice to make sure that I didn't miss anything. What was that ? Even with a potentially upcoming part 2, such an end is still a disappointment.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me access to a digital copy of this book in exhange of an honest answer.

This book could've easily been a 5 star book to me if it had at least one more chapter, right now it sits at 4.5 cause those likes 4 chapters had me in a crisis.

Ariella and Caleb had a chokehold in my life for the last two days. Every thought was about them and every time my work phone rang I wanted to scream cause people were interrupting the beauty of the book. The friendship is chef kiss, the way this man was falling for this girl and not realizing it, AAAAAAAAh.

I hate love triangles and I hated every single second of the conflict of going back to Jasper or not, but it still didn't make me hate the book. I loved it.

If you go into this thinking it’s going to be a cute RomCom you are going to be disappointed. It’s not a bad book but the cover and short description are a little misleading. There are a lot of triggers that are not addressed in the eAudio ARC but if cheating, anxiety, domestic abuse, and really any kind of abuse are triggers for you, I would skip this one.

The book starts off with the FMC in the midst of an anxiety attack as far as I can tell and from there it jumps quickly into her leaving her fiancé via a post-it note, which is pretty awful. Both first meetings with the FMC and MMC leave a lot to be desired. The main characters aren’t particularly likable and they both handle relationships poorly. Pretty much every character presents toxic behaviors, even the characters I liked. That being said, I still enjoyed this book once I stopped expecting it to be something else. It was on the heavier side but I still wanted to know what would happen between Ariella and Caleb and what the story was with Jasper. The story felt a bit repetitive and slow at times and I did not like the ending. I would prefer if it was a standalone book because I feel like this kind of story would do better offering some closure but I have heard there will be another one and I do intend to read the next book when it comes out because I would like to see how the author continues Ariella’s and Caleb’s stories. This is her debut novel so there is definitely room to grow and I’m excited to see that in the next one.

I would recommend this book to people who don’t have any kind of triggers and are looking for a more gritty book with problematic characters and situations rather than an easy read or happy romance.

Also if they’re looking for:
- He falls first
- Slow burn
- Protective main characters
- Traumatic pasts
- Opposites attract
- Miscommunication

Triggers: mention of physical abuse, sexual abuse, child abuse, domestic abuse, grooming, cheating and aggressive behavior.

This review will be posted to Instagram & Goodreads.

Thanks NetGalley & Dreamscape Select/Storm Publishing for the advanced reader copy!

I picked roommates because forced proximity is one of my favorite tropes. I also enjoy opposites attract stories and tend to emphasize with perfectionist heroines. This book was very different than what I was expecting from the blurb. While there is romance in this book it is much more about relationship dynamics and ways that people can hurt each other. This book needs some trigger warnings that weren't included (at least in the audiobook version) including: sexual assault, people being drugged, and domestic abuse. I appreciated that this book went out of it's way to show that domestic abuse isn't always physical and men aren't the only ones capable of it. This book also contains a scene in which a man is sexually assaulted by a women which is rare. I got the sense that Ari and Caleb were built to show the damage societal expectations about gender can do to men and women. Ari has been sheltered and is afraid of many things and thinks her main value is in taking care of others even when it puts her at risk. Caleb is rewarded socially and professionally for sleeping around. It was hard for me to like either of them at the beginning but I came to like them more as I read. I do think if this book had tried to explore a few less issues it might have been able to address them better. Additionally, this book would have benefited from a more wrap up at the end. It felt a bit abrupt. I think this is a really interesting book that will be really enjoyed by readers who like emotional stories about family, relationships and difficult experiences. However, I don't think the books cover and blurb are designed to attract those readers. I noticed this book has quite a few negative reviews and I think that is partly because of that marketing. People expect a fun rom-com and this book differs dramatically from those expectations. I would recommend this one for when you want a serious read that explores issues with relationships and society.

I listened to the audiobook version of roommates and enjoyed the narration! This title is single narrator but I had no trouble distinguishing different characters voices.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the advance reader copy of Roommates! Roommates is a dual POV story about Caleb and Ariella. Caleb is a notorious playboy looking to rent out his extra bedroom. Ariella is a coworker who has decided to leaver her fiancé. After taking down the rental adverts for weeks, she finally works up the courage to leave and offers Caleb over what he's asking to move in immediately. As the two of them grow to like each other, both of them start to find their true selves - Caleb begins to give up bringing home different women every night and Ariella begins to take more risks. But as Ariella begins to let her ex, Jasper, back into her life Caleb begins to realize his feelings for Ariella. Who will Ariella choose? I really enjoyed this story! I loved that there wasn't anything truly wrong with Jasper - Ariella just isn't sure he is the ONE. I spent the whole book going back and forth on who she would choose. That being said, the book isn't about her deciding which one she belongs with. It is about her realizing who she is as a person. The friendships in this book are great. Really, the nuances of all the relationships are very good. There were a few things that I didn't love. The beginning of the book was almost overly vague and I struggled to get into it a bit at first but Tundun really caught her stride in the middle and I couldn't believe the writing was a debut novel. There were a few ideas that were started and dropped - Caleb had an idea for a new business but that is never fleshed out. There were some pretty significant triggers (and felonies) that happened and then were not really touched on again. My biggest fault is that the ending is abrupt. I know (now) that it is the first in a series but it felt like it just stopped in the middle of the story. I give this one 3.5 stars but am rounding up to 4 since half stars aren't an option in NetGalley. I can't wait for the next one!

The narration was excellent!

Roommates is an easy listen. It had a slow start but once it found its stride the pacing gets better.
These characters were complex, they made mistakes and it was annoying at times but real. I liked the romance progression even when I didn’t always like the actions of the main characters. The ending felt a little rushed and ended abruptly but I saw that that there’s going to be a sequel so I think that’s why. Overall a nice debut it’s not without its issues but I would recommend it for romcom and women’s fiction lovers.

I listened to the audiobook after reading the book and it was well read. I enjoyed the narrators and they were different because i wasn't expecting them to have english accents. I thought they enhanced the story in a nice way and the narration flowed very easily. I may not have been expecting their accents but the audiobook did a good job of bringing to life the characters and story.
Thank you Storm Publishing and Netgalley for this arc for an honest review. 4/5 for the audiobook version and the listening ease.

I'm conflicted about this review, as I think my main issue is the cover art does not line up with the book itself. I was expecting a sort of opposites attract/unlikely lovers rom-com vibe from the artwork alone. Instead, I got a complicated story with a few rather toxic relationships and a very ambiguous ending. There will be a second novel, apparently, so at least there will be some resolution. I would caution anyone who judges books by their covers (which I try not to usually, alas!) to know that this is not exactly a typical romance/romcom with a tidy HEA.

2.5 stars as even when I got past my misunderstanding of the story, I found the characters rather unlikeable and a lot of the decisions quite toxic. This one just wasn't for me, unfortunately.

The main characters were extremely irritating and immature, Ariella breaks off her engagement by finding an apartment and leaving a 3 sentence goodbye note to her childhood best friend turned lover. I just couldn't root for her. Beyond that, the narrator didn't change her voice enough to indicate whose POV we were in, and so it wasn't always readily apparent which of our hum-drum MCs it was

I dnf'd this at 6%. I don't know if it is the narrator or just the way it started, but this book is not for me. I have seen others finish it and give this book a better rating, so if anyone wants to read this and form their own opinion, that's also an option.

This book starts in Ariella's POV where she decides to approach Caleb and ask him about the roommate ad he keeps putting up. Before she does that, her best friend Lara (Ariella is her boss) tells her about the previous night when she flirted with her client's wife... Then in Caleb's POV when Ariella goes in to ask about the roommate listing, his thought process is uncomfortable. He's judgemental and was already jumping to conclusions about Ariella before she even left the room. He was also sexist when Nicole came into the room.

I don't understand why she had to end her engagement with a Post-It. I get it, based on other reviews, that Jasper was 'borderline mentally abusive' towards Ariella, and it was basically his way or the highway, but I still don't think a Post-It is the way to do it. When Ariella was explaining her history with Jacob, I made it midway but their relationship before it was a relationship didn't sound the healthiest anyways.

Since I dnf'd this and wanted more information, I read other reviews and this is just not for me.

I really wanted to love this - African-British author, debut novel, super cute rom-com cover, fun premise... but I just could not root for this car crash couple.

No one can convince me that, once the honeymoon period runs out, Caleb and Ari won't have a flaming dumpster fire of a breakup. I didn't even like Ari very much (waaaay less than I expected to) and yet she deserves SO much better than Caleb.

Yes, he has a super sad background - but in the present day he treats women indiscriminately like trash. The way he treats people is disgusting and I don't believe he won't go right back to that the first time things get rocky with Ari. The author herself seeds that! When, after a weekend full of lovemaking with Ari, Jasper gets under his skin, Caleb's response is to go straight to the bar, lust after a girl, and then expect a kudos because instead of f*cking the girl he brought home, they only make out and grope each other. I would not accept that in a relationship and neither should Ari. Girl, you can do better!

Maybe if this was marketed as a story of bad decision making in your twenties I'd have liked it, but for the rom com I was expecting it was a pass.

Thanks, NetGalley and Dreamscape, for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.