The Spare Room by Laura Starkey is a heartwarming and engaging romance novel that will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside. The story follows Rosie, a young woman who is left heartbroken and in a financial crisis after her boyfriend abruptly leaves her. In need of extra money to make ends meet, she decides to rent out her spare room to Aled, her upstairs neighbor who needs a place to stay while his own place is being renovated.

What follows is a charming and beautifully written tale of two people who are brought together by circumstance and find themselves slowly falling for each other. The chemistry between Rosie and Aled is palpable, and the author does an excellent job of building the tension between them as they navigate their growing feelings for each other.

But what sets The Spare Room apart from other romance novels is its nuanced and realistic portrayal of the characters and their relationships. Rosie and Aled are fully fleshed-out individuals with their own quirks and flaws, and the author does an excellent job of exploring their past traumas and how they affect their present-day interactions.

Overall, The Spare Room is a must-read for anyone who loves a good romance novel. It's a heartwarming and uplifting story that will leave you with a smile on your face and a warm feeling in your heart. Highly recommended!

The Spare Room is such a good slow burn romance book. Thrown together by some difficult circumstances, mostly being dumped by her boyfriend of ten years, Rosie finds herself letting her new landlord stay in her spare room. Rosie has absolutely no interest in men right now, but after spending more time with Aled, she starts to enjoy his quiet company and begins to find that he isn’t as elusive as she first thought.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Let’s start off with Rosie. She is an unbelievably relatable character and I couldn’t help relate to her so much. She’s also just so likeable, and not at all too nice… she really brings something extra to the story and I just loved her as a main character. And Aled is such a sweet guy with a heart of gold, I loved how he wasn’t just the typical main male love interest.

Laura Starkey has written a fast paced, fun and easy read that I’d definitely recommend to anyone who loves a good romance!

Thank you Laura Starkey, Embla Books and Netgalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was cute but I just don’t do good with so much body shaming, I know it’s life but I guess reading about it isn’t my cup of tea I felt bad for the main character.
I did enjoy the main character she was written well , the ex boyfriend was awful and immature but wasn’t shocked . It was a slow burn story so know that before going into it.

Sometimes negative life changes seem to feel like the universe is against you. They end up being for the best in the end. This is the case for Rosie. She picks herself up and realizes she’s been a pushover and learns her self worth. Her love story with Aled helps her along with these changes. I really enjoyed reading this book. Thank you to NetGalley for the free advanced copy. I’m leaving this review voluntarily

This is a slooooow burn romance. Rosie is our main character that we follow on a journey of ditching the toxic people and finding the right ones. Rosie is a pretty good character that has growth throughout the story which I appreciate. Our main love interest Aled, is such a sweetie and mysterious. However, as he opens up you just love him more and more. These two are both sensitive creatures that are two peas in a pod both giving each other what they need. The supporting characters that aren’t Rosie’s family or James were awesome and such a great group that support Rosie in different ways for different reasons. The only quip I had with this story is that the beginning really dragged on. I’m happy I kept going but for the first 50 pages I was extremely bored and half tempted to skip chapters.

DNF at 25%
All of these characters were really insufferable and I just couldn’t push through.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a very sweet, breezy read - not too serious - that falls somewhere between women’s lit and a closed door romance. The romance element is definitely slow burn, emphasis on slow, so if that’s not your thing, this isn’t the book for you.

Rosie is unexpectedly and unceremoniously dumped by her self-involved boyfriend of 10 years. Unable to afford her rent, she strikes up a deal with her mysterious new upstairs neighbor - he’ll move into her spare room while his flat is remodeled, and she has someone to help with rent for a few months while she figures out her next steps.

I’m surprised to see this book has some fairly low reviews. While I agree that the pacing was a little uneven, I wasn’t as put off by it as others seemed to be. I’m a big fan of Mhairi McFarlane, and this read like some of her books (though not quite the same quality of writing - Mhairi is queen). The book was focused on the FMC’s journey as a whole - not focused on only the romance element - so it didn’t bother me that it takes a bit to get to the Rosie & Aled element of the story. The conclusion was satisfying, if not a little cheesy.

Tropes: he falls first, forced proximity

Full disclosure - this was an advanced reader copy, courtesy of NetGalley.

A sincere thanks to Embla Books and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about Rosie who goes through an unexpected breakup after being with her boyfriend for nearly 10 years, and she needs to find someone who will rent out her spare room so she can keep her apartment and not have to move out due to not being able to afford rent herself.

I enjoyed this book and was also let down by this book. The book had so much potential and promise to be a 4-5 star read but unfortunately, it fell flat for me. It was very slow-paced and took a while for the actual story to begin. I feel like if a good chunk of the first few chapters were cut out and more was added to the second half, I really would have liked it more.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy reading it! I liked the characters and the story and the cute moments shared between the two MCs but I feel like there was so much more room to develop their story a lot more. It's an enjoyable romcom that has forced proximity and a good slow burn. (seriously, something doesn't happen till like 80% in!) I did like to watch the characters grow and develop but I feel like it was done very late in the book. I liked that Rosie didn't let her self-worth be determined by a man but learned to love herself, for herself, as the book progressed.

I wish this book was a dual POV. I feel like it would have increased my reading experience and made the book a lot more enjoyable, as one downside that I have is the fact that we never really got to know MMC's story, as we only got to see so little of him.

overall it was a nice, slow-burn read and I would recommend it if you're looking for a light read that will still check all the boxes of a good rom-com!

I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

While Alec was well-written and had a compelling backstory, I found Rosie's character to be insufferable. It seemed as though her flaws were often attributed to others, and there was a lack of accountability. The plot showed promise, but I felt that the ending was rushed. I believe that an additional 30 pages could have allowed for a more satisfying conclusion, as certain aspects felt hurried, condensed into just two chapters. Despite this, the romance itself was well-executed and made sense for the characters.

I’m all about close proximity romances. Make them roommates and it’s even better. This book has everything I always want in one of these and then some. I would say my one complaint is Aled didn’t move into the room right away, kind of defeating the purpose of the title. I think it should have been a chapter 3 thing, which would have made the pace of the story a little better.

Unfortunately I found this book to be super boring and derivative, the characters left a lot to be desired and I didn’t find them to be particularly likable at all. Not to mention the entire premise of the book doesn’t even happen until halfway through it.

I dnf at 70%. It is so slow and drags on about things that seem pointless but skips things I feel could use more detail. Doesn't really feel like a romance book at all. I don't care for the 3rd person narrative, I don't feel any connection to the characters. Honestly wouldn't recommend it to others.

This was a lovely slow burn romance that takes a bit of time to pick up speed, but is worth sticking with for the ending.

I really enjoyed the second half of this book, although the first half was a little slow. I also really enjoy books set in the UK, and this one is very descriptive and has a lot of the dry, British humor that makes them a refreshing break from American books. Although every British book I read makes me more and more baffled by the weird food they eat over there (they actually eat baked beans on toast you guys. I googled it. It’s actually really just beans. On toast.)

As I said before, I wish the first half of the book was a little more interesting and faster paced. It felt like a lot of descriptions versus actual plot happening and many relationships other than the central romantic relationship are established, but the second half of the book was well paced and had a lot of interesting plot points, so I felt that it redeemed itself. I think it was also a little harder to connect with the characters because it’s written in third person, and the MMC is meant to be a bit shy and quiet, so it takes some time to really get a read on him and feel the chemistry between the two main characters.
Overall it was a fun, light, sweet read and I would recommend it.

I really enjoyed this one! It was a quick read and kept me entertained. The cover is super cute also - bookshelf material! A new favorite.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!
This book started out fairly promising, the storyline was an intriguing pov that could make a great story, this however fell short for me. I felt like it was pretty boring and predictable. It felt like it went from a tentative kiss to full out love in 2 seconds. It wasn’t a bad book, just had the potential to be so much more than it ended up being.

This was a really good romance book. I could not put it down. The characters were really relatable and I enjoyed the writing a lot.

Try to be positive but I couldn't quite get on board with this one. The dialogue made me cringe at times and I didn't actually feel any chemistry between our main characters. I wanted to root for Rosie, she comes off as a sweetheart who needs one hell of a self esteem boost.

On the other hand, Aled very much feels like the idea of a character rather than anything fully formed. It never really tells us why he's into Rosie, instead just telling her versions of how incredible she is. It's hard to get into a romance when there's nothing to latch onto.

Overall I was hopeful because it's a fun premise but left underwhelmed.

I was instantly drawn to the cover of The Spare Room, with its bright colors and sweet animation. This story gives exactly what it markets - a story about two people sharing an apartment and *eventually* falling for each other. If you love a slow burn, this will be right up your alley.

This was giving "The Flatshare" by Beth O'Leary... but then I realized that I didn't enjoy that book either.

The Spare Room has such an inviting, sweet cover that I was excited to delve right into this, but I found myself wanting to continually put it down. I was not invested in these characters, the plot was almost *too* slow (I mean, I love a good slow burn but really?) and the payoff was just sort of bland.

Overall, this sat at around a 2.5 stars, rounded to 3.

This truly is a story about a woman who realizes how beautiful she is and deserving of what she wants het life to be. Rosie is kind to a fault and James in their ten years together capitalized on that. Because she didn't finish university albeit for a reason of great love, he made her feel less than and below him. It didn't help that her mom also told her how lucky she was to find someone like James and not to lose him. It is on!y when Rosie walked away from what no longer served her in finding herself that she realized both her internal and external beauty. She saw what Nimah and Rhianne saw all along. She needed to be unapologetically herself. That is how her and Aled learned to love each other because they each brought exactly who they are to the relationship. A beautiful story about evolution and change.

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for an ARC

I found Rosie to be insufferable authough Alec was well written and had a proper back story it felt as if Rosie only flaws were other peoples fault and that she could do no wrong.

The plot was strong but I felt the ending was rushed and could have been another 30 pages easily instead they rushed a lot of content into 2 chapters

The romance itself was good and well done with it making sence for the characters.

This isn’t one I will re read but it is one I am glad I read