I tried to read this and did not get far, it just wasn’t for me. The characters were not connecting with my brain, and I didn’t enjoy my time with them. DNF at 27%

Pros:
* New-to-me author (this is her debut English-language adult romance)
* Unique setting: (Copenhagen, instead of the usual USA or Britain)
* Exploring their different cultures (her: Brazil, him: Denmark) was interesting
* Cute concept
* Fun side characters
* chemistry and spice


Cons:
- Ending felt rushed/forced
- Character development/consistency was lacking
- Not enough backstory on the characters for me to feel compelled to root for them and their growth


For you if you like:
* Stand-alone rom-coms
* Women's fiction
* Fake dating
* Slow-burn
* Roommates
* Strangers to enemies to friends to lovers
* Forced proximity
* Multicultural romance

Not my new favorite book but it was a steamy, quick read with a hot Viking man. I am certainly curious to see what this author does next. Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for the chance to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Fake dating???? Say less!! HEA?? Also YES! Grumpy sunshine? YES!

This book was fun! Made you laugh and the broody viking was the cherry on top!
Sol was energetic and quirky and an incredible game developer but she wanted more than the average Joe. Her efforts to have Erik agree to be roommate and fake boyfriend was fun to read and very uplfiting.

Erik, broody viking at your service. After being burned before his trust was hanging by a thread but Sol in for the rescue to help herself and him!
It's tough nowadays trusting someone with your stuff but more so with your feelings and heart. This was definitely an adventure for him and a wonderful story for him to be able to open up and trust someone again.

Wonderful english debut novel!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was a fun book to read!

I was so bored. I DNF'd this book after 30%. The description and book cover was very captivating which allowed for me to request the ARC but once reading it was not interesting at all.

I loved it! Super cute & cozy. It made me want to go to Denmark! I loved Sol & Erik and loved reading bout them falling in love.

This story follows a young woman who needs a place to stay and finds an apartment with her roommate being a hot guy who doesn’t want to date. I really enjoyed this book which was a short, easy read. I devoured the book in two days because it was so fun. I loved the storyline and seeing the MCs trying to take the bad guy down. I do have to say that I noticed a lot of cultural references in the beginning which I was enjoying but they randomly stopped. I wish we got to know more about Sol’s culture and seeing Erik’s culture. The book was still great which was told from Sol’s pov.

Sol is the FMC of the story who is trying to find a place at her job to have more power. I liked her character and thought she was really fun. Then we have Erik who’s heartbroken after his breakup and realized his enemy stole his idea. I wish we got to see more of his app development in this book because it felt that the main piece became a side piece. There are quite a few minor side characters but none that were main and I was interested in. This book is forced proximity with the fake dating trope which was well done.

The ending was well done and overall this was a fun read. I recommend checking it out if you want something light and casual to read. I had some minor problems with the book but don’t discourage that from letting you read.

*this arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

I initially requested this book on NetGalley because of the cute cover and then saw it's written by a Brazilian author and was hyped to read it! My mom was born and raised in Brazil like Paula and the main character Sol. I loved the references to Brazilian culture and the bits of Portuguese language sprinkled throughout. I don't know much about Copenhagen but this book makes it seem like a place readers will definitely want to visit after. I really liked the idea for this book and the first half kept me hooked, but about halfway through I didn't feel that connected to the story or as invested in Sol and Erik as a couple. I think if there was a longer timeline with a slower development for their relationship I would have enjoyed it more. It's still a quick read that stands out from the other romances I've been reading and I will for sure read more books by this author!

Read if you like: fake dating, forced proximity, roommates to lovers, slow burn, workplace competition/drama.

Thank you Afterglow Books by Harlequin for the digital ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a fun, cute read. I enjoyed that the story included women in STEM and fun co-worker competitive games. Also, the fake dating trope in this book was definitely on point and satisfying.

Roommates to lovers is always a fun trope for me and this was a super fun twist on it! I haven't read many books set in Denmark and it was really interesting. The pressure to have a family and work life balance was cracking me up. It's so the opposite of the American work culture.

I thought Sol and Erik were a great couple. I liked how well they worked together both as partners in fake dating and on creating games. I liked that Erik loved Sol for who she was and didn't want her to change to fit in with Danish society better.

If you want to read a romance set somewhere other than America or the UK this is a great choice! It's also perfect for fans of roommates to lovers and fake dating! I did find the end was a bit slow paced for me but I still enjoyed the story as a whole!

I really enjoyed this latest by new to me Brazilian author, Paula Ottoni, that sees a Brazilian video game designer living in Denmark falling for her landlord roommate in a forced proximity, fake dating romance. Great on audio and full of fantastic Danish cultural traditions, food and customs, I loved the women in STEM element. Looking forward to reading more by this author soon! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and physical ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Steam level: open door

Cute. Fast read. Easy enough to follow along and keep interest, but not too hard to pick up and put down. Important while traveling, which is how I read it.

I’m all about the Viking MMC. Always. I had a soft
spot for Erik right away. He became invested on giving her a complete Danish experience, and I loved it. Sol, I was little less interested in. Why someone feels the need to lie in such a way is beyond me. Now - the fake dating premise was good. Both had a reason. But who really cares if you lie about liking licorice? Lying about yourself is not the way to get a promotion.

One thing that seems unfinished - when Erik surprised her with a dance and they never got to talk about that and what it means. And it’s also weird that her boss told her things that Erik should have. So the ending didn’t sit with me. But everything else was fine.

This was such a sweet story and i really enjoyed it, it has some of my favorite tropes with forced proximity and fake dating. i just personally had a hard time connecting to the characters and i didnt find the chemistry between the mmc and fmc that i was hoping for. I just felt like the characters were all over the place and the ending was rushed. but overall i did enjoy this one!

Sol needs a roommate to keep her job and stay in Denmark. Erik needs a roommate but doesn't want a woman who he might want a relationship with. Sol convinces him to let her live there and they end up getting a long great. Erik and Sol start a fake relationship to convince her boss she is serious about staying in Denmark. This was a light read with a bit of miscommunication but a HEA.

Last month I was on a plane flying home from a conference and I had finished the one print book I took with me. I still had at least an hour, maybe more of my flight left and I wanted something I could get stuck into quickly that wouldn’t take much effort. I had recently downloaded this ARC from NetGalley and thought it might be a cute little read for the rest of my flight.

It was okay. This was definitely a quick and easy read, in fact I read most of it on the plane and only had to read about 50 pages when I got home in order to finish it.

It features Sol, a Brazilian woman who works in game development. She moved to Copenhagen to work for a company there but has lost the place where she’s living and needs to find another one immediately or she’ll have to return home to Brazil. And that is something that Sol doesn’t want to do. She finds a flat share with a man named Erik (shenanigans ensue to get this) and he’s a big blonde Viking-looking man that Sol definitely finds attractive. Erik has one fast rule though – no feelings. Last time he had a room mate, it cost him pretty much everything and now he’s protecting himself.

Except…fate kind of intervenes and to look good for her family oriented boss and hopefully give herself an edge over her hated colleague, Sol pretends she’s in a steady relationship. When they insist on meeting her partner, she has to beg Erik to pretend to play the role of boyfriend. For his own reasons, Erik agrees but not everyone is fooled. Sol is up for a big promotion that she really wants and the person who also looks like they’re going to be in the running is her nemesis…and Erik’s.

I liked the beginning of this and I enjoyed the fake dating scenes but I feel like the second half was….maybe not long enough? The conflict felt rushed and there were aspects of the real relationship that I felt could’ve taken a bit more time to develop. Likewise with some of the stuff surrounding the antagonist (Sol’s coworker, whom Erik also knows) felt a little bit like it could’ve simmered a bit more, maybe been drawn out a little? This whole book is under 300p which is not much time to set up Sol and Erik meeting, get into the fake dating, make that real, also play out the workplace drama, then finally have everything go wrong before it is put right. There were times when the second half felt like it suffered because of this low page count and I don’t often say that books could be a bit longer. This one though? I feel like it could’ve benefitted from a little more time. Let it cook, as my kids say.

I loved the setting. Haven’t read much, if anything, set in Copenhagen before and I enjoyed Sol and Erik exploring the city. Erik definitely makes it a priority to show Sol things as a local might experience them but also with a touristy twist and that was fun. I also enjoyed Sol’s busy Brazilian family (on the other end of a FaceTime) and her feelings about them and her culture. The romance was fine, I liked this without ever becoming too invested in it. I’d try another book from the author in the future because I think the bones were there but a little was lacking in the execution for me in this one.

6/10

Never Date a Roommate by Paula Ottoni was humorous, fun and entertaining.
A fun, light-hearted read perfect for a summer escape.
I enjoyed reading this warm hearted romance.

Thank You NetGalley and Afterglow Books by Harlequin for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Never Date a Roommate-a standalone

By: Paula Ottoni-new to me author

Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Publication: 7-23-24 Read 7-21-24

Format: e-book, 264 pgs.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin-Romance/Afterglow Books by Harlequin for this ARC 🩷! I voluntarily give an honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

✔️ Rom-Com
✔️ Adult/Women's Fic
✔️ enemies to friends to lovers
✔️ forced proximity
✔️ fake dating
✔️ multicultural romance
✔️roommates
✔️slow burn romance

Summary: In order for Marisol "Sol" Carvalho to get her promotion, she must move to Copenhagen, find a place, and get into a serious relationship. She has to show her dedication and willingness to put down roots. She's a game developer and meets Erik who is also a tech guy. Sol convinces him to let her move in with him as her fake boyfriend. Erik is weary of Sol because he hasn't had the best luck with roommates. He lost his stable job to create his own app taken by his old roommate. Will they maintain the fake relationship or will their real feelings take over?


🤔My Thoughts: Other than exploring their different cultures Sol and Erik didn't have "that thing" to make me root for them. They were in a fake relationship and they just happened to do the same job. Erik had some past drama to confront and Sol became his person to lean on.

The author is Brazilian, lives in Denmark, works in video game design, and is in a relationship with someone who was “just a roommate”. That’s also the plot of this book 🙂

I had a hard time reading this because the writing felt clunky and the dialogue felt unnatural. I tried to keep in mind that this is the authors English-language debut so some of the sentence structure or word choices might not feel as natural. But there were quite a few things that made me stop and go “huh?”

It starts with our main character, Sol, setting up a date with a guy not because she wanted to date him but because she wanted to convince him to let her be his roommate. That’s crazy behavior. Crazier that he lets her? But of course with the stipulation that they NEVER date. Even though he matched with her on a dating app and is literally on a date with her. Of course that’s going to work. Days into living together, she lies to her work about having a boyfriend and gets him to agree to fake date her. She is giving nothing but red flags and he is severely lacking a backbone.

It was a rough start but the story got better. I think overall it was cute but nothing to rave about. If you want something specific that this book offers (roommates to lovers, fake dating, multicultural, set in Denmark, video game designer FMC) then give it a try. But if you just want a good romance, I would recommend several dozen others.

Thanks Harlequin and NetGalley for this ARC

3.5 stars!!

A cute, hygge-filled romcom about a Brazilian video game designer living in Copenhagen…and fake dating her Viking-vibed roommate of course! Sol is desperate to stay in Denmark, but needs a place to live. Erik is trying to design his own game, but needs some extra income via rent it’s a match made in romcom heaven!!

This was so adorable and painted a really fun picture of Copenhagen, Danish and Brazilian cultures, and the world of video game design! It was fast paced, light and fluffy, and perfect for a quick summer read!


Thank you so much to Paula Ottoni and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!