Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

☆ Best friends to lovers
☆ Forced Proximity

I enjoyed this book so, so much! Rahul and Jasmine are clearly, perfect for each other and you feel that instantly.
I love the narrators and their voices were so calming. I didn’t love that they each gave Asmita a different accent??

If you love the friends to lovers trope, this book is perfect for you.

Friends to lovers & roommates? Sign me up!

I ended up really liking this. I felt the friendship was believable but I could see how the romance blossomed between them. I truly loved the MMC. He was so precious and the sweetest. I liked that he was genuinely a good guy. The FMC was fun too but could be frustrating at times. I did like that the roles were reversed as to the man being a big believer in love and the woman not. I think it added a different dynamic and perspective.

The narrator was okay.

This book was everything! I'm such a sucker for friends to lovers, especially if they've been friends for a long time and there is a lot of pining. And the way Rahul pined for Jasmine! There was so much angst and emotion, and I was living for it!

We follow Rahul and Jasmine who have been friends for seven years. Rahul has loved Jasmine the whole time, but is happy to have her as a friend. When she needs a place to stay, she temporarily moves in with him. With her so close, he can feel his carefully constructed walls falling and his self-control slipping.

Rahul and Jasmine felt like real people with multiple dimensions and flaws. They were messy and real, and they tried their best. There was also a lot of character development and growth. I loved seeing these two work on themselves, and I really appreciated the therapy rep. Also, the narrators were great. I feel like Rooke Kingston captured Jasmine so well and truly brought her to life!

I listened to this on audio and it was not good.

The story itself was decent but it could have been better. It had all the good things-friends to lovers, angst, humor, and tons more! This was not the authors best work but it was a decent read.

Title: The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stars

Jasmine Allen, a believer in bad luck and great wine, doesn't believe in love until a plumbing disaster leaves her homeless. Luckily, her best friend Rahul offers her shelter. Rahul has strict rules about their relationship, but when Jasmine moves in, his control is tested. Despite knowing they can't be together, Rahul finds himself tempted to risk it all.

Narrated with skill and charm, this audiobook brings the steamy, friends-to-lovers romance to life in a whole new way.

If you're a fan of romance that sizzles off the pages, then "The Roommate Risk" by Talia Hibbert is a must-read. This book delivers everything you could want in a steamy romance: passion, chemistry, and a friends-to-lovers storyline that will leave you swooning.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and recommend it to anyone looking for a spicy, romance read.

Tropes:
Friends to lovers
Forbideen romance
Forced Proximity
Spice


Thank you to the publisher Dreamscape Media ,The Author Talia Hibbert & NetGalley for an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review.

Talia Hibbert does it again! Characters that feel so real and loveable and so spicy! I am a huge fan of her Brown Sisters series and this new series is not dissapointing either.

Oh my god. This is my fave Talia Hibbert book and to have it come to life in audio was sheer perfection. Rahul is...a dream. A sexy dream

I really enjoyed this book! Forced proximity friends to lovers is such a good base for a romance !The narrators did a great job and added a lot to the story for me !

The lust level of this book is off the charts!

Jasmine and Rahul are great characters, and the narrators of this audiobook did a great job, though I do wish that the dual voices spoke to each other, rather than each narrator doing the opposite character's voice. I think together in conversation they would have excellent chemistry.

My biggest criticism of this book is that it feels like they are building up to steamy scenes constantly. At times it feels more about sex than it does about character development. That’s not to say it’s not a fun, easy read. Because it sure is!! I've yet to meet a Talia Hibbert book that I don't enjoy.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐊
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚒𝚍𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 #𝟸
ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ꜱᴘɪᴄᴇ: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

🎧 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗶𝗮 #netgalley
⏳ 09𝗛 36𝗠
🎙️ Rook Kingston & Keval Shah

🤎𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜
🏠𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙱𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚝𝚜
🤎𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚡𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚢
🏠𝙷𝚎 𝙵𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝/𝙿𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚘
🤎𝙸𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚘/𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚎
🏠𝚂𝚎𝚡 𝙿𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝙵𝙼𝙲

Rahul fell for Jasmine hard and fast when they met in college, they hooked up but Jasmine was adamant about her rule of not dating and not shagging her friend. So Rahul, not willing to lose her, chose to stay as her platonic friend. After some plumbing incident, Jasmine moves in with Rahul temporarily. Can he keep his feelings at bay or will he scare her away once she discovers his feelings…

I love Rahul so much, he’s the dream and deserves so much better than Jasmine. This man has been pining for her forever, he was such a good friend too even when he knows she will never return his feelings. Jasmine is a hot mess, It’s really hard to find anything I liked about her. There’s a bit of character development for her, but she annoys me at times. Their friendship is actually really cute and sweet, they shared some heartbreaking moments relating to the loss of their parents. I enjoy most of this book solely due to how swoon-worthy Rahul is until Jasmine breaks his poor heart towards the end, it was heartbreaking 💔

🎧𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄🎧
Dual narrator but the story was told from third POV, which I’m not a fan of as sometimes it gets confusing. The narration was okay when they were portraying their characters, unfortunately, one of my icks is when they do another gender’s voice. It was so cringy to the point of distraction, I rather them talk in their normal voice because when the male narrator does his “female” voice and the female narrator does her “male” voice is so bad, that I cringe. If you can look past it, they actually did a good job portraying their respective characters, and from their names, I assume they are cast appropriately, but since they are speaking with British accents, it’s not very obvious.

✿ 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 Audio 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 Dreamscape Media 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚖 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚟𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚢 ✿

The humor, horniness, and heart that characterizes Talia Hibbert's other books is definitely present here which was a delight because her signature blend of these three things is what keeps me coming back to her books. If you're a fan of guys falling first and hard then you'll love this book because Rahul is down bad for Jas (but determined to be there for her as a friend cause that's all he thinks she wants). The mutual pining was delicious and Talia Hibbert's prose included plenty of her quirky humor which I loved. Unfortunately I did have some issues with how Jas treats Rahul which did take away from my enjoyment of the book towards the end. Jas is very guarded and while I could understand her reasons for being guarded I didn't love how much she let her fears hurt Rahul. It was very realistic and I loved the complexity that Jas had but from a romance perspective I wanted to see her make Rahul feel as precious as he makes her feel. It felt somewhat unbalanced in that regard which wasn't my favorite thing. On the whole though I still loved the book (it's Talia Hibbert so of course I had a good time)!
I will say I started this book on audio and found that the choices the actors were making were taking me out of the book and impairing my enjoyment of the book so I switch to reading it with my eyes and I had a much better time!

4/5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape media for providing me with an alc.

Talia Hibbert is an author I really want to read more from so when I saw the request for this book I grabbed it. This was a really fun friends to lovers story with flawed characters and a solid amount of angst. This is my second Talia Hibbert book and it definitely confirmed that I will read more from her. I loved the narrators, the writing, and the characters.

Jasmine Allen doesn’t believe in love and refuses to commit to something that will end in falling apart. Why wait for someone to leave you and destroy your heart when you can do it first, is Jasmine’s motto. But luckily she will always have her best friend Rahul to turn to when everything falls apart. For 7 years Rahul has been in love with his best friend, he’s tried to move on but can’t. So instead he follows rules, don’t touch Jasmine if you can help it, don’t look at her ass in that skirt, and never ever tell her that you love her. He should have added another rule never let Jasmine move in with you, but it is too late now…

Jasmine is damaged, her mother left when she was younger and that messed up love for her. We see how she handles that and get to see her grow. Rahul is a sweetheart and he decided 7 years before the book starts that he would rather have Jasmine’s friendship than nothing at all. He knows how skittish she is about the word love so he figures that there will never be anything more than friendship. Their friendship is sweet and I love seeing both POVs as we get to see Rahul’s love for her even when she doesn’t know about it.

This was a great forced proximity friends to lovers romance. I recommend the audio as both narrators were amazing and really made the book take that extra step. It has amazing spice and tension and angst and is overall a fun time.

I have enjoyed Talia Hibbert books before, so I was really surprised that this book was a huge miss for me.
The first issue that came up was the audiobook narrator casting was really off. The female voice seemed more suited to a cozy cottage mystery.
My second and most major issue with this book is the lightning fast pacing. The spice shows up early, out of the blue, and with very little basis. The dynamic between the two MCs honestly made me uncomfortable.

I would have rated this lower because I think the writing is amateur, but the spice was hot enough for a star of its own, and sometimes that’s all a reader wants from a book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for a copy of this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Jasmine is a lawyer with a housing charity, who doesn't do relationships. Rahul Khan is her best friend, a successful accountant secretly in love with her. When an unexpected plumbing problem drives her out of her apartment, the careful balance of their friendship is tested when the two find themselves roommates.

Unfortunately, this was not the book for me, and I DNF at 50%. There was plenty of tension, steamy scenes, and the promise of friends to lovers. However, every time I went to continue the book, I found myself reluctant. I don't know if it was the characterisation - neither LC was particularly likeable, both frequently mean or rude to others. Or if to me, they did not feel like friends, it was all about their chemistry and tension.

If you are looking for some steamy scenes, I'd say you could give it a go, but it's not the kind of romance I enjoy.

Everything Talia Hibbert writes is perfection, and The Roommate Risk is no exception. This book had been on my TBR after reading the Brown Sisters trilogy and I am so glad I could read through this audiobook. Not only was the storyline immaculate (a pining MMC?? yes please!!), but the narrators brought the story to life. Audiobooks can be hit or miss for me based on who reads them but I would 100% listen to these two again. This would be perfect for those who are fans of friends-to-lovers, forced proximity via roommates, or anyone who loves to see a man be completely in love with his partner.

If you can't live without the Friends to Lovers trope, this book is for you.

Jasmine and Rahul have been best friends for years. He's the one constant in her life; the person she can always count on. And when a plumbing accident leaves her temporarily homeless, he's the one to take care of her. Rahul just has one problem: he's hopelessly in love with her. And Jasmine doesn't do relationships. Having her there every day has Rahul wondering if maybe it's time to take a risk and hope Jasmine will change her mind.

This book has it all. Friends to Lovers. Opposites Attract. Hot Chemistry. Angst. And a HAE. Rahul is the ultimate book boyfriend. I'm having trouble remembering other characters who came before. And Jasmine is just so beautiful inside and out. She and Rahul faced their issues together (abandonment and control) and came out stronger on the other side.

I can't recommend this book enough.

This is my first best friends to lovers book that i actually enjoyed and had a good time too. I had never read any work by this author and went into without any expectations but it was a slowburn and well executed besties to lovers trope romance.
The characters and their feelings for eachother and their bond was expressed well and in details so the readers can understand the characters better and enjoy the book, which I did.

I was excited to read this one but it sadly missed the mark for me. To begin with, I didn't love either of the main characters and that's a definite downer. I felt the relationship moved too fast - there also seemed to be more steam than plot at times. Sadly, the narration didn't feel right either. The voices sounded a lot older than I pictured the characters to be. I'm sad to write this as I love Talia Hibbert's other books. Hoping her next one is better.

I was gifted an audiobook copy of this book from Netgalley. I voluntarily read it and am leaving an honest review. The audiobook narration was great (although they sometimes pronounced the MMC's name as Raul and sometimes as Rahul which was a bit distracting).

I have LOVED LOVED LOVED the other Talia Hibbert books that I've read (which I think is 5 books prior to this one) so my hopes were high, but I was disappointed in the execution of this friends to lovers trope. I read the whole book because I love Talia Hibbert's writing style and enjoyed reading this book, even if the plot execution wasn't my favorite. (Slight spoilers ahead)

The FMC's reasons for not wanting a relationship seemed juvenile and flimsy. The MMC's decision to stay her friend and stop the benefits side when she Said she doesn't sleep with her friends felt disingenuous when he was secretly hoping she would change her mind. I also found a few of the descriptions and lines during the "spicy" scenes to be cringe worthy.

Talia Hibbert's other book Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute (YA) is one of my favorite friends to lovers books (well, childhood friends to rivals to lovers) so I think my hopes and expectations were high going into this.

First let me start by saying I LOVED The Brown Sisters books by Talia Hibbert, now let me say that this book is NOTHING like those books.
Honestly is the best policy so I have to say that I did DNF at only 10%. The dialogue was cringe with a curse word in every sentence and the first spicy scene was not it for me. It’s a no for me. I listened to the audio and felt like I could not continue.
This may be the perfect book for you but it was not my cup of tea.