Sweet and trope-y and very queer, this book will hit the spot for a lot of readers who are looking for a light romp of a story. There are a few stumbles along the way: Seth and Jasper felt a little underdeveloped in comparison to Evelyn and Noelle. It felt strange to have Seth as a narrator when he had only one or two chapters for every four or five Evelyn had. It was a strange no-man's-land between a protagonist and a secondary character.

The kidnapping plot that cropped up at the end of story did feel slightly out of tone with the rest of the story, as well.

That said, I still greatly enjoyed the book, getting to know the characters, and rooting for them to find happiness. A fairy tale ending is still rare to find in queer stories, and so greatly appreciated.

I would especially recommend this book for readers that love The Rosewood Chronicles.

Thank you, NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

At first glance, I thought this book would be a soft contemporary romance book with two sapphics eventually finding out their feelings for one another after becoming roommates at this preparatory school. However, my expectations soon fell to the pits of my stomach once I realize how racist this book really was.

This book only has white students and it completely rubbed me the wrong way once I realized that the only POC student at this school was deemed as "bad."

I see how it was supposed to be a great sapphic book, but I was only left feeling disappointed.

I'M NOT EVER GONNA READ THIS, I WAS ABOUT TO DO IT, but then I read everything it said that making your only character of color something bad, and not only that, she's okay with it, it's just messed up.

anyways I want to thank Netgalley for providing me an advanced copy of the book.

DNF at 20%
I'm really sad that I didn't love this book, but it just wasn't for me. The writing style was very simplistic and while there is nothing wrong with that, I tend to enjoy more flowery writing. I also didn't connect to any of the characters and as a character-driven reader, I felt bored and disconnected from the story. I would recommend this, but it wasn't something that I personally would enjoy.

Never Kiss Your Roommate is the lesbian romcom I never knew I needed. It's funny, it's sweet, it's realistic in its character building, and of course it's gay. When Evelyn moves to a new boarding school, she--you guessed it--falls in love with her roommate. This book is told from the point of view of Evelyn, our main character, and also her friend Seth (who for some reason wasn't advertised or really mentioned). While Evelyn is falling for Noelle, Seth is falling for Jasper, Noelle's best friend. This book has wlw and mlm relationships, though a much stronger focus is on Evelyn and Elle. It tries really hard to combat things like mental health, internalized homophobia, stalking, and more; it does it pretty well for the most part, but I found the mystery subplot a little unrealistic. That was but a small portion of the overall story, though, so I won't fault it much for that!

This book falls somewhere in the grey area between YA and NA, though perhaps leaning more towards YA. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I can see it becoming a guilty pleasure for me. As debut books go, it was impressive, and I will definitely be recommending it and looking out for any of the author's future work. Anyone looking for a lesbian romance somewhere akin to Red, White, and Royal Blue or Her Royal Highness should look no further.

This was initially described to me as being a contemporary with a thriller twist. And while this was a super cute contemporary, I got no thriller vibes from this until the last 75% of the book. The thriller aspect felt very rushed and underdeveloped as a result.

As for the rest of the book, I found this to be so adorable. I loved each of the romances; but I did wish Seth and Jasper’s was more developed (or rather I wish I saw more of it). I also wanted there to be more POVs; like Noelle’s or even Jasper’s.
While I did like both Evelyn and Seth’s perspective, I wanted more from Seth’s POV ‘cause I believe that could’ve added so much more depth to the story.

I also loved the LGBTQ+ representation in this. There were two bisexual main characters, a lesbian protagonist, and a pansexual main character; along with queer side characters. This was unapologetically queer and I loved every second of it.

Overall, I would recommend this book for pride month for its sapphic romances; but don’t go into this thinking it’s going to be a good thriller.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this copy in exchange for an honest review

This was a cute book! I liked the two different POVs and really enjoyed seeing the friend group of Evelyn, Noelle, Seth and Jasper all together. The plot near the end involving Noelle/Kyle felt a bit out of place and kind of jarring compared to the tone of the rest of the book. There are also concerns from POC about the way Noelle was portrayed as one of the only Black characters in the book.

2.5 stars

let me start by saying I admire this author greatly for a) writing, finishing, and publishing a book at such a young age. b) writing a whole novel in English, even though, from what I understand, German is her native language.

that being said, my thoughts about this book kept changing as I continued reading. I think the main reason I didn't love this one is that the only part of it I was actually invested in was Noelle and Evelyn's romance, which seems like it'd be the main part of the story, but sometimes I felt like it wasn't.

for example, a large part of it was also Seth and Jasper. I really couldn't get myself to like either of them. for some reason, they felt really bland and empty. as in- there wasn't anything that stood out about them. as someone who values characters over plot more, I couldn't get into their plotline because of that very reason. I think I would've liked this book much more if it solely focused on Noelle and Evelyn.

as for the main romance- I was very pleasantly surprised. despite Noelle's guardedness and standoffish character, I'd found her to have a lot of depth that she mainly showed while with Evelyn. their romance was absolutely adorable. it was healthy, it evolved in stages, which I loved, and there wasn't anything wrong with it. it was great.

unfortunately, I couldn't really appreciate the rest of the story. all the subplots and moments that weren't filled with romance tended to bore me.

despite that, if you like more expanded plots, you might enjoy this!

Thank you to Netgalley and Wattpad Books for this e-arc.
Lots of LGBTQ readers were excited about this release. I'm a lesbian who LOVES reading sapphic romance, so even if I'm not a huge fan of YA, I happily requested "Never Kiss Your Roommate" on Netgalley a couple of weeks ago.
However, the reality of this novel is disappointing and offensive. I don't see how anyone can recommend it or rate it highly in good consciousness. The author uses blatantly racist stereotypes in her characterization of Noelle, the Black girl who serves as a love interest to the white protagonist, Evelyn. We are supposed to perceive Evelyn as shy, bookish, and innocent; while Noelle is oversexualized, aggressive, and rude. The latter is one of the only Black characters in "Never Kiss Your Roommate" (the other Black character is only mentioned briefly). Harms, a non-black author, applies the 'angry black woman' trope to Noelle. People on Goodreads and other platforms have expressed concern about the racism, poor writing, and two-dimensional characterization, but I don't really see any similar reviews on Netgalley. I hope my review will deter people from engaging with this text, it's not worth reading.

honestly, i did really want to read this book and i really wanted to like this book, but seeing all the thing the author put in this book, i'm not going to finish this book or read anything by the author ever again.

- the whole school is white kids and the only two Black people are the headmaster, which was just on for like half a page and then the girl on the cover.
- and then the Black girl, who has all the stereotypes of being the school bully, she’s said to be aggressive and violent and mean to everyone for no reason.
- and also she was over sexualized by literally everyone. like all of her classmates over sexualized her and also like even some of the teachers did.
- there was also this online gossip column that made these super sexual and rude comments towards Noelle.
- then they had these stereotypes towards Noelle that her dad was like absent, and she’s a smoker, and that she doesn’t really care to much about school or like becoming friends with people. and there was this really weird part about how she plays basketball and ofc she should.
- and also there was this kidnapping, and it was like so odd. like she got kidnapped by her old boyfriend cause he was obsessed with her and like super toxic, so he had to kidnap her for like three pages.

First LGBTQ+ book of Pride Month 2021✔

I found Never Kiss Your Roommate extremely heartfelt. I enjoyed the writing, the plot, the characters, the ending...

The book is a coming of age story set against an English boarding school backdrop that follows Evelyn, Seth, Noelle, and Jasper. Each are part of the LGBTQ+ community (E-lesbian, S-bi, N-bi, J-pan) and I loved the representation. Though it was corny at times (what YA romance isnt?), it dealt with themes of accepting yourself for who you are, and opening yourself up to love. One thing I REALLY appreciated in the book was characters asking for consent.

This is Philline Harms' debut novel, and I'm so excited to see what she comes up with next!

(Contains spoilers)
TW - internalized homophobia/biphobia, bullying, mention of sexual assault, PTSD (nightmares), divorce, character coming out stories, kidnapping, mild violence, pedophilia (15f + 19m), mention of abusive/controlling relationship, mention of being outed, homophobia

While the story of this book was decent and I did have a good time with this book I cannot recommend it to anyone.

This book plays on a lot of harmful stereotypes against black women, and multiple own voices reviewers have pointed out these racist stereotypes many times.
Because of this I cannot with good conscience actually recommend this to anyone.

The book was okay, seeing all these queer characters were great, but that doesn't change the fact that aspects of this book is blatantly racist and therefore I cannot say I would recommend it to anyone.

Thank you to Wattpad for the ARC.

I did not finish this book, but I do not plan to. I am not interested in a book written by a white woman where the love interest is an aggressive, hostile, mean Black girl in a school of mostly white people. I think that was a poor decision on the part of the author, and I am disappointed.

I was really looking forward to a fun, sapphic enemies to lovers book, but I couldn't enjoy it when one of the few Black characters is made up purely of harmful stereotypes.

I would like to thank NetGalley for the copy and the opportunity. I did not finish this book due to the lack of good representation in this book. I cannot speak for the black community as I am an Asian reader. However, I found that this book reinforces harmful stereotypes. I do not recommend this book at all, and there are better sapphic books out there written by POC authors.

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of Never Kiss Your Roommate by Philline Harms.

I adored this book, the characters, the setting, the way that Harms handled what could have been a cliché plot, I just didn't want to put this book down and devoured it in an evening.

Evelyn is heading to Seven Hills International School for Boys and Girls for a new start. Seth is heading there as his home life implodes as his parents get divorced. What they don't expect is to find both friendship that comes with no strings, no awkwardness, friendship that is easy. Nor do they expect to be accepted as they are but here they manage to meet people who they don't have to hide from and they fall in love.
The way that Harms handled what could have very easily turned into very cliché misunderstanding leading to heartbreak by inserting some action made this book end on a better note than expected. It was fun, it held important representation, I fell in love with these characters, and I think most importantly that representation wasn't perfect but it felt real.

As other reviewers have shared, this book tries—and fails—to hit a number of serious topics and tropes without confronting the fact that the “diversity” is really not diversity at all and falls into the same old stereotypes Black writers and readers have worked hard to point out as incredibly racist and small-minded. As a Black reader, I had a hard time buying into Evelyn and Noelle’s romance for these reasons, and it sort of soured the rest of the book for me as well. There are many other actually diverse and magic based books to look into besides this one, and I recommend that the author either hire a sensitivity writer or re-evaluate what a diverse community looks like, instead of adding token characters of color and writing them as white-coded still.

1/5

While Seven Hills boarding school may be advertised as a place for only the best and brightest students, the real person holding all the cards is The Watcher, the anonymous person running Chitter Chatter, a blog created for exposing all the secrets and drama on campus. New Students Evelyn and Seth arrive fresh off the train for the semester utterly unprepared for the realities of life away from home and form a fast friendship as they are flung headfirst into the melee. Evelyn herself quickly encounters drama of her own with her distant roommate Noelle, who seems determined to keep her at arm's length. As the school year progresses the person behind Chitter Chatter becomes even more cutthroat, threatening new relationships and those trying to escape the past.

At first glance Never Kiss Your Roommate seems to have all the characteristics of a good contemporary, with strong characters, compelling romances, and a gossip girl inspired storyline. The plot summary attracted my attention enough to submit a request for an early copy through NetGalley, and while I thought the premise was executed fairly well, there were severe issues that upon reflection make me unwilling to recommend it or promote it any further. I am of course talking about the characterization of Noelle, the love interest and roommate of Evelyn. Not only is Noelle described throughout the book as being aggressive and rude, she was constantly oversexualized and the center of many negative stereotypes associated specifically with Black women. There was definitely the potential for this to be a look into a Black student’s experience attending a predominantly white boarding school, but instead, it was just incredibly harmful representation on the author's part. With the differing opinions surrounding the character later being revealed as rumors, and never reexamined, that was even more clear. From the glaring stereotypes to the racist depictions and character backgrounds, this book was just all-around a huge problem. The small parts of the story that I did enjoy, like the friendships and queer characters, were let down by the decision to represent the character of Noelle in such a way. Many reviewers of color have already touched on this book in more depth and I encourage everyone to seek those out to learn more. The negative parts of this book are rather blatant and definitely aren't worth even sparing this a read for the queer representation.

Trigger Warnings: blood, violence, bullying, homophobia, kidnapping, outing (off-page), panic attacks, trauma, alcohol consumption, sexual assault (off-page).

Editing this review as many fellow POC have pointed out how this book is racist and falls into many stereotypes.

There is a total of 1 black character in the whole school other than the headmistress that is seen once. This could've been a great opportunity to show how this effects her throughout the novel. She is categorized as a "mean bully" type character, who plays basketball, and has an absent father, so do with that what you will.

The overall plot line was fine I suppose but nothing special. Throughout about 4/5 of the book was very predictable. The last 20℅ was odd since it just picked up rapidly for no reason. The companion mlm romance wasn't fleshed out much at all, making the secondary mc not needed.

There's plenty of other reviews that go through some of the things that I said more in detail so I suggest looking for those as well.

Overall, I definitely don't recommend this. Please don't read it.

Update: I have recently read a review by Graciella which points out the stereotypes between the love interest Noelle who is a black woman. She is described as basketball-playing, cigarette-smoking, overly aggressive, and rude; Which plays with the racist depictions of black women whereas the main character Evelyn is described as a pure and innocent white woman.

this was a cute read! I enjoyed reading the different POVs between Evelyn and Seth and the love interest were nice too. The pacing was a bit too fast and the romance progressed too quickly. The main characters were enjoyable to read about There was a great amount of representation and there was always a conversation of consent before any physical touch which is important. The plot was a bit loose and it did feel like I was reading fanfiction which makes sense since this was already a Wattpad book.