I received a copy of this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I am going to give this book 3.5 stars. I really enjoyed it, especially the four main characters' developments. I guessed pretty early who the mastermind behind the Chitter Chatter was (also, the Gossip Girl vibes were real!), so it wasn't a surprise when we found out the culprit. All in all, pretty cute and sweet YA book.

I really wanted to like this book. I really did. But unfortunately, this book was not for me.

I did not enjoy the writing style at all. I tend not to enjoy books written in the first person, but if its well done i can get past it. This wasn't the case. Not only that, but the writing in general felt off. It made it really difficult for me to enjoy some of the nicer parts of the book. I will say that I enjoyed most of the dialogue and that there were a couple lines that were actually quite funny.

As a french speaker, the use of french in this book was just so wrong. The name Jasper? Not at all french. And the way he uses the word mignon bothered me so much. It made no sense. I tend to have this issue with a lot of books so I've gotten used to just ignoring it, but it was used so much throughout the book.

Another issue I had with the book was the pacing. At times it felt like the book was going very quickly and other times very slowly. It felt as though the book should've been set during a longer period of time, not just a few months. On top of that, most of the action takes place in the last 25% of the book and didn't make much sense. It lacked in development and should've been spread out more throughout the book. The mystery was very predictable and yet it only really became relevant to the plot about half way through.

The characters were my favourite part of the book, which isn't saying a lot. I'm a big fan of character driven stories, so I enjoyed that, but I felt like the characters were lacking. They felt very 2-D and underdeveloped. I feel as though there was so much background information missing about these characters. We got to know a bit about the characters, but for a character driven book, I feel as though there should've been so much more to these characters, and I think that these characters needed more time to be properly fleshed out throughout the story.

Overall, not the book for me but I think that some people may enjoy it.

📖Review: Never Kiss Your Roommate📖
By: Philline Harms
Genre: YA Romance
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ / 5
Provided by: Netgalley and WattPad Books

[TW: abusive relationship, (cyber)bullying, homophobia, kidnapping, forced outing, sexual assault, violence (including stabbing and blood), stalking, panic attack, claustrophobia, gaslighting]

🟢 What I liked:
↪️ Cute idea: the storyline idea of the book sounds really cute, but below the surface there are a number of important discussions about abusive relationships, sexual assault, outing and homophobia which was written very well
↪️ Representation: the main rep was obviously LGTBQ+ rep as it is a lesbian romance (OwnVoices), POC rep (not OwnVoices), dyslexic characters (CHECK)
↪️ Consent: the main characters value consent so much, even with physical touching or kissing, and the way that this was depicted was extremely important to see in a YA book
↪️ Easy to read: overall the book flowed well, making it a quick and simple read (quite easy to binge)

🔴 What I didn’t like:
↪️ Perfect characters: I really struggle to connect with characters when they are always described as super ‘pretty’, etc because that’s extremely unrealistic and 2D ... for example, there was a list with the ‘hottest people’ and the four main characters are the top four on the list. They also managed to become friends instantly (or very quickly), which I’ve always found unrelatable (but I am the most introverted introvert)
↪️ Seth’s POV: Seth, one of the main characters, has a couple of chapters from his POV, which I always found to be added in as an afterthought, mainly due to the fact that the ratio between his POV chapters and Evelyn’s were quite disproportionate and did not help build his character more, especially as the book focuses on Evelyn and Noelle (the book title and cover is dedicated to them)
↪️ Fanfic writing: the style did certainly feel quite fanfic-y (and was published by WattPad), with HP vibes through the boarding school, Great Hall and common rooms, and Gossip Girl vibes because of the anonymous Chitter Chat blog, revealing the latest scandals, gossip and secrets
↪️ Plot: especially towards the end, the plot was all over the place which was quite confusing; the book turned from a light romance to an intense mystery/suspense novel which didn’t overly contribute to the original storyline, mainly due to the unrealistic nature of the event

🟡 I recommend for:
↪️ Contemporary romance fans: I’ve heard that if you enjoyed Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins, you’d like this

If I had to sum this book up in a sentence, I would say this book is all the mcs being queer meets gossip girl meets pretty little liars meets being set in a UK boarding school. Sounds really good, right!! And I can say that this book mostly lived up to my expectations.

Before we go on, here are a list of tw (a short list was included at the beginning of the book which I really liked):
homophobia (off page)
outing
sex (fade to black)
bullying (cyber bullying)
assult
sexual assult
kidnapping

Ok, on to the review:

I think that the characters and relationships were hands down the best and strongest part of this book. Switching back and forth between Evelyn and Seth povs, you really get to know both characters and their love interests. I think both romances were done really well. Jasper was by far my favorite character :) his french accent lmao. Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate that all the mcs are queer. I don't think there is a single person who gets more than two pages of "screentime" that isn't queer which I absolutely love. I know that the bar is on the floor with me even saying this, but there was verbal consent literally every time anything physical happened and most of the time when anyone touched anyone else which I really appriciated. If I was just rating based on characters and relationships, this would be a solid four maybe five-star read. However, a book is more than that.

In terms of the plot, I was a little disappointed. I felt that the ending was rushed and slightly unnecessary. I don't want to spoil anything but around 80% through the book it just goes 0-100 real fast and then at about 95%, it goes back like nothing really happened?? You do learn some essential backstory about a character in this part and it wasn't at all hard to read, on the contrary, it was exciting and kept me gripped but it was very jarring compared to the pace and tone of the rest of the novel. The plot of the romance in the beginning of the book was good and I don't really have any complaints. There was a slight lull around 60% through once the characters get together, but nothing so major as to make me want to stop reading.

Overall, I'm going to give this a 3.5/5 but round up with my staring cause I did like the romance and I definitely would recommend this to anyone looking for a relatively quick, fun, queer read.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I absolutely loved this novel, so much so I finished in in just two days. The characters felt three dimensional and the author provided insight into their backstories that made me care for them and understand them deeply. The LGBTQ rep was phenomenal. Having all four main characters (Evelyn, Elle, Jasper and Seth) be either but sexual, pansexual or gay was refreshing and their backstories were rewarding. I expected a coming of age—and this book definitely has this—but there were so many layers (especially the third act that felt like a crazy turn of events!) My only want I longed for was more chapters from Seth’s POV! Can’t wait to read more from this author— I highly recommend this for those who like a little bit of everything with their YA fiction.

Thanks NetGalley for this book!

So I'm goin to try and go easy on this book a little because I know its the authors first book and I think she has a lot of potential. I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers and I think the plot was trope-heavy but somehow still pretty unique.

This book is a mix of rom-com enemies to lovers and mystery/thriller that didn't really work for me? I think there were three main problems with the book

1. I think that the main plot didn't start until so far into the book it took me by surprise. I think if the whole book was the dark-thriller bit it would have been good, or if it leaned heavy into the rom-com and just stuck to that it would have been good as well. But it tried to straddle the two genres (which can be done) and it did so poorly. It didn't have to get dark.

2. The POVs were so unbalanced. only about 25% of the book was told from Seth's POV. It makes you wonder how important it was and why it was included? Could things not be managed from a single POV? Either they needed to be more balanced or the story should have been cut. The narrators themselves were also super stiff. Some of the dialogue was a bit stilted (and very fan-fictiony) and the characters came to very well-crafter self-aware assessments of themselves way too easily. I think, especially because they're high schoolers, it could have felt more real if things were a little messier. More show, less tell.

3. The last thing I'll talk about is the Chitter Chatter plot line. It felt like it should have been either a bigger part or a way smaller part. Also I'm a little miffed at the resolution to it. <spoiler> literally what school would ever leave it up to 4 teenagers to decide whether a student can stay at the school?</spoiler>

I picked up this book for three reasons: it’s set in an English boarding school (attending one was my childhood dream), someone said that it was the book for people who feel let down by a certain author of a book about a wizard boy in a magic school, and because I did in fact kiss my roommate. Oh, and it’s super queer. After reading it: it’s got magic castle vibes without the magic, but it makes up for that with wonderful friendships and a great enemies to lovers romance.
When Eve and Seth meet on their train ride to boarding school they become fast friends, bonding over their love of the same Agatha Christie novel. They help each other navigate starting a new school senior year, difficult roommates, and their queer crushes. There’s an air of mystery but the mystery itself is mostly dormant until the last quarter or so of the book.
I was curious about the choice to follow both Eve and Seth’s perspective but focus much more on Eve, both in number of chapters from her point of view and marketing (even the cover leads you to believe it’s only a wlw romance). Later on, I found out this book was originally published on Wattpad and can see how this uneven structure came about—and I’m not saying I don’t like it, just that it’s an interesting narrative choice. I very much enjoyed reading this novel! It reminded me a bit of Sources Say by Lori Goldstein and Carry on by Rainbow Rowell.
I was provided with a digital copy of this novel in exchange for my unbiased review.

📚 Rep: #wlw #queer #bi #lesbian #mlm
⚠️ TW: alcohol use, kidnapping, homophobia; mentions bullying, sexual assault, dating abuse

this book very pleasantly surprised me, not only did you get one cute queer story you get two. luckily not only were the relationships adorable, the characters were extremely lovable and had diversity and intricate backstories.

in this dual pov story, we follow two girls, noelle and evelyn, who both are attending a private school and become roommates when evelyn arrives. noelle is the resident bad girl whilst evelyn comes off as a naive schoolgirl. both of these girls were extremely interesting characters and seeing the way these characters came together was fantastic as a reader.

in the other pov we follow these girls best friends, seth and jasper, these boys slowly fall into love through a series of interactions and seeing them work on the play together was so adorable plus the way they supported each other was amazing.

overall these both were compelling stories and the only thing that kept this from being a 5 star read was the conflict as I found it a bit over dramatic but it did build character. this was still a fantastic read i would 100 percent reccomended to anyone looking for a book that radiates rom com vibes.

3.5/5 stars

Evelyn is new to Seven Hills, having switched schools when she was outed and bullied at her old school. Seth is also new, shoved into boarding school by his parents who are going through a messy divorce. Together, they struggle to fit in at their new school. Evelyn’s roommate, Noelle, is super mean at the start but Evelyn is immediately attracted to her, slowly crushing on her as she gets to know her. Seth hates his roommate, who is super messy and inconsiderate, so he spends a lot of time outside his room. Through working on the school play, he gets to know Jasper, whom he had admired from afar. Slowly, both couples, Evelyn and Noelle, and Seth and Jasper, become closer. Unfortunately, the school gossip blog is determined to separate them for reasons unknown. Who is running this blog? Why are they so determined to paint Noelle in a negative light? What is up with Evelyn rising through the ranks of attractiveness so quickly? And what is Noelle hiding? Why is she so standoffish and secretive about certain aspects of her past? With a lot of fluffy, cute moments, there are also moments of uncertainty and anxiety as regards what it means to be yourself and be out and proud about it. What it means to really embrace being vulnerable to another person.

The chapters switch between Evelyn’s and Seth’s points of view. They meet while reading Agatha Christie on the train to Seven Hills, bonding over their mutual love of reading. Seth is more interested in the murdery mystery and crime solving aspects while Evelyn loves to lose herself in fiction as a retreat from the real world. Still, they are both in the same position of being new students at Seven Hills and form a fast friendship. They are both so uncertain in matters of love, both going into their first relationships. Seth, with his constantly fighting divorcing parents, doesn’t really believe in love but he’s willing to try, with Jasper. Evelyn is something of a romantic, believing in love and being all too willing to fall for Noelle. Their relationships are very mature, with each participant behaving rationally and expressing their feelings in a very real way, instead of just stomping about and trying to act all misunderstood when arguments are had.

The story is set at Seven Hills, a boarding school in a castle, very much giving me Harry Potter vibes. I honestly expected something magical to happen and was relieved to see that while the castle and its surroundings were hyped up in the beginning to set the scene, they quickly fell into the background.

The writing is well done, describing Evelyn’s motivations and thoughts regarding her crush on Noelle. It’s all very sweet and fluffy, with a good amount of school anxiety and stressful situations thrown in to tone down the fluff. I do think it’s odd that Evelyn and Seth fall for Noelle and Jasper, who are also best friends. It felt very much like a hot people club, where all the hot people get together and date each other, except a lot less heteronormative than a lot of other books usually spin it. Also, the title is something of a misnomer. It seems that kissing your roommate works out pretty well, so why is there a warning against it in the title?

I was very curious about the mystery surrounding Noelle and her behavior and presence at the school. She seemed to get in trouble a lot, but she wasn’t kicked out or expelled for her rule breaking behavior. And who ran the school gossip blog? Just the little mysteries kept me going, though to be honest I was there for the relationship fluff. There is a lot of emphasis placed on normalizing queer relationships and on asking for consent for even the most basic of touches. It is very respectful and mature.

This book is very cute and fun, the relationship stuff being dealt with maturely, for the most part. There is a little bit of freaking out and overreacting, but for the most part, the relationship drama is pretty low key. About two thirds of the book is very lighthearted and romantic, the last third delving into solving the heavy mysteries. It seemed a little unbalanced and disconnected in retrospect, and a bit rushed and overdramatic at the end because of this. Evelyn is also disproportionally represented, with more chapters from her point of view than from Seth’s. While I know Evelyn is the main character, it seems odd to tell the story from Seth’s point of view but not to give his story just as much weight. He has a lot going on in his life and his struggles seem cheapened because they weren’t given enough attention.

With the gossip blog, I get some serious Gossip Girl vibes, as well as some similarities with Private by Kate Brian. The emphasis on queer relationships and consent is much appreciated and is a good lesson. This book would be good for younger teens but would probably fall flat with older readers or people who read a lot. It also takes a turn for the last third that might be off putting for readers expecting an entirely light hearted relationship focused book.

OMG YES. This book was so good and I just can’t recommend it enough. The perfect book to publish during Pride Month. I think this will be great for LGBTQ youth.

This was the queer, boarding school, gossip girl-like, story of my dreams. I fell in love with each of the characters instantly. I loved so many little details, the varying queer identities, the co-ed sports teams, the incredibly accepting and supportive adults, so much more. So incredible, definitely recommend.

Never Kiss Your Roommate has a strong premise. What's not to like with two gay main character friends and their love interests in a boarding school setting? Adding to the stakes is an anonymous blogger who seems to aim to create tension as the story progresses. This book was hard to outright like or dislike. On one hand, there are so many things to like: the premise, the characters, the setting. There's a lot of potential here. Unfortunately, I think the execution could be cleaned up. Some parts of the story are hard to follow and some elements seem to come completely out of left field. I think this book could benefit from some stricter editing.

3.5 STARS

This follows the perspective of two characters who are new at a boarding school and soon become friends.

I liked seeing both of their romances develop. There’s some great LGBTQ representation, some drama and a wholesome ending. Also loved seeing one of the main characters teaching someone else self defence!

I definitely enjoyed the first half more than the second because of the thriller aspect later on in the book which was quite a different vibe to the the first half. Parts of it definitely felt unnecessary.

But overall a cute quick read with a dash of mystery.

The writing of this book was all over the place. I didn't know what was happening or where things were going which ultimately made me really confused. However, I was still able to make out what was trying to be said and what was meant to be happening. The characters were slightly underdeveloped but I still felt connected to them.

This book was good. I really enjoyed Never Kiss Your Roommate, and it's even more impressive given how young the writer is!

This book follows the dual narrators of Evelyn and Seth as they are both starting at a new school in England after respective disasters in their personal lives a their old schools. They become fast friends, and once at school they find new things they will have to deal with, like jerk roommates and unavailable hearthrobes.

I actually really liked the dual point of view in this book. Usually when books have dual POV, it is both main characters gearing up to be in a relationship with each other. But that isn't the case here. This book tells very intertwined but separate stories and love interests in the two main characters. And I really liked how that worked. It gave an even bigger perspective on all of the characters involved as well as the setting. To be honest, as a lesbian I was a tad more emotionally invested in Evelyn's story than Seth's but I really enjoyed both.

Jasper and Noelle are really great love interests respectively- but especially Noelle. She always carried this air of mystery about her and kept you wanting to learn more about this enigmatic roommate of Evelyn's. And once they open up to each other about more of their lives they become so adorable. They so fawn over each other and they made me very happy to read. It's odd to think of the love interests in books as the secondary characters, I tend to think of them as mains- but with the interesting format of this book- that's how it goes.

I also really liked the setting of this book boarding school in England. It gave me a Hogwarts vibe except with more technology and less transphobia.

What I didn't love about the book was the huge tonal shift the book took regarding the final conflict. I guess in hindsight you could see it foreshadowed, with the mystery and self defense elements weaved in from earlier in the story, but once the events happened I felt a cute story start to go pretty sideways. I did still enjoy the story but it was pretty jarring. There was also a bit of miscommunication but it is what it is.

I did like this book overall. It was a fun and cute story and told in a interesting manner. 3.75/5

<i> Thank you to Wattpad and NetGalley for providing me and ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

Never Kiss Your Roommate is about Evelyn and Seth who meet on the way to Seven Hills Boarding School and the adventures they have their first year there, from falling in love to unraveling some of the mysteries of the school. The story is told through the dual POVs of both Evelyn and Seth which is one of the things I liked the most about the book. The dual POV lets the reader to get a better understanding of each character and allows you to witness them falling in love with their respective partners first hand. I also really how unique each of the characters were and how even though boarding school love stories are very popular I did not feel as though I had read this book before. The only thing I did not really like about the book was that the big events toward the ending kind of caught me off guard. It changed the book to end on a totally different darker tone which did not match with the light, cherry tone of the rest of the book. It seemed like the first three fourths of the book were written for the much younger audience the book is marketed to which really clashed with the more mature themes of the ending. I wish it had either stuck to being a cheesy rom-com or a mystery/thriller. However, overall, I found the book enjoyable and found myself really rooting for both couples in the book!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Wattpad books for the allowing me the chance to read the ARC!

(CW: Kidnapping, Outing, Homophobia, Panic Attacks, Sexual Assault, Violence, Underage Drinking, Smoking)

“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔: 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓. 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒍?”
“𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆.”

Set in a prestigious boarding school in England, Never Kiss Your Roommate follows Evelyn and Seth, the two newest students, as they become friends, make memories and find love - Evelyn with Noelle and Seth with Jasper. When Evelyn meets Noelle, her roommate, Noelle is initially cold and standoffish, but eventually Noelle warms up to her, and they grow closer. Seth, on the other hand, has his eyes on the French boy named Jasper, who has a love for the arts and all things queer.

Evelyn is literally the sweetest. She has eyes for Noelle and Noelle only, even though Noelle seems pretty intent on pretending she doesn't exist. She can be a bit naïve at times, and she definitely doesn't always think things through, but I love her all the same. Noelle, ugh ! Angsty characters just have a special place in my heart. It's like oh you hate everyone? I'm in love with you now, thanks. She's definitely a bit harsh with Evelyn in the beginning, but it's really the way she is with everyone so it's not like Evelyn's singled out. I love the interactions between the two of them, especially once Noelle starts to open up. It's cute. It's funny. Pure fucking fluff, and it makes my gay heart sing ballads.

“𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦?”
“𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘵.”

Seth and Jasper might just be the complete opposite of Evelyn and Noelle. Seth is sarcastic with a dry sense of humor. He loves mysteries and true crimes, and his perspective was really enjoyable. Watching him pine for Jasper from a distance was adorable, and the little moments they had when they were alone... my beating heart be still. Their banter is freaking hilarious. And Seth's gay panic moments... so accurate.

I really liked that the story was told in two POVs. Even though there were more Evelyn POVs, it was nice to be able to see the progress with Seth and Jasper, as well as whatever would happen when Seth wasn't with Evelyn. I absolutely love all the characters, which doesn't always happen. I usually find at least one of them annoying, but it wasn't like that with this book.

What I didn't like:
- Miscommunication Trope: I hate it with a passion. Nothing annoys me more. Like I get that with their age (17/18), it happens, and it was resolved fairly quickly if not dramatically, but it still grinds my gears. Like please if you're supposed to like and trust the person, take all of the five seconds needed to have a conversation instead of jumping to conclusions.
- The pacing towards the end of the book was relatively fast. Everything escalated in the final few chapters, and though it was set up from the beginning of the book, I do wish that it was fleshed out more - since it was such a drastic change from the cute, fluffy tone that the book had already set. If there were more hints dropped through out the book, it would've better set up the SVU turn that it took at the end, and a few more chapters to allow it to play out would've eliminated the abrupt, "wow why are we going so fast" feeling.

Overall I really did enjoy this book. I've already preordered it, and I'm excited to get the physical copy. It'll probably become one of my comfort reads. The recommended age is 14-17, but I personally wouldn't recommend it to anyone below 16, specifically because the ending does lean more towards darker content that no 14 year old needs to read. All in all, I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad Books for the ARC.

Final Rating: 4.5 stars

Rep:
Noelle - black, bisexual
Evelyn - lesbian
Seth - bisexual
Jasper - pansexual

Content warning
Major: kidnapping, stabbing, blood, recount of abusive relationship incl. assault - physical and sexual
Moderate: bullying, slutshaming, panic attacks
Minor: outing (mentioned), homophobia, sexual content, claustrophobia

Content warnings at end of review.
Thank you to Netgalley and Wattpad Books for the arc of this book!

When Evelyn and and Seth meet on a train while reluctantly heading to the boarding school they've both been sent to, they instantly know they are going to be friends. What they don't know is that they will build memories and friendships they'll never forget while there, fall in love (but not with each other because Evelyn is definitely a lesbian), learn more about themselves and unveil multiple mysteries about the school.

I was immediately connected to these two nerdy, adorable, queer characters! Between Evelyn's love of classic books and escapism, and Seth's thirst for solving mysteries and dry sense of humor, I knew I would be in for a ride. Then we met Noelle and Jasper, two breathtakingly gorgeous and popular kids at the school with soft underbellies and secret nerdiness, and I was like...yup, this is love.

This book is so funny at times. I loved how sardonic Seth was and his jokes about being queer were absolutely perfect. I loved how upfront this book was with queerness and otherness and that it wasn't afraid to get right in your face with labels!

About 70% into the book it took a turn from more of a contemporary romance to more of an actiony/mystery/thriller and I'm not sure I really vibed with that turn. The situations the characters found themselves in started feeling kind of contrived and rushed, and the last chunk of the book didn't feel as polished and natural as the rest.

That being said, I am happy with the way this book wrapped up and I will not forget it!

Pub Date: June 1, 2021

Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Bullying and Homophobia
Minor: Confinement, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

thank you so much NetGallery for providing me with an ARC of this book!

never kiss your roommate is the epitome of a romcom on pages. told from the pov of two different characters who are best friends, you get to see the way they each gradually fall for their love interests, and you also read two different experiences with coming to terms with sexuality.

the plot is extremely cliche, but even so, the book still works! its such a quick and cute read you can't help but not want to put it down. the events in the book carry out nicely, with non-rushed progression of relationship building and friendship dynamics.

all in all, my favorite part of this book was 100% the found family. the friendship that you see between the core four characters is just EVERYTHING and, in my opinion, the highlight of the book.

despite the recycled tropes and the slight obsecureness of certain events in the book, i can see "never kiss your roommate" becoming a big comfort book and quick read for many people. 4/5 stars.

tws: outing, assault & kidnapping

Oh. My. Goodness. This book. I'm on Cloud Nine after finishing it. It was so unapologetically Queer and beautiful. And it was fun to read about the book's journey from the Wattpad website to becoming published in the acknowledgments section.

Never Kiss Your Roommate is a boarding school story full of Queer friendship and Queer romance. That's literally the book. Besides the minor Law and Order SVU side plot. It was kind of dark after all the fluff. But, unfortunately, terrible things do happen in reality. Hopefully, the author meant for it to be viewed that way and that they didn't use Queer pain for the drama.

(quote)On a sudden moment of clarity, I thought if I could have shown my younger self any glimpse into the future it would have been this one; I would have wiped her tears away, kissed her on the forehead, and told her Look how much better it’ll get. You’ll find people you won’t have to hide from, and you’ll fall in love. With her, and with yourself too. Just hold on a little longer.(quote)

I CAN NOT wait to buy a physical copy of this book in June. I laughed and cried so much while reading. I already want to reread it.

***Thank you so much to Wattpad Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an early review copy.***