A refreshingly adorable Young Adult romance novel where nothing has gone according to plan. Meet Charlie: A recently transitioned trans boy beginning his new school year at Valentine Academy for Boys. He has prepared for everything, except for his ex to be his 'randomly' assigned roommate. AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES was fun, silly, and an all-around wonderful time.


Charlie and Jasper you will go down in history

What a great concept for a book!! It's YA so there is a lot of angst but I think in this case it works. The cast of characters helped me believe in the story and I really liked the overall setting. A quick, interesting read about something I will never experience! Easy 3.5 stars.

3/5 ⭐️

This book was pretty good, but I did have some problems with it (specifically some of the plotting). It seemed a little underdeveloped as far as depth to the story, and the chemistry between the main characters seems rushed. Overall it was still a fun read, but (as an analogy with movies) it reads as if it were a cheesy made-for-tv DCOM, rather than something I'd go to the movies for.

If the book would have been a bit longer and the relationship expanded upon, I think this book could easily be 4 stars. Conceptually, the idea behind the story is great, but it misses the mark.

I would definitely be willing to read other books by this author to see if they work better for me, and if the author were to release more material for this book I'd love to give it a second try.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC. Any opinions depicted are my own.

And They Were Roommates ultimately fell flat for me. Perhaps I’m simply no longer in my YA era, because I found it difficult to connect with the characters or take much away from the story. The plot felt overly juvenile, and I couldn’t quite get past the idea that a brief fling at thirteen could ruin someone’s entire outlook on love—it just didn’t resonate. That said, the cover is absolutely lovely, and I can see younger teen readers really enjoying this book. For me, though, it was a one-star read.

I ADORED THIS! This was such a fun sweet read, and brought me right back to highschool! I loved being in Charlie’s head and hearing all of his anxieties but also all of his excitement about school. I loved the age old tradition of sneaking communication to the girl’s school. And I loved how seriously all the boys took their love letters. Jasper was SUCH a fun character and I loved how genuine both of them seemed to their age and setting in high school. Extremely sweet, I can’t wait to read more of Powars’ books!

In this new and emotional novel, Page Powars uses well known tropes to hook the reader in: competitive and old boarding school, “poor” student who has to perform extra well to keep their place and most obviously: the famous “ I know you’ve requested a single but there’s been an error so say welcome to your roommate: that person from your past who doesn’t recognise you!! have fun!”. With the textbooks tropes, the author drive both a modern and historical take on a new boarding school genre. The title is clearly a reference about historian’s take on close male relationship in the past “no but they were really good friends that’s why they both never married and spent most of their times travelling together, nothing to see, just two bros having fun!”. It is as old as time the saying “and they were best friends”. Here it’s used in a more contemporary version.
It’s a recurring feature in the novel, this game of mixing old and modern elements and in my opinion, the author has perfectly executed his vision. It’s clear, without ambiguity, it’s a perfect setting. As much as the location, the characters are also a big part of this perfect setting with boys with feelings. Boys who cry, boys who wants to woo their pair, boys who mostly aren’t afraid to admit that yes, they are writing and delivering love letters from campus to another because love is everywhere and everything. Because this has been the way since the beginning of this institution and should continue on.
The two main characters are both, well, real. They are teenagers, both with big feelings and dealing with a lot of stuff in their lives. But even so, they couldn’t be more different in their approach. The more you read the more you understand their humanity, want to hug them and tell them “don’t worry, everything will be alright”. At the end of the book, you cannot not feel for them. It’s one of the strongest point of Page Powars writing skills in this novel.
I can’t end my review without mentioning the obvious: the queer thematic in this book. As a trans person myself, i felt seen. I’m in my early twenties and continue to share some of Charlie’s struggles about his gender identity. He knows who he is but how can he make the world understand without losing his true self in the process? How to be the most real version of yourself when years and people only showed you the bad endings? When will a trans boy like Charlie (who is only one example in the diaspora of characters in the novel) can learn to chill the fck out and just, well, live? Thankfully he has Jasper. The one he needs to avoid. The one who doesn’t recognise him. The one who could end his already precarious days in this old institution.
Read the novel now to discover how this cinnamon roll helps our black cat Charlie to find himself — and maybe more?

Since I loved The Borrow a Boyfriend Club so much, I was so excited for this new book set in an elite academy. This one is genuinely such a delight to read, and the conflict of Charlie being assigned as Jasper's roommate--the boy who broke his heart before he transitioned but now doesn't recognize him--gripped me right away. The characterization is absolutely spot on, but what I love the most is that while this one has the most ridiculous moments that brought a smile to my face, the silliness is balanced perfectly with sincerity. I can't recommend this book enough, and I look forward to seeing what Page Powars writes next!

I absolutely ADORED this book. If you're looking for just a feel good, funny, all-boys boarding school with disaster gays then this is the book for you. But, if you are an adult who finds YA main characters acting their age or younger this may not be the book for you. There is a side character who calls himself Blaze Alpha Destroyer (Of Worlds) and he speaks with the cadence of a medieval knight and while I loved him, I know that he may be annoying for some readers. I am however, incredibly excited to order this book for my kids at work because I know many of them will absolutely love it.

Charlie is finally starting boarding school at the prestigious St. Valentine's, and he'll be attending at the boys' side. As excited as he is, there's a lot of stress to consider: as the Excellence Student, his scholarship depends on him making the top five in his class every term, competing with some of the country's best and brightest in challenging classes, and all of this depends on him hiding the fact that he's trans. So when he accidentally gets assigned to a double instead of a single, hiding his identity is going to be harder. Finding out that his roommate is the boy who broke his heart a couple years ago and should be immediately able to rat him out? Much, much worse. However, Jasper doesn't seem to recognize him, and the two strike a deal for Charlie to help the school's secret love letter delivery system (communication with the girls' side is forbidden), and if Charlie holds up his end, Jasper will get them separate rooms. Things get so so messy way too fast.
Some parts of it were a bit silly. Like Jasper being voted the sexiest poet, in particular. Who makes these decisions? Who chooses a sixteen year old?? The gnomes in love was also really very hard to take seriously. Also, the idea of a second-chance romance for 16 year olds is goofy. It was still a good book. Charlie's journey is really satisfying to watch and the stress he's under is palpable. I don't know really how to feel about the love letters plot. It's interesting. I think it added a bit to the book, but also, it felt a little weird.

This book was a fun read! Each character was distinguishable and unique to each other so i really reading this. Such a great plot and so many funny moments! Great read!

3.5 Stars! Thank you netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to read this one! The premise really caught my eye and it was a fun read! I do think there could have been more chemistry between the two love interests and maybe Jasper could have not been a total tool?

I think it’s odd that they’re so young and this is a ‘second chance’ romance but I like the idea of their first go being before Charlie’s transition; I do believe that plot point is what drew me in!

This book is super campy and overall a quick, fun little read!

This was such an incredible novel. I loved every moment with Jasper and Charlie. Charlie because he was so blunt and sarcastic with Jasper (who didn't seem to understand this) and Jasper because of his unwavering positivity. I loved watching them talk (or fight I guess) and I loved every interaction Charlie ever had with Blaze. He was by far one of the funniest characters and I throughly enjoyed it! Xavier too was an unintended favorite of mine. I love the name overall and finding out he's a really buff, kind, and smart guy was really great! Overall I really enjoyed the plot too. I didn't really care for the letter writing aspect part of it but the characters made up for these parts of the novel.

This book is such a fun little dark academia-esque (?) romcom!! I really like that the meme references are actually modern and not millennial stuff typically found in ya books. I found the characters charming and funny and I liked the queer rep ofc! Also I apologize because every time I originally saw the cover it instantly reminded me of Drarry, but now when I see Drarry art (I hate Harry Potter, but it's INGRAINED in my subconscious) I can just pretend it's Charlie and Jasper lmaoo

It was a cute and fun story. I loved the characters. I had a fun time reading it. Definitely recommended

Charlie is a trans-boy at an all boys school. He is hoping to get his own room, but there is both a mix-up and a deliberate thing that happens, and he ends up rooming with the boy he kissed, once, several years ago, when he was still a girl. It was one kiss, and then he broke her (at the time) heart.


So to be in the same room with him, not fun.


Plus Charlie is not out to anyone at the school, and is afraid to be out, as this is his first year there. Plus he is on scholarship, and doesn’t want to lose that.


Besides this enemies to lovers story, there are a bunch of other guys Charlie meets that keep him going, otherwise it would just be all internal dialogue about hating Jasper. (Though there is a lot of that too.)


The book tried to make me cry, but although I sympathized with Charlie, I also thought he was dragging himself down too much. So his pain was more like me saying, oh pull yourself together there.


Good story though. Fun even in places.


Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. It is already out wherever books are sold, being published on the 27th of May 2025.

Too much going on with little point.
I think I can tell what the author was going for with the way characters and setting were introduced, but the leap is still too difficult for me to have enjoyed it. It seems like the author wanted the reader to feel like Charlie on his first day in a new school and be a little lost and untethered, not knowing where things are or how things are done in this elite school. Instead, it was just irritating, and we kept coming across situations of “oh, you don’t know how to do this thing? That’s weird.” Eventually, Charlie does find his place and on-campus family, but the payoff was not worth the journey.

Unfortunately, I just didn’t care about the characters.
Along with the plot not really developing, I found myself just not caring about the characters themselves. I had to constantly remind myself that this was a private high school, not college. I am a parent and far from my teens, but so much of this story just didn’t work for me. The main characters are 15(ish) years old and the overarching story is a second chance at love … from 18 months prior. I know (and remember) that our first loves always seem the biggest and the first heartbreaks are always the worst, but the whining and dramatics of both main characters were not well-done enough to make them loveable and move the plot along. This whole story just fell flat.

The Final Verdict: A second chance at love for two 15-year-olds. No thanks.
Stars 2
Would I Recommend? Maybe for the right reader

A beautiful romantic story filled with laughs and love. The main characters and supporting cast were all so charming and fun to read about. We need more light and fun trans rom-coms in the world and this book is one that you can't miss.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a very cute story about a trans male reconnecting with his lost love from before transitioning while attending an all boys side of a boarding school!

+trans rep
+ forced proximity
+ boarding school
+ second chance

I was really excited to read this but unfortunately I found it too cringe/unbelievable in a book where the tone seemed serious. In the first few chapters, his roommate was recognized as The Sexiest Poet of the Year and is a famous poet at age 16, he has posters of his face and a life-sized cardboard cutout of himself in his doom room, and the barrier between the girls and boys schools is called a cockblockade and referenced multiple times in his thoughts. Also, the MC started an English tutoring program in NYC that gained thousands in nonprofit support in 1 year. I didn’t like either the MC or the love interest. I think this book would have been better if they were college students to make referencing their past fling 2 years ago make more sense. Either that or I’m just too old for this book.

Attending Valentine Academy would be scary enough to any teen or pre-teen - weekly public class rankings, no technology, no social media, incredibly advanced course load - but when you’re isolated by gender and you’re a transgender student? YIKES ON BIKES. And when you don’t get that single room you counted on and your roommate is THE ONLY BOY YOU’VE EVER KISSED? AND HE BROKE YOUR HEART?!? Oh, and your roommate is the schools resident poet and Cyrano who helps to get love notes to the sister school? OH THE DELIGHTFUL ANGST!
A quaint story about love, friendship, and finding yourself in that incredibly difficult time in your life when everything seems too big and yet nothing seems important at the same time.
And they, were, in fact roommates!