This was a wonderful book! I loved the way the characters were told and how you get to know them as the book progresses. It was such a warm book and I couldn't stop myself from smiling while reading!
I was hooked from the beginning!!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

This book was a lovely surprise! The setting is very interested and unique. The Academy feels very Victorian/Fantasy like despite being in the modern world. There are a kot of references to Valentine's and love, Shakespeare and poetry. It's a whimsical modern atmosphere. But in reality, there are a lot of ancient rules that the students disagree with, like total separation between the male and female school, lack of LGBT support and the pressure about the grades.
Charlie is a very realistic character. His thoughts, feelings and ambitions make the reader emphatize with him and his struggles, even when he makes mistakes. He's not a quitter and that's part of his charm, he knows what he's worth and won't let people underestimate him.
Jasper's character really reminded me of Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, both in the way he acts and how he decorates, what he likes... He's unhinged, but a total sweetheart. He's waited so long to find Charlie, you can feel his affection through the pages. He always puts Charlie first, even after being rejected by him. Charlie and Jasper end up having a full-blown romance, to the surprise of both of them, but it really a beautiful lovestory! I love how they always came back to each other, even after fights and disagreements.
Charlie also finds new friends who accept him and strengthens his friendship with his bestfriend Delilah. He comes to realise that most of his anxieties are just that, anxieties, and that people do care about him.
Charlie gets into a lot of trouble with his friends, but he manages to make a change. The school ends up being more accepting than he thought it would be.
His mother seems, at first, to be unhappy about him being at Valentine, but as it turns out, she always believed in him, she just wanted to know he could always go home if he wanted to. She wanted him to know he always had her support.
I loved this story, it's so cozy and heartwarming. It kind of reminds me of Ouran Highschool Host Club, but a more modern and respectful version. I truly recommend, if you're looking for a book to fall in love with!

Thank you to Macmillan and Roaring Book Press for the advanced reader copy! All thoughts are my own.

Was this a fun read? Definitely.

Was a bit confused most of the time? Absolutely.

This was such a cute set up of a premise and I loved the enemies to lovers dynamic (in Charlie’s mind, I don’t think Jasper ever saw him as a enemy lol) because it created such a dramatic tension between the two. Often times you just wanted to bonk their heads together and go “NOW KISS!”

My main critique is that there’s a lot of peculiarities about this book that you kind of just...have to go with and believe even if they don’t really make sense (mainly the boarding school and their archaic rules). As long as you go along with things, you’ll have a fun time.

This book captured me with the synopsis and the adorable cover. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

This book follows Charlie and he embarks on a new school year with a fresh scholarship at a new super competitive high ranking school. But Charlie has a secret he doesn't want anyone to find out, he has just recently transitioned and it's an all boys school. He is terrified someone will find out, report him and he will lose his scholarship. To make matters worse, he was supposed to have a single room, but has a roommate! Who is none other than a boy he kissed two summers ago, before his transition.

This book grabbed my attention right away. I was immediately invested in Charlie. I loved seeing his journey one day at a time as he tries to fly under the radar and just keeps unwittingly making friends. He does so much internal growth through this book and I loved seeing it come full circle in the end.

This is a true YA book with very high school vibes. I loved seeing this kind of story for kids this age! Representation matters and this story was captivating, fast paced, funny and heart warming.

My very few complaints on this book would be that the school has such high standards it borders on unbelievable. I was about to have a second hand anxiety attack from this kid's school requirements. And they post all the student's rankings publicly every week! WHAT? Also sometimes timeframes and what have happened don't seem to line up with what is actually possible. Timeframes and achievements sometimes took on fantasy qualities in the world of Valentine Academy.

Overall very cute story of someone who expects to be a loner and ends up surrounded by people who care about him, while finding his confidence, and a little love <3

Cute love story.

Comp: Dead Poet’s Society But Make It Gay

A transgender student registered for a single occupancy room at his new boarding school. But when he arrives, he has a roommate. That roommate just so happens to be the principal’s nephew and the boy that broke his heart at summer camp years ago.

The story is about learning to let people in, found family, learning to love all your rough edges and those of others, healing from past rejections, and learning to accept love again.

This explores what it feels to be queer in high school and how you what no one to find out because you don’t want to be put in danger or you just don’t want to be bullied.

Such a perfect story with an amazing plot.

Amazing Audio!!!

And They Were Roommates felt like a modern, romantic take on Catcher in the Rye in the sense that it’s a bit pretentious. Granted, Valentine Academy for Boys is an elite private high school catering to the smartest / wealthiest kids in the US. But it’s Page’s character development that triggers the sense of entitlement and the aura of naiveté that reminds me of the classic. You have kids who excel academically and therefore find entertainment in rebellion, pursuing niche interests, and making up dialects (and some of the phrasing reminded me of Animal Farm, though you’ll have to read it yourself to understand why, comrade). None of it is bad, but it certainly different and reading from Charlie’s perspective, it’s clearly disorienting.

Additionally, we get a bit of The Secret History through the secret club the boys find themselves a part of — a tutoring program Charlie is signed up to partake in just so happens to be the same program organized and run by the Top 5 students in each year. It’s all a bit mysterious, but also one of my favorite escapes in this story. I’ve always loved finding hidden nooks and escaping within the sacred walls of the library. And there’s nothing like a book that encourages you to find your own happy place.

Ultimately, this was a charming read. The characters were definitely eccentric and it took me aback at times. But I had to remind myself that these are kiddos and they are definitely odd and going through a volatile time — their actions and interactions make a million times more sense when you view them as they are written vs. from your current POV.

I can see this ending up on summer reading lists, but I think it should also end up on back-to-school lists. This is a fun read to get you back into school spirit!

all in all, this is a really cute queer YA romance and coming-of-age story. it’s relatively low-stress, while keeping the conflicts realistic and emotionally effective. it’s tropey as heck in the best way and has a real rom-com feel to it. I would generally recommend it.

it wasn’t the perfect read for me (while being enjoyable) because of the maturity level of the characters and some of their struggles (a few eye rolls may have been released when the student on academic scholarship couldn’t do math problems) but I think that’s quite appropriate for the genre and audience.

I just want to preface this review and say that no one is sadder than me for not enjoying this book. This book screamed, SCREAMED everything that I would like, but it just fell so incredibly flat for me 😭

Again, I might just be the outlier because I have a friend who loved this, but it just didn't work for me. The book was just a little too outlandish, and I can understand that it was trying to be humorous but the amount of things that just did not make sense in this novel were too distracting to keep me IN the story. A positive I will say, is that this gave me major Ouran High School Host Club vibes, and for that reason alone made me laugh a little bit. I didn't even mind Jasper that much, yes, his character is so insane, but he was not my issue with this story.

Moving forward this is not a spoiler-free review:

Charlie made absolutely no sense to me. You wrote off love at 13/14? because a guy stood you up? and now the whole idea of love seems whatever to you? This didn't make any sense. I needed further depth to really understand why Charlie was so adamantly scoffing at love. AND DELILAH? How is she his best friend?! She says that "I thought I could start being real with you again since you'd be done with all that". All that!? ALL THAT?! YOU MEAN TRANSITIONING? She literally says "boy stuff" in the next line, and I've never been more mad. How is this his best friend? Make it make sense to me. PLEASE.

I was so excited for this story. I just want to keep repeating this because, the premise right. You have a trans boy mc who ends up rooming with his ex crush from a summer camp two years ago, and the love interest can't recognize him now that he transitioned? SOUNDS SO CUTE. But you could not for a second convince me of any romance in this book. I felt nothing for when the big reveal happened, or the confession. I was like so how do we like each other again?? 😭

Anyways, I am not trying to drag this book. I am just disappointed because I was expecting a great time with this one. I think too much was trying to be done with this story, so it was hard for me to be convinced of anything going on. I will say I enjoyed the academy vibes, and the friends that Charlie makes along the way. My favorite part of this story was Luis, and how his crush asked him to the dance. That was the best part.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this advanced readers copy, and I am so sorry it's not a shining review 😭

And They Were Roommates follows Charlie, the only trans student at the Valentine Academy. He's assigned as a roommate to his ex-crush Jasper who doesn't recognize him after his transition. This premise immediately caught my eye! I'm always a huge fan of mistaken idenitty and misunderstandings as I ponder the whole book when the truth will be revealed.

I loved the trans representation in the book and that Charlie's identity and pronouns were respected even post revelation. Following Charlie as he follows his journey of self discovery at Valentine was so enduring, especially because attending this school has always been his goal even pre-transition.

And They Were Roommates also does a great job of keeping everything light and humorous as well even with the deeper emotion beats through out the book. Jasper constantly had me laughing with his unique personality he wasn't your typical quiet blond boy who loves english but was instead really goofy. The love letter plot was also fun and interesting segue for us the reader to see how Charlie evolves with his relationship with love itself.

The pacing felt a bit slow sometimes, and it took me a bit to begin to really warm up to Jasper as he first comes off almost too arrogant and uncaring of Charlie's feelings.

Overall it was a great heartfelt YA romance that allows us to not only laugh but fllow along with Charlie's self discovery as he settles himself into who he is.

3⭐️
ARC read
Pub date: 5/27/25

I absolutely LOVED the concept of this book! Trans student thinks he’s getting a single room at a boarding school, but ends up rooming with his old crush who doesn’t know who he is?! YES PLEASE. But this honestly ended up being a bit boring for me😔 All the weird high school antics were a little much for me and I didn’t really find the romance between Charlie and Jasper to be believable. I really loved the last like 10% of the book, but Jasper was seriously insufferable until then.

Like I said, I did love the ending! Everything came together nicely, and I’m so glad Charlie finally found his place at Valentine and grew so much more comfortable with himself. I wish that would have started happening sooner? I mean I realize these are high school kids and this story takes place over like 3 months, but it did feel like all the character growth happened right towards the end of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy to read and review!

I love this concept. Every time I read the title, I hear that vine in my head. And I love that for me and all the other millennials reading this book.

Charlie is very excited to be attending an elite boarding school for boys in New York. Given their "traditional" values, he has decided not to tell anyone he is trans. But when he gets assigned a roommate by mistake, and that roommate is his ex from summer camp two years ago, his plan is in trouble. Next thing he knows, he is roped into a secret love letter writing group to smuggle letters to the girls' school, all in the hopes that he will get his own room. But Charlie is spinning too many plates, and he is worried he will lose his scholarship before someone finds out his secret.

I'm not going to lie - when I started this book, a lot of the supporting characters confused me. But about halfway through, I realized they were all just weirdos. And then I started to really enjoy it. I really enjoyed Charlie, but I wasn't really a fan of Jasper. I didn't get him, and I didn't understand why Charlie had a crush on him. But by the time Jasper realized who Charlie really was, I was rooting for them against my will. I just really wanted Charlie to get the guy!

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan, for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

This read was the cutest little love story, but I fear the poetry aspects may have gone right over my head😂

I truly did enjoy reading And They Were Roommates, mainly because I always love a cutesy gay romance. And I'll be completely honest, this was the first book I have read that had a trans main character. I loved it! I feel like we, as readers, were truly able to feel exactly what Charlie was feeling in his first year at Valentines. And Jasper- poor Jasper was having an existential crisis it felt like. I would have enjoyed a bonus chapter in Jasper's POV, I think. But that may just be me being greedy for more to the story (🤗).

I think the only reason I took off a star has less to do with the book and more to do with the fact that I didn't quite understand a good majority of the poetry lingo or what STRIP's main motto was doing. And P.M.? I still am not quite sure who he is, what he did, or what really happened between him and Jasper. Honestly, I thought he was going to be Jasper's crush, but in the end I don't believe that was the case (but again, I'm not entirely sure...maybe its a scenario that gets left up to the reader). Either way, ignoring the fact that my poetry knowledge falls into the "I have no idea" category, this was an enjoyable read that I did not want to put down!

This book absolutely stole my heart and I did NOT see it coming. This isn’t my usual genre (I tend to drift toward the darker side of romance), but I fell head-over-heels for this charming, laugh-out-loud-funny, and deeply moving second-chance romance.

From the start, you’re thrown into the chaos of Charlie’s world—navigating life as the only trans student at a prestigious boys’ academy while trying to dodge his past… which becomes impossible when his new roommate turns out to be Jasper Grimes, the very boy who unknowingly broke his heart pre-transition. The twist? Jasper doesn’t recognize him.

Cue a whirlwind of heartfelt love letter writing, nighttime heart-to-hearts, and the best band of side characters ever. STRIP had me howling—each member added so much heart and humor to the story.

Despite being categorized as YA, it doesn’t read like a typical YA. It’s emotional and warm without ever feeling juvenile. The grumpy x sunshine dynamic between Jasper and Charlie is perfect, the trans representation is powerful and nuanced, and the happy ending left me smiling like a goof.

This book was exactly what I needed. Sweet, sincere, and seriously special. Other tropes I loved in this: Academia Setting, Love Letters & Poetry, Found Family/Friend Group Chaos

Aaaaand they were absolutely insufferable. I tried but just could not suspend disbelief enough to see Jasper as a real person who talks like THAT, who is FAR from anything that Charlie sees him as. They seem to be operating in parallel universes, and that is a major hurdle in me getting invested. Perhaps an audiobook would make it seem less disjointed.

oohhh this was so much fun!

thank you so much to Roaring Book Press, Macmillan, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

oh this was the perfect beginning of summer read. the characters were so lovable and the plot had the unmistakable charm of fan fiction, and I mean this as a HIGH compliment! this was incredibly silly and charming, but also introspective and warm. I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this and have confidently added Page Powars to my list of instant buy authors!! A perfect ya queer campus romance! this feels like such a short review for me, but to be honest, this was just such a solid, fantastic read that I don't have much more to say than: READ IT!!

also I would like to shout out the cover design and illustration team, L. Whitt, Abby Granata, and Addie TK, for a GORGEOUS cover!

This book was a light day read but also tackled the topic of a transgender student which is a rare topic in the book world.. The topic is handled well.

4⭐️
Oh what a joy this book was! Second chance romance truly hits for me every time. Charlie and Jasper in this were so freaking adorable. Charlie is starting her first day at Valentine Academy and ready to start his new life. Imagine his surprise when his roommate turns out to be none other than Jasper, the boy that broke his heart the year before Charlie transitioned. We follow Charlie and Jasper over the course of a few semesters at school and all the situations they find themselves in. Charlie is constantly anxious about what his peers will think if they find out he is trans and in turn hides his true self from everyone. It was so sweet and endearing seeing him slowly open himself up to the friendships and opportunities that his school gave him and truly accept it. Jasper added so much comedic relief to this book and had me laughing out loud multiple times. The side characters, Charlie, and Jasper created the sweetest found family and showed how important and life changing true friendship can have in our lives.

Thank you to Macmillan Childrens and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my review!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for this arc.

This was my first Page Powars book and I will absolutely be reading their other work. It's campy, it's cute, and was just an all-around good read. I'd give it a 4.25/5. I found Charlie endearing from the start. The already stressful situation of needing to hide his identity in school, while also making sure that he performs well, Charlie is truly just doing his best ... and then, Jasper. Jasper certainly doesn't make matters any easier.

I found Jasper to be a bit pompous and pretentious at the start. However, he grew on me by the end. While being used to the often typical back-and-forth POV of romance novel, I initially found myself wishing I could get his perspective and not just Charlie's POV. As the book got further along, I felt Jasper's perspective was well-explained and explored despite not having that POV. Once I got about halfway through, I couldn't put the book down and finished the rest in one sitting. I just had to see what would become of Charlie's experience at Valentine Academy and what would happen with Jasper. I loved the side characters and they truly felt fleshed out and added significantly to the story.

My only complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed to me. After so much build up, I wanted a bit more detail at the end as to how things were turning out - both with Charlie at Valentine Academy and with Jasper.

Thank you to Macmillan Childrens, Page Powars, and NetGalley for the ARC!

Oh. My. GOODNESS. We know I don't read YA often, but second chance, forced proximity, and queer? Gimme.

This book was everything I wanted, cute, tender, and packed with that perfect kind of slow burn that has you fully emotionally invested by chapter two. Set at a private all-boys school, it’s got secret love letters, forced proximity, and the kind of second chance romance that just gets your heart fluttering.

Charlie? I love him, no notes. Jasper had me WILD for the first 25% of this book, and then he turned around and revealed his cinnamon roll heart and I was DONE. I will not be taking questions.

If you're into queer romcoms with big feelings, soft boys, and just enough angst to keep you up reading way too late, definitely add And They Were Roommates to your TBR. I devoured it and loved every page.

🫶 Young Adult
🫶 LGBTQIAP+
🫶 Secrets and second chances
🫶 Private All Boys School
🫶 Secret Love Letters

This book was one of the best.I really liked the pacing as well as how the author depicted the protagonist and his problems with hiding the fact that he is trans. The book goes over the issues that he has went through as well as doing a good job of revealing information about the love interest. The slow bonding of these two characters kept me interested in the book. Overall it was a wonderful read.