3.5⭐

This book follows Owen, a college freshman who ends up sharing a dorm with the literal Prince of Hell. The premise is playful and strange in the best way, and it hooked me right away.

I enjoyed how it reimagines Hell with its own logic and backstory. The tone is light, the writing simple, and the LGBTQ+ representation feels natural. The characters are confident and out, and no one makes a big deal of it—just how it should be.

Where it started to lose me was with Owen himself. He constantly invalidates everything he does, feels, or thinks, even when things are clearly stated or repeated to him. It gets repetitive, and despite being eighteen, he often reads much younger.

The story runs a bit long for its premise, but it’s still a fun, queer-friendly romcom with sweet moments and a playful supernatural twist.

One last note: the cover feels off. The characters don’t match their physical descriptions, and once again, they look younger than they’re supposed to.

This book follows two 18 year old boys that are navigating their way through their first year of college. One is an anxious, introverted studious guy named Owen. The other is an adventurous partier named Zarmenus, who also happens to be the Prince of Hell.

Owen enters his dorm room and gets the surprise of his life; his roommate is the Prince of Hell. Hell and Earth want peaceful relations without demons being so hated. The King of Hell has his son go to college to show the world that demons aren’t bad.

Owen struggles to handle rooming with Zarmenus, as they have two completely different ways of living. Right when Owen is ready to give up his living arrangement, Zar convinces Owen to be his fake boyfriend. Zar needs the help with his image, after he took partying a bit too far. Owen agrees as long as Zarmenus gets it together in their living space (cleanliness, consideration, etc).

Review:

I absolutely loved this book! It was cleverly written, had lots of humor, and had me rooting for the MCs the entire time.

The way their personalities clashed was a perfect representation of how difficult it is to grow into yourself and know what you want. Both MCs were immature in their own ways, but both were able to learn and grow.

The pressure to be perfect and the anxiety of speaking up for yourself was a big part of the story, and I was incredibly invested in the outcome. Watching Owen get mad at Zar over things that Zar had no clue about, and seeing Owen not speak up on it and just assume Zar would know was hard to read, but it was also sooo human. Their growth in communication was much needed.

I absolutely loved Bell, the Prince of Hell’s “cat”. I loved all the gay panic and the slow burn. I especially loved that certain characters stayed trustworthy and good, when I kept thinking they would betray the MCs.

Everything wrapped up perfectly, and it was a really well done coming of age story. This is one of the best YA rom coms that I’ve read in a really long time.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to ARC read in exchange for an honest review!

This book didn’t work for me on a few levels. The first, Owen is a doormat. And he’s flighty as hell, changing his mind, keeping his opinions to himself, rarely thinking about other people … and I just got tired of him. While I do believe he thinks Zarmenus is hot, I never really got the sense he liked the guy, just the idea of a demon boyfriend. Zarmenus is bland. He’s hot, doting, and does whatever the plot needs him to do so Owen can be the smart one.

I’m not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope, but … here, I can kind of get it. Owen is, as I’ve said, a doormat. It makes sense that he’d not want to rock the boat, not want to piss of a demon price, not want to make things uncomfortable … because that would mean Owen would have to do something. But, he does eventually talk to Zarmenus, who obligingly steps up, and then that’s all done.

I think this is a book that’s more of an idea than an actuality. It takes the easy path — much like Owen — and doesn’t let anything actually happen. It’s nice to have a low angst read every now and then, and this is certainly decently written and pleasant to read, it’s just not doing anything interesting.

But that’s just me. Other people may really like this book, and I’m glad for them. Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free Kindle book. My review is voluntarily given, and my opinions are my own.

Not that any of my experiences were even remotely similar, this book just reminded me how glad I was not be in college anymore. Sharing a dorm room. Ugh. It can be the worst. Especially if you are like Owen and don't address any problems! Loved this book so much, especially the demon 🐈‍⬛️

For those who want to know, no smut in the book. There's some 'my roommate having sex in the middle night with a random guy, but I would rather lose sleep than confront him about it'. They go just a touch above kissing.

Would definitely recommend this book. This is the second book by this author, and I am planning on reading more. Since the whole premise of this book is an exchange program with hell, I would love to read a book about the girl who spent the semester in hell!

This was probably the cutest little paranormal romance I’ve ever read. I mean seriously. Zar and Owen’s relationship was so fucking adorable. Zar bringing him coffee every day. Bell. Even the ghouls, lol.

This is an utterly fantastic and engrossing read. I didn't want to look away the entire time I was reading. The characters are very strong, especially the friend groups outside of Owen and Zarmenus. The way that the couple are there for each other despite being in a fake relationship is very sweet. I had a marvelous time reading this book and highly recommend it.

This was such a fun and entertaining book to read. It had me enthralled since page one. I will say that I wish we got like one or two POVs from Zarmenus’s point of view just to get inside his head during this book. This was an extremely slow burn paranormal romance with some fake dating and a little eldritch terror sprinkled in. The comedy and banter in this book was top notch that I had such a hard time putting this book down. I absolutely adored this book and I really hope we get to see more from Owen and Zarmenus in the future (hopefully with a little more spice). I will admit that Bell was also a stand out character and was a wonderful addition to the story. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and I hope to see more in the future. Happy Reading!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book could have been titled "First Year at College with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Oh, and my roommate is a demon." The internal anxiety gets a bit much, but overall, the book is fun, cute and sweet.
And as someone who grew up in Bakersfield, I howled with laughter when it was revealed the MC was from there. Definitely a better place to be from.....

This book is an absolutely precious gay rom-com that I loved from start to finish. The premise is a little silly/cheesy- the separate unrelated realm agreeing to be styled as hell and accepting the demon designation with all it’s baggage seems silly- but the actual story is sweet enough to make up for it.
Owen is quiet, nerdy and painfully normal. Zar is confident, spoiled and hot as hell. The pacing is great, the characters are deep and the stakes feel high enough to be engaging without authentically stressful.
Adorable read that I whole heartedly recommend!

This YA romance is between Owen and his roommate in college, Zarmenus who is the prince of hell. This was enemies to lovers, which is why I picked it up with elements of magical realism. My favorite character in the book was Bell, the demon cat who stole my heart. I felt like this read almost middle grade instead of YA, but it was still a cute, low stakes book.

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I will admit, the beginning was hard to get through. BAD communication skills from both roommates. Once the fake dating started, it evened out and was pretty cute. I like that both characters developed and accepted themselves more as the story progressed.

I would rate it higher but the lack of communication skills infuriated me and I also didn't like how the "quirky" hell stuff kept getting brushed aside. Zarmenus' cat will steal your soul, there are ghouls staring at you in the bathroom, and the room catches on fire. Those things are NOT cozy but very stressful, and I didn't like how it was brushed aside. There's a difference between a funny magical cat that's sassy and mildly annoying versus one that will take your soul straight out of your body. One is cozy and the other is not.

Still, it was a cute romance.

this was such a hilarious and cute book!

the fake dating trope will always and forever be top tier! i never had to deal with a roommate situation but this was full of the awkward funny moments.

for a YA romance this was a cute story, i wish there was a bit more chemistry between the characters!

I’ve liked some of Cale Dietrich’s previous YA novels, and I love the cover of A Roommate from Hell. But somehow, this one didn’t pull me in the way I’d hoped. Zarmenus had some cinnamon roll moments, but I found him pretty selfish overall. With all his constant hooking up and Owen’s irritation in the first part of the story, I just didn’t feel much connection between them. Zarmenus shows a bit of magic, but aside from that, it felt like a regular YA romance. Don’t get me wrong, the story’s fine, but it just wasn’t enough for me to really fall in love with. Check out other reviews if you’re curious about this one.

This book was really cute. I loved that it had a taste of the supernatural without it overtaking the story. Sometimes I'd almost forget it wasn't just a college coming of age and then something creepy would happen. A great book for youth.

Wow! Not what I expected (in a good way).

A cute, mlm take on an amazing blend of fantasy and reality. A very calm & collected x chaos type book. Owen is so written so cute, definitely worth the read if you have time!

This book is cute overall, but that's about it, the stakes are very low but it feels like when they are presented they are much higher (like zarmenu's necklace, I was convinced someone would use it against him since it was pointed out ALL the time, smth smth chekhov's gun, y'know?) and while I fully believe these two have a crush on each other, it seemed to me like their romance was very "noviazgo de manita sudada" as we'd say here, there was very little tension, and even in the end when the story needed to have it's climax and was seemingly building up to it, it fell flat, it was just, okay.

In general, it's a very "cozy" fantasy, with a lot more teenage angst than fantasy and a resolution to conflicts that are very Disney-like, but hey, there's an audience for everything!

This book was so fun! I found myself laughing out loud at times, because even though it was so otherworldly, it captured essential feelings of being a queer person coming of age, unsure of who and what you can rely on. My only true complaint is that I wish we got to see more time of them actually together! But I really liked it, the book went by really fast and I enjoyed the ride.

I didn’t like this book as much as I’d hoped I would. It was still cute, but I think more could’ve been done to show the progression of the relationship between the two MCs. They definitely had some sweet moments together, but the attraction between them felt very shallow at times. I mean, a lot of the book is spent with other characters commenting about how hot each of the MCs is. And though I think they do have chemistry, I wish we would’ve gotten to see more relationship-building scenes between them. I think the story does a good job of setting up a wholesome friendship/potential friends-with-benefits type situation, but imo the narrative doesn’t do much to make me believe they have deeper feelings for each other than mutual physical attraction, when it comes down to it. Like, there was never point during the story where I felt like they were actually falling for each other. They liked each other from their first time meeting (even if Owen got briefly annoyed with Zar’s roommate habits), and the story ends with them still liking each other. Tbh I was kind of expecting there to be a third-act breakup sequence, which I’m glad there wasn’t. I also wish the supernatural aspects of the book had been a bigger part of the overall plot. The concept of the story is cool, and I did like the idea of it, but I feel like the execution was a bit clunky at times. I also had some issues with more technical things regarding the actual writing/writing style, but I won’t get into those here since they’re more on the nit-picky side, and I think the important part of this book is the romance. Again, I think it was cute, but I just wish it’d had a bit more depth to it. I think this is a good book if you really like the fake-dating trope and Hallmark movies, as the romance (for as much as it’s present) is very Hallmark-y. For a book where the love interest is a literal demon from Hell, it’s very wholesome.

My Roommate from Hell is my first Cale Dietrich book, but won't be my last! Dietrich has done a great job bringing his characters to life in a fun and magical way! First there's Owen who is determined to stay on track to achieve his goals. Then there's Zarmenus (Zar), the prince of Hell, who throws caution to the wind and does what he pleases until the Earth/Hell exchange program could be compromised. Zar and Owen come together in a fake relationship to better Zar's image and clear the path for the perfect internship for Owen. Just no one counted on it being hotter than hot between the two.
The plot was good, characters were developed well, giving the story everything it needed to be the magical, hot success that it is! A must read!

I liked the story, how we see the main characters together and the side characters. Their romance was sweet and felt rightly paced. The scene at the end where they're worried about their dog was touching, about how they are both vulnerable with each other. And I liked their happy ending!