The premise was neat, and the characters and their interactions kept me reading, but some things (lengthy descriptions of what the main character was doing no matter how insignificant, or the main character's every thought and his subsequent thoughts about those thoughts) felt tedious. This is a fun read, though I do think the story it wants to tell could be tighter.

What a wild time to be alive. Cale Dietrich's My Roommate from Hell definitely would not have been published 10-15 years ago. This is the kind of new adult tale that's been missing from shelves. Kudos to the world building and delightful romantic touches. Thoroughly enjoyed!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This book is exactly what you think it is.

We have our main MMC, Owen. He's also our POV character. Owen is VERY excited to go to college. He has big dreams of getting a high paying job, making connections, and never being like his parents when it comes to money. It's all going his way until he arrives on campus to find out his original roommate plans are up in smoke.

That's how we get connected to the Prince of Hell. And yeah, he's an actual royal.

What follows is a confusing tale -- mostly because their teenage boys with weird hormones and wildly different customs (human vs. demon) -- where these two dance around each other. I admit to not liking the love interest for MOST of this book. He was a playboy with zero care for our MMC.

But the author *somehow* convinced me to change my mind. I'm not sure where it switched, but I did find myself rooting for the pair as we closed in on the ending of the book.

Definitely worth a read. The cover alone is adorable. It borders on NA in my opinion, though I can see how YA's meaning has shifted over the years.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Cale Dietrich, and NetGalley for the eARC.

This was a solid read. Zar and Owen are both a little dumb at times but they're just kinds trying to find their way in life. I had a few unanswered plot related questions though. The dean was kinda sus and I will die on that hill, where did all the ghouls come from and where did they go, is it really that easy to completely dismantle a cult, and WHOSE EYE WAS IN THE WALL?

3.5 - A sweet YA romcom-esque book

Owen is attending Point college as a freshman where he learns Zarmenus, the prince of hell, is to be his new roommate. He’s like, kinda hot, but a terrible roommate. Maybe they can come to some kind of agreement that makes both their lives easier?

I have mixed feelings about this book. First off, it is YA, so the writing is quite plain, and the characters act as normal 17/18 year olds would. Albeit, frustrating at times for the reader. The first 20% I thought this would be an absolute hit. It was funny, and we already had some tension between Owen and Zarmenus. There was just too much narration from Owen, always telling rather than showing. It was all so repetitive. Zarmenus’ actions were very repetitive too, and it felt like reading the same problem over and over. And then Owen’s narration followed suit. I think this could’ve been five stars if we had Zarmenus’ POV chapters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC copy.

I DNF'd this book. It just wasn't for me. I thought it would be a more modern feeling Percy Jackson mixed with Cinder. Unfortunately, I was not able to connect with the characters - they felt very cliche and shallow.

Cale Dietrich does it again! I absolutely adored this book. The dynamic between Owen and Zarmenus was spot on perfect, with carefully crafted tension that kept you wondering “will they or won’t they?”

Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, and this was executed so splendidly. The perfect amount of animosity turned admiration.

Owen’s coming of age tale was a great backdrop to the budding romance between him and Zarmenus. It was nice to see him break out of his shell.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this fabulous book. I am glad I decided to accept it.

Funny, romantic and heartfelt, this book is perfect for anyone looking for a read that will make you fall in love - with the idea of love.

From the first page, I was entertained by this novel. I loved how the worldbuilding in this book is essentially “demons from hell exist, apparently” and then we moved on with the plot. Perfect. No notes. I adore it.

I also really enjoyed the romance between the two main leads, and how while we - as the audience - can clearly see the pining from both sides, our main character very much cannot. I’m an absolute sucker for this dynamic, and I couldn’t wait until the cards would finally be revealed by the end.

A fun and overall lighthearted read - even with the heartbreaking tension in the middle - this book will have you wondering where your demonic prince, princess, or gender nonconforming entity is hiding.

A huge thank you to the author, Netgalley, and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for providing me this e-ARC.

This was a fun book, though I wish it had leaned a bit more into the "hell" element. In many stretches, this felt like an ordinary romance between two Freshmen roommates--one outgoing and one more reserved.

I liked both of the characters, particularly Owen (through whom we watch the story unfold). There were a bit too many mentions of his matcha lattes, but overall his experience nicely captured all of the angst of going off to college and hoping to transform into a new version of yourself.

Zarmeus is a bit harder to get to know. In some respects its his personality, not his connection to hell that poses problems in the relationship. As I mentioned above, I felt like this was a missed opportunity. But I did like the scenes with his parents and the idea that the success of this "exchange student" was critical for the college.

The version of hell in this book seems decidedly evil, but that element of Zarmeus' personality never gets explored. For the most part, he seems like a messy, fun, man-whore. As much as it might have been a downer to explore, I would have liked to learn more about his values and how his concepts of "right and wrong" played into the relationship.

But most people are admittedly not here for that, but for the swoon-worthy love story, and on that note this book delivers. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

My Roommate from Hell is a fun rom-com that follows our MC, Owen, an ambitious college student, and Zarmenus, the prince of Hell. When Owen discovers that he'll be roommates with Zarmenus, he's understandably worried. Zarmenus's behavior threatens to ruin his image, so in hopes of keeping his reputation as a demon on Earth intact, he and Owen launch their fake relationship. With a potential internship on the line, Owen agrees to the deal and has more fun than he expects as Zarmenus's fake boyfriend.

This was a super fun read! As someone who has had their fair share of roommate issues, I found myself relating to Owen for the majority of this book. I think this would be a great read for new college students, as it accurately portrays some of the awkward and frustrating roommate moments (minus the magic, of course).

As much as I enjoyed this, I do think it was a little repetitive. Zarmenus would do something that would make Owen mad, and Owen would think about it over and over, decide he needs to do something about it, and still give Zarmenus more chances to redeem himself. This issue was resolved eventually, but it affected the pacing.

For a YA romance, this moved a bit slowly. I could see younger readers losing interest because there wasn't as much romance as I had initially expected. To me, this seemed like a result of the lack of chemistry between the two leads. I also wish all of the characters had a bit more depth, because that could have helped the romance move forward at a much quicker pace.

I still had a great time with this! The supernatural elements added a fun twist to the story and made it enjoyable and super cute. :)

Dietrich has a knack for creating queer romance stories that are unique in concept and stand out from others. Unfortunately, I find that this book holds the same clunky writing that makes me feel like I'm reading a debut. Maybe it's his very matter-of-fact style that doesn't work for me, personally, but I struggle with it, especially when not being able to breeze through it with an audiobook. This was fun enough, and the main characters are likeable, but all of the side characters fall a bit flat. It's good but not great.

This was a very fun read!! If the premise interests you at all, I encourage you to pick it up!
I appreciate how Zarmenus eventually got Owen to open up so they could talk through his worries. I liked the way their relationship grew from frustrated roommates to actual friends. I loved Owens relationship with his best friend. The angst of wondering when the truth of Owen and Zarmenus’ relationship would come out had me stressingggg. I enjoyed the way everything played out, though. It all felt very mature and rational, and I appreciated that.

4 stars. I think the only thing I was missing was more dramatic pining on Zarmenus’ part. I wanted to see them both fall harder.

This is a queer supernatural romance book. This was quick paced with fun characters that actually had chemistry. While fake dating trope isn't really my favorite I thought it was done well and made sense in context. I liked Zarmenus way more than Owen, his character, who is the Prince of hell, was well written and had a distinct personality.

4 ⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley for this early ARC!

I really enjoyed this! I thought the pacing was great and the characters and their unique personalities were well done! While it truly was a cutesy romcom between a demon and a human, there was still a side storyline going on with a bigger evil.

It all came together perfectly and I’m so happy I asked for this arc because I truly enjoyed it and found myself giggling and kicking my feet for the cute things that happened!

My Roommate from Hell by Cale Dietrich was such a cute book. It felt a bit rushed at the beginning; they meet and right away he becomes messy and a terrible roommate, but other than that, it was such an amazing book, and I definitely enjoyed reading it.
Big thank you to NetGalley, Cale Dietrich, and St. Martin's Press Wednesday Books for the ARC. It was a joy to read!

1st person pov/5 Stars Read

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books/ St Martin's Press for this arc for my honest review.

I loved it. Great characters. The pacing was great, I couldn't put it down once I started it.

Imagine you arrive at your college dorm to find out that your roommate is the prince of hell. Owen walks into his dorm room to find out that he is a part of the first ever Earth/Hell exchange program. Zarmenus's image is in a down whirl spiral until he decides to ask Owen to fake date to help his image. A magic cat? A ghoul in the bathroom? A seance? Anything can happen in a dorm room when you are sharing a bunkbed with the prince of hell. Feelings grow into something more.

This book is on fire. It had me smiling and kicking my feet at some moments.

This was a cute slow burn book. While I loved that it was queernorm with no third act breakup, I felt the story dragged in places. The characters were fun, and Bell might have been my favorite, but I didn't feel like there was a whole lot of chemistry between them. The audience of the book confused me as well, as some parts sounded aimed at the younger end of YA and others were almost New Adult.

Owen's plans for college have taken an unexpected turn. First, his best friend is pregnant and now their plans of going to Point University together have collapsed. Second, he's had an unexpected change in roommates. Now he's going to be rooming with Zarmenus, a literal demon chosen to participate in the first ever demon exchange program. At first, they experience the usual adjustment issues, Zarmenus is messy, brings guys back to the room while Owen is trying to sleep, and setting the furniture on fire. When Owen finally tells Zarmenus about the issues, things seem to improve a little until Zarmenus asks Owen for a little favor, pretend to be his boyfriend to get his demon parents off his back for some recent negative publicity. Owen reluctantly agrees because Zarmenus promises to be a better roommate and the dean agrees to introduce Owen to a contact that will set Owen on the path for his career. What Owen doesn't expect from the arrangement is the feelings that come along with it. A sweet rom-com and I hope there are more books to follow.

This book was SO cute. Love the concept and it was original. Got this from Netgalley and would recommend it to those who like young adult and LGBTQ+ themes.

This book was so fun—I had an absolute blast reading it. Owen and Zarmenus completely won me over with their delightful personalities and the emotional growth they both experience throughout the story. Their dynamic? Pure serotonin.

Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes, and it was used perfectly here. The chemistry, the chaos, the pining—chef’s kiss. I was totally invested in the plot and really loved how everything came together in the end. Some parts felt a little rushed, but honestly, that didn’t stop me from loving every second of it.

If you’re in the mood for a supernatural rom-com with heart, humor, and a devilishly charming roommate, this is it.