I would just like to say a big thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources who very kindly forwarded me an arc copy of this book, for my kindle, in return for my honest review.

This book was perfect for reading in the rainy, dull weather we have been having lately. It was a wonderful, fun and entertaining story that made me smile, a lot as it contained quite a few funny moments.

The two main characters, Serena and Ziggy were wonderful down to earth characters and I really enjoyed their story.

There were a few storylines that all came together quite cleverly in the end and they were easy to follow and really enjoyable.

Your Place Or Mine was such an easy read and such fun too, i really liked the author’s style of writing and the ending was perfect and wrapped everything up nicely…..

Personally I don’t feel like the book is necessarily for me. I will still recommend it to my friends because just because it wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean it’s not for everyone! It was just very hit or miss for me and got kind of boring at times. I wasn’t a fan of how the mc was in a relationship with someone who wasn’t the love interest of the book for a while. Even after finding out he was engaged to someone, she didn’t break things off which to me is kind of… gross because he’s cheating which is just sad.

oohhhh Miss Portia did it again!!!!
This author is just one of those authors I'll read all her books with no doubts that I will love them!!!
Her books are always fun and sweet with realistic characters and this book wasn't different. I love how real it felt. I love how the characters backgrounds are written. The story is truly enjoyable. Started it in the morning and finished it the same day, at night. No way I out it down. The story is so light and engrossing that you just go through it without noticing. I could have finished it way before the night but I'm struggling with an awful flu. I needed this light read now and I'm so happy I read it.
I highly recommend you all this book and all her books if you're a romance reader. Enemies to lovers fans, this one will be for you!!!!

Thank you Portia MacIntosh, Boldwood Books and netgalley for the arc!!!!!

This was my first book I’ve read by Portia Macintosh but won’t be my last! Your Place or Mine? Is a funny, light, easy read that centers around Serena and Ziggy: accidental housemates.

The makings of a good rom-com book are simple: great banter, undeniable chemistry, and laugh-out-loud moments. This book had me excited to keep turning pages and eager to find out what happened at the end!

Although I did feel like there were a few too many ‘tropes’, and the book could’ve used a little more detail, I still enjoyed reading about the forced proximity chaos, the side characters, and watching the two main characters go from enemies to lovers.

Thank you to the publisher, Boldwood Books and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun book - my first Portia McIntosh but not my last.
I loved the tropes this book explored and how it integrated them in a unique way. Such fun characters and also a lot of heart.

I’ve been a fan of previous books by this author, but, unfortunately, not this one. The main character is very immature and just seems to make really bad decisions. Ziggy is the love interest and doesn’t seem much better. What seems comedic at first, soon begins to irritate!

A quick easy read which had me laughing out loud throughout. There are a lot more plots running throughout the story outside of what is on the cover. It sometimes felt like I didn't know where the book was going, but I did enjoy the journey.

Serena gets fired and loses her home on the same day after her beloved boss dies and her boss's asshat children sell the business, and to top it all off her boyfriend is a cheat!

Luckily Serena's friend steps in offering her a place to stay. Unfortunately (or is it fortunately) she has to share the house with a rocker guy called Ziggy!

Each one wants the place to themselves, commence the competitive pranks, the arguments and the undeniable chemistry!

Serena then discovers that her boss left her a secret business, one that is of obscure nature (🌶😉🍆) , one that needs resurrecting.
Will Serena cope?

The chemistry between Ziggy and Serena was amazing, with tension and pranks and their competitive natures clashing and complimenting each other all at the same time. It was a great enemies to lovers theme.
While there is cheating in the book and I normally find it a trigger, it was set up in a way that wasn't triggering.
As always I enjoyed reading a Portia Macintosh novel.
They're hilarious, sweet and feel good novels that always have a little something to make you think.

My thinker in this novel was :
"Grief is the cost of love, if you feel a lot of sadness to have lost someone, they must have given you a hell of a lot of love while they were alive."

I've read many books by Portia MacIntosh and always find them to be funny, supper, easy reads. This one, however, felt a little different. I don't know, more grown up, maybe? Less light? I can't exactly put my finger on it.

I really enjoyed the banter and the tension between Ziggy and Serena while they were waging war over their living situation. However, I felt like even though that should have been the main focus, there was just too much thrown into this one story. It's almost like the author was trying to include too many different tropes in her book. And honestly, I'm still wondering how the "war" turned into a "connection" so quickly. It just didn't make sense to me.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I certainly didn't love it as much as a lot of her other books.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Portia MacIntosh, Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC of Your Place or Mine!

I had the honors of reading Your Place Or Mine by Portia MacIntosh as an ARC from Netgalley and I rated the book 4 out of 5 stars ⭐️

What drew me to request the book was the description of what it was about.... Two random people living under the same roof but with totally different personalities sounds like a very interesting combination and lots of drama to unfold. The book is an enemies to lovers theme and its one of my favorite trophs to read. I enjoyed the playful banter between the main characters Ziggy and Serena. The chemistry between the two is obviously there but they are clueless to it. The things they do to each other to try and get one of the other persons to leave the house is quite funny

Thank you again to Portia MacIntosh, Netgalley and Boldwood Books for my ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was another fun read from MacIntosh, an author I have come to expect will give me a great story. What I enjoyed most about this book was the different strands to the plot and how there were plenty of surprises along the way.

Not only do readers see how Serena has to deal with her new-found unemployment, she is also shacked up with the annoying Ziggy. The story follows how Serena tries to maintain a connection with her former, (deceased) boss, although her boss’s children have other plans – and they are quite cruel in the process too. Whilst poor Serena (poor both emotionally and now financially) takes stock of her life plan, she gets the opportunity to house-sit for her best friend. Unfortunately, Ziggy was also invited for the role at the same time, so now Serena has an unexpected housemate who seems to drive her up the pole.

As tensions mount, so, it would seem, do both Serena and Ziggy’s intentions. From their first meeting deciding who should get the more lavish bedroom, I was entertained by their constant bickering. Fighting like cats and dogs only begins to escalate into pranks that cause more harm than good. Both are equally stubborn and determined that their behaviour will drive the other person out the house… but it only leads to more juvenile behaviour.

On top of this, Serena’s discovery that connects her to Diana was as much of a surprise to Serena as it was to me. I think it would have helped if the blurb actually referenced this because I thought the story would just be about the conflict between her and Ziggy. There were a couple of elements that were glossed over from MacIntosh which I thought slightly disappointing (what on earth did that discovered contraption do?!) and I could not decide whether this was supposed to be a main or sub plot. Either way, it added a different part to the story, even if I was far more interested in Serena and Ziggy’s antics.

Finally, Serena also has to rethink her relationship with Dean. Again, I enjoyed this part of the story because it added something new to the narrative but, on reflection, it did make me think that this was a story that could have been broken up into three separate novels. I was intrigued by how Serena would resolve her connection with Dean, particularly with an annoying Ziggy to distract her, but think MacIntosh could have also expanded on this further.

I liked the key characters in this story and enjoyed the fun of the narrative. However, there were parts that could have been developed further to make this even more enjoyable. I think I particularly liked the surprising direction that the story took but wanted to see more focus on Serena and Ziggy in the first place, especially as this was implied to be the main element to the book. Despite these criticisms, I still thought this book gave some great escapism and was a perfect distraction from a rainy weekend.

With thanks to Boldwood books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I normally really love any book from Portia MacIntosh. I had some plot and trope issues here with this one… but her usual excellent writing, great characters and everything else to normally love about her books is here, hence the 4-star rating.

My issues are with the semi-love triangle trope (not totally the main theme), and the immature revenge plot that stemmed from that are where I found myself losing interest (not a triangle fan)…. But not being totally the main trope and theme of the book - though it really did take up a lot of time and a ton of Serena’s attention - it took so much focus off Serena and Ziggy’s forced proximity/roommates, enemies to lovers relationship, which could have had more storyline and development. With the book being about Serena and Ziggy, Dean sidelined a lot of the plot.

If Serena and Dean’s “relationship” had been a smaller part and focus of the story, I would have enjoyed it a lot more and could recommend it more - but otherwise I did enjoy the rest of the story and the side plot of relying on a found family and everything they brought into Serena’s life.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Boldwood Booksm and this is my honest feedback.

Favorite Quote:

Agatha… looks just like her mum. Well, a version of Diana that had been run through a machine that creates Disney villains. Her facial features are tight– almost as though she begrudges using the muscles (well, that plus the Botox she’s using to try to suspend her looks in time, but they’re really just suspending her face in the miserable state it must have been in when they injected her).

My Review:

This was a lively and breezy read laced together with smirk-worthy snark and clever wit. I always enjoy Ms. MacIntosh’s wry humor. Her colorful and observant character descriptions never fail to draw keen visuals to my mind’s eye and an amused smile to my lips. There were multiple storylines that eventually merged, it was game on in all directions. Each thread was busy and eventful yet easy to follow and equally entertaining and humorous.

This book was slightly disappointing. The synopsis sounded great. It was exactly what I love to read. But the actual book seemed very different. Yes, Ziggy and Serena’s story was good. I like the enemies to lovers plot. The disappointing part is that there is an entire plot line about Dean and his cheating that was not at all mentioned in the synopsis. It wouldn’t have been a big deal but the author gave it too much attention. It overwhelmed the actual romance side of the story.

On the other hand, I need to acknowledge that this had some great funny moments and I thought learning about the relationship between Serena and Diana was heartwarming.

I liked the sound of this book by reading the synopsis. However, this was just a part of the book as there were other storylines running alongside.

During their feud, Serena and Ziggy came across as quite immature whilst they were trying to drive one another from the house but I did feel they redeemed themselves as the book went on. I would have liked to see more chemistry between them though.

I enjoyed reading about Serena's relationship with Diana and the unexpected gift she was given but I wasn't overly keen on the situation with Dean.

Overall I enjoyed this book which was nice and easy to read with some humour.

Thank you Netgalley and Boldwood Books for my ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

It was really tough for me to get through this book. There were SO many random plot points - eviction, affairs, a secret inheritance… Just a lot to follow. The characters were difficult to connect with, and the writing style read like the diary of a young girl (WHY did so many chapters end with ellipses??). If this were a book I was reading in any other capacity (i.e. not an ARC), I likely would have DNFed it. I do think that this book has a great premise, and the set up for the enemies to lovers romance was enticing. However, I think it just fell flat in execution, primarily because there was just too much going on, and it was hard to care about the central romance when it took 3/4ths of the book for them to get together.

So, I really liked the premise of this book. It made my think of Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare, which I loved, and a few other roommates to lovers (is this a trope? I think it may be…) books. I love a good rom-com and was looking forward to reading this one, but it fell a bit flat for me.

Slight spoiler, but you find out in chapter one so not really… I don’t often like books where the MC already has partner that isn’t the other MC! I’m just not a fan of it, if they break up in the first few chapters, that’s maybe fine, but still, it usually puts me off. And in this case, though I won’t get into it, things are much more complicated. So, I was really not liking the book for the first 40% or so.

The romance, and really, any interaction between the two MCs, didn’t really start until 50% into the book, and I didn’t really feel that Serena or Ziggy had any chemistry. I think it got better as the book went on and they interacted more, and there were some genuinely funny moments and some cute banter between S and Z, but I never felt a real connection between them. Also, for two people somewhere in their 30s, they came across as very immature! If you’d told me they were 20 year old college students, I’d have believed you.

Anyways, it’s a quick read once you get into it, with some cute moments and fun hijinks. Worth a read on a lazy day when you need a bit of a laugh and nothing too heavy.

Thank you so much to Portia MacIntosh and Boldwood Books for the ARC of Your Place or Mine!

This book follows our main character Serena who finds herself in an unconventional living situation - she was kicked out her apartment and her friend Taylor offers that she can housesit while Taylor and her husband travel. Turns out, Taylor's husband has already extended that offer to another one of his friends: Ziggy. He parties loudly, is a musician and is definitely not the best roommate. They have to sort through living together or decide who can drive the other out.

I was really excited to read this book based on the description, but honestly the description only ends up being a very small part of the storyline! There are two plotlines that you're trying to follow throughout, and it honestly feels quite messy - especially because one of them is a plotline about dealing with/exposing a cheater (not my favourite trope) and honestly it didn't feel like it was resolved very well. I ended up just feeling very unaffected by this book - it's a quick read where I didn't become overly attached to any of the characters because their personalities weren't the most compelling. There were definitely some funny moments, but I think I would have liked it a lot better if it followed the storyline set out in the description.

What a fantastic book this was! It was my first by this author and I’ll definitely read more by this author as this was just so funny and romantic and it had my swooning and laughing! Thanks again for granting me my wish.

cw: Grief, cheating, gaslighting

When Serena finds herself unexpectedly jobless and homeless, her friend Taylor offers her the use of her home while she's away travelling with her husband, Tim. What she doesn't know is that Tim has also offered his friend, Ziggy, the same room. The house is mid-renovation, so there's only one good bedroom. When Serena gets lumbered with the rubbish bedroom, an immediate war begins between the two housemates.

I LOVED the premise of this book and was expecting some amazing forced-proximity chemistry plus lots of enemies-to-lovers banter. I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters and loved the idea of the Betty's-style tea shop and Serena's friendships there, but that quickly felt like it was only there to facilitate her homelessness. Still, I was looking forward to the housemate storyline, and, while their antics were fun at the beginning, I found both Serena and Ziggy incredibly immature, and actually couldn't believe the way they treated their friends' house (they actually end up burning a room!) I also thought the supposedly central romance felt flimsy and secondary to the relationship Serena was actually in (which isn't mentioned at all in the blurb), and I was frustrated with how much of the book was taken up with Dean and Lacey. I was also frustrated by the friendships in this book because they only appeared when it became convenient to info dump. There's a subplot with an Adult store that Serena inherits (as you do), which I actually really enjoyed, but ultimately I feel like this book was bogged down by too many sub-plots, which actually become the main plotlines for a lot of the story. Just like the previous book I read by this author, it reads like two completely different stories mashed together. I honestly think this could have been two really excellent stories, but even the nostalgic reminders of the Otley Run (I went to university in Leeds) couldn't save this from being a bit of a mess.


Overall Rating: ❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥
Emotional Rating: 💓😂😡😬😱🙈😬🙄💓

*Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review*

I will leave the same review on Amazon UK on publication day. Thanks for offering me the opportunity to read an eARC.