It was okay... It was a typical rom-com - nothing new really happened from any other book out now. The main character Rosie is often taken for granted and run over by people in her life. This includes her current boyfriend, employer, and family. The boyfriend decides to break up with her and somehow after one conversation with her stereotypical best friend, she decides she deserves better and starts to stand up for herself with her family and quits her job. Enter the roommate who needs a spare room, Aled. He is so weird and doesn't even talk in the beginning of the book. He's supposedly really shy which leads to a huge miscommunication at the end of the book that has Rosie running after him after she was supposed to be more empowered now. Ugh. Also, somehow her family just decided that they were going to stop treating her like crap out of nowhere and her ex decided he did really love her but I do not get how he even got there. I did find the book entertaining and I kept reading but it was sadly very predictable. I have purchased this authors other books before I finished this one so I hope they are not as generic. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved reading this, I loved seeing the development of relationships which were both positive and negative. I found it very easy to read.

This was a really lovely story where you could see the personal growth of the main character, and a slow burn romance. The story has an obvious ending, but it was also nice having the additional characters of our heroine’s best friend, and the hero’s cousin, who added a nice extra touch. I was a bit confused by the epilogue, and wished that had gone a different way, but overall I found it an enjoyable read

From the very start of this delightful novel, I fell in love with Rosie. Her character is so well drawn and she's just so relatable. The minute I had a spare minute over Christmas, I wanted to get back to it and then when it was finished I had a book hangover because I was so engrossed by the characters and didn't want to leave them.

Well written, funny and heart warming, with the most delightful, gentle hero. It was one of those books with some real heart melting moments that will stay with me for a while. I thought it was an original telling of a familiar plot and really well done. I absolutely loved it and will be looking out for more from this author.

I really enjoyed reading this. I was rooting for the characters from the very start, a fantastic read!

The Spare Room by Laura Starkey is a quirky, funny, romance, The MMC is divine and will be loved by all. All the characters are richly developed and the author skillfully pulls you into their world.

This sounded great, I love forced proximity books. But it just took so long to get that part. And I get it, you had to get to know the characters and the background first, but unfortunately I kind of lost interest.
Maybe it’s me, bad timing or wrong expectations, I just didn’t love it as much I hoped I would.

i was so excited to read this arc because the book premise sounded so good and right up my alley, but i honestly struggled to finish this book because it didn’t live up to my expectations. maybe it’s a me problem, but i couldn’t stand rosie and there was barely any chemistry between her and aled.
it wasn’t entirely bad - i didn’t hate it, but i definitely didn’t love it either. the writing itself was good but to live up to the premise i feel like it could have been executed so much better.
for the sake of not being able to do half stars - i’ve rounded this up to 3.

loved this romance and that they started out as friends. Rosie is with james for 10 years and ends up leaving her by a note. She needs help to pay the rent and her neighbor ends up in the spare room. She starts to find her place and figure out her life and a new job. She also starts having boundaries with her mom. Loved the friends and rhi . Loved the romance between rosie and aled.

This book had so much promise but it fell flat for me. Sadly I ended up DNF'ing it.

And lastly, there was absolutely no chemistry between Alad and Rosie. There was so much potential to build their story, but the author fell flat.

I loved this book and was hooked from the first chapter. It’s all about Rosie and how she deals with life after being dumped by her idiot of an ex boyfriend . I loved the setting and the characters, especially Aled.

The ending was absolutely perfect and I shed a few tears. I would love a sequel to this to find out how Rosie’s life turns out.

Thanks to Netgalley, Laura Starkey and Embla books for an advanced copy on exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I've read some other reviews of this book after I read it and was really surprised that so many were less than favourable! I think I must have been reading a different book to everyone else as I absolutely loved it and thought it was a wonderful romantic comedy! We meet Rosie who has just been dumped after 10 years. She wants to stay in her flat, but needs to find someone to split the rent with. Here we meet A.Thomas or Aled to call him by his first name! I thought their blossoming friendship was well written and found myself hooked into Rosie's storyline very early in the book.

There were some parts which I didn't quite connect with however - I didn't like Rosie's family or James (but I think that was the point) and felt really sorry for Rosie throughout the story. Her 'plus-size' was mentioned quite a lot, but I don't think it really needed to be as the storyline didn't really need it. But apart from that I really enjoyed the book and well before the half way mark I was well and truly caught into Rosie and Aled's stories and couldn't put the book down! I liked Rosie's character and loved Aled! (Where can I find a man as lovely as him!?) The storyline was fun, romantic and light-hearted with a little bit of 'will they-won't they'!

I thought it was a fabulous read, which I was really sorry to finish! My first by this author, but definitely not my last! Would recommend!

I liked it ok, but I didn’t love it. However, that is because I expected a romance and this felt more like women’s fiction with a HEA to me due to the very little interaction between our two love interests. To the point, I don’t know if I like Aled as a character or not because we see so little of him. We literally know his cousin better than him.

However, that being said, the characters are extremely well written, as is the story!! I absolutely loved Rosie and watching her grow as a character. My favorite character may have to be Rhianne, though. She was the glue that held a lot of the plot together. I hope she gets her own story!

Thank you NetGalley and Embla Books for the eARC!

I’m really not one for negative reviews but, gah, this book was unbearable. Basically nothing happened, the characters sucked, the dialogue was cringey and not realistic, and it took all of my will to finish it.

Spoilers incoming-
James should have broken up with Rosie in chapter one. We had to deal with his shitty attitude and emotional abuse for 40% of the book.

The book is called the “Spare Room”, but Alad didn’t even move into the spare room until the halfway point of the book. It was such a waste of time.

I barely know what any of the characters look like. We know Rosie is blonde and plus sized (seriously, it was mentioned so many times that it lost its gravity), James had ugly sneakers and Alad looked studious. That’s it.

Rosie was annoying and needs to get her shit together. It was a constant complain fest. Her boyfriend sucked, her job sucked, her family sucked, her life sucked.

The book had sooo much fluff. Meaningless dialogue and plot lines. It could have been 50% shorter and told the exact same story.

And lastly, there was absolutely no chemistry between Alad and Rosie. There was so much potential to build their story, but the author fell flat.

📚Thank you NetGalley and Laura Starkey for the ARC of Spare Room.

This was a very enjoyable, slow burn read. I liked Rosie and found her very relatable. Aled was a sweetie and their slow burn journey from sort of neighbours to friends and then possibly something else was lovely. Whilst I felt there was a little too much focus on looks (Aled’s in particular) and weight I did like the journey that Rosie went on. The book had some good supporting characters in Niamh and Rihanne as well who were great friends to Rosie the lead. Well worth a read, 3⭐️

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this!
I really enjoyed this! I've said this before and I'll say it again: British/Welsh writers and characters just KNOW banter. The dialogue is so impressive in this, it feels so real and flows so well, even when peppered with culturally specific slang. It's perfection.
As for the story: I loved Rosie/Aled's story. Their slow burn friends to lovers, even when heavily PG-13/closed door, was just so well done. You could feel the chemistry grow as they grew to be friends and you could palpably feel Aled's resistance. Really well done.
But I think this story actually shines with all of the B storylines: Rosie's friendships (and how genuine they felt), Rosie's parents and their impact on her confidence, and Rosie/James and their flawed relationship. I loved that her character growth really had nothing to do with the A romance plot: made it really enjoyable!

Such a fun and relatable five-star read. I adored Rosie and just wanted to shake so many people in her life, including herself at some points, and maybe I identified a little too much with her, as we have similar mothers, and get similar feedback, like my mum always buys be clothes that are too small for me, and encourages me to eat healthy when we go to lunch, thankfully I have no qualms on telling her no and eating the fattest burger on the menu just to run it in. I also started uni and now in my forties and finishing my journey to become a counsellor, the only difference is that I got rid of my ‘James’ and married another James who is much kinder and more like me. That could be why I just adore this story and all of the characters, they just felt like real people, people you would want to hang around a coffee shop all day with and just chat, eat and drink and relax with. This was the first story by this author, but I guarantee it won’t be the last, I liked the freshness to the writing, it may be a well-used trope, but this author really brought something fresh to the story.

This is a cute (clean) romance which is the perfect romcom for anyone looking for a quick and loveable book. The characters were great, and the plot although predictable at the end was exactly what I wanted out of this book.

Summary: Rosie's ideal evening turned into heartbreak. Facing rent struggles, she reluctantly rents her spare room to Aled. As flatmates, their emotions stir, making them question their connection.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, all thoughts are my own.

The Spare Room is a cute, easy read. Forced proximity, friends-to-lovers that you see coming from a mile away, found family by way of major life changes, and so on. I didn't find it to be anything new, but if you like this genre, it's a fine read. I found Rosie to be a bit annoying, like she was being one of those quirky on purpose girls, but that could be my own hang up. Overall, fine!

I really enjoyed this sweet rebound romance. The MFC is relatable and lovable.

Thanks Net Galley for the temporary ARC to review.