for lovers of beth o'leary's the flatshare - two strangers decide to live together when one is dumped by her boyfriend of nearly ten years and the other needs out of his current place for renovations. the spark between rosie & aled is felt instantly & the companionship they build is heartwarming. the arc copy i received made it a little hard to follow at times (not ready for publication yet!) but i enjoyed the story!! thank you netgalley for the advanced
сору!

Oops I reviewed a different book in this window and can’t delete it — changing it now to make sure that it doesn’t stay. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s next!

Freaking PERFECTION. 10/10. This was just so so good. I couldn’t get enough of it and wanted a thousand more pages of this.

A sweet and quirky slow-burn rom-com. This book is perfect if you need a lighthearted pick me up!

On the worst day of Rosie's life she not only rage quits her horrible job, but she also walks into her apartment to find out her boyfriend of 10 years was about to dump her in a letter. Desperate to stay in her loved flat, Rosie seeks a roommate to help her pay the rent, what she doesn't expect is that the handsome neighbor upstairs that Rosie can't keep her eyes off, just so happens to be looking for a place to stay.

This was an absolutely adorable story, but I will say that you have to be in the mood to read this book, otherwise you will not enjoy it. The romance in this story is super cute, but it is very much a slow-burn romance and it is closed door, so don't expect any spicy scenes.

The one thing that really stood out to me in this novel, was Rosie's character development. She truly changes for the better as the story goes on, and you just cant help but cheer her on as she gains her independence & becomes the strong confident woman that she is.

Overall it was a very cute story that will warm your heart, is it lifechanging? No. But I enjoyed it all the same, and might pick it up again any time I need a cute rom-com to cheer me up.

This was an enjoyable slow-burn book. I liked the pacing of it. The fact that there was a significant amount of time that passed before anything actually happens between Rosie and Aled was quite refreshing. It felt so natural. Rosie was dumped unceremoniously by her boyfriend of 10 years and was left in quite a pinch. And cue the forced-proximity! I happen to quite enjoy this in books, as it tends to add an interesting component as the characters learn to navigate around one another and ultimately get close. Aled moves into her spare room and the relationship between grows organically. Since he is very much an introvert, they slowly become friends, which is unavoidable due to her irresistible sweetness. Rosie is the type of person that people can’t help but be drawn in by. We’ve got some nice grumpy/sunshine vibes here too. I found Rosie and Alex’s friendship really sweet. This book gave me some nice warm and fuzzy feelings. If you’re look for a cozy easy read and the aforementioned tropes, then this could be a good choice for you. Who wouldn’t want a date not date roller skating in a London park?
Many thank to Netgalley and Embla Books for an e-arc of the book. The opinions expressed are honest and my own.

In The Spare Room, we follow Rosie. Her flat is important to her, and when her boyfriend dumps her and leaves her without rent, she knows she’ll have to do something fast. Fortunately, her upstairs neighbour needs somewhere to stay for a bit and offers to take her spare room for a bit. But as the two begin to know each other, Rosie starts to fall for him and realises that she wants him in her bedroom for good.

This was a cute read. It was fairly simple, and it definitely ticked some of my preferred boxes. It’s labelled as a romance, but felt more chick-lit to me and with that came friends having a storyline in the background, a focus on Rosie sorting out her life in general, and a closed door on the sex scenes.

I do think this book started a little slowly. The chapter where she met Aled was one thing, but it takes a few chapters to even get to her boyfriend dumping her. And at the same time, she quits her job, so it’s all a bit much for her. Luckily, Aled was kind.

When I read the book, I did enjoy it, but after a few days, I realised that the characters did feel a little distant. I don’t really have any strong feelings about anyone, and that feels strange as I know I had fun while reading it. It’s just obviously not one I’m going to think about much in the future.

It was a fun time though, and I did like the romance. Rosie and Aled were very cute together, even if he did make an ass out of himself with his assumptions near the end. The friendships were also good, though I could have done with seeing how they affected her plans more.

If you’re looking for a book that’s fun, and won’t require much thought, this one could be for you. Just remember that it’s a bit more chick-lit than romance.

This was a really cute romance read. I absolutely loved the quiet, shy, literature loving Aled and watching him come out of his shell the more time he spent with Rosie. With Rosie rid of her ex (the absolute snake!) she’s left with a knock to her self confidence and a whole host of other problems, but she slowly reinvents herself and begins to set boundaries, find what she loves, and become happy again. I honestly adored the neighbours, to friends, to lovers progression for Rosie and Aled though it wasn’t always straight forward and he was definitely giving mixed messages at times. He was earnest and sweet, and Rosie bright and warm. I couldn’t get enough. I do think the secrets were a bit unlikely, especially since there were clearly plenty of opportunities to get them out in the open, so that did knock my rating down a bit but otherwise I definitely enjoyed this, even the slightly outrageous moments (usually featuring the ex) and I’m sure this will be a hit!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Unfortunately this one just didn't work for me and I ended up dnfing this at 25%. I was really interested in the overall premise as I have enjoyed similar books. However this one I just struggled to get into from the beginning and found myself just not retaining what I was reading,

Thank you to NetGalley and Embla books for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own,

dnf at 32%. this book was slow and so very boring. at 32% of the way through the book, the plot STILL hasn't taken place. everything seemed surface level and bland. the main characters boyfriend of 10 years left her without any cause and i simply did not care. i think this was a good idea for a novel but it was poorly executed, and i couldn't put on with reading such a boring book any longer. however, the writing was rather nice and definitely had potential.

I'm a sucker for forced proximity and ugh I just couldn't get enough of this. I was literally reading this at 3am on WORK NIGHT! And I have no regrets about it. So cute!

Mein Leseerlebnis

In dem Liebesroman dreht sich alles um einen Neuanfang für die Heldin, nachdem sie von ihrem Ex nach Jahren in einer Beziehung abserviert wurde.

In den ersten Kapiteln der Liebesgeschichte ist Rosie noch mit ihrem Ex zusammen, diese Kapitel waren nicht mein Fall. Ihr Ex wirkte auf mich wie eine Nulpe und ich habe im Leben nicht verstanden, warum Rosie überhaupt mit ihm zusammen war.

Nach ein paar kleineren Problemchen velrief Rosies Neuanfang überraschend glatt ab, so wirklich realistisch fand ich das ja ehrlich gesagt nicht. Aber da mir Rosie sympathisch war, habe ich mich trotzdem für sie gefreut.

Rosie als Hauptfigur empfand ich als angenehm und ich habe gerne mehr über sie erfahren. Aled blieb mir bis zum Ende der Geschichte leider etwas fremd, so ganz habe ich sein Reaktionen im Verlauf des Romans nicht verstanden.

Darüber hinaus nervte mich die Familie der Heldin und ich konnte an deren Wandlung im Verlauf des Liebesromans nicht glauben.

Die Liebesgeschichte selbst war nett und vor allem die ruhige Kennenlernphase zwischen den beiden Hauptcharaktere fand ich sehr schön. Auch deswegen empfand ich die Unruhe am Ende der Geschichte unnötig und störend.

Blicke ich auf mein Leseerlebnis zurück, so hat mich der angenehme Schreibstil gut durch das romance Buch geführt. Jenseits davon haben manche Elemente der Liebesgeschichte für mich gut funktioniert und andere nicht.

🖤🖤🖤 1/4

Für wen?

Wer eher heitere, lockere Liebesromane um Neuanfänge mag, für den könnte das vorliegende romance Buch eine gute Wahl sein.

I love forced proximity stories, and this was no different. The idea of two characters sharing a living space and slowly becoming friends and then something more is so intriguiging to me, and that sort of plot is going to do it for me every time.

I found Rosie and Aled to be charming characters, both separately and together with their banter. Rosie especially was someone I was rooting for throughout the whole book - it's not often that we get a bigger romantic heroine, so it was refreshing to see and especially refreshing to see everyone remind her how beautiful she is. I loved her spunk and the journey of her finding herself and figuring out what was next for her - it was nice to see a heroine in her early 30s without everything figured out.

My main (and only, really) complaint with this book was the pacing. I was nearly a third of the way through the book and James and Rosie were still together - that kind of just felt too long to me, and didn't necessarily leave as much time for the romance between Rosie and Aled to bloom without it feeling a bit rushed.

Charming enough and good enough. I wish this was a bit funnier and that there was more tension leading into the ending, but a breezy read is a breezy read.

This is one of those cute and predictable reads which is just what I needed. I thought that Rosie's character was very well written - I liked the person that she became. The story did drag and Rosie's inner monologue about her feelings for Aled felt repetitive, but overall, I enjoyed it.

A fun little romance? sign! me! up! this was exactly what i needed as a filler and i found the story so beautiful!!! <3

The romance was cute; however the FMC talked maybe too much about her size in a disparaging way. It seemed like most of her self talk, especially in the beginning, was around this.

The Spare Room, by Laura Starkey, is a fairly predictable romcom, but still an enjoyable read. It's just what I needed after a much heavier novel. There are fun characters, a not-too-serious storyline, and an ex that is so easy to hate...
Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

Fairly predictable rom com but it was still a good read that I enjoyed. This one was like the flat share but so much better.

The cutest little "palette cleanser" of a book. I thought the characters were all so lovely and i loved the little hints to niche british things e.g 'yorkie' chocolate bars being a man's thing.
This was such a comforting little book. There were a couple of jokes made that could be interpreted as slightly questionable but that's easily overlooked by the fact all the characters were just so loveable.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'The Spare Room' by Laura Starkey.

I feel as if 'The Spare Room' heard of Beth O'Leary's flatshare and went "I can do it too!" Spoiler alert: nope. This book fell flat on me. I didn't really connect to any of the characters I just wanted them nowhere near me. The writing style was okay but it just didn't justify the plot and characters. Is there an audience for this book? Sure, but that's not me.