“Finding the right person, though, that’s transformative. If you get it right, it can turn you into the very best version of yourself. That love, true love. I don’t know if you find it by looking for it. I think it’s something that catches you unaware at the least convenient moment.”

Aaron and Róisín are both lost when they meet each other in a Boston nightclub; Aaron is struggling with the death of his brother, finding comfort in escaping reality through alcohol and drugs and Róisín is homesick, missing Ireland but scared to leave the US due to outstaying her visa. They both find a level of security in one another’s struggles and quickly begin seeing each other, shocked at the ease of how well they fit together. However, just when they’re beginning to struggle to keep connected, Róisín discovers she is pregnant and they move into Aaron’s family home. Here they face more difficulties through Aaron’s strained relationship with his parents, the cultural differences with Aaron being Jewish and Róisín atheist and Róisín’s ongoing pining for ‘home’, and they begin falling apart. We’re left wondering whether they’re destined to be together or destined to serve as placeholders for one another.

Soooo much is covered in a relatively short book: mental health, grief, cultural identity, religion (with an insightful focus on zionism), interfaith relationships and love, and each of the topics are covered beautifully. Placeholders is wonderfully heartfelt and the characters are created with huge depth (I especially loved Róisín and Michael’s relationship). I really enjoyed this and definitely recommend, but be ready for a tearjerker. A truly great debut from James Roseman!

Fast book that packs a punch. It follows Roisin and Aaron, and their lives in Boston. They fall in love but it is complicated because they are carry so much that is different to each other. This book is heartbreaking and heart felt and I wonder at the author, James Roseman ‘s ability to bring so much is such a short read. This book stayed with me long after I finished it - highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers, Verve Books, for this ARC.

A tight anti-romance that illuminates the world

Not a book that I would have naturally picked up, Roseman's debut presents bruising but unspoken clashes between faith and reality, between love and survival, between loneliness and family.

Neither American Jew Aaron nor Irish atheist Róisín are undamaged when they meet on a night out in Boston, where Róisín is eking out an existence without a visa. Each recognising something in the other and imagining that it's love, they drift into a relationship that suddenly becomes more serious than either of them intended, when Róisín falls pregnant. The outcomes and their choices are what drives the novel to its realistic but open ending.

Although portrayed sympathetically, Aaron and Róisín are too traumatised to see their paths to true happiness, their worlds coloured with sadness and weariness. Aaron's family goes out of their way to accept their new relationship, but there are no happy endings in this emotional and searing portrait of love in all the wrong places.

Three and a half stars.

I enjoyed 90% of this novel, the characters were rightly drawn and sympathetic, but unfortunately the ending felt rushed and contrived to me which lost it at a star overall. I’d recommend it in the main though and many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A chance encounter in a club, An immediate spark, which turns into a relationship: he has run away from his family after the death of his brother, she is far away from her family, in Ireland.

I loved the political depth behind the storyline, I feel the main characters lack a bit of depth, especially Róisín and I would have liked to understand more of what was the tipping point that made her stay.

A 3.5 rounded up to 4. This didn't blow me away but was still an enjoyable read. I liked that it didn't have a stereotypical happy ending, and Roseman's writing style flowed and held my attention. My main criticism (and this may well be me being pedantic, but in my opinion it's too big of a plot flaw to ignore) is that there was no discussion of how Róisín would have gone about paying for medical care in the private healthcare hell-hole that is the United States. I understand that would derail the overstaying-her-visa plot (even her accessing medical care at all would lead at some point to her being found out as an illegal immigrant), but I couldn't brush over it as artistic licence.

This debut novel is yet another cast with the " perfect for fans of Sally Rooney". I didn't see any comparisons to Rooney's novels and this novel stands on its own merits. It is a book about two people, Roisin is Irish, undocumented , living in Boston, she is stuck in more ways than one. Aaron has been living a solitary life since the death of his brother , five years previously. Aaron is Jewish , Roisin is an atheist , their backgrounds are wildly different but they are both looking for what is lacking in their lives and they might find it in each other. I liked this a lot, the writing is excellent and it was quite a moving read about love, grief, cultural identity and finding somewhere or someone to be home. I will look forward to reading more in the future from this author and wishing him the best of luck with Placeholders, it deserves to be widely read.

Placeholders is a poignant exploration of grief, identity, and the complexities of building a family across cultural divides. Aaron, mourning the loss of his younger brother, and Roisín, an Irishwoman without a green card and feeling homesick, meet by chance on a night out in Boston. Despite barely knowing each other, they inexplicably begin to feel like home to one another.

The book is short but rich in depth, touching on themes of displacement, loss, and the challenges of cross-cultural relationships. Roisín, an atheist, and Aaron, whose family are Zionists (though he is not), face growing tensions when Roisín becomes pregnant, and they attempt to create a family of their own.

I found the characters relatable, especially Roisín, whose Irish background is portrayed authentically—unsurprising given the author, though American, lives in Dublin. Placeholders is a subtle yet profound story that offers a moving look at love, identity, and the search for belonging.

http://thesecretbookreview.co.uk

An honest, poignant love story. Roisin and Aaron, on the surface, couldn't be more different. She's an Irish immigrant making ends meet as a barista, with a past she won't discuss. He's bored out of his mind in a desk job and struggles to reconcile his faith with the loss of his brother. Yet they're both lonely and together find a family in each other. Careful, lovely, a strong debut.

Bittersweet and melancholy, a relatable book about modern relationships with much more in the mix. Human connection (or disconnection) at its best.

This was so good and packed so much in such a short amount of pages I think it definitely deserves a second reading. I wouldn’t be surprised if that second reading caused me to raise my rating from 4 to 5 - this is really a book I want to sit with and think about and explore.
The story’s exploration of religion and conflict alone is super interesting, and the fact that it does not shy away from repeatedly mentioning Palestine without compromising on nuance and depth is fantastic (and thoroughly needed in 2024…).
But even beyond that, it is just a really good page turner with incredibly attaching characters that you can’t help to root for even if they are deeply flawed. I always complain about the Sally Rooney type of characters who could easily fix all their problems by just talking to each other - but this book was, to me, the proof that you CAN actually create characters who struggle with communication and connection and loneliness in a realistic, heartfelt and non-aggravating way.

I really enjoyed reading Placeholders. The characters of Moe and Roisan felt very contemporary and easy to relate to. The predicaments they both found themselves in were not unrealistic I loved the Irish versus American nuances of culture. It was also interesting to see Judaism explained to an Irish Aethist. It is sad, funny and quirky

I almost gave up on this novel within the first thirty pages; it felt too American, too grim, too out to shock for me. But something in the characters made me persevere and I’m very glad I did.

Placeholders is one of the most realistic romances I’ve read. No sugar-coating, no meet cute (thank goodness) but the emotions Aaron and Roisin feel, the problems they face, seem completely genuine. And very relatable to just about anyone who’s dated. The uncertainty, the moments of joy, the mistakes, the choices.

It’s a story of the rough and ready path of familial love too, and it also speaks of cultural identity. Definitely worth a read.

Aaron is grieving after the loss of his younger brother Moe, Roisín is homesick and without a greencard. These two lonely souls find themselves together on a night out in Boston and before they have a chance to really get to know one they somewhat inexplicably start to feel as though the other is the very semblance of home they have been looking for.

This is a very short debut novel and is subtle but deep in its themes. The main characters are not only from different countries but also different religions; Roisin is Irish and an atheist, and Aaron's family are Zionists although he himself is not. Roisín discovers she is pregnant. These differences start to give rise to conflict when they try to build a family unit of their own.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters are very relatable, with the Irish character written particularly well, which I know now is because the author loves in Dublin, although he is American himself.
I found the ways challenges arose both implicitly and explicitly because of religion thought-provoking and particularly timely on account of the massacre that is ongoing in Gaza.

A great debut, I look forward to more from this author. Many thanks to @netgalley and @vervebooks for the advance reader copy in return for an honest review.  Placeholders will be available on 26th September, I recommend you pick it up.


#placeholdersnovel

I liked this, but I didn't love it. This book definitely had potential but certain choices just didn't work for me.


Some likes:
- I really liked Aaron's character. He's not necessarily truly likeable, but he really has depth to him, unlike some of the other characters in the book.

- I thought the conversations surrounding Judaism and Palestine were really interesting and definitely felt current and relevant.

- The pacing was quite good and kept me engaged throughout.


Some critiques:
- I didn't hate the writing, I actually think the detached but intimate styles works, especially for Aaron's chapters, but I have more than one grievance with it. Some of the metaphors felt a bit cliche at times but they weren't distracting in any way. What was distracting was the constant (and I mean, basically every chapter) retrospective format that is applied throughout the novel. It goes something like
Scene A (present) -> Scene B (event in the recent past) -> Scene A (back to present)
This wouldn't have bothered me if this wasn't used in every, single chapter and it really started to get on my nerves. I think it also takes away from the tension of the scenes that are delivered in retrospect and doesn't provide urgency to those, often important, scenes.

- Speaking of retrospect, I didn't love how often characters' actions are rationalised a lot later in the book. I understand concealing information for the sake of intrigue but I don't think it works in this book when we are supposedly trying to follow Aaron and Róisín closely and understand their emotions. During most of the book, I was really trying to understand Róisín, but I simply couldn't. I couldn't connect or empathise with her because we just don't get enough of her.

- This leads nicely on to characters. The characters outside of Aaron were not really that fleshed out and felt a bit one note. I didn't really understand why Percy, Jake and Sofia were part of Aaron and Róisín's lives. I did like Aaron's parents and quite liked Michael, especially, but I wish his relationship with Róisín would have helped me understand her a bit more, and it didn't.

- Lastly, I am a little burnt out on these kinds of stories being set in New York, so it was refreshing to find out that this book was set in Boston/Massachusetts but, I felt like the place didn't really have a personality. It didn't feel unique to most other big cities. This could have been a great opportunity to allow the reader to understand why Róisín wants to be in Boston, especially, but, again, we just didn't get that which was a bit disappointing.


Overall, I really wanted to like this and while I did, I think it unfortunately also missed the mark on several occasions.

I found this compelling read even though I could see that Aaron and Roisin‘s relationship was littered with difficulties and potential disasters. As a religious Jew, a strange from his parents, Aaron is coming to terms with the tragic loss of his brother Whilst battling The temptations of drink and drugs.
Roisin, who has Overstayed her visa and is now living illegally in the USA is trying to keep a low profile and enjoy life in Boston. When they meet the two of them recognise in each other another lost soul.

I very much enjoyed discovering Aaron’s life and his Judaism through the eyes of Roisín, an atheist who knew very little about Judaism. I think this was a very realistic portrayal of the difficulties and their relationship.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to have read this had a publication and exchange for an honest review.

A story about two different individuals tryying to forge a life together. An interesting story but a little slow for my liking and found my interest waning at times. Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC.

A subtle, beautifully written story of two young people trying to make a life – together and as individuals – under the pressures of late capitalism… written with an unflinching tenderness

This book really took me by surprise. It's beautifully written and covers a lot of "awkward" topics. Relationships, grief, heartache, poor mental health, religion to name just a few. I was blown away at how the author managed to write about so many scenarios in just one storyline.

Róisín and Aaron’s relationship is full of emotion and turmoil. Are they in love, do they need each other or are they just there for the ride? Filling voids in each other’s lives, rather than being true soul mates. As a reader I was very much wanting to follow their journey, wishing they had a positive outcome as I read each chapter. I bought into them as individuals as well as being a couple.

I couldn't help but ask myself "what would I do in this scenario", as I read the book. It made me question some of my own behaviours and outlooks on life. Books like this are hard to come by and when you do, I think they stay with you for a long time!

Thank you to NetGalley and James Roseman for the ARC.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.