And They Were Roommates is a very cute LGBT+ slow burn that has a very similar feel to Page Powers’ other book, The Borrow a Boyfriend Club, in that the trans main character changes school and wants to remain stealth but ends up being caught up in very elaborate school secrets and making friends who really love him.

This book follows Charlie, the new scholarship kid in an elite boys boarding school. After planning to have a single room, he ends up in a dorm with someone who knew him pre-transition, but who also broke his heart.
While Charlie wants nothing more than for Jasper to move out, Jasper wants Charlie to help him write love letters for the other students.

It’s a fun, genuine slow burn (like, no romance until 80% in slow burn) with some great tenderness and angst, and is a classic academic setting YA. It was very easy to read and kept me entertained the whole way through. Definitely recommend if you enjoyed Powars’ first book, or if you enjoy good, harmless queer YA.

Thank you to Hachette Children’s Group and Netgalley for the ARC!

And they were roommates By Page Powars

3.5/5 Stars 🌟

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Children’s Group for providing me with this eARC!

I enjoyed this book greatly but at the same time it just didn’t hit me as hard as I’d have liked it too. The characters, the boarding school aspect and the story were all extremely good in their own ways. Charlie was exciting and interesting but Jasper was just too much sometimes and made me feel bored reading about him.

The school name and love tutoring was funny and it definitely had an interesting concept and you could honestly feel Charlie’s stress throughout the book, I just felt it missed something personally. I do recommend having a read and seeing how you feel!

A cute LGBT+ read that had me gushing and also made me want to bang some characters’ heads together, because how did they not realise they loved each other?

This has a very similar feel to Page Powers’ other book, The Borrow a Boyfriend Club, in that the Trans main character changes school and wants to keep his head down so no one notices he’s Trans and gives him a hard time about it, but ends up being caught up in school shenanigans and making friends who love him along the way. If you loved that book, you will definitely love this one. It has the same vibes. The storyline, however, is completely different.

This book follows Charlie, a Trans boy who decides to join an elite boarding school. But there are several problems that happen: he ends up with a roommate, and that roommate is someone who not only knew him pre-transition, Jasper was Charlie’s first kiss and the person who broke his heart. Jasper doesn’t remember him, but Charlie still needs him to move out (he’s the headteacher’s nephew, so he can leverage that relationship to get a single room). The only problem, Jasper wants Charlie to help him write love letters in return.

There is laughter, there is crying, there is anger and there is a lot of ‘can you just talk already’. But of course these are hormonal teenagers, so they literally cannot talk. It creates some great situations that were fun to read and navigate with Charlie. It was very easy to read and kept me thoroughly entertained. Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Children's Group for providing me with an ARC.

And They Were Roommates, aside from having a genius title borrowed from a hilarious and well-known meme, is a YA teen romance about a trans boy navigating life and love in Valentine Academy for Boys, a traditional and strict boarding school for the ultra-elite and ultra intelligent.
I raced through this book so fast, it truly got me out of my reading slump! I fell in love with this book almost immediately, it is so easy to read and entertaining and cute, it’s everything I wanted from the premise. I loved the boarding school setting and the characters were all so personable, I could totally picture this as a film, and now I really want a film adaptation ASAP!
Charlie is such a great character who truly deserves the world and I’m so glad he got his happy ending!