A review by aromanticreadsromance
And They Were Roommates by Page Powars

funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
What I loved:
  • Charlie as a main character! I didn’t always LIKE him, but he felt very real to me. The total trans acceptance was amazing. There was only the fear of transphobia, never demonstrated transphobia.
  • The setting! I just love boarding school settings, and a boarding school with a bunch of geniuses? Amazing
  • The secret love letter sending club. Kids are so innovative; when they wanna do something, they’ll find a way to do it. So this seemed believable to me.
  • The friendships between Charlie and Luis and Charlie and Xavier! These felt like two of the most developed side characters (see below), and I just adored them. Especially the big manly man gym bro Xavier who had a heart of gold.

What didn’t work for me:
  • The ages of the characters: to me, this would have worked better if Charlie was a junior or senior in HS (rather than a sophomore). He met and fell in love with Jasper two summers ago, which seems kinda young to me.
  • I found it unbelievable that Jasper was still pining over Charlie after two years. Again, he’s a HS sophomore.
  • some of the side characters (like Delilah [Charlie’s best friend], Charlie’s mom, even sometimes Jasper) felt one-dimensional and like caricatures. They just fell flat and not fleshed out.
  • Jasper grew on me, but his extreme self-centeredness is really off-putting. I mean, posters of himself on the ceiling? And a huge cardboard cutout of himself? We never really get an understanding of why Jasper is this way, but anybody this outwardly obsessed with themselves has a reason for it, don't they?
  • The romance didn’t even really pick up until like 88% through the book. And even then we didn’t get to see them together as a couple like at all. So it didn’t even really feel like a slow burn, it just felt mostly non existent.
  • OH almost forgot: is it not EXTREMELY weird that Jasper is supposedly one of the "sexiest" poets alive (according to a magazine or something)? He's 15 or 16. There's no discussion of how gross this in the book... are adults voting for a minor in a sexy poets contest? Bc that's v creepy

I would definitely recommend this book! Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC of this book!