The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary – Audio

Book Blurb:

After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art.
Desperation makes her open minded, so she answers an ad for a flatshare. Leon, a night shift worker, will take the apartment during the day, and Tiffy can have it nights and weekends. He’ll only ever be there when she’s at the office. In fact, they’ll never even have to meet.
Tiffy and Leon start writing each other notes – first about what day is garbage day, and politely establishing what leftovers are up for grabs, and the evergreen question of whether the toilet seat should stay up or down. Even though they are opposites, they soon become friends. And then maybe more. But falling in love with your roommate is probably a terrible idea…especially if you’ve never met.

My Review: 3.5 stars

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The Flatshare was a charming read and kept me joyfully invested from start to finish. This was a light romance, a bit rom-com and a bit rom-thriller. Tiffy, our main character, is living in her ex-boyfriend’s place long after their break-up. After much coercion from her friends and learning of his engagement she needs to find a place to live, and fast. She signs a flat-share agreement in which she lives there at night, the other occupant lives there during the day. They don’t meet for some time, yet they share the same bed.

Oh, what fun it was to be inside their heads and learn the assumptions and predictions each of them made about one another. Handwritten notes, which started simply about leftovers or garbage pick-up, soon became more familiar. Over time, they got to know one another quite well though this unusual means of communication. I’m a huge fan of the written word and the idea of a romance forming through notes was completely enjoyable.

Honestly, at the start I thought this book would be just another predictable ‘strangers turn to partners’ premise. And yes, it did have that, but it also offered another level of depth focusing on friendship, healthcare, a menacing ex, a legal case and brotherhood bonds. Overall, this was a quirky, steamy and fun book by a debut author. 

Quotes I liked:

Being nice is a good thing. You can be strong and nice. You don’t have to be one or the other.”

“Remind myself that there is no saving of people–people can only save themselves. The best you can do is help when they’re ready.”

“Look,’ he says, ‘have you ever looked forward to reading a book so much you can’t actually start it?’
‘Oh totally. All the time – if I had a grain of self-restraint I never would’ve been able to read the last Harry Potter book. The anticipation was painful. You know like what if it does live up to the last ones? What if it’s not what I hope it’ll be?”

“Two a.m. is a terrible time for dwelling on legal issues. Worst of all the times. If midnight is witching hour, 2 a.m. is dwelling hour.”