AUTHOR: Nina Kenwood GENRE: NA Romance PAGES: 320 RELEASED: 5 October 2022 SYNOPSIS: Eighteen-year-old Brooke is the kind of friend who not only remembers everyone’s birthdays, but also organises the group present, pays for it, and politely chases others for their share. She’s the helper, the doer, the maker-of-spreadsheets. She’s the responsible one who always follows the rules—and she plans to keep it that way during her first year of university. Her new share house only has one rule: ‘no unnecessary drama’. Which means no fights, tension, or romance between housemates. When one of her housemates turns out to be Jesse, her high-school nemesis, Brooke is determined she can handle it. They’ll simply silently endure living together and stay out of each other’s way. But it turns out Jesse isn’t so easy to ignore… This book was kindly sent to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. A friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance set in a Melbournian university share house...
With university about the kick off, Brooke has moved out of home and into a share house in Melbourne. It’s a big scary next step in her life, but she’s excited for all the new experiences living in the city will offer her. That is until she meets one of her new housemates – Jesse, her former best friend who broke her heart in high school and she’s hated ever since. With one of the rules of the house being ‘no unnecessary drama’ Brooke and Jesse spend most of their time ignoring each other unless their other housemate – is present. But when Brooke is in severe pain while on a run and then needs to go the hospital, Jesse is there for her the entire time and she ever so slowly begins to soften to him again. As they spend more and more time in each other’s orbit, Brooke can’t help but be drawn to him as they slowly rekindle the friendship they once had. But things turn complicated when they bump into Brooke’s ex and pretend to be dating, and a comment by Jesse reminds her why they stopped being friends in the first place. This was such a sweet coming-of-age story about finding yourself once you move out of home, with a fabulous Aussie twist. It was super refreshing to read a book set in Australia and full of Australian-isms, which is something that I’ve just not experienced enough in books – we desperately need more Aussie new adult romances because they are SO good! Brooke and Jesse’s relationship was definitely a slow burn, but it was a sweet journey to be on as Brooke dealt with her conflicting feelings towards her former friend turned housemate. You really can’t go wrong with the forced-proximity of being housemates! I will say that I didn’t always vibe with this book. I don’t know if it was Nina’s writing style, Brooke as the narrator, or just because I haven’t read a more young adult based book for a while, but there were times when I just didn’t enjoy the book as much as I wanted to. In saying that, the further through the book I got, the less I experienced this, but it was still something I was aware of as I read. If you’re looking to add some more Aussie romances to your TBR or just can’t get enough of the friends-to-lovers trope, this is definitely a book you should be checking out. |
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