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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
5/5 stars.
More than that. 10000000/5 stars.
This book was the manifestation of all the wonderful and good feelings I’ve felt over the course of my entire life. This book was so good I couldn’t stop smiling as I read through it and as I was finished. This book is so good there aren’t enough adjectives that exist in the English language to describe it. This book is one of the best I’ve read in all the seventeen and a half years I’ve been alive.
I related so much to Evelyn: knowing what you are, but being terrified of how I would be perceived. I could see so much of myself in her, and even though I’m bisexual and she’s a lesbian, the experience was the same. And I too found myself falling in love with Noelle Daniels. But my bisexuality and anxiety was where I related to Seth. I literally am Seth Williams; give me a haircut and different genitalia, and that’s me. I have never seen so much of myself in a character until right now, and not just because I could never resist Jasper Des Lauries. I’ve never felt so validated by a book—which not only validated my sexuality and how I felt about it, but did, in fact, reinforce that I am in love with girls AND boys.
There is a review posted on the back of the book:
“For all the queer people who fell in love with, and felt betrayed by, books about magical boarding schools, Never Kiss Your Roommate is the book they’ve always deserved.”
This could not be more true. This book felt like a warm embrace. I long for the friendships formed between Evelyn, Seth, Noelle, and Jasper—a queer friend group that I don’t constantly need to prove my worth with. I fell in love with this book, with the language, the characters, the story. It wasn’t just a story to me; it felt like coming home.
More than that. 10000000/5 stars.
This book was the manifestation of all the wonderful and good feelings I’ve felt over the course of my entire life. This book was so good I couldn’t stop smiling as I read through it and as I was finished. This book is so good there aren’t enough adjectives that exist in the English language to describe it. This book is one of the best I’ve read in all the seventeen and a half years I’ve been alive.
I related so much to Evelyn: knowing what you are, but being terrified of how I would be perceived. I could see so much of myself in her, and even though I’m bisexual and she’s a lesbian, the experience was the same. And I too found myself falling in love with Noelle Daniels. But my bisexuality and anxiety was where I related to Seth. I literally am Seth Williams; give me a haircut and different genitalia, and that’s me. I have never seen so much of myself in a character until right now, and not just because I could never resist Jasper Des Lauries. I’ve never felt so validated by a book—which not only validated my sexuality and how I felt about it, but did, in fact, reinforce that I am in love with girls AND boys.
There is a review posted on the back of the book:
“For all the queer people who fell in love with, and felt betrayed by, books about magical boarding schools, Never Kiss Your Roommate is the book they’ve always deserved.”
This could not be more true. This book felt like a warm embrace. I long for the friendships formed between Evelyn, Seth, Noelle, and Jasper—a queer friend group that I don’t constantly need to prove my worth with. I fell in love with this book, with the language, the characters, the story. It wasn’t just a story to me; it felt like coming home.
Oh My God.
I loved everything about this book. At first glance it's a cute, cheesy, queer rom-com, and whilst it is definitely that, it also turns out to be so much more.
The characters are all wonderfully written, diverse and none of them are one-dimensional and feel like an afterthought.
When I picked up the book I thought it only followed Evelyn's story, but it does a wonderful job of Seth's story as well that isn't just a cute romance on the side. The book is actually written so that it jumps between Seth and Evelyn's perspectives, which I don't always like, but it worked well in this book.
The actual events that all of the people in this book go through though are wild. Like it's initially a cute boarding school romance and then all of a sudden, boom, their lives are in danger and people may die. Like, the blurb of this book was not kidding when it said their happily ever afters may become happily never afters.
But anyways, I could not recommend this book more, I thought it was fantastic and had me sitting on the edge of my seat, screaming, crying and laughing along with the characters.
I loved everything about this book. At first glance it's a cute, cheesy, queer rom-com, and whilst it is definitely that, it also turns out to be so much more.
The characters are all wonderfully written, diverse and none of them are one-dimensional and feel like an afterthought.
When I picked up the book I thought it only followed Evelyn's story, but it does a wonderful job of Seth's story as well that isn't just a cute romance on the side. The book is actually written so that it jumps between Seth and Evelyn's perspectives, which I don't always like, but it worked well in this book.
The actual events that all of the people in this book go through though are wild. Like it's initially a cute boarding school romance and then all of a sudden, boom, their lives are in danger and people may die. Like, the blurb of this book was not kidding when it said their happily ever afters may become happily never afters.
But anyways, I could not recommend this book more, I thought it was fantastic and had me sitting on the edge of my seat, screaming, crying and laughing along with the characters.
This book tried to do everything and failed at almost everything, which I guess is expected for a Wattpad book but I didn’t know it was before I bought it.
Honestly, I would rate this 2.5 stars- max. I feel hesitant to go any lower knowing that the author wrote this when she was 15.
This is written as though its a dual narrative book, however Evelyn’s POV dominates the book, while Seth has some chapters sprinkled in. Evelyn’s try to explore her character, while Seth’s is mostly focused on Jasper - but from the limited chapters in this POV, we don’t even learn much about him.
Evelyn, Seth and Jasper all seem to be the same character at heart. They’re soft, cuddly characters, that have had a bit of trauma added to each of them so they can confess their secrets during a romantic scene. The only character who wasn’t like this… still was. Noelle was introduced as an intimidating, brooding, angry, cigarette-smoking, basketball player. Overlooking the fact that a) this is a horrible stereotype of black woman and b) Noelle is one of two black characters in the book (and the other - the headteacher - has a handful of mentions), Noelle ends up being the same character as Evelyn, Seth and Jasper deep down - she just acts the way she does because of her trauma. But, of course, you can’t overlook the racist stereotypes. There’s one quote from this book that I had to have a bit of a laugh at: "The play you have written and directed with the drama club this year is the perfect embodiment of all that this school tries to be: tolerant, open, and diverse. I want to thank you for reminding all of us that this is what truly matters".
While this book is diverse - The core 4 characters are LGBT (Jasper is Pan, Seth and Noelle are Bi, and Evelyn is a Lesbian), but the way in which Noelle’s character is written - and the lack of ANY other POC characters (apart from aforementioned headteacher) does ruin this. Harms’ attempts to have some mental health representation also, but this is never developed all too well.
I’ll leave Noelle’s depiction to POC - as I can’t speak on this too well, as a white person. Look at the 1 and 2 star reviews, you’ll find them.
Harms’ novel falls flat. I loved the idea of it - a cute, sapphic boarding school romance, but The Chit Chatter plot should have just been left out in the end, as it wasn’t incorporated enough for it to be the final conflict in the book. There were maybe three or four passing mentions of it throughout. This could’ve been done well (Gossip Girl? Ace of Spades?), but is another reason that this book isn’t one I plan to revisit anytime soon. The identity of “The Watcher” is incredibly obvious, and I had it figured out from the first mention.
One thing that could make this book slightly better? If Harms’ had actually done research before writing this. As an American author, its pretty clear that she doesn’t know a thing about the school system in England. Evelyn’s exact age isn’t mentioned (as far as I can remember), though Seth makes a comment about how she “looks seventeen”, so based on the fact that he’s the same age as her, and I’m sure that he thought they were the same age at this point too, I’m saying Evelyn is seventeen. Meaning Evelyn and Seth are either in Year 12 or 13. Theres comments about them doing their GCSEs this year (which is unlikely, unless they’ve both been held back a year (or two?), as you tend to do these at the age of 15/16.), when they should be onto a-levels. There’s also a comment about how they would simply “stay at the school an extra year” if they didn’t get what they needed from the GCSEs that theyre supposedly taking.
Now, I know some people may do their GCSEs late - but all of them? I’m extremely doubtful about this, especially when Evelyn is portrayed as this smart girl, Seth equally so, Noelle is only portrayed this way in maths - however, she doesn’t seem to struggle with other classes, she just doesn’t actively speak up due to her dyslexia. Jasper’s academics arent really talked about - but he’s a favourite of his English teacher, who loves his writing.
This isn’t anything spectacular, with writing that feels clunky and unfinished at times, and a plot that is inconsistent throughout. Philline has talent - she wrote a book at 15 years old and someone thought it was good enough to publish - but honestly, this could’ve been way better.
This is written as though its a dual narrative book, however Evelyn’s POV dominates the book, while Seth has some chapters sprinkled in. Evelyn’s try to explore her character, while Seth’s is mostly focused on Jasper - but from the limited chapters in this POV, we don’t even learn much about him.
Evelyn, Seth and Jasper all seem to be the same character at heart. They’re soft, cuddly characters, that have had a bit of trauma added to each of them so they can confess their secrets during a romantic scene. The only character who wasn’t like this… still was. Noelle was introduced as an intimidating, brooding, angry, cigarette-smoking, basketball player. Overlooking the fact that a) this is a horrible stereotype of black woman and b) Noelle is one of two black characters in the book (and the other - the headteacher - has a handful of mentions), Noelle ends up being the same character as Evelyn, Seth and Jasper deep down - she just acts the way she does because of her trauma. But, of course, you can’t overlook the racist stereotypes. There’s one quote from this book that I had to have a bit of a laugh at: "The play you have written and directed with the drama club this year is the perfect embodiment of all that this school tries to be: tolerant, open, and diverse. I want to thank you for reminding all of us that this is what truly matters".
While this book is diverse - The core 4 characters are LGBT (Jasper is Pan, Seth and Noelle are Bi, and Evelyn is a Lesbian), but the way in which Noelle’s character is written - and the lack of ANY other POC characters (apart from aforementioned headteacher) does ruin this. Harms’ attempts to have some mental health representation also, but this is never developed all too well.
I’ll leave Noelle’s depiction to POC - as I can’t speak on this too well, as a white person. Look at the 1 and 2 star reviews, you’ll find them.
Harms’ novel falls flat. I loved the idea of it - a cute, sapphic boarding school romance, but The Chit Chatter plot should have just been left out in the end, as it wasn’t incorporated enough for it to be the final conflict in the book. There were maybe three or four passing mentions of it throughout. This could’ve been done well (Gossip Girl? Ace of Spades?), but is another reason that this book isn’t one I plan to revisit anytime soon. The identity of “The Watcher” is incredibly obvious, and I had it figured out from the first mention.
One thing that could make this book slightly better? If Harms’ had actually done research before writing this. As an American author, its pretty clear that she doesn’t know a thing about the school system in England. Evelyn’s exact age isn’t mentioned (as far as I can remember), though Seth makes a comment about how she “looks seventeen”, so based on the fact that he’s the same age as her, and I’m sure that he thought they were the same age at this point too, I’m saying Evelyn is seventeen. Meaning Evelyn and Seth are either in Year 12 or 13. Theres comments about them doing their GCSEs this year (which is unlikely, unless they’ve both been held back a year (or two?), as you tend to do these at the age of 15/16.), when they should be onto a-levels. There’s also a comment about how they would simply “stay at the school an extra year” if they didn’t get what they needed from the GCSEs that theyre supposedly taking.
Now, I know some people may do their GCSEs late - but all of them? I’m extremely doubtful about this, especially when Evelyn is portrayed as this smart girl, Seth equally so, Noelle is only portrayed this way in maths - however, she doesn’t seem to struggle with other classes, she just doesn’t actively speak up due to her dyslexia. Jasper’s academics arent really talked about - but he’s a favourite of his English teacher, who loves his writing.
This isn’t anything spectacular, with writing that feels clunky and unfinished at times, and a plot that is inconsistent throughout. Philline has talent - she wrote a book at 15 years old and someone thought it was good enough to publish - but honestly, this could’ve been way better.
EDIT: dropped back to two after reading reviews from POC about the portrayal of Noelle. As a white person, I did not consider this and I understand people's disappointment. Noelle does lose her edginess the further into the book you go, but this does not excuse the stereotyping in the beginning.
EDIT 2: if you have a book set in Britain with British MCs, please spell mum the correct way. I don't know if this was an author decision, or a publisher's decision to connect with the American market, but as an Australian, it bothered me. Noelle using mom is fine since she is an American, but the other characters have no excuse.
I flip-flopped on the rating for this between 2 and 3. Ultimately, since it is a debut, I'll go up.
This was a pleasant read, albeit full of tropes and cliches (which is all right. These exist for a reason). Character-wise, I found Noelle and Jasper more engaging and interesting than the narrators. This somewhat worked in the author's favour, as they were the two that the story centred around, however the narrators should be just as, if not more, engaging. In this case, they weren't.
I appreciate that the mystery of the watcher was not a central plot point, as it was mostly ignored for two thirds of the book and I would have been irritated it if suddenly became a big deal near the end. It's not totally clear how Seth solved it, so this could have been better.
Now for the climax. It was quite the tone shift in a way that I think didn't quite hit. There was definitely enough foreshadowing, but to switch from a slice-of-life school romance to intense kidnapping plots is contrived. Also the whole thing with Gloucestershire was entirely too convenient to be believable.
It is a nice romance to read, and I'm interested to see how the author improves with experience and age.
EDIT 2: if you have a book set in Britain with British MCs, please spell mum the correct way. I don't know if this was an author decision, or a publisher's decision to connect with the American market, but as an Australian, it bothered me. Noelle using mom is fine since she is an American, but the other characters have no excuse.
I flip-flopped on the rating for this between 2 and 3. Ultimately, since it is a debut, I'll go up.
This was a pleasant read, albeit full of tropes and cliches (which is all right. These exist for a reason). Character-wise, I found Noelle and Jasper more engaging and interesting than the narrators. This somewhat worked in the author's favour, as they were the two that the story centred around, however the narrators should be just as, if not more, engaging. In this case, they weren't.
I appreciate that the mystery of the watcher was not a central plot point, as it was mostly ignored for two thirds of the book and I would have been irritated it if suddenly became a big deal near the end. It's not totally clear how Seth solved it, so this could have been better.
Now for the climax. It was quite the tone shift in a way that I think didn't quite hit. There was definitely enough foreshadowing, but to switch from a slice-of-life school romance to intense kidnapping plots is contrived. Also the whole thing with Gloucestershire was entirely too convenient to be believable.
It is a nice romance to read, and I'm interested to see how the author improves with experience and age.
before reading this book, please read reviews written by poc readers (check 1 & 2 star reviews)
whenever i read the back of this book, i was immediately intrigued by it. a wlw boarding school romance with a gossip girl influence sounded perfect to me. however, as i began reading the book, i realized the harmful stereotypes for poc readers. the main characters love interest, noelle, is one of the only poc characters in the book, other than the headmistress and one of jaspers love interests early on in the book, who’s described with “dark skin and dark curls.” while the other 3 main characters in the book, who are white, are portrayed as friendly and warm, noelle is portrayed as aggressive, mean, smoking cigarettes, and is overly sexualized. she plays into a lot of the stereotypes for poc in the united states- not having a dad around, being aggressive and mean, sexualized, playing basketball, etc. the only time she isn’t showing these traits is when she’s around evelyn, our main character, making it seem as if she needs a warm and naive white girl to “fix” her in some way. this book, while it has a lot of promise, can be incredibly harmful to anyone of color reading the book
whenever i read the back of this book, i was immediately intrigued by it. a wlw boarding school romance with a gossip girl influence sounded perfect to me. however, as i began reading the book, i realized the harmful stereotypes for poc readers. the main characters love interest, noelle, is one of the only poc characters in the book, other than the headmistress and one of jaspers love interests early on in the book, who’s described with “dark skin and dark curls.” while the other 3 main characters in the book, who are white, are portrayed as friendly and warm, noelle is portrayed as aggressive, mean, smoking cigarettes, and is overly sexualized. she plays into a lot of the stereotypes for poc in the united states- not having a dad around, being aggressive and mean, sexualized, playing basketball, etc. the only time she isn’t showing these traits is when she’s around evelyn, our main character, making it seem as if she needs a warm and naive white girl to “fix” her in some way. this book, while it has a lot of promise, can be incredibly harmful to anyone of color reading the book