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nicole_reads_everything 's review for:
Roommate Arrangement
by Saxon James
3.5 rounded up
I went into this with a healthy level of skepticism--I wasn't impressed with the short prequel, this author is hit or miss for me, and the reviews have been mixed--but I ended up quite enjoying it.
I felt the cheating husband angle was a little overdone/on the nose and would have appreciated a smidge more subtlety there--I feel like it was done to make the fact that he apparently moves on and finds the *real* love of his life like a month later, and yeah, that still feels really fast to me.
That being said, I actually appreciated Payne's honesty and hesitation here. The whole friends with benefits where one has had a crush on the other forever is such a common trope, but the way it was approached here, with both characters being up front and honest about their feelings and expectations really worked for me. Payne not knowing if he was able to commit to a relationship while his divorce wasn't even final yet felt very understandable, and I really liked that Beau was honest about his crush, and also owned his ability to make his decisions. Yes, he acknowledged that it might not be smart/he might get his heart broken, but if he did, that was his choice and he's an adult with autonomy.
I didn't love the Lee storyline, mostly because I didn't see the need to make Lee so unlikable. Payne's jealousy was annoying, but I also thought it was handled realistically, with his friends calling him on how unfair he was being, and him acknowledging that he was allowed to be jealous because humans are complex, but wasn't allowed to sabotage Beau moving on.
I do wish we'd got a little more of Payne's personality, as Beau was really strongly characterized and Payne felt a bit bland in comparison. I also just personally struggled with how deep their relationship became so quickly, and SO soon after Payne leaving his partner of 12 years very suddenly. Literally like 2 months--it just didn't quite spell happily ever after for me, and I wish the author had set it even like, 6 months after Payne left just to feel a little more believable for me.
I went into this with a healthy level of skepticism--I wasn't impressed with the short prequel, this author is hit or miss for me, and the reviews have been mixed--but I ended up quite enjoying it.
I felt the cheating husband angle was a little overdone/on the nose and would have appreciated a smidge more subtlety there--I feel like it was done to make the fact that he apparently moves on and finds the *real* love of his life like a month later, and yeah, that still feels really fast to me.
That being said, I actually appreciated Payne's honesty and hesitation here. The whole friends with benefits where one has had a crush on the other forever is such a common trope, but the way it was approached here, with both characters being up front and honest about their feelings and expectations really worked for me. Payne not knowing if he was able to commit to a relationship while his divorce wasn't even final yet felt very understandable, and I really liked that Beau was honest about his crush, and also owned his ability to make his decisions. Yes, he acknowledged that it might not be smart/he might get his heart broken, but if he did, that was his choice and he's an adult with autonomy.
I didn't love the Lee storyline, mostly because I didn't see the need to make Lee so unlikable. Payne's jealousy was annoying, but I also thought it was handled realistically, with his friends calling him on how unfair he was being, and him acknowledging that he was allowed to be jealous because humans are complex, but wasn't allowed to sabotage Beau moving on.
I do wish we'd got a little more of Payne's personality, as Beau was really strongly characterized and Payne felt a bit bland in comparison. I also just personally struggled with how deep their relationship became so quickly, and SO soon after Payne leaving his partner of 12 years very suddenly. Literally like 2 months--it just didn't quite spell happily ever after for me, and I wish the author had set it even like, 6 months after Payne left just to feel a little more believable for me.