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A review by capesandcovers
Never Kiss Your Roommate by Philline Harms
3.0
TWs: Internalized homophobia, public outing (off screen), bullying (off screen), cyberbullying, alcohol, kidnapping, gaslighting and abusive romantic relationship, kidnapping, stabbing, rape (off page).
I'm going to be honest, if you're an adult looking for a queer YA romance to read, this book probably isn't for you. Unlike a lot of the YA being published right now, Never Kiss Your Roommate actually felt like it was from a teenager's perspective, and written for teens, rather than the adult audience reading the category. While it was definitely a refreshing change of pace for me, I'm going to try to make sure I don't really complain about stuff that could be related back to it being aimed at a younger audience.
Never Kiss Your Roommate follows Evelyn and Seth, both new transplants at their boarding school, Seven Hills. Evelyn gets stuck rooming with Noelle, the beautiful and intimidating basketball star, who seems to hate her right off the bat, and isn't doing anything to help her awkwardness of accepting her sexuality. Meanwhile Seth is falling for Noelle's cute French BFF, the popular theater kid, while grappling with his parent's divorce. Both best friends have chapter POVs, as they fall for their classmates, and keep up with the school's anonymously run gossip blog.
I was surprised by how much I liked parts of this, to be honest. I was a bit hesitant to request Never Kiss Your Roommate, since it was originally a Wattpad story written when Harms was a teenager, but that cover made me change my mind. I liked Evelyn, Seth, Noelle and Jasper, each of them had unique personalities, and their own charms. I'd honestly would've loved to see Jasper get more page time than he did, just so the squad was a little more filled out (and I just enjoy characters with a flair of drama lol). The writing and plot were a bit clunky and unfinished in some places, but I honestly think that it probably has to do with it being written by an actual teen, who hasn't had the time and experience to write as many novels before getting published as a lot of authors. The way the gossip blog, Chitter Chatter, was used lowkey reminded me of Creekwood Secrets from Simon Vs. the Homosapiens Agenda, and it had the same softer queer contemp YA vibe to it (well, for most of the book anyway, things pick up a lot at the end).
I did want to mention that Never Kiss Your Roommate falls into the category of having a primarily white cast and then a POC as the love interest, and that it also could potentially be seen as having the angry Black woman stereotype when it comes to Noelle at the start. I'm not the right person to really make a judgement about the last part, but I thought I'd mention it.
If you're looking for a (mostly) cute queer romance, especially if you like rivals to lovers, this is the book for you! You might have to ignore some questionable writing at times, and a somewhat predictable plot, but if you're just looking for some entertainment, it's a fun story. Just don't go into it with the expectation that it's going to read like upper YA, because it isn't and you'll end up disappointed.
I'm going to be honest, if you're an adult looking for a queer YA romance to read, this book probably isn't for you. Unlike a lot of the YA being published right now, Never Kiss Your Roommate actually felt like it was from a teenager's perspective, and written for teens, rather than the adult audience reading the category. While it was definitely a refreshing change of pace for me, I'm going to try to make sure I don't really complain about stuff that could be related back to it being aimed at a younger audience.
Never Kiss Your Roommate follows Evelyn and Seth, both new transplants at their boarding school, Seven Hills. Evelyn gets stuck rooming with Noelle, the beautiful and intimidating basketball star, who seems to hate her right off the bat, and isn't doing anything to help her awkwardness of accepting her sexuality. Meanwhile Seth is falling for Noelle's cute French BFF, the popular theater kid, while grappling with his parent's divorce. Both best friends have chapter POVs, as they fall for their classmates, and keep up with the school's anonymously run gossip blog.
I was surprised by how much I liked parts of this, to be honest. I was a bit hesitant to request Never Kiss Your Roommate, since it was originally a Wattpad story written when Harms was a teenager, but that cover made me change my mind. I liked Evelyn, Seth, Noelle and Jasper, each of them had unique personalities, and their own charms. I'd honestly would've loved to see Jasper get more page time than he did, just so the squad was a little more filled out (and I just enjoy characters with a flair of drama lol). The writing and plot were a bit clunky and unfinished in some places, but I honestly think that it probably has to do with it being written by an actual teen, who hasn't had the time and experience to write as many novels before getting published as a lot of authors. The way the gossip blog, Chitter Chatter, was used lowkey reminded me of Creekwood Secrets from Simon Vs. the Homosapiens Agenda, and it had the same softer queer contemp YA vibe to it (well, for most of the book anyway, things pick up a lot at the end).
I did want to mention that Never Kiss Your Roommate falls into the category of having a primarily white cast and then a POC as the love interest, and that it also could potentially be seen as having the angry Black woman stereotype when it comes to Noelle at the start. I'm not the right person to really make a judgement about the last part, but I thought I'd mention it.
If you're looking for a (mostly) cute queer romance, especially if you like rivals to lovers, this is the book for you! You might have to ignore some questionable writing at times, and a somewhat predictable plot, but if you're just looking for some entertainment, it's a fun story. Just don't go into it with the expectation that it's going to read like upper YA, because it isn't and you'll end up disappointed.