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A review by amymarsdenauthor
Never Kiss Your Roommate by Philline Harms
3.0
The premise sounded promising but unfortunately it wasn't for me.
It was like a cross between Harry Potter and Gossip Girl, and was mainly about Evelyn overcoming her past of being outed at her old school. In that, it was decent. Evelyn was a nice character who I was happy to see grow to be comfortable with herself.
However, other elements weren't good. I get that this is YA, but the 'Gossip Girl' identity was really easy to figure out. Like, it required no thought.
Seth is the other MC but he gets less chapters than Evelyn and his romance with Jasper didn't feel as fleshed out. I wasn't invested in him at all.
This is set in an English bordering school, both MC's are English, yet they say things like 'mom' and 'ass'. Americanisms sneaking into non-American places are a pet peeve of mine, and it really irritated me.
Now, the big issue. Noelle, Evelyn's LI, is black. She's described as mean, aggressive, and overly promiscuous, which fits a lot of negative racial stereotypes. It wasn't good. I suggest reading reviews from POC to determine the full extent of the damage.
It was like a cross between Harry Potter and Gossip Girl, and was mainly about Evelyn overcoming her past of being outed at her old school. In that, it was decent. Evelyn was a nice character who I was happy to see grow to be comfortable with herself.
However, other elements weren't good. I get that this is YA, but the 'Gossip Girl' identity was really easy to figure out. Like, it required no thought.
Seth is the other MC but he gets less chapters than Evelyn and his romance with Jasper didn't feel as fleshed out. I wasn't invested in him at all.
This is set in an English bordering school, both MC's are English, yet they say things like 'mom' and 'ass'. Americanisms sneaking into non-American places are a pet peeve of mine, and it really irritated me.
Now, the big issue. Noelle, Evelyn's LI, is black. She's described as mean, aggressive, and overly promiscuous, which fits a lot of negative racial stereotypes. It wasn't good. I suggest reading reviews from POC to determine the full extent of the damage.