certifiedstrawberry 's review for:

And They Were Roommates by Page Powars

2.25

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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*sigh* I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I really like the idea of “trans person rooming with their ex, but their ex not realizing because they dated pre-transition” but the plot surrounding it sort of floundered. It feels like these characters should have been aged up to college years, because it would make a lot more sense for someone to be broken up and have problems with love due to a highschool sweetheart rather than a crush from a middle school summer camp, and also for someone to fully transition including top surgery at 18 rather than 14. But then the rest of the plot of the gender segregated schools and elaborate schemes for the love letters wouldn’t have worked. 

It just sort of felt like the author had a good base premise and then struggled to build the rest of the plot around it.