Honestly, my main problem was just that I didn’t really like Dylan and then Addie was also just okay for me. Especially at the beginning of their relationship, Dylan just seemed incredibly weak. He was really susceptible to pretty much anyone’s influence it seemed (especially Marcus). I could definitely understand Addie’s frustration with him. And then like I said earlier, Addie was just okay. I liked that she was a hard worker and I could tell she really wanted to do well in her teaching job. But it seemed like she wasn’t willing to stand up to Dylan a lot of the time and I really wanted her to. With all that being said, I did like Deb quite a bit. I liked her no-nonsense attitude and I thought her relationship with Addie was really special.
The plot wasn’t necessarily anything new as it switched between past and present. We got to see how things were going during the road trip interspersed with flashbacks of Addie and Dylan’s relationship. The whole Rodney thing was a weird subplot and I wasn’t super satisfied with how that all played out. It just kind of fizzled into nothing and I wasn’t sure what the point of it was–it didn’t seem to add much to the overall story. And I’m not even going to touch the Marcus subplot. Just…I don’t know how to feel about it. I did like the overall road trip element of the book, though. So many things went wrong and I liked watching the characters come together to figure things out.
Overall, this book definitely had some things going for it! The main concept was enjoyable and created some fun tension, but I didn’t always enjoy the finer points of the story. I would still recommend this book as a summer romance, especially if you’ve enjoyed O’Leary’s other books, but where I felt The Flatmate was an original concept (at least to me) this one didn’t feel quite as fresh. 3.5/5
What's She Reading? 