Reviews

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

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cipotalectora's review against another edition

2.0

Remind myself that there is no saving people—people can only save themselves. The best you can do is help when they’re ready.

I went into The Flatshare with high hopes at first, but after seeing a couple of mixed reviews about it, I became less excited about it, and honestly, I can’t complain. The premise of this sounded adorable, but it lacked in investment and depth.

In The Flatshare we follow Leon and Tiffy who become flatmates. Simply said, Tiffy needs a cheep place to live at and Leon needs the cash. So when Tiffy sees the opportunity to share Leon's bed for a cheap price, she takes it. She works a 9-5 and Leon works at night, so while Tiffy is at work, Leon is in the room, and while Leon is working, Tiffy is in the room. While living together, the two begin to leave Post-it notes in the flat for each other and that becomes their form of communication in the beginning. After an unplanned situation of meeting happens, the two begin to see that there may be more than just being flatmates.

Your brain can do amazing things to protect itself from pain. But it’ll struggle to keep secrets from the rest of you for long.

The Good

Opposites attract. I’m a fan of media showing relationships between opposite characters. Give me the bubbly and outgoing girl with the grumpy guy who wears all black as his trademark. While that doesn’t exactly apply to Tiffy and Leon, it does to an extent. Tiffy is really outgoing, quirky, can be classified as loud without caring, while Leon is more private, quiet, reserved, and overall, less social. He struggles more than Tiffy with conversations, which can be noted in his notes. They’re shorter, get to the point quicker, while Tiffy’s are more honest, full, personal, and longer. Sometimes the opposites attract concept doesn’t work, but I think it worked really well in this book, especially because Tiffy made a huge social impact on Leon, and everyone including his coworkers and brother could notice.

It’s weird how easily you can get to know someone from the traces they leave behind when they go.

The exploration of emotional abuse. I’m going to be brief and honest: Tiffy’s character can be a very annoying one. I think you either like her or hate her, but I’m conflicted on how I feel about her. I found her to be annoying every time she mentioned her ex or was thinking about him, but I think that’s where the emotionally abusive part comes in. I can’t speak personally on this level, but Tiffy was clearly being gaslighted and manipulated by her ex, but she didn't see it until after. This can be noted in the scene where she sees him in the cruise and he gives her that look, which makes Tiffy think about him and wonder if he still loves her, but I mean, that’s the point of the manipulation. When they see each other, he’s clearly going to lie and give her some lovey dovey bs. Honestly, I appreciated this concept, especially because it isn't something I've read a lot about.

Just note that, as mentioned, that’s something that many people may not sympathize with, and it’s totally understandable, especially because not everyone sees it that way and instead may see Tiffy as a cry baby instead, which I don’t blame because I saw her that way too. It’s difficult to say how I feel about her, but overall I’m glad it was something explored in the book.

The other thing I really liked was how understanding and caring Leon was. Leon could just tell it was still impacting Tiffy, and I think it added to the exploration of the relationship. He never pushed Tiffy for anything and would ask her to make sure everything was okay with what they were doing and how forward they were taking the relationship. He was nice since the beginning and a part of him, not something he acted as.

I also want to point out that I’ve seen some reviews saying how Leon was also stuck up on his ex, but I’d have to disagree. Instead, Leon was actually glad he and his ex ended things. As the reader, I wished he had done it before, but the right time had to come I guess. Going back, I don’t think Leon was stuck up on his ex. After they broke up, he actually ended up forgetting about her quite quickly, and for good reason. He rarely brought her up, as if she never existed. There was truly no chemistry between them (which, I know, there never was meant to be), and it was as if it didn’t hurt him through the long run. Leon was conflicted about how he felt about her, and it sucked that he didn’t notice his true feelings towards her before, but I wouldn’t say he was stuck up on her when in fact, it felt the opposite.

Also, a special shoutout to Tiffy's friends, especially Mo! Like Tiffy, I don't know where she would be if it wasn't for Mo and Grety.

Relationships like that stop being about ‘voluntarily’ very quickly. There’s lots of ways someone can make you stay with them, or think you want to.

The Bad

The way Leon’s chapters were written. My friend commented in one of my updates saying his chapters felt as if they were her school notes, and honestly, it really did feel like that. It was as if Leon was telling us his thoughts, actions, emotions, and everything in between from a script. Other times it felt as if I was reading from his journal or diary in the form of bullet points. He did something. He had to do something. Something was coming up.

Here’s an example:
JW the First offers me tea; what appears is a thick, chipped mug of builder’s brew. It reminds me of tea at Mam’s. A strange moment of homesickness follows—must go and see her more.
JW the First and I settle on sofa and armchair, opposite one another. Suddenly realizing this is a potentially difficult subject to broach. Did you have a love affair with a man in World War II?

Leon's English and general grammar were also very different than his brother's. Richie’s was more “formal and acceptable” while Leon’s felt as if he was still struggling with the language. To be honest, that isn’t what bothered me. If someone struggles with a language, it doesn’t ruin the entire story for me, it was only the way his chapters were written. His dialogue with everyone else never had quotation marks, signifying the dialogue, and they were ridiculously short, quick to the point. We don’t know much about his character except the fact that he’s a nurse, his brother is in prison and he’s trying to get him out, his mother was emotionally abused, and . . . that’s really it. There is not enough information about him to make him stand out. While he’s reserved and not as outgoing as Tiffy, I’m sure there is something the author could have said about him to make him more appealing. Adding into his backstory would have made me more invested in his character.

The romance. The chemistry had the potential to be there, in my opinion, but it was not developed enough. I think this adds to how I felt like Leon’s character lacked depth, so it plays with how I felt about the romance. As the reader, we know much more about Tiffy than Leon, and we’re able to get inside Tiffy’s brain—understanding her thoughts and emotions—much more than Leon’s. Because of the lack of investment and character exploration, it felt as if the romance wasn’t developed enough. I tried putting myself in Tiffy and Leon's shoes to understand how exactly they started falling for each other, but it was a struggle.

The notes. The notes Leon and Tiffy left for each other were of course, one of the main components of the book, but I wish there was more to it. We read one note, and suddenly, there was another below, and then another, and another, and so on. Clearly, the author skipped whatever it was that Tiffy and Leon were doing. What I mean by this is how Leon, for example, wrote one note, and the next thing we see is the reply from Tiffy, and then the reply from Leon, and so on. This was obviously done to rush the book and make it shorter. For some, that’s a good thing, but sadly for me, it didn’t work out. Since there was a lack of character in-depth about Leon, adding what he was doing could have made the read better. But, it is what it is. Furthermore, Tiffy added a lot about her in her notes, which I appreciated, but Leon didn’t. I understand Leon was more reserved, but since he was more reserved in real life, I would have thought he would be more open between notes since, you know, he wasn’t physically talking to someone.

The overall enjoyment. I found myself to be reading just to finish the book. I made it towards 40% and told myself I was going to DNF because I couldn’t take it, and I kind of regret not doing so. Sometimes the whole “Keep reading, it gets better later on” is bullshit to me, and it’s been proven many times. It’s been proven again with The Flatshare. It was just so boring. There was nothing, besides the good things I pointed out, that made this book enjoyable. While I was glad for the opposites attract concept and exploration of emotional abuse, I won’t say it made the book “enjoyable” per se, simply because they were things I appreciated about the book more than things that I enjoyed reading about.

Also, maybe it's just me, but I struggled a lot on being able to imagine these characters. Usually I'm one who doesn't struggle imagining what the characters look like, how they act and speak and such, especially when there are enough descriptions about them, but I struggled with these two.

With everything being said, The Flatshare was not the most boring and dull book I've read. Sadly though, I'm on the minority here and did not really enjoy it at all. While the book is classified as "women's fiction" (to be honest, the more I see that term, the less I like it because what the heck classifies a "women's fiction" book and WHY?), it has its heavy topics such as manipulation, stalking, gaslighting, and abuse.

Life is often simple, but you don’t notice how simple it was until it gets incredibly complicated, like how you never feel grateful for being well until you’re ill, or how you never appreciate your tights drawer until you rip a pair and have no spares.

somelady's review against another edition

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4.0

Flatshare grabbed my attention from the beginning and effectively held it until the end. I read this book in one day. The premise of this book was really interesting to me. The idea of anyone sharing a flat, especially the same bed, with someone else and never meeting face to face beforehand or during is fascinating.

Tiffy, the main female character, is down on her luck and needs a place to live after her boyfriend left her. Leon, the main male character, needs to make some extra money and decides to offer his flat to someone for the time he isn’t occupying it. He has a girlfriend and works night shift as a palliative nurse. The arrangement between Tiffy and Leon is perfect because neither of them will run into each other during the week based on their work schedules and the weekends are given to Tiffy as Leon stays with his girlfriend on the weekends. The book alternates between Tiffy's and Leon's perspectives.

I thought Tiffy was a bit quirky but not in a way that made her off-putting. She seems like someone who would be fun to hang around but her style and decor definitely differ from my own. Leon's sections in the books were initially slightly off-putting because there were some sentences without a subject. Perhaps if I had listened to the audiobook, it wouldn't have been as weird. I got used to it fairly quickly but at first, it seemed like there were typos or I was missing something.

The idea of never meeting face-to-face beforehand and never running into each other at all is slightly unbelievable but it’s fiction. I read for many reasons but mostly as a form of entertainment and this book definitely entertained me. That being said, there were parts that I couldn’t fully relate to, especially with regard to Tiffy and her relationship with her ex-boyfriend. Situations that felt obvious to me may not be to someone that has experienced similar situations as Tiffy. It could also be one of those things that those on the outside can see things from a different perspective than those directly in the situation.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I felt it was a nice contemporary romance that had an interesting premise and held my attention the whole time.

juniper_reads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

thealexismcbean's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

_inge's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

As soon as I started reading this, I couldn’t put it down. I loved how Leon and Tiffy had their own lives and their own worries to get through first. The relationship was a great addition to their lives, but it didn’t define it (or at least, in a way you often see portrayed in romance novel standards). There wasn’t a lot of tension, given they initially only exchanged notes and really started off as friends. And the tension that was there was really to do with their personal lives. So whilst I personally like romances to have a bit more tension, I appreciated that this gave an entirely different, more realistic perspective.

Leon’s perspective was written in a rushed, shortened style (‘Am running.’). I was hoping this would clear up towards the end of the book, but it unfortunately didn’t. Tiffy therefore always felt more alive than Leon (but I guess even this is the point, as she’s more bubbly and out there).

So the things I didn’t like about this book had more to do with my personal preferences, than with how this was executed. This was fun, fuzzy and really cute.