Never Kiss Your Roommate by Philline Harms (ARC Review)

Title: Never Kiss Your Roommate
Author: Philline Harms
Type: Fiction
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Wattpad Books
Date published: June 1, 2021

A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Welcome to Seven Hills, the world’s most exclusive boarding school where only the best and brightest roam the hallowed halls. Being committed to your studies, service, and community doesn’t mean that you can’t break the rules now and again, right?

But watch your back because lurking on the anonymous Chitter Chatter Blog is The Watcher—who can’t wait to reveal all the latest hookups, hot lists, and secrets around campus. The latest objects of The Watcher’s affection? Straight-off-the-train (but not exactly straight) insta-besties Evelyn and Seth.

It doesn’t take long for Evelyn to realize she is inexplicably drawn to her gorgeous and standoffish roommate Noelle. Meanwhile Seth has eyes, and some serious heart palpitations, for budding thespian and school flirt Jasper. Just as things start to heat up, The Watcher strikes. Will the secrets revealed turn their happily ever afters into happily never afters?

⤖ My Review ⬻

I remember being so excited when I first heard about Never Kiss Your Roommate. I’m a sucker for boarding school young adult books and the fact that this would be an LGBTQ love story as well as having a bit of mystery added in, and finally, including the fact that the setting is an old castle–I just knew that I had to read this one!

Before I go into my review, I would like to note–as I tend to do in cases like this–that I was a little bit unsure about my reading mood when I first picked up Never Kiss Your Roommate. This might be part of the reason why I really had to push to get through the first third of the book. I also found that I didn’t find myself really caring for any of the characters until a little bit further in the book, which might’ve been part of the reason as well.

The love story aspect of the book I would definitely describe as a slow burn and I would also say that it was quite satisfying to read (especially once the tension broke). I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t as intrigued by the side love plot while reading Never Kiss Your Roommate. Now, in retrospect, I suppose I could say that it added a sort of sweetness to the overall plot.

The characters took a little bit of time for me to get a sense of, which I think is okay…it just–like I mentioned before–caused the start of the book to feel a little bit slow for me personally. The mystery portion of the book also wasn’t quite what I was expecting. But once I got to that part, I noted right away that it added excitement to the story and really helped make the overarching plot feel more complete and fleshed out. All in all, I had fun reading Never Kiss Your Roommate.

⤖ About the Author ⬻

Nineteen-year-old Philline Harms has been writing from the age of eleven and started posting her stories to Wattpad in 2016, where they have since then garnered over six million reads. Living in Germany, she’s currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. When she’s not working on a novel, she can be found curled up with a book, spending time with her friends, or crafting obscurely specific Spotify playlists.