The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary #BookReview

Tiffy and Leon share a flat
Tiffy and Leon share a bed
Tiffy and Leon have never met…

Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.

But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window…

 

I really don’t read these kind of novels often enough, I forgot how much fun they are! The Flatshare is a perfect novel to lift your mood and I couldn’t think of a better timing.

The main characters are Leon, Leon’s brother Richie and Tiffy. Leon is an introvert and might come across a bit awkward at first. At least I had to get a little used to him and his use of stocky sentences but I either got used to it or he changed gradually while I wasn’t aware because that all fell away at some point and I can’t even pinpoint where it happened exactly. As for Tiffy, she’s the opposite really of Leon, extraverted, full of energy, sociable and she has a bit of a special taste in clothes and furniture. Her idea of decorating a place is a lava lamp and a bean bag :-).

Their agreement to live together without ever being in the apartment at the same time was original and I was impressed how well it was organised, it really works and they never meet. How to get them to interact then? Well the author opened up their communication with a single little post-it note. Soon enough I was reading their exchanges like they were sparring in a game of ping-pong and the further along the more they share with each other and the more personal it gets. I loved how they were their true selves in the notes, how they open up to each other. They are attentive and interested, they get to know each other really well and so was I, falling for both characters a little more as I went along. What I really wanted then was for them to finally meet and then preferably to fall deeply in love at first sight. The anticipation of that moment of meeting one another was excruciating! It was bound to happen but how and when? Well I won’t say much about it but the moment was golden! Oh my lord, their moment made me grin from ear to ear.

I felt it was all quite romantic even if the messages didn’t even contain romance, I just quite enjoyed the old-fashioned way of writing to each other and I felt their connection. Leon and Tiffy were also both very likeable characters that I enjoyed reading about. I’m not going to talk about the one person who made my toes curl or the hurdles they also faced in the novel, because overall it’s a feel-good novel that will put a smile on your face.

I received a free copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.