The Flat Share
Author: Beth O’Leary
Trope: Slow Burn, Forced Proximity, Opposites Attract, One Bed
Point of view: Dual, First person
In a nutshell: Two flatmates share a flat, two flatmates share a bed, they’ve never met.
Relationship: MF
Type of series: Standalone
In a nutshell:
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…
Content warning: Domestic abuse, emotional abuse (handled with sensitivity and not graphic)
What I thought: What a surprise this book was - so much more complex than I had anticipated. Like ships in the night, Tiffy and Leon share a flat but never meet (well not for a long time at least) and communicate via post its left around the flat. It has all the elements of a romantic comedy which it nails, but it also tackles heavy issues as we find with Tiffy's emotional abuse she suffers from her ex-partner with sensitivity and grace. This story is so unique and fresh and in a world of contemporary romance and women's fiction and one of the few books lately that's given me a book hangover.
