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Book Review: And They Were Roommates By Page Powars

book cover for And They Were Roommates By Page Powars

I thought the title of this one was so fun that I had to read it! And They Were Roommates follows our main character Charlie, a trans teenager who is attending a prestigious but very strict boarding school as a scholarship student. We see Charlie struggles as he deals with rigorous coursework, athletic requirements, making friends and dealing with his roommate who he previously had a fling with at summer camp. We meet a cast of characters from Delilah, Charlie’s best friend who attends a sister school, to Jasper, Charlie’s roommate and a brilliant poet.

Overall, this book was fun and lighthearted! I like Charlie and felt he was the most fleshed out of the characters. He seems very relatable and reminds me of some of my friends growing up. His journey to finding his place at the school is very real and heartwarming. I think most of us have been through times where we felt like we didn’t fit in and the writing really does a good job of putting the reader in that headspace. This is a book I wish we had more of when I was in hi

The dialogue was chaotic and took a little getting used to but I think it was very funny! It gets silly at some points but I think based on the title the reader will know to expect that going into this book! It’s part of the charm!

I had a few issues with some of the supporting characters though because it feels like we didn’t get to properly know all of them, or that some of them were more caricatures of people than actual people. For instance one of Charlie’s new friends is a boy genius who only speaks in medieval jargon and acts like he is a knight for the entire story. I found that quite annoying at first but figured it would let up at some point; however, it continues for the whole book. It feels like some of the bits that were originally funny just were drawn out for too long or maybe were a bit too childish for my liking.

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I received this book from NetGalley as an ARC. All opinions are my own.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Rating: 3.5 stars

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