The Spare Room: the absolute must-have forced proximity, friends to lovers romantic comedy to read this year!

Rosie Butler, 32, shares a flat with her boyfriend of nearly 10 years, James. She keeps wondering if he will ever propose. Lately, he has gotten into pure eating with no carbs or sugar. Being a bit overweight, this is frustrating for Rosie who enjoys a nice bowl of pasta. To get that, she meets up with her girlfriends and eats what she wants.Rosie works as a claims adjuster for an auto insurance company. Her boss is a jerk and a misogynist. When he calls her in to criticize her on her phone calls with customers, she sees red and quits. Going home, she finds James packed up and he was leaving a letter to her saying they are over. Wow! This day just got better and better.As she tries to figure out how she is going to make ends meet until she gets another job, she realizes she will have to find a flatmate. She had noticed a nice but quiet man living in the upstairs flat. When they actually meet, she learns the he has just inherited the building and is redoing the top floor flat. When she tells him that she needs a flatmate, he asks if he can take the room as he needs a place to stay while his flat is being remodeled. His name is Aled Thomas who teaches school. They get along together and life is good for them. Rosie gets a job as a barista and loves it. Rosie is determined that she will not let herself become attracted to Aled but that is difficult to do as he is such a nice man. Can they just remain friends or will their togetherness lead to something more?This is sweet, clean, and humorous novel that I’m sure will delight readers. The characters are real and the atmosphere described made me smile and feel like I was actually there. Enjoy!I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

I'll admit, the beginning felt a bit too slow and holy cow, everything was so frustrating!!! But I guess that's what the author intended. It was hard seeing how Rosie let everyone walk all over her. Her boyfriend is as dull as dirty toilet water and her family is horrid. It made it all the more satisfying to see her start to stand up for herself later on!!! The romance aspect was a truly lovely slow-burn, but my favorite part of this story is the theme of just finding and being yourself unapologetically, and finding your community of people who truly know and love you for who you are.

Thank you to NetGalley and Embla Books for the ARC of this one. This was a slow one for me and I don't think I really started to enjoy it until at least half way through. It was fairly predictable in plot, which is fine for a romance, but it was such a slow burn that I found I was bored for a lot of it.Rosie is a thirty something living in London who has just been brutally dumped by her boyfriend of almost a decade and she has also quit the job she didn't really like in the first place. While trying to figure out how she can afford the apartment she loves by herself, her upstairs neighbor, Aled, who also inherited the building (unbeknownst to her) offers to stay in her spare room while he updated his space. She accepts and the forge a sweet friendship and eventually fall in love. She also learns to love herself and value herself. It's a cute one overall, but as I said SUPER slow. 3 stars for me but I would consider reading others by this author. Thanks for the opportunity to review!

3.5 stars rounded upWhen Rosie's boyfriend of ten years unceremoniously dumps her for better pastures three weeks before the rent is due, she finds herself renting her spare room to Aled, her taciturn new neighbour.Laura Starkey's 'The Spare Room' is a fun, easy read about one woman reclaiming her self-confidence and power after being a doormat for her selfish, lazy ex-boyfriend and her parents who treat her like a servant and side with her bully of a brother.Rosie is the sort of woman you'd easily be friends with, though you'd be frustrated by how she allows herself to be walked allover. And Aled? Well what a sweetheart. He loves literature, rom coms and is a quiet, supportive rock for Rosie.I really enjoyed how this book is mostly low in melodrama, but I did find at the 60-80% mark the pace really dropped off with Rosie repetitively ruminating how she's attracted to Aled but he's not attracted to someone like her, and how hot he is. I would've preferred to see Rosie firm up her future career/education plans, instead of rushing it through at the end as an afterthought because someone else made a deal with her. I also found resolution with her ex and family rushed through a bit too easy given what they put her through. Words mean nothing if action isn't followed through.Overall this is another delightful Laura Starkey book, featuring a relatable heroine to root for and a sweet, supportive hero to drool over.Thanks to Embla Books and NetGalley for the ARC. I've pre-ordered a copy.

I loved this book. I’ve been a tad bored of rom coms lately but I couldn’t resist picking this book up on Kindle as I’m rather partial to the forced proximity trope.Rosie is one of the most relatable and normal female characters I have had the pleasure of getting to know in a really long time.If you want a swoon worthy love interest, you will not find a better one than Aled.I think I fell for him myself.Laura Starkey is one of my go to authors and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

I’m so glad I found this, it was the perfect rom com read I was seeking for. Some parts I chuckled to, and as a millennial all the throwback references was so relatable.Rosie was a bit of a Bridget Jones type to me with her insecurities and the way those around her treat that the novel is also a story of her discovering her inner worth as she falls in true love.I was smitten with Aled as soon as he referenced the 2009 Emma miniseries with Jonny Lee Miller being the superior Mr Knightley.If only this would be made into a Nora Ephron movie with the Welsh accent dark handsome Poldark type come to life!

A very sweet and cheerful story. Loved how Rosie had grown through the story. It was a slow burner, but still a very cute read.

This book was lovely, great heart warming story and happy ending. Loved the development of the characters. A nice happy read ☺️

My favourite book so far by this author. This story gives all the feels! It's like a warm hug, but in written form. The characters are all likeable - especially Rosie - but this author excels at writing shoddy book boyfriends, and The Spare Room is no exception (looking at you James). It's a blissful slow burn of a romance (thankfully with a very lovely Welsh hero, Aled), with a few twists and turns that keep the reader guessing along the way. The perfect read to sink into for an afternoon or two, and the ending will have you grinning.