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Nov. 14th, 2021 09:46 pmI'm trying to remember who it was who I saw mention that Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare was very charming -- I think it was ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
raven? Anyway, it is indeed very charming; it's a contemporary rom-com novel that feels like the best version of a nineties rom-com film, with a delightfully implausible premise, likeable leads, and none of the bits that in retrospect make you think back on the film a decade later and go 'yikes' (at least, I think so now; ask me again I suppose in ten years.)
The delightfully implausible premise: Leon, a perpetually overscheduled night nurse, needs some extra cash to help pay his wrongfully imprisoned brother's legal bills and decides to sublet out his apartment during the hours he's not there. Underpaid publishing assistant Tiffy's extremely bad (controlling and gaslighting) relationship, meanwhile, has just ended so badly that Leon's posting asking for a subletter who's willing to do a timeshare on a one-bedroom as long as they're out doing normal 9-5 work hours so he can crash in between shifts looks astonishingly appealing as long as it lets her get into a new place fast. As a result, they spend a significant chunk of the book communicating only in friendly roommate post-it notes. Very cute! Has the added bonus (for me) that the premise precludes insta-attraction (Tiffy looks Leon up on Facebook before moving in and is like, well, seems like a perfectly average looking individual who is not my type! ideal!) and specifically foregrounds falling for the other person's personality over a long period of time, ideal for me in a romance.
In addition to the wrongfully imprisoned brother and the controlling and gaslighting ex (which shifts to stalker ex over the course of the book, so heads up on that one if that's a hard no), other subplots include:
- Leon's quest to reunite an elderly WWII veteran with his long-lost secret boyfriend by methodically tracking down every member of his unit with the same extremely common name
- Leon's friendship with a precocious preteen recovering from long-term illness
- Tiffy's surprise niche publishing success with a contrarian crochet expert's accidentally-on-trend manuscript
In the nineties rom-com film version of these book, all of these roles are played by veteran character actors/comedians, including all half-dozen elderly veterans that Leon politely lunches with over the course of the book while attempting to discern if they might have possibly a.) have been the protagonists of and b.) have an interest in rekindling a secret gay WWII love affair. The crochet contrarian is probably Jennifer Saunders or Dawn French.
Anyway, enjoyed it very much and would love to know if anyone has read any of O'Leary's other books and has opinions on whether they go down as easy.
raven? Anyway, it is indeed very charming; it's a contemporary rom-com novel that feels like the best version of a nineties rom-com film, with a delightfully implausible premise, likeable leads, and none of the bits that in retrospect make you think back on the film a decade later and go 'yikes' (at least, I think so now; ask me again I suppose in ten years.)The delightfully implausible premise: Leon, a perpetually overscheduled night nurse, needs some extra cash to help pay his wrongfully imprisoned brother's legal bills and decides to sublet out his apartment during the hours he's not there. Underpaid publishing assistant Tiffy's extremely bad (controlling and gaslighting) relationship, meanwhile, has just ended so badly that Leon's posting asking for a subletter who's willing to do a timeshare on a one-bedroom as long as they're out doing normal 9-5 work hours so he can crash in between shifts looks astonishingly appealing as long as it lets her get into a new place fast. As a result, they spend a significant chunk of the book communicating only in friendly roommate post-it notes. Very cute! Has the added bonus (for me) that the premise precludes insta-attraction (Tiffy looks Leon up on Facebook before moving in and is like, well, seems like a perfectly average looking individual who is not my type! ideal!) and specifically foregrounds falling for the other person's personality over a long period of time, ideal for me in a romance.
In addition to the wrongfully imprisoned brother and the controlling and gaslighting ex (which shifts to stalker ex over the course of the book, so heads up on that one if that's a hard no), other subplots include:
- Leon's quest to reunite an elderly WWII veteran with his long-lost secret boyfriend by methodically tracking down every member of his unit with the same extremely common name
- Leon's friendship with a precocious preteen recovering from long-term illness
- Tiffy's surprise niche publishing success with a contrarian crochet expert's accidentally-on-trend manuscript
In the nineties rom-com film version of these book, all of these roles are played by veteran character actors/comedians, including all half-dozen elderly veterans that Leon politely lunches with over the course of the book while attempting to discern if they might have possibly a.) have been the protagonists of and b.) have an interest in rekindling a secret gay WWII love affair. The crochet contrarian is probably Jennifer Saunders or Dawn French.
Anyway, enjoyed it very much and would love to know if anyone has read any of O'Leary's other books and has opinions on whether they go down as easy.
