I’d like to thank HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Roommates’ by Rachel Sargeant in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Imogen is starting at the University of Abbeythorpe and meets up with her new roommates, Phoenix, Amber and Teagan. The trauma in Imogen’s past is causing her to have nightmares which isn’t helped by her seeing a man in black with a pair of binoculars trained on their accommodation.
From the description of this novel and having read a previous one by Rachel Sargeant I was looking forward to it but I was so disappointed. Maybe it’s because I’m older and it’s intended for a younger reader but I couldn’t find anything interesting in the story which for me lacked content, was flat and lifeless. The characters were weak and juvenile, had no depth and came over as shallow. I really wanted to like this novel and kept reading in the hope that something would fire up my imagination but I eventually gave up as I wasn’t enjoying it.

The Roommates by Rachel Sargeant. is a bit of a disappointment. 4 young women and a young man are the roommates of the title During the Fresher's events one of the girls goes missing. From that simple premise a fairly complex tale is woven. Each of the remaining girls has things in her life that form their differing attitudes towards the disappearance,one initially thinks it's suspicious,the others don't. The young man,Riku,isn't all he appears . Sadly I didn't feel that any of them came to life and the whole thing is quite far-fetched. The "mystery" revolves around massive assumptions and there's very little tension, much of the book being taken up with squabbling amongst the various lead characters. Some of it is just plain ludicrous,there's a scene where 2 of the girls go to a library to use the computers without telling the third. Just as a "pervy" librarian is on the verge of seeing some illicit behaviour on a computer the third girl has somehow deduced where her friends have gone and turned up in a revealing dress to lure the Benny Hill-like character elsewhere just in time.
The idea was good but the story is too fragmented and there's so much going on with different characters for them to be believable and none of them are particularly likeable.

Thanks to Rachel Sargeant, Harper Collins and Netgally for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I’m not going to lie, I struggled with The Roommates. I know some people have absolutely loved it but for me it just didn’t live up to the hype. After a slow start I felt it didn’t ever pick up pace. I couldn’t gel with the characters and felt the whole book just plodded along. Sorry but this book wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and the author for the chance to review

3 for neutral. Could not get into this book on the many occasions I tried. It could be my mood, which if so I’ll update if able to enjoy later, but I wasn’t a fan of Darling, so just may not be my cup of tea.

Several months ago, Imo’s sister, Sarah, disappeared without a trace leaving the police with very few clues to follow. Now, as Imo attempts to move forward, she is starting a new chapter in her life by starting university. But when her new roommate, Amber goes missing after their first day, Imo is determined to find out what happened to her. It may be too late for her sister, but Imo is resolved not to let Amber suffer the same fate.

I quickly became invested in Imo’s search for Amber. There were certain times when it did feel as though she was the only person interested in pursuing the case. Had something dreadful happened to her, or had she decided to leave university by her own free will?

I could see that the lack of a resolution in Imo’s sister’s disappearance was what was driving her willpower to find Amber.

The story opens in a very dramatic way which captured my attention. Rachel then peels back the layers to reveal what has happened in the run up to this moment. This is what makes this a real page-turner. I wanted to find out what was going to lead the characters to that moment we see at the beginning. I wanted to see what the final outcome was going to be.

I loved the university setting, which Rachel Sergeant brought to life well, particularly fresher’s week. Rachel captures the buzz, and the excitement in her writing as new students begin to get to know each other as they settle into their new routine.

The storyline is very dark as Imo gets closer to finding out what was going on in Amber’s life before her disappearance. There are some highly tense moments as the book races towards its resolution, and I was never quite sure how things were going to end up.

I’d definitely like to see Rachel return to Imo again as I feel as though there is more to find out about her. Rachel certainly leaves the novel open to the possibility of a sequel.

This is a really well written thriller which you can easily sink into. Rachel’s writing is very immersive. I wanted to find out the truth about what had happened to Amber. I guarantee that you will keep turning those pages to work out the answers yourself. The Roommates definitely comes recommended from me.

I had such high hopes for this book and for the most part it was ok, however, the constant jumping between each character got so confusing. When I finished it I had more questions than I had at the start. The ending was really poor and incredibly rushed.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy in return for an honest review - all thoughts and opinions are mine

Loved this
My eldest niece and nephew have just gone off to Uni so this seemed timely for me

I loved the premise of this - absolutely believable

I've not read this author before but will certainly be looking out for more from her - loved her use of language and the way it purveyed tension

Lots of twists and turns in the plot and really unpredictable.
Loved the way it was written, characters great and well developed


If you like your thrillers dark, unpredictable and full of tension - this one is for you

Highly recommended

If your after a book that will keep you fully immersed and full of intrigue right up until the conclusion then look no further!

Rachel Sargeant has done it again and grasped a scenario, captured every emotion and blown the idea out of the water.

This novel is full of unanswered questions throughout which makes you not only wanting but needing to keep reading to get all those questions answered. Believe me... your head will be spinning by the end.

A real twisty, dark thriller that makes you question how well you actually know those around you & how much you trust them!

Likeable characters, fantastic storyline, twisty scenarios... 5* all round.

Huge thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC.

Going to college and starting your new life as a uni student must be the best time of your life, right? You fly away from your parent’s house to go live inside the campus, sharing a flat with some roommates, going to parties, in other words, to just enjoy your freshman year. Well, Imo, Amber, Tegan, and Phoenix thought that, too. How wrong they were.

Imo has seen a stalker standing right outside their flat, watching their every move, yet she decides not to tell the other girls. Tegan is being followed by this same man but is not scared about him, in fact, she knows him but will not tell anybody about it. On the other hand, Amber cannot keep herself from telling lie after lie, and Phoenix is hiding her true identity from her roommates because there is no need for them to know.

But then, out of a sudden, one of them banishes. And their secret-keeping must come to an end if they want to solve the mystery behind their friend’s disappearance.

Lots of questions will arise but we will not be able to answer most of them, and that is one of the best things in this book. The information will be there for you to take it, but given the way the book is narrated you will have to keep on reading if you want to know the truth, there is no other way. Sargeant’s writing is very simple and captivating, that you may find hard to put this book down. She has done an outstanding job keeping the essence of mystery novels and adapting it to a whole new ground.

All of the girls are connected to each other through the traumas they have faced during her lives. Whether it is an unhealthy relationship with their parents or the agonizing pain of losing someone you love, these girls will have to confront their own fears and embrace their inner demons if they want to get back their mate.

Twisted and dark, this book will make you wonder how much you know about the people you live with. Enough to trust them? To tell them your secrets? This is the kind of questions you will be facing after meeting The Roommates.

I would like to thank NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance. I will be posting this review on my blog, not before October 3rd.

I was quite confused reading this book. There are several POV characters, which can work really well. However, their voices seemed the same to me and I was forever having to pause and work out whose chapter it was. The story is good, and I loved the university setting, but all the pausing and checking did take me out of the moment a few times.

I began this book thinking it would be right up my street and I wasn’t wrong.
Four girls arrive at their flat share at uni each with their own secret and hidden past - one of them disappears or was she taken?
The book is told from the points of view of the three left behind u picking their own personal stories whilst giving away snippets of the underlying mystery about where they roommate is.
Whilst all the characters I found pretty unlikeable it was impossible to put down this book

To be honest. I was really looking forward to this book but just couldn’t get into it or finish it. And I really tried. Didn’t like the characters and thought it was really slow.

I really enjoyed this book and read it in one sitting. Great characters and a great plot line. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Having read and really enjoyed previous books by Rachel Sargeant I was looking forward to reading The Roommates. It didn't quite live up to my expectations, it started off slow and I never really got invested in it. There are a lot of characters with a lot of issues going on but I didn't really like any of them. The story was good but I was hoping for more.

The Roommates is the story of 4 girls who move into a flat together at university in their first year. They slowly start getting to know each other and start their new lives. And then one of the girls goes missing. All their secrets and pasts start to come out as they try to find out where she went and why.

Thanks to Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own and are in no way biased

This was an interesting concept of four female students all sharing a flat and all coming with some, at first, undisclosed history. We all have some history, but I felt that all four having such a varied back history was too coincidental. Not one of them was from a “normal” family.
Some of what went on was not plausible to me, individually yes, but not for all these things to happen to one small group.
It took a few chapters to get into the book but I quite liked the style of writing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC copy in return for an honest review.

Firstly thank you to the publisher for granting my wish!
I’ve been dying to read The Roommates and I wasn’t disappointed! A hugely believable plot with realistic characters and perfectly showed what uni life is like (well apart from the missing roommate...I wish mine had gone missing...).
I loved the plot, the writing style and the obvious red herring was fun! Yes fun! It gave me a good laugh.

A brilliant thriller and I recommend The Roommates. :)

The premise of this really intrigued me but sadly it didn’t live up to it. It wasn’t a bad read on the whole, but the characters lacked depth and weren’t overly believable.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review

None of the characters really compelled me enough to invest but so much in the suspense. The girls themselves were interesting but they did not move the somewhat weak plot forward at any kind of thrilling pace. Meh.

This was an ok book
The twists and turns were so predictable and there were no shocks and suspense in this book
The writing was good, the setting was good and the plot was different
An average read

Couldn't put this down, will forever be living alone as a result..! good story and interesting characters. A new author to me but one that I will engage with again. I highly recommend this book if you like a dark, psychological, thriller. Thank you!