Synopsis: ‘Never Date a Roomate’ by Paula Ottoni is a stand-alone romance novel. The story follows Sol Carvalho, a Brazilian game developer, trying to find her feet, as well as her dream job, as an expat in Copenhagen. Finding somewhere to live, to put down roots in Copenhagen is essential to convincing her boss that she’s the perfect candidate for promotion to her dream job. Along came Erik, who reluctantly agrees to be her roommate, on the one condition that they can never become romantically involved, fate has other ideas!

Review: The story follows Sol, a Brazialian finding her way in Copenhagen, with no Danish! The narrator was perfect for this & matched perfectly with the voice of Sol in the book. It sounded, as it was intended, the voice of someone whose first language isn’t English. This was a really endearing quality of the book. Perfect for a light hearted summer read. The book would convince anyone to visit Copenhagen for some pastries! I’d recommend this for fans of romance books, particularly with tropes like fake dating & forced proximity.

This was reviewed based on an ARC copy of the audiobook, provided by NetGalley UK.

Every now and then you just need a quick, sweet spicy romance to recharge and give you a pep in your step and that's exactly what this book is!

Sol is a Brazilian game designer who wants to stay in Denmark but is struggling to find somewhere to live...until she ends up finding a room with Erik, a good looking 'viking' who is adamant that they will never be more than just roommates.

I will be honest and say at the start I struggled to get into the plot but Paula manages to cleverly intertwine the fake dating dynamic into the story in a way which suddenly had me hooked! This book is the perfect blend of cute quirky romance mixed with a slow burn sort of enemies to lovers dynamic that had me kicking my feet and giggling! For me this book had the perfect amount of spice and I'm an absolute sucker for a story where the man pretends he is unaffected and then you find out he's down bad absolutely obsessed with her!

My only criticism of the book would be it was quite fast paced at times and because of that some of the resolutions seemed quite fast and underwhelming. On top of that Sols personality seemed quite inconsistent and I wish we had more time getting to know the two main characters.

However, I really enjoyed all the insights into both Brazilian and Danish culture and ultimately it was a cute, fun and solid read. Oh, and the slow burn spice pay off was excellent 😏

*Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review*

This was a cute story, and I really loved the narrator.

But… and this is a big but. It was not erotica. In fact, the sex scenes and chemistry were my least favourite part of the story. I don’t think I’ve ever actually opted to skip a sex scene.

The story, emotional depth and conflict are well explored, and I loved Sol’s perspective on life in Denmark and her expectations about how she was raised vs how she should present herself to get what she wanted/needed.

But please, please… the word meaty is never sexy.

Sol has relocated from Brazil to Denmark with her dreams and thanks to her career allowing her this opportunity. When she arrives she doesn't know anyone and meets Erik a man who had developed a dating app. Sol begins a friendship with him as he assists her in settling in to her new home.

Sol then finds a room to let which is where she moves in with Erik to as a room mate in an apt in Copenhagen. They build a friendship with Erik being sarcastic bringing humour to Sols life whilst she communicates with family and friends on calls and video calls who are a full on family wanting to know every single detail of her life when they realise she is living with a man they immediately assume she is dating him and not only a platonic room mate.
Sol then agrees with Erik he will be her pretend boyfriend to meet up with Martin the co-founder of the dating site, however she then goes on a date with Thomas where she discovers he knows of Erik because of the dating app he had developed she doesn't actually want Erik to know as she realises she has feelings for him.

Sol and Erik eventually get together as they both surrender to their real feelings for each other. Sol knows she loves him and wonders of his feelings she has some uncertainty of his feelings so she decides not to reveal her feelings initially.

"Went from friends to married in a day" was how Sol described the change in their relationship.

This story had so much potential however for me personally it felt a little drawn out and didn't really get to the main point till about 3/4 way through when they actually got together properly it was like alot of story without really drawing me in to get to there was just too long imo. It just didn't quite hit the mark for me.

The narration was authentic with the way in which Sol was perceived the family dynamics she had etc were well executed in the knowledge I have of this culture, it was an easy listen and easy to follow.

Thank you to Netgalley & Harper Collins UK Audio for the opportunity to review this book.

I really enjoyed this audiobook, particularly Gabriela Tola’s beautiful narration - her accent matched Sol perfectly. The story reminded me of a way more romantic and whipped-cream version of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow because it’s set in the gaming industry, and it appealed to me because I’ve spent time in Copenhagen as a non-Dane. I definitely share Sol’s thoughts on liquorice! But all other Danish food was described so well and made me want to go back there for some pastries and stroganoff!! That Tivoli scene… I will say no more!

𝟑 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ๋࣭ ⭑⚝
This book was genuinely so quick & easy to read.
The book was pretty cut and dry your usual romance book and follows the tropes and recipes of all other romance books.
Which unfortunately made it almost unmemorable for me, in the sense that it doesn't stand out as anything ground breaking or a book that i would go out of my way to recommend to other people. It wasn't poorly written but the plot was nothing that really stuck out or stuck with me after reading it.
The narrator of the audiobook version, Gabriela Tola did a great job of bringing the book to life and making it so easy to follow and feel engaged in the story.

The characters were all pretty okay, they were neither really deep or too surface level. Again, they're all pretty unmemorable.
If i have to read the FMC call him a Viking or make reference to a Norse mythology one more time I might lose it.

This is a fun loving story, written to warm your hearts. Once again I wasn’t sure what to except as I don’t normally read Mills and Boom stories, however I was so pleasantly surprised.

Definitely a good look into the life of those who are born in Copenhagen, and those who choose it as their home. I would recommend this book to friends for a summer vacation read.