The Flatshare: the utterly heartwarming debut sensation, now a major TV series

by Beth O'Leary

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP FIVE BESTSELLER | NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES

'Beth O'Leary is that rare, one-in-a-million talent who can make you laugh, swoon, cry and ache all in the same book' Emily Henry

'Beth O'Leary crafts novels with such wit, heart and truth' Sophie Kinsella

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Tiffy and Leon share a flat
Tiffy and Leon share a bed
Tiffy and Leon have never met...

Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they're crazy, but it's the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy's at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.

But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven't met yet, they're about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window...

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See what everyone is saying about The Flatshare

'A Sleepless In Seattle for the 21st century' Sunday Express

'I devoured The Flatshare. Original, funny and touching. Read it' Clare Mackintosh

'If Richard Curtis and Nora Ephron made a story baby' Zoella Book Club

'One of the most talked about books of 2019... Fans of Jojo Moyes's Me Before You will love this UpLit romcom' Red Magazine

'It's fiction to make you feel good - endlessly enjoyable and brilliant fun' Daily Express

'In the league of Bridget Jones and Marian Keyes' Walsh sister books' Claire Allan

'Funny, emotional and uplifting' Sun

'A quirky, feelgood read, bursting with character and warmth' Prima

'The Flatshare is a huge, heartwarming triumph' Josie Silver

'Uproariously funny with characters you fall for from the first page' Woman & Home

'Deliciously funny and truly uplifting' Lucy Diamond

'Touching, funny and skilful, a delightful read' Katie Fforde

'It's funny and charming but there are moments of real poignancy, too. Guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face' Good Housekeeping

'Heartwarming and brilliant' Closer

'Funny and winning... a Richard Curtis rom-com that also has its feet firmly planted in real life. A real treat' Stylist

• ISBN10: 1787474410
• ISBN13: 9781787474413
• Publish Date: 20 February 2020 (first published 10 April 2019)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Quercus Publishing
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

Initial thoughts: It took me an unusually long time to finish The Flatshare, though it wasn't for lack of enjoyment. I actually really liked this book. It was quite charming, filled with good cheer but peppered with a good deal of difficulties too that gave rise to conflicts that made me root for Tiffy, Leon, Richie, Gerty, Mo, and even for minor characters.

[celinenyx]

What a delightful read. Charming, quirky, and with a lot of heart - The Flatshare is a lovely romantic novel. It should, however, come with a bit of a content warning. Tiffy's formerly abusive boyfriend plays a large role in the novel, as she slowly comes to terms with the trauma that she's been faced with. It's all handled very sensitively - and I especially liked that counseling is cast in a positive light.

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Content warnings: abusive relationship, stalking, gaslighting, depictions of PTSD-related panic attacks, wrongful incarceration.

[zooloo1983]

So many thoughts are running through my head, the tears down my face but unequivocally this is what I believe love should be about. I will be ridiculed but I don’t care. I am a romantic by heart and I love all things romantic. I loved this story!!

In the beginning, I must admit when I read from Leon’s point of view I found it a struggle but that is because it was different. It wasn’t proper sentences, more like random thoughts by him. But when you get in the flow of the book, you see Leon grow in confidence and then his perspective begins to formulate better and he becomes whole.

This book has made me happy, I spent the book smiling. So much is going on, friendships are formed, mysteries to be solved, complete pig of an ex (that’s the PG rating of what I want to say), near misses and then that meet up. I always say this, I don’t care that we know what will happen, I am here for the journey. I love the journey that the characters go on to get where they need to be. By heck, this was a fab journey.

I am in awe of Tiffy, not only is she everything I’m not, shes tall I’m short, she’s gorgeous and most of all I WANT her flame-red hair! How can I be jealous of a book character but I am! Plus I want a post-it type of love like she has.

It is weird thinking of the main premise of the story, sharing someone’s bed but never meeting. I mean you just don’t know who you could end up with but it’s also a refreshing idea for a story and gives us a completely different take on a gorgeous love story.

The characters, and I mean all of them (bar 2), won my heart. They drive this book, they make this book heartfelt. The characters are dealing with different issues, and these aren’t the heart and flower issues. Everything is tackled delicately, and in a way that when Tiffy reflects, we reflect and we begin to see the truth. She has her own journey to go on, and this is not an easy one. It makes her more appealing to the reader because she is made real and she could be your friend. The whole ordeal had me raging, to experience that is no easy feat, but her own self-discovery is something that drew me to her and wants to go and get drunk with her because she is so much fun!

I am probably blinkered with this book, I’ve not read any reviews but I have seen the hype and I knew that I would love it before I read it. It’s my type of book when I’m not all up in the doom, gloom and ghosts. (Couldn’t think of a word to rhyme). I am a sucker for hearts and flowers, Prince Charming and the eccentric type of love and for me, this book has it all. If a book can make my face hurt from smiling so much, it’s done a job for me. I already feel this is a book that I will read again. It is such an easy and fun read, why would I not! And yes it’s so going to be on my book list at the end of the year, how can it not!!

I can’t wait to read The Switch and I have spied a new book coming out next year so I will quickly be adding that to my TBR list. I am excited already and I have not even read the blurb! LOL.

[kiracanread]

This book gave me ALL the feels. I was sceptical to read this because of the hype surrounding it, but I'm so glad I did! For the first quarter of the book I wasn't really hooked, and still quite curious about how it would play out, as it took a while before the main characters in this book actually met, but once they started communicating more often this book really took off and I loved it.

[Kat @ Novels & Waffles]

Actual Rating: 4.5

As somebody whose rambunctious three-year-old routinely wakes her up at the butt-crack of dawn, its easy to understand why I highly value my sleep. So the fact that I am now bleary-eyed and running on way too few hours of it due to this book should tell you something. And that something is this: The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary is a highly addictive Rom-Com that's full of endearing characters, emotional moments, and sexual tension. Is it cheesy and predictable? You bet. But is it also fun and delightfully entertaining? Oh heck to the yes.

Told from the alternating perspectives of Tiffy and Leon, I was quickly won over by their endearingly unique and actualized personalities. The author especially excelled at creating a distinctive voice for each character, making it immediately clear who was narrating the story. At first, I was a bit startled by the writing style of Leon's chapters; the sentences are short, choppy, and often grammatically incomplete. However, the more I read, the more I grew to like this creative stylistic choice. Although it might not click with all readers, I thought it made Leon's character jump off the page in a very real and innovative way.

⚠️Trigger + Content Warnings ⚠️Gaslighting + Emotionally Abusive Past Relationship, PTSD, Near Drowning Experience, Stalking, Wrongful Imprisonment.

[Djilan]

What a creative story! I really liked how it is written in different styles, depending on the pov.
Made you really get 'the feel' of the two main characters.
And such a feelgood story!

Nice to start the new year with this wonderful story!

[leahrosereads]

I thought this had a really interesting concept, and I loved how the MCs/love interests interacted via post-it notes. That was a fun and inventive form of communication between two people who've never met. But that's about all I enjoyed here. I liked the characters individually just fine, but when they all started interacting with each other, it felt really repetitive.

I just don't think this type of story was for me.

[Jyc]

★★★☆ // lovely little story of two people’s souls connecting through something as seemingly mundane as writing notes to each other. i also appreciated how it dealt with the baggage of moving on from an (emotionally) abusive relationship. seeing these characters come out of their shells while helping each other was such a delight. i have some qualms about the side characters not having significant purpose, but eh, i’ll take it. this has been beyond enjoyable.

”You smell like home.”
“You are home.”

[bestmessever]

This was such an adorable romance book with some heavy AF topics throughout. There is issues with a past relationship that was emotionally abusive and there is also some heavy family drama as well. I found this book super relatable, and it definitely made me reevaluate a relationship I used to be in and realize that it was also emotionally abusive.

I really am starting to love this genre and it's really nice having characters that are closer to my age than most of the books I read which are YA fantasy. (Don't get me wrong I LOVE YA.) But I really wish we could get fantasy books with 23 year olds.

Anyways back to the book, I loved Tiffy (hated her name though) her dress, and personality are so unique that I really had moments where I felt like I was reading a out a real person, it was very easy to fall into this book and forget everything around me for a while.

I really enjoyed this book and would definitely be interested in checking out other works by this author.

[bookperson]

Couple of years ago I read a book with similar premise - woman was sharing her flat for the workweek and searching for love. That book was creepy (part of which was intended), but mostly bad.
Going into this one I was scared that it would be one of those simple romance books (which I like but sometimes you need something more substantial), but it was so much more. Characters felt like real peoole with real problems (and real job for once!). And problems weren't there to only drive romance forward, they were part of life. Some good friends that help and support eachother, accurate abusive relationships, secondary lgbt characters that also felt real.
Audiobook for this one was also great!