ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

I’m delighted to be reviewing this gorgeous book today. I absolutely adored it. I thought I was the only person left in the world who hadn’t read it but I found three online friends who also hadn’t read it and we had a buddy read of it. We all loved it and can’t wait to read Beth O’Leary’s next book, The Switch. My thanks to Quercus for the proof copy of the book via Amazon Vine.


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…


You know when everyone in the world seems to have read a book and you haven’t? Well that’s how I felt about The Flatshare. Now I have finally read it I’m pleased to say it exceeded my high expectations for it.

It starts with a very unusual premise and once which made me think a lot about how it would really work. Leon has a flat, a one-bedroom flat. He needs more money for something very important to him and so he advertises for a flatmate, but not only that, a bedmate! Leon works nights though and spends weekends at his girlfriend’s so the lucky person can have the flat evenings, overnight and weekends, with Leon only being there in the day to catch up with sleep. What could go wrong…….?!

Well, quite a few things actually. I had to smile at Leon’s consternation at all of Tiffy’s belongings around his man-flat, all her unusual clothes and snazzy beanbags. In a one-bedroom flat it must have been quite cluttered. And yet he finds himself warming to this woman he’s never ever met. They start to get to know one another through post it notes left stuck to practically every surface and it’s just the most wonderful and heartwarming thing to witness.

I think this is a book that in different hands could have been twee and fluffy. It isn’t that at all. It’s so humorous but also goes into serious subjects as well. There are one or two truly horrid characters but thankfully there are a lot more lovely ones. Tiffy and Leon are an absolute delight to behold, and Tiffy’s friends and Leon’s brother make up the fabulous cast of characters. The least said about Justin, Tiffy’s ex, the better!

I can’t praise this book highly enough. It’s full of charm and wit, it has a clever and original storyline and the most gorgeous characters. If you want a book that leaves you with a massive smile on your face then look no further, The Flatshare is your book (if you’re one of the very few people who haven’t already read it, that is!).


Beth studied English at university before going into children’s publishing. She lives as close to the countryside as she can get while still being in reach of London, and wrote her first novel, The Flatshare, on her train journey to and from work.

She is now writing novels full time, and if she’s not at her desk, you’ll usually find her curled up somewhere with a book, a cup of tea, and several woolly jumpers (whatever the weather).

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