Book Reviews/ February 1, 2023June 12, 2023

Your Place or Mine? by Portia Macintosh Book Review

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Blurb

Two reluctant housemates. One question: Is this your place or mine…?

When Serena is kicked out of her flat, an offer from her friend, Taylor, to house sit for her while she and her husband go travelling could not be better timing. But unfortunately for Serena she’s not the only one to have received this offer…

Enter Ziggy: arrogant, messy (and annoyingly handsome) musician, and friend of Taylor’s husband. Living with him is far from ideal, especially when he claims the best room, has loud parties – and the least said about his kitchen manner the better…

There’s just one solution for Serena – drive him out of the house by being twice as difficult to live with than he is! But Ziggy knows Serena’s game and as war ensues between them, being forced together under one roof may result in some unexpected consequences…

Don’t miss bestseller Portia MacIntosh’s brand new laugh-out-loud romantic comedy, guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Triggers

There are not trigger warnings for this book. Here is some of the sensitive content I observed while reading:

Alcohol
Cheating (not between MCs)
Death of a Loved One
Financial anxiety
Fire
Grief
Profanity

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

Overall Rating

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you Boldwood Books for this ARC!

Your Place or Mine? is about Serena and Ziggy, who end up as accidental roommates. The two of them instantly hate each other and try to get the other to give up their stay at the house. This house only has one finished bedroom. With their best effort, they fight dirty to get the other to go away. They get into all types of trouble together with their scheming and I found that to be very entertaining!

There are some sensitive topics talked about in this book such as grief and financial struggles but overall this story is really light-hearted. I found myself really cackling out loud at some of the things Serena says and does! This book is more about the schemes Serena does to help herself and others after she loses her dear boss, which leads to her also losing her career and apartment. This book is told solely from her perspective, so it feels more like women’s fiction or comedy than romance.

There are many side plots in this book that come together at the very end. The way this book is written felt pretty chaotic to read. There are at least 4 different storylines that all involve our single narrator, Serena. One of the storylines includes cheating, not between our main characters–Serena and Ziggy, but it is a part of the book from basically beginning to end. I don’t mind if cheating is present in book, but I don’t feel like it was successful or necessary in this story. It was distracting from the romance between Serena and Ziggy. I wished that Macintosh would have spent more time building the relationship with the main characters relationship.

As expected with so many plots, this romance is very much plot driven. I prefer to see more character growth in my romances, so I think readers who like romances that focus on the plot instead of character development, will enjoy this one. I did find many of the antics with Ziggy and Serena in the latter half of this story to be so sweet and I craved more of those interactions. I loved their back-and-forth banter and when they were on good terms it was very cute!

Overall, I liked the book. I think this story could appeal to many romcom fans! It was funny and fast paced.