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The Flatshare

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About this listen

The Sunday Times top five best-seller

One of ELLE UK's Best Audiobooks of 2020

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 rule book out the window....

This audiobook contains an exclusive interview with author Beth O'Leary and narrator Carrie Hope Fletcher.

©2019 Beth O'Leary Ltd (P)2019 Quercus Editions Limited Family Life Genre Fiction Romance Romantic Comedy Women's Fiction Women's Voices Comedy Funny Feel-Good Heartfelt Witty

Critic reviews

"The new Jojo Moyes.... This has all the ingredients of Me Before You." (Cosmopolitan)

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

"In the league of Bridget Jones and Marian Keyes' Walsh sister books." (Claire Allan)
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Tiffy needs somewhere cheap to stay. She sees an advertisement for a flat bed share. Leon works night shifts and needs extra money to pay for his brother's lawyer fees. They come up with an arrangement: Tiffy has the flat during the evenings, weekends and nights, Leon during the day. The number one rule of the bed-sharing: don't meet your roommate.

Leon was the sweetest character. He was reserved, almost shy, and only comfortable around a few people he was close to. He works night shifts as a hospice nurse. When we first meet Leon, he is in a relationship with Kay, who subtly seems to put him down, hates Leon talking about his brother (who is in prison for a crime he did not commit) and thinks he's wasting his time trying to track down one of his patients' long-lost love. Needless to say, Leon needs a more supportive, caring girlfriend...

Enter Tiffy! Tiffy works for a DIY craft publisher, a job which pays her poorly yet she absolutely loves. Her love for bright, unusual clothing continues into her own wardrobe and - to Leon's horror at the beginning - their flat. Tiffy was "quirky" without it being over the top; both characters seemed like real, whole, actual people.

Tiffy is also reeling from a recent break up with her ex, who has left her for another woman. The author tackles emotional abuse in relationships so well with Tiffy and Justin's past relationship. How someone can be gaslighted and manipulated and not even realise this is what is happening to them. How the impact of such a relationship can be carried forward in your life long after it has ended. Tiffy's experience is something that sadly happens and the author broached this topic in a sensitive yet empowering way.

In the first half of the book, our main characters don't actually meet. This is something that would usually put me off, yet the tension kept me hooked. Instead, Tiffy and Leon communicate through the use of post-it notes they leave around the flat. This was so cute! Tiffy and Leon's post-it note conversations were endearing and funny.

I have never wanted two characters to end up together so much. They were the perfect balance for each other and - especially after their past relationships - both deserved a kind, loving partner. The build-up of their relationship was tension-heavy and had an amazing pay-off. I honestly don't know how anyone couldn't love these two.

And I also loved the supporting characters! Mo and Gerty, Tiffy's friends from uni, were great. Gerty appeared cold and blunt but was also incredibly loyal. Mo was just a sweetheart. I also loved Richie, Leon's brother, and the side-plot of his wronged imprisonment was engaging; tragic yet hopeful.

Carrie Hope Fletcher and Kwaku Fortune did a wonderful portrayal of these characters and their narration added an extra sparkle to the already wonderful story. At the end of the audiobook Carrie also interviews the author which was really interesting.

A new favourite romance

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I really enjoyed this book. It is such a nice concept for a book with the way the characters don't meet for the first half. The narrators were wonderful too, which is quite rare. I looked forward to listening to it whenever I could!

Really great!

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A truly lovely story. Funny and heart warming with just enough grit to keep you hooked. The characters are interesting and likeable, without being too predictable. A great book with excellent narrators!

Excellent

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I really enjoyed listening to this book, and found it such an easy listen. Definately one for a summer beach read, or a binge weekend read as I found that even listening to it, I wanted to find out what happened so much, I used any opportunity I could to get to the end of the story and find out more! Great characters, lots of laughs, just a downright good read! The only reason I gave the performance 4 stars instead of 5 was that there were a lot of telephone conversations in the book, and each time there was an awkward way of playing them, like we were listening through a phone also, and I found that a bit annoying and hard to hear at times. But other than that, 5 stars and definately recommended.

Great light hearted read!

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Loved it. Such a different story very well put together. A real page Turner.

Brilliant page Turner

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