The Spare Bedroom: A totally heartwarming, funny and feel good romantic comedy

I was expecting a warm hearted, sweet and funny romance but I didn't get any of that. The only "romance" was her being a homewrecker or being flattered by another guy, but no romance. The MC making mistakes that hurt others isn't something I'd count as funny... Not the vibe that's advertised. If it was advertised as a coming of age drama then sure but a bit of a bummer. Sorry. Note: it does have some inspirational tones near the end but my main issue was it wasn't the book I was planning on reading.

Organized into parts that roughly outline Jess and her journey: we meet her just as she’s hoping that a change of scenery and place to live will also change her luck in life and in love. We see Jess in each stage – how she came to move, how her relationship ended, her railing at the fates, finding new opportunities and finding her own happy ending. Going from London to Sydney is a HUGE move, and takes guts and some determination, as well as a huge gamble. Particularly when her first flat-share option doesn’t happen and she runs into her last boyfriend, the one she thought would be her last and always. He’s kind enough to offer her an out – the spare bedroom in the flat he has with the current girlfriend. For me, Jess was immature and selfish, and not a bit self-reflective or even aware of the mixed signals she sent, or the fallout from her mistakes and bad choices. Sam, however, wasn’t much better, and the two have a relationship that while ‘friendship based’ often is treading toward dangerous waters. Neither is particularly honest or willing to (or even really aware of) their own missteps- and frustrating didn’t quite go far enough to deal with the frequent wallowing (from Jess) about the past and her what ifs. A bit of a struggle to start – the story has to introduce characters and set the frame, and while this was well done and helped overall, the flashbacks to Jess and Sam as a couple, combined with the multiple lies and facades that Jess built (that will all crash around her of course) just didn’t fit neatly with the tie-in to religion and the messages that were sent / ignored / resent frequently. Wandering a bit about Sydney and noticing the differences from London, the determination to show the good, bad, and ugly behaviors in the situation and finally finding a way for Jess to grow and move forward after sort-of acknowledging her own mistakes but fully moving into the future was solid. Decent writing, characters (particularly secondary ones) that were cleverly built and defined, and the requisite happy ending after some revelations FOR the main character kept this story light and fun, but perhaps better suited to a reader other than I. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

If you've ever been stuck in a rut, making wrong choices all the time - then this is the novel for you! Jess set off for the other side of the world hoping for a fresh start; with her career having stuttered to a halt and a seeming inability to move on from her last relationship which ended three years ago, a new beginning sounds like the ideal motivation. However, when her promised accommodation falls through and she finds herself roaming the streets of Sydney jobless, homeless and - let's face it - not exactly looking her best in the pouring rain, the last person she expects to meet is the aforementioned ex . . . This is very different to other rom-coms I've read of late, and it took me a bit of time to get into it. I dithered between getting frustrated at Jess's decisions and understanding them. However, this is a book well worth sticking with as the story must apply to so many and isn't all hearts and roses but an extremely well thought out tale. With some ups and a lot more downs, the author keeps the story flowing well and moving on without glossing over the more difficult times and it's not only an enjoyable read but a very thoughtful one too. It's definitely worth carrying on to find out why Elizabeth Neep wrote the novel; I felt everything clicked into place when I read that! Touching, funny and enjoyable this is one I'm very happy to give four stars. Thanks to the publisher for my copy vi