…’The Flat Share’ by Beth O’Leary.

I expected this book to be a quick, fun fluff listen. And for the most part it was. They do address emotional abuse and gas lighting in a relationship though, which I think is really important. Some folks think abuse is only physical, when the emotional abuse can leave just as much damage. Tiffy (this is the worst name every – why?) is looking to move out of her exe’s place and on with her life. She works in an industry where you don’t make much money (I can relate) so she needs something fast and cheap. Leon is looking for extra cash to support his brother in prison and works nights and stays weekends at his GF’s house, so he has Tiffy move in during the day and weekends for rent. Well his GF has her move in, because she had to make sure this person was less attractive then she was. I hate this detail – I get it but I hate it. Why should that matter and who are you to judge that? So Tiffy moves in and her and Leon become friends through notes and leftovers (and sharing a bed at separate times), after the initial shock wears off of really sharing a space so intimately. Eventually, we find out that Leon and his gf’s priorities don’t match up and they split. Tiffy is trying to make her ex, Justin, a thing of the past through distance and therapy. She realizes in therapy that the relationship was toxic and abusive. By this point it’s pretty clear that Tiffy and Leon will fall in love, which they do! But there are bumps of human error, lack of self worth and past trauma to get through first. It was a pleasant listen and I am not sorry I took a chance on it.