My Roommate is Trying to Kill Me
ARC Review
My Roommate is Trying to Kill Me by Maya-Gawonii Shabazz-Saleh
Genre: Horror 💀
Rep: M/M main pairing, Biracial MC
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Vibes: Unsure if this is all a big misunderstanding with lots of communication issues or one of them is really going to end up dead, but it's very gay so either way I'm intrigued.
Release date: 13th October
Blurb:
Hakeem Morales wants to be the kind of horror actor people build midnight screenings around. At the moment, he’s mostly working nights at a Los Angeles horror bar, The Last Cue; trying not to spiral about his stalled life; and wondering whether his new roommate is trying to kill him.
Antonio Sanchez is older, private, unfairly attractive, and suspicious in ways Hakeem feels should be illegal. He writes cryptic things in notebooks. He jokes too much about Hakeem’s upcoming twenty-seventh birthday. Every time Hakeem almost convinces himself he’s being dramatic, Antonio does something else deeply alarming.
Unfortunately, Hakeem’s growing list of evidence is matched only by his growing attraction—because nothing improves a possible murder situation like developing a crush on the man you’re pretty sure is planning it.
Review (Spoiler Free!):
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for kindly giving me an ARC.
Wow. This was absolutely incredible. I don't normally go for contemporary books but I saw the amazing cover of this one and knew it would be something I'd really enjoy.
The writing of this book was so good and it fit the tone perfectly. The tension is slowly built up over the chapters, with a sense of disjointedness and wrongness apparent from the start. I genuinely wasn't sure which way the narrative was going to go until pretty much the end. There was so much evidence that Antonio was going to hurt Hakeem, but I liked Antonio so much that I desperately wanted it all to be a big misunderstanding.
The parallels drawn between Hakeem and Antonio were so cleverly written; Hakeem is incredibly talented but is afraid to take the next steps in his acting career in case it doesn't work out. He is incredibly relatable in that aspect; it's always scary to take a chance, especially if it's on something that you really care about, and it's always much easier to convince yourself that proximity to the thing is enough and that you're happy with where you're at in the moment. I think that's something that became really clear with Hakeem and Antonio as their relationship developed and they became closer; Antonio saw exactly what Hakeem was doing before Hakeem even realised it himself and as he almost held a mirror up to Hakeem, Hakeem became more convinced that Antonio was going to hurt him. It was very well done and understandably safer for Hakeem to assume that someone had bad intentions, rather than accept what Antonio was telling him.
I also really liked the other characters. Layla especially was so good; she told Hakeem what he needed to hear and supported him by acknowledging that the situation with Antonio was strange and not dismissing his worries. I'm very excited that she's getting her own book and I cannot wait to read about her.
The ending fitted the book perfectly. I'd come to really care for Antonio and Hakeem and I was so glad that they both got what they wanted. It was an emotional ride and I kept putting the book down because I felt I was reading it too quickly and I didn't want it to be over. I loved this book so much!
Wow. This was absolutely incredible. I don't normally go for contemporary books but I saw the amazing cover of this one and knew it would be something I'd really enjoy.
The writing of this book was so good and it fit the tone perfectly. The tension is slowly built up over the chapters, with a sense of disjointedness and wrongness apparent from the start. I genuinely wasn't sure which way the narrative was going to go until pretty much the end. There was so much evidence that Antonio was going to hurt Hakeem, but I liked Antonio so much that I desperately wanted it all to be a big misunderstanding.
The parallels drawn between Hakeem and Antonio were so cleverly written; Hakeem is incredibly talented but is afraid to take the next steps in his acting career in case it doesn't work out. He is incredibly relatable in that aspect; it's always scary to take a chance, especially if it's on something that you really care about, and it's always much easier to convince yourself that proximity to the thing is enough and that you're happy with where you're at in the moment. I think that's something that became really clear with Hakeem and Antonio as their relationship developed and they became closer; Antonio saw exactly what Hakeem was doing before Hakeem even realised it himself and as he almost held a mirror up to Hakeem, Hakeem became more convinced that Antonio was going to hurt him. It was very well done and understandably safer for Hakeem to assume that someone had bad intentions, rather than accept what Antonio was telling him.
I also really liked the other characters. Layla especially was so good; she told Hakeem what he needed to hear and supported him by acknowledging that the situation with Antonio was strange and not dismissing his worries. I'm very excited that she's getting her own book and I cannot wait to read about her.
The ending fitted the book perfectly. I'd come to really care for Antonio and Hakeem and I was so glad that they both got what they wanted. It was an emotional ride and I kept putting the book down because I felt I was reading it too quickly and I didn't want it to be over. I loved this book so much!
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