Our Ruinous Roommate

by Elle Lavendelle

Wren and Juliet are perfectly happy living together. Will their new roommate come between them—or push them closer?

Wren is socially anxious and constantly stressed about school work, while previously wealthy Juliet seems to live in a bubble of her drive for success. They have their differences, but they know how to live peacefully...

Until Quinn, a transfer student with a bad attitude, threatens to shake up their routine. None of them wants to live together, but a misunderstanding leads to them sharing an apartment.

When three big personalities live under one roof, it's only a matter of time before tension rises—what happens when it breaks?

Genres: Romance

Unknown Binding

First published June 1, 2025

About the author

i write romance books. :)

Reviews

[Bonnie Klurfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our Ruinous Roommate gets 5⭐️ and 1🌿

(Juliet’s mint, mad respect)

This was a great read to start off pride month with 🏳️‍🌈💖

The vibes? Immaculate? Do I want to be in the middle of this poly throuple? You betcha. I don’t have more words because ???? but pls trust it’s a fun read!!

Tropes:
FFM (I want 2 girlfriends and I want the girlfriends to be girlfriends)
Everybody is Bi 🩷💜💙
Dom/domme switch/sub
Years of sapphic yearning
Best friend-roommates to lovers/hookup to enemy-roommates to lovers/camp crush to roommates to lovers
Found family
Communication wow?!??

TW:
Family member with dementia
Family member in prison

Thank you Elle for the ARC!!!!

[Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5
🌶️ 🌶️.5

Loved this poly throuple THEY WERE ROOMMATES book! Wren and Juliet are unlikely best friends & roommates. Quinn is Wren's high school crush and Juliet's last (unexpected) hookup who answers their roommate ad - before they figure out what they all are to each other! Each of their personalities is so different and somehow they all work so well together. The sexual tension between Quinn & Juliet is especially hot, while Juliet & Wren (who is just discovering that she might be bi) are very bffs-to-lovers vibes.

This is the second book I've read of Elle's and I've enjoyed them both so far! Definitely recommend reading this one - its got swoony, spicy, & sweet all mixed in!

Thank you to the author for the ARC & chance to read and review!

[Mehek Naresh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC from the author. This is a fun, spicy read, with a lot of heaviness on the back end. There's a good amount of pining and build up on the frong end setting up the relationship, but the latter 1/4 of the book feels heavy with the hurt of the characters. This isn't a bad thing, just something to be aware of when reading. Overall, more spice than fluff, but still a quick, enjoyable read :)

[Bobbie-Leigh (thefairybooksqueen) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! It’s a quick, spicy and cozy read!

I received an arc off Elle and this is my honest review

I instantly LOVED the quick and witty back and forth from quinn, I adored his character and think he just needed someone to show him he was wanted. He clearly is a tortured soul and has some major trust issues, he seems to learn a lot from the girls on how to communicate his feelings and you see a real growth of his character throughout the book! He’s so burley and hot, I adore him!!!

Quinn and Juliette have an instant spark which I loved!! Considering they’re both grumpy and snarky ones of the throuple they have a real connection that toes between lust and hate at first!

Juliette is a woman who knows what she wants, she yearns for wren but wants to protect her and their friendship at all costs. I found her character a little annoying in the first part of the book just because I found her a little rude to Quinn, but I think it was just her way of protecting wren and their little bubble. She’s a confident, hot red head who blew my head off in her spicy scenes!!!

Wren was a sweetheart and the sunshine to the group instantly, you see her really questioning her feelings towards Juliette being her best friend but also she’s starting to get feelings for, and then quinn comes along and re sparks a flame she felt for him a while ago. She is such a sweetheart and just wants the 2 people she becomes to adore get along.

This was a perfect palette cleanser for me, it was a lovely, cozy and quick read that had me constantly picking my kindle up when I’ve been in a reading slump for a month! The author has a really snappy way of writing which had me hooked from the start, like I was actually in on the conversations 🤣 the spice was amazing I just wish there was more of the 3 together!!

Thank you Elle for the arc 🫶🏻♥️

[Crow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the characters and the ways they interacted with each other. They each brought a different dynamic to the table. I would’ve finished this in one sitting if I could’ve. I feel like the story flowed fluently. The spice was sprinkled in throughout and mixed with a good amount of fluff.

Personally, I connected with Wren the most, being an anxious person myself and having grown up with my mom who suffered from MS. Not dementia, like Wren’s mom, but I know the weight of being forgotten because of illness.. it hit close to home for me. It was more of a minor part in the book, but I felt like it was worth mentioning. It can be hard to shed light on difficult topics. I was comforted reading a character like her.

I am 100% picking up more by this author. I jump around a lot and tend to be a mood reader but I enjoyed the way this was written and it was easy for me to get into. Thank you for the ARC! Amazing work.

[Magpie Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want short and sweet and spicy in between look no further.
Elle's writing style is so fresh and open that you get to a point of emotional bareness without beating around the bushes. Within a few pages you are fully immersed and feeling a deep sense of connection to the characters.
We get to know three completely different personalities. Besties Juliet and Wren and their new roommate Quinn. As they work on their rules of coexistence, their friendship and attraction evolve to something else and it's lovely. So so lovely! I got myself bawling in the middle of smut scenes because the tenderness and vulnerability was so powerful and intense it moved me to tears.
This book was everything I didn't know I needed and more.
I'm now convinced I found a new favorite author and I will read anything Elle publishes!

[Jeannette Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC Review

4.25/5

I really loved this book it was sweet, angsty and spicy all the things I love in my books.

The first half was great the angst, the yearning, the push and pull between all three characters was just great. This was a true angsty book the true romance didn’t happen until 40-50% into the book.

Now the second half I still enjoyed but it just felt rushed. Almost like everything lined up to perfectly too quickly. I would have loved a little more of the yearning from the first half with more of the romantic pieces to it.

Loved that there was no third act breakup and the characters all learned to be in a ploy relationship. I just wished the second half had a bit more plot to it, with how much was in the first half.

[KA Vickers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful read, I didn't want to put it down but I had to wait until after work to finish it.

Wren, Juliet and Quinn are such brilliant characters and I absolutely loved the interactions between them and all the dynamics.

All of them being bi was great and it worked for this story. They each had their own issues and had to work through things to make things work which was good and the storyline was easy to just enjoy.

It kicks off and is so hot and so good, There is plenty of spice of all types in this one which was fun to read.

This is my second book by the author and it won't be my last, that's for sure

[AshleyReadsSmut · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good cozy read! Friends to lovers + FFM are two of favorites so I love seeing them together 🫶🏻

𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗟𝗟: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝗦𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗘: 🌶️.25
𝗛𝗘𝗔: 💖
𝗧𝗬𝗣𝗘: Standalone

𝗣𝗔𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚: FFM
𝗟𝗚𝗕𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗣: 🏳️‍🌈 bisexual MCs
𝗪𝗛𝗬-𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗦𝗘: ✅ + 🏳️‍🌈

🏷️ 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦:
- why choose
- forced proximity • roommates
- friends to lovers
- bisexual awakening
- cozy read
- no 3rd act breakup
- plus size fmc
- cinnamon roll mmc

⛓️ 𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗦:
- light D/s sexual dynamic
- restraints (ropes)

𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙰𝚁𝙲! 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚘𝚠𝚗.

[wiltingpages · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay, i originally was going to DNF this book in the first 10 or so pages because i DID NOT like how Juliet was so judgy and thought she was better than everyone else lol. but once i got past that first lil part, i absolutely LOVED this book! i loved all the personality, and it was just a super fun and spicy read. once i got started reading, it was so hard to put this book down! Juliet definitely tones down a bit but i love her relationship with Wren sooo much, it's so cute and sweet and adding Quinn to the mix made it super fun! overall, so glad i read this!! 

*this is an ARC review*

[Shon]

This came out this week, so I’m back to add my thoughts. I absolutely fell in love with Wren. She was so sweet and I loved seeing her partners love on her. All three of the characters worked so well together. Quinn grew on me and so did Juliet. She was such a stickler and made me LOL sometimes with her internal monologue. Overall, a quick read with a sprinkle of angst and plenty heat.

Thank you to the author for the ARC

[Kim Parham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, cozy and spicy. 3 different completely different characters with unique interactions and lots of chemistry. It was very refreshing to have no 3rd act break up, and lots of communication as these 3 find their way into a new, poly relationship.

[est · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 - this was a really cute college age romance. i really loved the bi-awakening moments and the dynamic between the three of them plus seeing the way each of them had their own relationship with each person in the trio.

[Alicia A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the bisexual dream. Cute, quick, spicy novella about 3 individuals who become roommates in college and then so much more.