The Unlikely Housemate

by Bella Young

He’s popular. She’s not. Sharing a house was never part of her high school survival plan.

Chrissy Lang’s strategy for making it through junior year is stay invisible. With Paige Buchanan—the queen bee who treats “nerd hunting” like a sport—ruling the hallways, Chrissy’s safest behind her books and out of sight.

But when Theo Pearson, the most popular guy in school (and Page’s longtime crush), temporarily moves in with Chrissy’s family, her carefully constructed world flips upside down. Suddenly, everyone notices her. Paige is furious, Theo’s being way too charming, and Chrissy’s heart is doing things she doesn’t quite understand.

Now she has to decide if she’ll retreat into the shadows again—or risk stepping into the spotlight and discovering who she really wants to be.

For fans of clean, sweet, opposites-attract romance about finding courage, connection, and your place in the spotlight.

Genres: Romance

207 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 25, 2025

About the author

Amazon Top 100 bestselling author Bella Young writes feel-good romance with all the swoon and none of the steam—just the way your heart likes it. Her stories are filled with small-town charm, witty banter, and characters you’ll want to hug (or maybe marry). If there’s a happily-ever-after waiting around the corner, Bella’s already writing it.

When she’s not plotting fake-dating schemes or matchmaking unlikely couples, you’ll find her sipping tea, wandering local bookstores, and talking to her dog like he’s her co-writer—which, to be fair, he kind of is.

If you believe in slow-burn tension, swoony kisses, and the kind of feel-good romance that gives you butterflies and the giggles, you’ve come to the right place

Reviews

[Once Upon a Page · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf 58% 1.5 🌟

I tried with this book, but just didn’t care enough to continue. I’m honestly baffled by its position in the kindle charts - is it a BookTok success?

The plot was fine, the writing was average (amateurish but totally readable). The main issue is that the characters were too inconsistent and sometimes acted out of character, rather than being fully developed.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t awful and if I thought I’d live forever, I’d happily have continued, but there are better books out there and it wasn’t worth my time.

[Meenal]

DNF 31%
How wonderful that I cannot relate to such garbage fiction anymore that caters exclusively to impressionable young teenagers. I think 10 years back I would have dreamed myself to sleep by imagining the scenarios in this book but now I am disgusted enough to permanently stop reading it upon reaching the scene where a guy's towel drops to expose his completely naked body to his childhood friend whom his girl gang is bullying

[Stacy Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the renowned football player relocates to live with the introverted wallflower, he refuses to let her struggle any longer. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from the onset. The manner in which Theo cares for Chrissy is precisely what all of us wallflowers desire. This is a book that you will be reluctant to put down or see come to an end.

[Lb · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a cute quick read, age appropriate for middle school/high schoolers who want to try a romance book. I loved Theo he was so sweet and I liked that he was willing to stand up for Chrissy even when she was pushing him away. Theo really helped Chrissy break out of her shell and see that she could be herself and encouraged her to not to care as much about what others think. Chrissy had a few really good friends and everyone needs at least a few people in their corner when they feel alone.

The book was shorter and there was a lot of repetitiveness with Chrissy's internal thoughts related to Theo being out of her "league" essentially since he was popular and she was not this got a bit old since it was every few pages.

book blog: https://elbyslibrary.blogspot.com/202...

*read 2025 *young adult *clean romance (just kisses)
*age appropriate

*teenage romance *High school *mean girl/bully *friends first *happy ending

[whimsical reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bella does write in a slightly more interesting way than a lot of the other YA novels. Slightly less monotone writing.

Chrissy (FMC) exists to try to blend in but all the things she does actually makes her stand out more. I did like the end and how MMC made it up to her. Clowns still freak me out though.

I probably wouldn’t have picked it if I realized it was pretty short, but based upon the storyline it kind of had to be that short.

Around p. 132 I couldn’t figure out why he all of a sudden wanted to be Chrissy’s friend again and wanted to help. It was a little confusing??

Content
Bullying
Team sharing a house
One party
Only kisses and not very descriptive

[Jacquie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emotional read

Chrissy works hard to be invisible at her high school. She’s learned it’s the best way to avoid bullying from the popular kids who take sarcasm to Olympic sport levels.
But when the family of her childhood friend, Theo, moves into her home while theirs gets repaired, things become complicated. Because Theo is one of them, the popular kids, and they aren’t going to appreciate the irony of him in her house.
This is an emotional read of learning to believe in yourself and let the haters hate. There are quite a few editing mistakes but overall, a good read.

[Natasha Guerrero · Rating 3 out of 5]

A clean modern romance fit for teens/YA. I got mean girl vibes, but much more wholesome.

Due to length, some of the plot was left undeveloped, but overall there was good flow. The main reason for three stars was some of the inconsistencies that were tied to the main character. For example, she mentions always raising her hand and becoming a teachers pet, but throughout the majority of the story is hoping to not be called on by the teacher.

[Amanda]

Dnf at 28% - no rating because I don’t feel like I can give an honest opinion at this point other than this book is too immature for me. FMC is probably typical for some high school students but over the top insecure and the bullies introduced so far are AWFUL. I read a few other reviews after I started to dislike what I was reading and I chose to dnf. I don’t want to spend time reading something I don’t enjoy when I have so many other books on my tbr.

[Barbara Hackel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely will appeal to a young audience, however it was a very enjoyable look at high school! There was the "popular" girl who's really a bully, the "nerd" who is good friend, a "best friend" who is 100% genuine, and the "popular" guy who knows how to look beneath the surface and see the real girls-both the good and the bad. Sad at times but definitely sweet with a HEA.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually enjoyed this book far more then I would have thought. Def a cheesy read but I loved the bts references and just the little stuff that made it more teen like, i feel like a lot of authors can’t write gen alpha very well but this book did a good job at that! Would recommend if you a pre teen or teen. Also super quick read finished it in a day!

[Kendall · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was okay. It was a quick read but way below my level, there was too much miscommunication for my liking and I kept getting second hand embarrassment. It wasn’t for me now, but my middle school self probably would have liked it.

[Elizabeth Hubbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

quick, YA

Teenagers in love, the hot athlete, the mean girls, the nerd squad. A very HEA, too
The attitudes were very now, very high school, then suddenly they were chatting like adults in counseling. It wasn’t bad, could’ve been better

[Heather]

Easy read; ridiculous situation. Didn’t make me a fan of this author for sure.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute fun read

[Rochelle Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

high school read

I thought I was reading something that would transcend age. But this is completely a teen read. Super cute in that respect but not for a middle aged woman. lol

[Sewster]

DNF 11%

[Kylee Timmreck · Rating 1 out of 5]

2/10⭐️

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet high school love story

Short, sweet, positive, and all around fun. Loved the 2 main characters. If you’re looking for a no spice love story story, take a read.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun

The beautiful emotions of high school were so well put together here. The hope, the heart break, the cliques. I loved every moment of this rollercoaster romance.

[Clementine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute. It was a sweet book and I def enjoyed reading it