I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

This contemporary romance set in NYC balanced itself and the feeling of it all so well. I thought this book had such a unique premise that set up the rivals trope perfectly. I found myself hoping for a bit more while reading, but it was a cute and quick read!

3.25 stars
-
I would like to start by saying that this is part of a series but also can be read as a standalone, I read the series out of order and didn't notice any difference or any big impact on the way the books played out. Although a novella I wanted a little bit more from this, I would have loved to see our two main characters (Tyson and Magda) fleshed out a little bit more. The pair start as rivals, Tyson is in charge of the illegal community garden project in the neighbourhood and Magda is the person who plans on selling the plot of land.

Real-world plot points are super enjoyable to me. This one was hard for me as I know it's something that happens every day, where members of a community lose the things that they need the most. I'm also a sucker for anything set in NYC (Summer is a plus). We watch Tyson and Magda banter with each other as she tries to sell her uncle's home and land around it.

Their love scenes and intense and steamy so would recommend knowing that before you jump into reading this one. If you're looking for a short read that has a bit of real-world conflict involved, I would suggest picking this one up!
-
I would like to thank NetGalley, Carina Press, and Ruby Lang for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All toughts and opinions are my own. This book was originally published on November 11th 2019.

I enjoy Ruby Lang's writing style and in particular this series which has featured some interesting characters. In Open House, we have Magda Ferrer who is a real estate agent and Tyson Yang. Tyson's involved in a community garden (an illegal one) on a lot that Magda is trying to sell. Magda is also trying to sell her uncle's mansion which he is making quite difficult due his inability to commit to the sale (his personal memories make it hard to give up, even though he knows he should). So Magda and Tyson are on opposites sides of the proverbial fence and at first glance it's hard to see how they can come to any kind of happy resolution that will work for them both. But in the author's deft hands, there is a way and along that path, Magda and Tyson grow closer, leading to happy ending for all involved. I really enjoyed the setting of this novel, as well as the authenticity of the characters, their friends and families, and the representation of their respective cultures.

This is a gorgeous little story, you will fall in love with the characters and the setting, and the ending will leave you with a very cozy and happy feeling. The cover is very bright and pulls you in and matches the story perfectly. I had a lot of fun reading this book!

Magda is a real estate associate trying to fix her student debt and was given the opportunity that could help her situation of selling a place that's been hard to sell. On top of that she'll need to get the illegal community garden out of the lot nearby. Ty is one of the people helping out the community garden and knows their time there is limited especially since they shouldn't be there in the first place but its better then an empty useless lot. He'll try his best to convince Magda or who ever owns the area to let them have it be a nice part of the community.

Its beyond me why this book stood so long on my tbr list. Once I started it I just kinda zoomed right in and was really enjoying this book. It was interesting seeing how the book played out seeing what lead both characters to were they are at now. Magda wasn't trying to be a bad guy here she had a lot going on and needed this situation to turn in her favor and while the community garden was a nice addition to the area she had a job to do. Theres some romance between the Magda and Ty and I enjoyed seeing that but then you know there is going to be a time where one of them is going to have to loose and what would becoming of what's happening between the two and I enjoyed seeing how everything played out. Overall this was a pretty enjoyable book.

This is a really great enemies to lovers story and I loved the addition of a community garden with an illegal twist.

This was a cute installment in a series that can definitely be read as a standalone. I really enjoyed the plot centered around a community garden. While the main couple had chemistry, I thought this book was good but overall not extremely memorable. I would say it's great if you're looking to get out of a reading slump or have an insatiable craving for a cute romance but otherwise I do think there are better options out there. Overall I don't regret my time reading this but it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

It was a nice romance, but the story didn’t resonate with me for some reason. I couldn’t relate to the characters.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was not for me sadly. It may have been it wasn't the right time for me to pick it up, I just couldn't connect.

Open House is everything that’s great about contemporary romance. Cute but sexy, fluffy but weighty, it features fully-realized characters with relatable issues stumbling angrily into love against the hot, atmospheric backdrop of summer in NYC. Ty is the adorable gardening hero whose friends are all old ladies; Magda is the struggling but ambitious heroine whose family baggage can’t drag her down. Watching these two circumstantial enemies — she has to sell the community garden he can’t let go — fight their deep connection was the most fun I’ve had in a while. And the dizzying passion between them didn’t hurt, either.

Such a cute and lighthearted read! I love reading a good romance book that has me laughing and wanting to devour a book!

Definitely would recommend this

I requested Open House by Ruby Lang on a whim. I try to be aware of making sure my reading is diverse and to support books by BIPOCs, so when I came across this cover- I jumped on it!

Open House is a sweet story based on cultural diversity. It is the epitome of a chicklit. I love a well done enemies to lovers troupe; however, this book just didn't do it for me. I never got invested into the characters, but I enjoyed the different plot for a change. One of the biggest things I enjoyed about this novel is the representation of other cultures and ethnicities. I found it to be well-executed and ultimately, a heartwarming book.

While it is part of a series- it can definitely be read as a standalone, so if you are in need of a quick and light read, check this book out!

What with the cutesy cover and what I knew from Book 1, I didn't expect this book to be so...angsty. I really love Ty and Magda together, although Magda's family really did give me high blood pressure (I felt like strangling the lot of them). Love the whole community garden led by old ladies.

Open House is a sweet love story. Madga and Ty are both struggling to find themselves and figure out their futures and they meet at just the right time!

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Open House
By: Ruby Lang

REVIEW ☆☆☆
Open House is a cute novella with cultural diversity. It's got that tried and true romcom chicklit vibe about it, and nothing really stands out for me. It's a charming fast read, but it's not memorable. Not a bad story, but not my favorite either.

I don’t always love novellas but I thought this one was very cute! The first novella in Lang’s series didn’t really work for me, thankfully this one clicked more. I would have preferred if it was a full length novel, but I still enjoyed reading it.

Ruby Lang once again delivers a quick read with a HEA, featuring multicultural characters in a charming neighbourhood. Generally, enemies to lovers is not something I enjoy, but this book was a nice escape

*~~*ARC kindly provided from the publisher/author to me for an honest review *~~*

Full review to come

5 stars

I thought Ruby Lang’s Uptown series first, novella Playing House, pleasant, but slight. Nevertheless, I love Lang’s elegantly irreverent voice and looked forward to a more substantial treatment in Uptown #2, Open House, and got exactly what I was looking for: a layered, sophisticated romance, with likeable, realistic, engaging characters, and depths of feelings like a sinker going at the end of a fishing line. You never know where this light, humourous ethos will take you, but it’ll plump interesting depths along the way. Open House is the story of debt-ridden real-estate associate Magda Ferrer and accountant Tyson Yang. Magda and Tyson find themselves on opposites sides of the garden-fence when he becomes the defender of a geriatrically-occupied, spontaneous (ahem, not exactly legally-sanctioned) Harlem-set community garden as Magda is the agent set to sell it to the highest bidder, or as she puts it “She was going to have to kick a bunch of aunties out of their fucking fairy-tale meadow.”

Spade-in-hand knight-in-chinos-and-t-shirt of grannies and gardens Tyson will go head to head with Magda, except he finds her mesmerizingly beautiful at first sight: “Ty felt himself go very still inside. Maybe he’d stay kneeling and gaze at her forever. That would be nice. The garden needed a statue.” With a sampling of these two pithy quotations, you can see why I think Lang’s writing is the cat’s ass (though I’ll have to wait till #3, Playing House, for a bonafide cat-character).

Lang is a meandering kind of writer: her narrative doesn’t take romance’s straight-and-narrow (meet, conflict, come together, darkest pit of conflict, avowal/clarity/reconciliation, HEA) and that can be both engaging and disappointing if the S-&-N is what you’re looking for. But I like it, though I like the straight-and-narrow too. One of the compellingly original aspects to Lang’s ethos is that every romance is worked out within the context of the hero and heroine’s families.

Oh, the conflicts aren’t huge and dramatic, but they’re painful, real, and long-standing; they stand as authentic, organic impediments to love. In Magda’s case, her status as the baby in her successful, stiflingly overprotective family (two older sisters and a doctor-mother) makes her hyper-conscious of her less-than-successful life at 29: grad-school-dropp-out, culinary academy dropout, shored up debt in the process, now trying desperately to prove herself by selling a) the lot-cum-community-garden b) her widowed uncle’s town-house on Strivers Row. Madga is frazzled, run off her feet, and puts up one of the bravest of fronts. In Tyson’s case, his mother’s death has left him running scared of loss, of attachment because of the loss that might ensue. And yet, Tyson is no alpha-HP-hero, but a soft-hearted, affectionate, caring person. He’s drawn to caring for the aunties; he’s drawn to caring for Magda. He can’t resist taking care of others, shoring them up, empowering them. He’s really really lovely.

Open House may take the enemies-to-lovers trope as its starting-point, but it doesn’t let it define the journey. Magda and Tyson run into each other, but neither fools the other for a moment that he/she isn’t attracted to the other, or that there isn’t genuine respect and liking there. It was refreshing and welcome as a romance ethos. Not all romance can be devil’s food cake, we need a good dose of one of my faves, carrot cake, and frankly, Lang’s writing is the cream-cheese frosting. She sure can set and execute a scene: one typical summer NYC blackout, one chance encounter, one bed … ’nuff said. Tyson and Magda’s revelations are as attractively gentle and yet quietly important as they are: a resolution to be stronger, to stand her ground, to confess her love, to see herself as worthy; a resolution to allow himself to love, to risk his heart, to stay and take a chance on loss. Oh, it’s also sexy as heck and Tyson and Magda are sexy and tender. In this age of lockdown, romance has stood as a good friend and companion to me and Miss Austen. I am very glad we spent a few hours in Lang’s Open House‘s company because therein is “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Ruby Lang’s Open House is published by Carina Press. It was released in November 2019 and may be found at your preferred vendor. I am grateful to Carina Press for an e-galley, via Netgalley.