This was the easiest five stars I’ve ever given to a book. When I read a summary describing this book as Beach Read by Emily Henry (which I have yet to read) I immediately jumped on the chance to read this.. so thank you so much to the author & publisher by the way!

When Sadie loses her job after her nepotistic boss passes her over for a promotion & she understandably loses it.. she drinks her problems away with her group of best friend. When she drunkenly sets up a date on a “dating app” set on moving on, she never in a million years would be ready for the person who “matched with her”. Enter Jack, the typical nerdy Clark Kent type man whose decided to look for a roommate on a roommate finding app.. Now this is where the wires get crossed ending up with Sadie moving into a dream-like brownstone in NY with the cheapest rent ever giving Sadie a chance to truly decide what she wants out of her life outside of her finance degree.

I finished this book in two sittings, just plainly adoring the heck out of this book. Seeing Sadie follow her dreams aided by her group of best friends (who I adored!) & a man who is just above and beyond dreamy was just one of the most perfect stories ever. Jack and Sadie have the slowest burn romance ever but with a friendship developing and a romance forming along the way, I loved it from beginning to end.

I above and beyond loved the heck out of this book & I cannot recommend it enough!

This was a fun and fast read that also presented some difficult topics. The characters were relatable and though I’m not certain this book will be particularly memorable to me, I did really enjoy the read. Time will tell. .

What an amazing debut by Falon Ballard. This book has shot to the top of my rom com list of 2022. This book is so funny, sexy, and sweet. It features some my favorite tropes which is a good forced proximity roommate romance and grumpy + sunshine,

The book follows Sadie (my favorite new girl boss hero) and Jack (O Lantern). After Sadie is passed down for a promotion her life starts to spiral. When she happens to drunkenly match with Jack on a Roomate site (not a dating site lol) and sees his stunning brownstone and cheap rent she can't say no.

This is a slow burn romance, but the burn is worth it, as both main characters are moving on in different ways and trying to achieve some goals. They are not initially attracted to each other but that's what makes the growing romance all the better.

What I Loved Most
*Sadie: I loved her so much as a main character and related to her so much. I loved that she followed her dreams to open a flower shop cause that makes me feel inspired to follow my dreams.
*The Romance: One the romance begins it is everything I could have wanted
*Side Characters: I loved Sadies friends so much and hope this is not a standalone cause I want to live in this world even longer
*The Writing: Last but not least I loved Ballards voice and how she develops each character, the dialogue is also so fun and witty.

Overall I could not recommend this book more and look forward to what Ballard releases next

*Copy provided by NetGalley and Putnam for my honest review

Thank you to @putnambooks and @netgalley for a free digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

While Lease on Love is definitely a romance, this is also a story of found family. Sadie’s friends are loyal, supportive and encouraging. They have the best group text! I also think that this book can be seen as a love story with Brooklyn because reading it makes me want to stroll through Brooklyn looking for the best latte and fresh flowers. The romance between Sadie and Jack is a slow burn with amazing banter and the best nicknames. Although heavier topics such as grief and childhood verbal abuse are a big part of the characters’ stories, they are dealt with in an appropriate and realistic way. I appreciated that the characters didn’t have a quick fix for the problems they were facing. This book made me laugh a lot and I think it will especially resonate with millennials because Sadie and her friends like to point out how “typical millennial” they are.

CW: grief, childhood abuse, and lots of F-bombs

I had a smirk on my face the entire time while reading LEASE ON LOVE by Falon Ballard. I want more!

I relate to Sadie with her snarky attitude and aspirations to become a sustainable florist. 🌸 Jack is a mysterious, nerd and I’m enamored. Yes, it is a slow burn between Sadie and Jack but the sexual tension and acknowledgment doesn’t make it seem dull or prolonged.🔥

Also can we talk about their friend group? They’re supportive and the banter is top notch. I want them to be my friends.

This book is a delight and highly recommend.

I loved this book! It’s so well written and the characters are people you’d love to meet and have a pizza with. They all have such distinctive personalities. It’s one of those books that you’re sorry when it ends, you’ve entered their world and don’t want to leave.

Sadie is passed over for a promotion and she’s desperate. She can’t afford her share of her NYC rent and still eat. She decides to have a night of fun and clicks on a dating app. When she arrives, a guy named Jack with messy hair and glasses asks questions about her living situation and Sadie realizes she’s clicked on a roommate app instead.

When she sees Jack’s gorgeous brownstone, and hears the low rent amount he’s asking, Sadie decides to move. She’s not attracted to Jack, so he’ll be the perfect roommate. She also decides, because she’s saving so much rent money, that it’s the perfect time to leave her safe but boring finance job and follow her dream of opening a flower shop.

As Sadie and Jack get to know each other, and Jack gets comfortable with Sadie and her friends, they start developing feelings for each other. Jack is recovering from the sudden death of his beloved parents and is just starting to get back to painting and living his normal life. Sadie has issues with her father that affect her relationships.

They must resolve their issues from the past before they can open up themselves to trust and love. I appreciated that Jack and Sadie have issues they have to deal with before they can be together. I really liked the fact that they took their relationship slowly instead of jumping into bed right away, it made their emotions feel more substantial and serious

This is a great slow burn romance that addressed serious issues but was funny and sweet. It was a fun book to read, I loved it. 5 stars.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! The awkward meet-cute and down-on-her-luck-but-big-dreamer main character (Sadie) hooked me from the start. I adored Jack and his quirky ways.

I really enjoyed watching both of these main characters develop and the way that their relationship naturally grew. I really appreciated that the author set the story over the course of months as it irks me when characters fall in "love" too quickly.

Also, mental health and trauma are things that many people quietly "deal" with and I'm glad this story brought those things to light in realistic ways.

Thank you so much to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC copy for review!

Sadie Green is ready for her life to change. She’s spent years working every possible moment in her finance job, so that the big promotion could be hers. The one that would put her over the top. The one that would help her pay off her student loans completely. The one that would mean she wouldn’t have to live paycheck-to-paycheck anymore. The one that would change her life.

And when she went into the meeting, she found out that the promotion did, in fact, change her life. Because she didn’t get it. Her boss instead handed it to his soon-to-be son-in-law and asked Sadie to train him in his new position. After having worked with finance bros for years, holding her tongue while being ignored and used, Sadie couldn’t hold back anymore. She let loose with her real thoughts, including an F-bomb or two. And then she got fired.

Later that night, as she was commiserating with her three best friends and an inordinate amount of alcohol over everything that she had lost—not just that promotion, but all the sacrifices she had made along the way—she decided to change her life. And she was going to start with a date. She had let so many opportunities for dating go by, so many weekends she spent working, vacations she didn’t take, weeknights she worked late instead going to a neighborhood bar. She was going to make up for that immediately, and she grabs her phone, opens a dating app, and swipes on several handsome bachelors. And when one swiped for her too, she set up the date immediately.

The date Sadie had set up was in Brooklyn, at a cute coffee shop, with Jack Thomas. She put on an adorable spring dress and met with him, ready to ask and answer the first date questions, but his first date questions were just odd. She tried to go along with it, but she could only take so much before she calls him out for acting like a creepy date. Jack is confused, saying he hadn’t been looking for a date. He’d been looking for a roommate.

When Sadie had lost her job, and that beautiful promotion paycheck she’d been waiting on, she had toyed with the idea of taking on a roommate for her Manhattan apartment and had downloaded an app that matched people with potential roommates. At the bar, when she thought she’d opened the dating app, she’d opened that app instead. That was how she matched with Jack. Sadie was explaining that to Jack when he slid the lease across the table to her.

The price of rent he was asking for was absurdly low, low enough for Sadie to reconsider. She agrees to look at the property, and she finds herself walking into a beautiful Park Slope brownstone. There is a gorgeous kitchen, she’d have her own bathroom (with a clawfoot tub, no less), and there’s a small backyard. Every room Sadie sees is beautiful, except the yard. Still, it’s the one thing she wanted more than anything. Born in California, she loves a beautiful yard, but Manhattan is her home. She filled her apartment with plants, but that’s not the same as a real yard that she could clean up and make beautiful. She decides that maybe it is time to ditch her apartment in the neighborhood of finance bros and embrace Brooklyn.

And then she realizes that if she’s going to change her life, she might as well go all out and chase her biggest dream, to sell her own flower arrangements. She gets a weekend gig as a bartender to pay the bills, and she sets up her own website and Instagram to fill with her colorful floral creations in found-object vases.

She worries that Jack is going to kick her out of his beautiful Brooklyn brownstone, for her having flowers everywhere, or for her incessant talking, or for how her friends come over all the time to hang out. Or maybe she just thinks that because she believes that no matter what she does, she’ll never be good enough. But what she doesn’t know about Jack is that he’s been alone since his parents died, and what he needs more than anything is people in his life who see him and include him. He needs family, and Sadie and her friends offer that.

And as time goes on, Sadie realizes that the nerdy guy she moved in with is actually a thoughtful friend, and her feelings are growing the more time she spends with him, whether it’s watching him read a book in the bar where she works just so he can walk her home at the end of her shift or their weekly roommate dates of Real Housewives in his basement mancave. For once, Sadie wants more than a casual hookup. But what if Jack doesn’t feel the same way? Will she have to give up her whole new life and find a new place to live? Or can her plans for a new life include a new relationship too?

Lease on Love is spirited rom com about two people who have been damaged but are working on the issues keeping them apart. There is a lot of energy throughout the story, especially with Sadie and her friends, who seem to move through the world with an intensity that you would associate with living in Manhattan. Jack, on the other hand, seems to have a quiet peacefulness that works well as a counterbalance to the group. Their interactions, the frenetic energy followed by the quiet comfort adds a lovely rhythm to the story, and the sweetness of the long-burn romance makes this a charming treat of a novel.

There are some imperfections to this book. Sadie is a very strong character, and some of the character development for the others seems to take a backseat, especially Jack. Getting more of his perspective could have added some more texture to this romance. However, I have to admit that Lease on Love has been my secret pleasure all week. Whenever I needed a few minutes to myself, whenever I needed a quick smile, whenever I needed a sweet treat, I would open this book and read a chapter. I loved these characters, and I was sorry for the book to end. Lease on Love may not be as perfect as one of Sadie’s flower Instagram photos, but I still adored every minute I got to spend with it.

Egalleys for Lease on Love were provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This new romance is a cute roommates-to-friends-to-lovers slow burn and I really enjoyed reading it. It's a quick read that follow Sadie, a young woman living in Manhattan working in the shark tank world of finance. When she suddenly finds herself out of job and with an offer for cheap rent she can't refuse, she ends up living with the very closed-off, incredibly kind Jack. With plenty of time on her hands, she decides to go for her lifelong dream of owning her own floral business.

I loved the found family Sadie had in her friends and how they lovingly accepted Jack as one of their own. Jack reminded me a lot of Augustus Everett from Emily Henry's "Beach Read." The progression of Jack and Sadie's relationship was really cute as well.

I did not like the amount of times the author used "millennial" as a piece of character development. There are ways to describe characters who might do things stereotypically assigned to certain generations without saying "I'm this way because I'm a millennial." I also wasn't a fan of the third-act break-up as it felt very out of character.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the characters. It got me out of a bit of a reading slump. Thanks for the copy, NetGalley!

Sadie was passed over for a promotion and after giving everyone a piece of her mind she is now out of a job. After a conciliatory night out at the bar she happens to swipe right on a date only to discover the next day she was in the roommate finder app.

Jack is looking for a roommate after living alone for years after his parents passing. He wasn't betting on Sadie but he definitely needed her energy and optimism.

The slow burn friends to lovers between these two people that needed acceptance and hope was palpable. It's hard to lose a parent if not two especially when they were all you had. Sadie didn't have a healthy relationship with her parents and had the constant inner monologue telling her she wasn't good enough. Honestly I had great parents in my opinion and I still had that voice. My dad would always tell me to be nice to Laura. It seems like a given but we are the ones we abuse the most when things don't work out and we are alone with each other in our heads. Maybe that's why my 4 yo is so loud and I don't hear that voice that often anymore. 

Read if you like:
✨ Slow burn romance
✨ Painting and flower arranging
✨ Quirky fun characters
✨ Finding yourself late in life (more like quarter life when you feel like you should be on a set path)

Thank you putnambooks and netgalley for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

This was a summery romance for the winter. I loved the lead, Sadie. She was a potty-mouthed, sarcastic, fun main character. Having lost her job in finance and with big dreams of owning her own recycled floral company, she finds a roommate in the nerdy, reclusive Jack. Jack lost his parents 7 years ago and has been living off a mysterious income. He lives in a beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn and rents a cheap room to Sadie. Saving money living with Jack, Sadie is able to launch her new floral company and her dreams start coming true.

Jack and Sadie's slow burn romance was a real page turner. Will they get together or will Jack's mysterious past keep them apart?

Sadie's friend group of Harley, Nick, and Gemma is what every person needs. They' are supportive, fun, and their stories were fun to read about too.

I would recommend this book, especially for days like today where we are in the middle of a snowstorm. You can check out for a bit to read about flowers, friends, and love.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book for my honest review.

I LOVED IT! The whole book was perfect. I laughed so hard, got teary eyed, & had a smile on my face for 90% of the book.

𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺, 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦.

Sadie is in a crisis. After a night out with her besties, she swipes right and finds herself sitting across from a cute nerd. But it wasn't a dating app but a roommate app.

Enter Jack. Broody, attractive, nerd boy. He is dreamy. Jack has been dealing without a lot of grief, depression, and living like a recluse for the past 7 year. He needs her witty, no holds personality in his life and she needs the opportunity he's offering.

"𝙷𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚢? 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎."

With her new roommate and cheap rent, she has the opportunity to follow her dreams. She did what any millennial would do, start her own business in their brownstone, Bridge and Blooms, a floral company.

𝘗𝘚- 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘴 & 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥

With the help of her 3 besties and Jack, Bridge and Blooms really starts to flourish.

"𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛 𝚐𝚘𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚜." "𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛 𝚐𝚘𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚜."

Sadie & Jack's chemistry blooms (see what I did there), both try to keep things friendly because their friendship is so critical to each other. The slow burn, sexual tension was written so well. Their chemistry felt real and the relationship build up made sense.

𝙏𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨
💐Roommates-to-Lovers

𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
💐How I Met Your Mother
💐Gardening & Flowers
💐Real Housewives
💐Witty Banters
💐No Filter Heroine
💐Lattes & Croissants

I really enjoyed this heartfelt, contemporary debut romance. Falon Ballard writing style really brings you into the book and makes the pages fly by!

Sadie and Jack both have trauma and issues that they lean on each other for. While Sadie is outgoing, running a new business- seemingly “perfect”, she struggles deeply with her self-image and self-doubt. Jack is awkward, reserved, incredibly sweet and struggles with his grief.

Eventually, confronting their individual trauma takes center stage and I love how their trauma’s are discussed and the use of therapy. Sadie and Jack learned to lean on each other and learned that everyone is deserving of love, even if we don’t think we are. Their relationship development was slow but necessary and they earned their happily ever after!

Lease on Love is an open-door, slow burn, friends to lovers with forced proximity and some heavier topics. It definitely kept me laughing, especially with an amazing group of friends like Sadie’s and the banter! With relatable characters, relatable issues, and a found self and family, Lease on Love takes you on a journey you don’t really want to stop.

Thanks to Putnam for the advanced copy.

CW: death of loved ones (past), grief, emotional abuse (past)

Lease on Love was such a wonderful surprise. It balances more serious topics with laugh out loud moments so well and features one of the best found families I've read in a very long time.

Things to look forward to in Lease on Love:
- tropes like grumpy + sunshine, forced proximity (roommates), epistolary, friends to lovers, and opposites attract
- amazing friendships and found family. I loved this ride or die friend group and how supportive and loving they all were towards each other.
- a slow burn swoony romance. Jack is one of the sweetest book boyfriends ever and I just loved him so much! He really was too good to be true!
- hilarious banter and text messages. I loved these parts in the novel! They were great comic relief, but also showcased the strength and depth of the friendships. I liked how they were interspersed in the novel to break up the heavier moments and keep things nicely paced.

I did feel that things wrapped up a little too neatly at the end (especially regarding Sadie's business endeavors) and I could have done without the late stage drama. I understand that it helped Sadie recognize things from her past that she needed to address, but it felt very forced and I would have preferred more grovel from her. The epilogue was such a beautiful way to bring the story full circle though and I'm really looking forward to reading more by Falon Ballard in the future.

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group, Putnam for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I really enjoyed this book - like a surprising amount almost. Not that I was expecting it to be bad, but just I was surprised how much I enjoyed it/how little I wanted to put it down. This is very much a friends to lovers book, and I haven't read a good one of those (adult not YA) in I don't even know how long. The character growth was really nice to see, and even though I wanted to smack the characters at times, it all made sense. All actions were justified and I really felt like I could relate to what they were going through. It touches on some deep issues, making the characters feel real, and it was really sweet. It was a book that gave me a warm feeling and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4/5

Lease on Love is the slow burn roommates to lovers story I didn’t know I needed.

When Sadie gets passed over for a well-deserved promotion then subsequently gets fired, she does what anyone would do to blow off steam: go out with her friends to get drunk. After a moment of drunken realization that she put her dating life on hold for her job, she gets on a dating app to fix that. Except, it wasn’t a dating app. It was a roommate-finding app. But it ends up being a blessing in disguise because she meets Jack, a man renting a room in his gorgeous brownstone for a pittance.

With the steal that is her rent, she’s finally able to pursue her dream of owning a flower shop. It’s also a blessing for Jack, who hasn’t dealt with the grief of losing his parents 7 years ago and could use a new light in his life. They’re polar opposites, but together, Jack and Sadie find the family they’re missing and heal some wounds along the way.

Overall, I adored Lease on Love. Jack was a complete sweetheart, and I just wanted to wrap him up in a blanket to protect his gentle heart. Sadie was a lot, but in an enjoyable way, especially contrasted against Jack. I loved the found family aspect Sadie had with her friends (that Jack is later included in), and the side romance between two of Sadie’s friends was an excellent addition to the story.

The lighthearted moments between Jack and Sadie (including so many punny nicknames) were nicely contrasted against the meaningful discussion of grief, trauma, and overall mental health. It’s one of my favorite things when I see characters in a book going to therapy. The book is also a love letter to NYC, and reading it made me fondly look back on the few months I lived in Brooklyn.

My only complaint is the ending. I loved 90% of this. I devoured most of it in a day, and it was a 5 star read all the way to the 90% mark, but the ending was pretty dissatisfying. The last-minute conflict felt forced, rushed, and out of character.

But overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Lease on Love. If you’re looking for a slow-burn, roommates and friends to lovers romance with found family and punny nicknames, Lease on Love is for you.

Thank you, NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a delightful debut!! I was totally impressed with this opposites attract, roommates to lovers, slow burn, open door romance set in NYC. Full of witty banter and dialogue and a wonderful found family, plus characters learning to take a chance going after their dreams. I also appreciated the conversations about grief and psychological trauma from toxic parental relationships. Highly recommended and I can't wait to read more from Falon Ballard!! Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy!

I need a sequel on the other couples! I can't believe this is a debut novel.
Each character was so lovable. I wish I had a chosen family this strong!
I will be the first to admit, true romance novels are not usually my taste. This story had so any unique aspects (and who doesn't love Brooklyn). We need more MC's recognizing their flaws and going to therapy, and even a love interest who doesn't use his partner as an emotional crutch for his grief?! Go Jack-of-Hearts!

This book ended up surprising me in a good way. I hadn't heard of it until recently, but loved the premise--a woman accidentally mixing up a dating app and a roommate app and maybe finding both love and housing? Sign me up! And it exceeded my expectations.

Sadie Green is the heroine we deserve: a foul-mouthed, confident woman who leaves behind her steady finance job to pursue her dream of being a florist. When she moves into a stranger's beautiful Brooklyn brownstone on a whim, everything changes. This story was enthralling--I didn't want to put the book down. I also loved Sadie's group of friends, which had prominent roles in the book. Overall, this book was just a joy to read and will likely be a favorite of the year.

Thanks to Putnam for my eARC and my finished copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 9/10

First of all - I know I'm not alone in loving this cover and fully admit that was AT LEAST half the reason I chose this book in the first place. I'm a very tough reviewer of romance / rom-coms, but this was a great debut! It had all the right ingredients and everything came together just right. Slow burn, witty writing, and great characters who actually had likable and unique personalities! I often find rom-coms too cringey and this one was not - the friends to lovers was done just right. And kudos for the appropriate handling of past trauma and mental health issues! Highly recommend to any fans of rom-coms, and those, like me, who enjoy a good rom-com, but are picky about it.

Thank you to NetGalley, GP Putnam, and Falon Ballard for the advanced e-copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.