Thank you so much for my opportunity to read Lease on Love in exchange for my honest review! This book was so fun! The main characters were very well developed and I enjoyed how different they are! This is a slow burn roommates to lovers!

The concept of this book drew me in (as did the cover and title).

CW: narcissistic parent (past), death of parents (past), emotional and verbal abuse (past), anxiety

Ballard brings a unique voice to Sadie, which made her a well-rounded and interesting character that was full of layers. Her childhood truly shaped who she is and how she views herself (as her irrational thoughts show you), I wanted to hug her for having to survive what she did growing up. From the outside she appeared to be confident and snarky, but inside she was full of self-doubt and was working on being confident in herself. I say this sometimes, but I do wish that Sadie was my friend. The way she loves others made her such a selfless and caring human. I also was jealous of her friend group and how in sync they were.

Jack was awkward at first, but I loved that he knew Sadie would help him reach inside of himself to heal. He needed laughter in his laugh and boy did he get it with her. I was so intrigued by the mystery surrounding Jack's past and couldn't put this one down until I got to the end and found everything out. I loved how supportive he was of Sadie and his budding bromance with Nick.

Ballard balanced the heavy topics, like grief and childhood abuse, with light-hearted topics so that this didn't feel as heavy of a read as it could have. I loved how open everyone was about therapy and how it helped. I just thought it was so well done.

Lease on Love is beautiful and I hope you are ready for an emotional and real journey that is full of dreams and fun banter!

Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I definitely wanted to like this book and enjoyed the beginning, but as time went on and there wasn't more depth added, my enjoyment started to slip a bit.

The bones of a good story were there, but the characters didn't really do it for me. Sadie's deep-seated self esteem issues were well-portrayed and the "therapy doesn't cure you" piece was perhaps the strongest in the whole book, but it didn't feel grounded considering the absolute lack of involvement of her parents even in flashback or memory scenes, or mentions of them outside of her one confession to Jack. And perhaps the biggest weakness was that the book didn't actually show Sadie being this amazing person that her support network makes her out to be, so every time she tells her friends that she's absolutely awful and undeserving of love and they list for her all the ways it isn't true because she's actually the BEST person, it just felt a little...disingenuous. She obviously wasn't awful, but she was just <i>normal</i>; she was funny sometimes and trying hard and had her own issues and did take advantage of her friends, and the book trying to say otherwise, that she was somehow super incredible, was tell not show in the extreme. The first time she and her friends have that sort of conversation, the examples they give to show that she's actually super generous are the exact two that I'd thought of: she graded work with her teacher friend (in exchange for a home-cooked meal, iirc) and had a conversation with her other friend about her relationship concerns. Those are the examples they used because <i>those are the only ones there were</i>, and they also just seemed like pretty average friend stuff to me rather than going above and beyond as they were trying to portray. Again, she isn't an awful person, that is entirely negative self talk, but she is flawed and the cheerleading about her felt so off to me.

Also, maybe this is because I'm currently having roommate issues, but it seems so wild to me to move into a place just looking over the lease and without discussing rules/expectations for common spaces, and the way Sadie treated their shared home, especially at the beginning, cast her in a worse light for me overall. If I came home to find that my gorgeous kitchen - and later one whole bathroom? - had been taken over by my roommate's new florist (or, let's be real, flower arranging) business, I would...not have had Jack's reaction.

Speaking of Jack, I will typically choose a nice guy LI over a bad boy (Sadie and I are apparently different in this way, per the tell-don't-show about her romantic past) but he truly came off as a cardboard cutout sometimes. It was a particular issue early on, but even later when I'd hoped his shell would have cracked a bit and he'd seem a little less robotic, he was just kind of a cardboard cutout with a bit of muscle, a difficult past, and A Secret (which really popped up for ~20 seconds at the very end and didn't feel well-integrated) who occasionally said "shit." (The poor-little-rich-boy element didn't necessarily help either 😕) I didn't feel that there was much chemistry between him and Sadie overall, although I did appreciate that he was really patient and accepting with her (getting him a morning cup of coffee was a nice gesture but did not balance out her basically taking over their shared space, especially considering that he pretty quickly took over coffee-prep for both of them too!) and the arc with him being accepted into her friend group was sweet.

Look, this all seems as if I absolutely hated the book, but it was truly fine. It was very readable, the story flowed along nicely, I liked the friendship elements (although the friends were a bit underdeveloped), and I totally get why it would have The Flatshare as a comp. And obviously plenty of reviewers are getting something different from this one than I am, so it might be just a case of "it's not you." I suppose rec for readers who like mental health issues in a romance, or those who enjoy small business and NYC vibes.

This might be my favorite book so far this year. Lease on Love incorporated so many of my favorite things: roommates-to-lovers, sunshine and grump, plants, found family, a new business, and a gorgeous house.

To kick it off, Sadie and Jack have the most amusing meet-cute I’ve read in a long time. Sadie is drunkenly swiping on a dating app when she makes plans to get coffee the next day with Jack. As it turns out, she was actually swiping on her roommate-finder app, and their meetup was in regards to Jack’s spare room…not a date.

I adored Sadie and her little group of friends. Sadie was snarky and clever, and definitely the sort of character I would want to befriend in person. Found family stories are one of my favorites, and I loved how all of the friends supported each other unconditionally. Their group texts were hilarious! I’m not sure if sequels are in the cards, but I would love to read Nick and Harper’s love story and then have Gemma find love of her own.

Every scene in this book was so beautifully described. It was so easy to picture the brownstone, Sadie’s store, and Jack’s giant house in Connecticut (although for that one, I was definitely picturing my friend’s family’s giant house in Old Lyme). I loved this author’s writing style.

Everything about this book just worked, and I can’t recommend it enough!

Imagine showing up on a date only to find yourself being interviewed by a guy who thinks you want to be his new roommate. Welcome to Lease on Love. Roommates to lovers is the new trope I didn't know I needed.

Ready to meet your next book boyfriend? Meet Jack Thomas. He's such a mystery and you will desperately want to know more about him. He's nerdy, he's quiet, but he's also so kind and considerate. Not to mention that brownstone he lives in. Can I live there too? The way they describe his home makes it come to life in the best way.

Sadie is everything Jack isn't. She's loud, she's snarky, she's hilarious. I'm also obsessed with her flower business. Sadie has trouble believing in herself but she has the drive to make her dreams happen. She also has the best group of friends behind her. Plus, I love books with text conversations. I found myself constantly looking forward to their group texts.

Although this wasn't a 5 star for me, it was SO close. I really really loved this book until the end. It felt slightly rushed and a bit unnecessary but just know, I still loved so much of it. To recap: roommates to lovers, flowers, slow burn, fabulous friends, text chats, wittiness. Don't you want all of that in your life?

What a delight!!

I requested this solely due to two of my friends raving about it and I was thrilled when I received the NetGalley approval. My friends were right - this was an absolute joy and surprise romcom win for me!

Sadie was the perfect balance of sassy, bossy, funny and direct while also grappling with her own self-esteem issues. I really liked that the author wrote very relatable characters. As I was reading I took notes and kept jotting down that I felt like I was in the midst of a friend group dinner or in the group chat with them. The conversations were so REAL! The flow and banter - which were a 10 by the way - felt like mine with my friends. It was so unbelievably relatable and fun and I could not get enough.

The pacing was 5 star - I was never bored or reaching for my phone, I had to keep reading to find out what happened next. Falon Ballard may be a debut author, but this book was better than many others who have been writing for years. I kept smiling while reading this and really enjoyed watching the relationship unfold between Sadie and Jack. My ONLY gripe was the nicknames - when you read it you'll know, but the nicknames toward the end got a bit cheesy over the top for me, but that was my only drawback.

I can't wait for more to come from Ballard! Thank you NetGalley, Fiona Ballard & Penguin Group / Putnam for this eArc in exchange for my honest review. This gem publishes TODAY - pick up your copy and enjoy every single page!

I ABSOLUTELY ADORED THIS BOOK.

I am trying to be more into romance and break out of my comfort zone of mystery/thriller and I this book gives me high hopes for the romance category. The author has you rooting for the main characters in such a fantastic way. This book was beautifully written, I was never bored through the whole thing and kept wanting to know if the roommate to lover trope would hold up.

This was the debut novel by falon Ballard and I am officially a fan. Cannot wait to see what else this author does!
Thank you to @gpputnam and @netgalley for the ARC!

This is a DNF for me at 34%.

I seem to be the only one, but this one just is really not working for me. I'm sure that some of my readers will enjoy it, but it is making me actively angry and I'd rather not put more time into it and end up rating it low when that's where it's already going.

Comping it to Beach Read and The Flatshare is like god-tier for me, so I probably should've tried to temper my expectations a little bit more. There is little to no character development here, I understand it's a romance (believe me, I read a lot of them) but everything works out extremely perfectly, wish fulfillmenty for our heroine. I am not a person who needs to find main characters likable, but Sadie was absolutely insufferable to me. Completely inconsiderate - how are you going to start a business out of the building where you are renting a (very below market) room? Without even talking to the other person about it? Jack seems to be immediately supportive and corrective of her self-deprecation when he literally just met her. When she takes over the main floor bathroom - again without talking to him first, they banter a bit and when he (fairly reasonably) jokes about getting a free beer the next time he comes to the bar where she works, she responds "Fuck off." Like...I would maybe talk to my brothers who I have known my whole lives like that? I would not "joke" that way to someone I met two weeks ago who is letting me take over their entire brownstone with my new business. I think my threshold for people who don't seem to realize there are other humans in the world and their actions can have an impact is at an all-time low after the pandemic, so I fully own that a big part of my reaction to this may be the head space I am in. (Is that not true of all reading experiences, though?)

Sadie is ostensibly starting a "sustainable" flower business, but rather than grappling with the very nature of a flower business as killing things over and over and over again, she focuses on using recycled glass bottles as vases. Like, okay, but I don't think that makes you sustainable. In fact, I think that might be a marketing word that means a specific thing that you can get sued for not adhering to.

It seemed like they had just moved in together, and then the next page, it's been two months that they've been living together? But with no actual development! The "She's All That"/"Princess Diaries" moment where Sadie realizes that behind his glasses and hair, Jack is hot, actually...simply cannot relate, because I find people with shaggy hair and glasses exceedingly attractive already. I think this book would've really benefitted from being a dual POV. Granted, it seems like there's going to be some big reveal a bit later in the book about Jack, and you probably wouldn't have been able to hide that if we'd been able to be in Jack's head too. But as a result, EVERYTHING we learn about him, we learn because we've been told it. I'm not as adamantly on the "show, don't tell" bus but this is definitely a situation where he felt completely one dimensional in the 34% that I read.

Thank you to the publisher for an arc of this book to consider for addition in my bookstore. I am sincerely bummed I did not enjoy it more.

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC! I love a forced proximity/roommates trope, so I was really excited to read Lease on Love by Falon Ballard.

The main characters, Sadie Green and Jack Thomas, were both so lovable from the very beginning. In the wake of being passed over for a promotion, Sadie meets Jack who gives her the perfect opportunity to live in his gorgeous brownstone while pursuing a career she is actually passionate about.

I really enjoyed seeing both Sadie and Jack's personal growth throughout the book, with Jack learning to come out of his awkward shell because of Sadie's antics while dealing with grief to Sadie pursuing her dream while learning to ignore that horrible self-doubt voice in the back of her head (both of which were super relatable). Also, seeing Sadie and Jack's chosen family was incredibly heartwarming.

Lease on Love was such a sweet read, and Sadie and Jack's relationship was so fun to watch grow! I highly recommend reading!

When recently fired Sadie drunkenly swipes right, the last thing she expected was that her coffee date was actually arranged through a roommate match app. Color her surprised when the nerdy guy in the coffee shop is looking for a roommate, not love, and also owns the gorgeous brownstone Sadie’s fallen in love with. When she moves in, will they find love under the same roof?

I devoured this in pretty much one day. It was funny, easy to read and had a teasing slow burn storyline that kept me hooked on this open door romance. Three things really stood out to me -

1) Setting - who doesn’t love Brooklyn and a brownstone? Gah. I was drooling over the descriptions. So much Brooklyn, hipster, millennial, coffee shop, vintage store, plant-mama, farmers market awesomeness.

2) Open hearts - Sadie and Jack, swoon. How they showed their care for each other, whether friends or more, was so sweet. From gifts, to time together, to support, openness, nicknames, little and big gestures, nothing seemed out of bounds. Sadie’s found family were the same, constant and unwavering support. For two people who thought they were selfish, they were remarkably selfless.

3) Bringing me to the third point - mental health. Sadie and Jack had traumatic pasts that clearly impacted their present. I loved how the author showed their struggle, including resumption of counseling with new triggers/circumstances. It’s so important to know that’s ok. Grief is not a straight line and I so appreciated how the author handled those parts of the storyline.

Sadie Green has a lot going for her. She has an extremely supportive and loving friend group, a great job and a possible promotion to a position she has worked so hard to obtain, until her boss gives her job to someone completely new to the company. Now, Sadie finds herself unemployed and coming to the end of a lease she can no longer afford. One night, after a few too many cocktails, Sadie finds herself on a roommate app. She comes across Jack Thomas and his beautiful apartment complex. After she sees this gorgeous home, she moves in with Jack and comes to learn that have absolutely nothing in common. She pushes this tiny factor aside and focuses on the several perks of living in this new apartment. Maybe she will finally be able to follow her dream of starting her own floral business. Will this living arrangement fall apart or will they find any kind of benefit to this new friendship?

This was such a sweet contemporary romance novel. I read this in two sittings and really enjoyed the roommate relationship between Jack and Sadie. Both main characters experienced their own traumas, which brought some perspective to the conflicts that arose between them. The build up and growth to their relationship was very realistic and honest. It showed how two completely different people with different interests can actually have more chemistry than you would think. One thing I would have loved to see would have been a little bit more of Sadie’s past and what she experienced. Overall, if you are looking for a good romance novel and an easy lighthearted read, this one might be for you!

“Lease on Love” starts off on a high note (or low note if that’s how you feel) with Sadie, our main character, getting fired for cursing out her boss for promoting his fresh from college future son in law over her, even though Sadie had put in years of work and time into this job and promotion. Honestly this is one of my favorite parts of the book, because I think everyone has wanted to this at one point or another to a boss for being awful or being passed over for a deserved promotion.

From there it’s a wild ride of Sadie winging her living situation and opening her own business and slowly falling in love with her roommate Jack.

I identified so much with Sadie’s feelings of inadequacy and it made it easy to feel sympathy for Sadie and her reluctance to make the leap to have a relationship with Jack.

4/5 stars ⭐️

This was a very cute story about following your passion and opening yourself up to new people and experiences, especially after trauma.

Lease on Love centers on Sadie, a twenty-something working in finance in New York City, who has just been passed over for a well-deserved promotion. Looking for something new (while a little more than tipsy), she mistakes a roommate-finding app with a dating app and ends up matching with Jack, a quiet nerdy man with a stunning Brooklyn brownstone. As the new roommates get to know each other, they start to realize what it is they really want and need from life.

This was a really sweet contemporary romance. There wasn't much conflict throughout, but the characters were really endearing and the friendships in the novel felt really honest and supportive. I think there were moments when some of the more serious topics could have been explored more deeply, but I don't think that took away from how the book ended.

This book was exactly the hopeful, romantic read I hoped it would be.

3.5/5

In this romance we are following Sadie, who just lost her shit after being overlooked for a very deserved promotion in favor of the boss’ new son in law (hello corporate America) and was fired. Sadie is allowing one weekend of wallowing before finding a new job and, as one should, goes out drinking with all her besties. With the help of lovely beer goggles Sadie jumps on what she thinks is a dating app, finds a match and sets a date! When she shows up she is met with the ever loveavle, completely dorkable Jack. When he starts interviewing her she is completely baffled. Turns out what she thought was a dating app was actually a looking for roommate app. But what Jack is offering, Sadie readily can’t refuse. A room in a gorgeous brownstone for wayyyyy less than it’s worth. Sadie jumps at the opportunity.

Overtime Sadie and Jack’s friendship grows and so does her confidence in herself to chase her dreams of being a florist.

When I say this is a slow burn, I mean it. I don’t think they kissed until like 65% of the way through!! BUT the chemistry was there and flying off the pages.

Throughout the book Jack gets folded into her friend group, but he always seems to be holding something back. Sadie can’t figure it out and honestly I couldn’t either.

Eventually the two become the couple that we have been waiting for them to become and all is going well. Jack is pushing Sadie to take risks in herself and helping her gain the confidence that she has trouble holding onto thanks to an emotionally abusive, jerk of a father while growing up.

The other shoe finally drops at Sadie’s big grand opening when she finds how Jack had never told her the whole truth about his past and had been keeping things from her. In true Sadie fashion (as we learn throughout the book) she lashes out with her words in the worst way possible and Jack leaves.

Enter the friend intervention which leads Sadie to go back to therapy and start working on herself. Her and Jack are apart for a few weeks before they come back together fully ready to forgive and live happily ever after (with not nearly enough groveling on Sadie’s part if you ask me, but hey I’m team Jack all the way).

Overall, cute and sweet read. If you’re looking for a slow burn roommate to lover story with a great found family type friend group, look no further!!

I read this title in 2 days because I was so wrapped up in the story!

The character development was excellent. Ballard highlighted Sadie and Jack's strengths while also sharing their struggles. There was so much depth to the plot, not just with the main characters, but also with the side characters. For example, Gemma is the most accurate depiction of a U.S. public school teacher that I've ever read.

The setting in Park Slope was absolute perfection. The pacing was wonderful. The nicknames were super fun, and the epilogue was so amazing that I teared up. I loved it!

After getting fired, Sadie needs either a roommate or a cheaper place to live. She ends up with both when she meets Jack Thomas. His gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone even has space for her to operate her fledgling florist business. Will the attraction growing between them ruin their friendship?

This charming romance debut is full of heart. Sadie and Jack are lovely, as are her very supportive friends. Sadie and Jack are both damaged, so they take their relationship slowly, upping the tension. Since this is told from Sadie's POV, we learn Jack's secrets gradually, which helps keep the plot moving to the very end. Apart from Sadie's unbelievable luck in landing on her feet after losing her job, this is a well-developed story with a strong voice and a ton of emotion.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Good slow burn romance!

Sadie Green burned her bridges at work after being passed over for the promotion that she deserved when she was asked to train her boss’s future son-in-law. After a night out with friends Sadie thought she was swiping right for a date when it was actually for a roommate site and the room was at a swanky Park Slope home with Jack Thomas. Sadie thought with the cheap rent, she might be able to start her dream of a flower shop.

Jack Thomas wasn’t so sure about getting a roommate, but Sadie forced him to be her friend that Jack needed that leads slowly to love.

Lease on Love has a slow burn romance that takes both Sadie and Jack out of their comfort zone but that is what a good romance needs in a good story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Spoilers ahead.

This debut novel is a good effort in need of better editing. The premise is solid and the slow burn romance between Jack and Sadie isn’t bothersome because they were clearly into each other, the sexual tension was off the charts, and their reasons for taking it slow were thoughtful and mature. Unfortunately, from the time that they finally shared their 1st kiss to the end of the book, the story dragged and Sadie’s near-constant self-flagellation became tiresome.

Jack definitely had secrets, but he shared painful memories and feelings with Sadie, making it crystal clear that her presence in his life brought him out of seven years of emptiness and grief. Sadie was also selective in what she shared about her abusive upbringing, but it was pretty obvious from the beginning that her low self-esteem was going to be the vehicle that drives their relationship. When someone has been hurt as deeply as she has, they’ll look for any excuse to avoid pain and loss, even if it means walking away before someone else can reject them.

The highlights of this book are the friendships Sadie cultivated during college and the way this loving group embraced Jack and helped him become whole again. I also really admired the way Jack and Sadie were able to grow their own emotional connection without sex muddying the waters. However, it was obvious from the outset that their relationship was going to hit a snag once it was tested. Despite Sadie’s talent as a florist, her business acumen, and the people who love her and try to convince her that she’s not the selfish failure she was raised to believe, she can’t get past it. So, as readers, we spend a good part of the book waiting for her to destroy the best thing she’s ever had.

Ultimately, this story is about friendship, love, grief, and forgiveness. Despite the uneven pacing and the frustration of listening to Sadie constantly criticize herself, it’s still a beautiful love story and Jack is a wonderful book boyfriend.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

To be honest, I wanted to read this book because of the cover. I just love it!

This book was swoon worthy and will give you all the feels for Sadie as she works through past emotional abuse to achieve a dream of hers. She does this with the support of her best friends and her new roommate, Jack.

Jack is still working through the death of his parents and rediscovering a passion in his life while rejoining the land of the living after seven years of isolation.

I felt so much love for both of these characters as they progress though their different trials, both alone and together.

4.5 stars – Rounded to 5 stars for Goodreads

Pub Date: February 1, 2022

Thank you to @netgalley and @putnambooks for a gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Overall, I enjoyed this story! It took me a minute to get into the writing style and to like the main character. The opening chapter is veryyyyy “millennial” from the descriptions of clothes to the power posing and “girl boss” chat with her friends. Happily, this disappeared for the most part the further into the book I got. I really liked seeing all the different ways Sadie was a friend to others and how each of her friendships were a bit different from each other. Jack was a real sweetheart but I feel like, even though he shares a bit of his past and all, that we don’t get to see a ton of his personality. True, we are in Sadie’s head the whole time but sometimes he seemed to be out of character a bit. Overall though, he was a solid character and I did like his relationship with Sadie. They got together relatively early so I was wondering when the other shoe would drop and it did in kind of an unexpected way and in a way I didn’t love. I won’t get into spoilers but I feel like Jack is such the “perfect man” that he forgives something Sadie did very quickly, where it would be more believable for them to have more of a discussion other than “I’m sorry” and “it’s okay” if that makes sense. I’m paraphrasing here but you get my drift.

However, I did really like the pacing overall and the relationship was pretty cute. I would definitely recommend this to people who like relatively angst free romance. There is definitely vague hints to childhood trauma (in this case verbal abuse), a big cloud of grief that gets dealt with, and some negative self-talk that could get to be a bit much at times. So be aware of that.