Lease on Love seduced me with it's magnificent cover and promising premise, and I couldn't wait to devour the story.
In fact, I was so excited I asked my friend Amanda to read it with me, expecting we would have a blast.

To be fair, it is always good experience reading a book with my favourite reading buddy, but if I told you we liked the book, I would lie.
If I'm being honest, I think Amanda liked it little more than I did, but we both agree the book could have been better.

My main problem with the book are the characters. Sadie being just too selfish, self centred person who use people around her and doesn't give anything back, but the author keeps pushing on us (readers) how damaged she is from mental abuse and how good friend and giving person she actually is.
But not one time did Sadie show any of those things.
Yes, she had that little voice that tells her she isn't good enough, but the way she acts this whole book is all about her, her, her, and more than too many times she talks about herself being hot, awesome, great in bed act.
She has no problem using her friends for free labour, putting them into fire, pushing her all life and friends to someone else's house, and never, ever apologise when she is wrong. Oh, and she never even asks people how they are.
When she had a row with her boyfriend, all the messages she sent were about her, not once did she ask him how he was or what was he doing, and she even dares to get mad when she finds out about other's past that never included her.

On the other hand, Jack was so undeveloped it paints to think how much potential there was, but author decided to make him fairytale, unbelievable boyfriend without his own story whatsoever. Ok, by the end of the book we did find out where his money came from, but it felt like the author used last two chapters to make dull row between the two of them and also add the puzzle that was missing, but I wasn't impressed.

Slow burning romance was not good, it was pointless because it didn't have a strong reason for it. It missed the core of why they would wait so long, Jack being one who insisted on it.
His depression and him working on himself was the reason he used, but to be honest, his words were everything we got. He never changed his behaviour (except he became even more lame when he became official boyfriend, acting like Sadie's assistant who makes her bath while she isn't even home yet because God forbid if she'd have to wait a minute or do it herself), he was the same person at the end of the book that we met at the begging.

If the author chose to make him addict who was in a program and has to wait until he commits to someone, if she decided to put one of them in relationship with someone else, that would make sense why the wait.
Damn, even him hiding a micropenis would be a better reason!

As for the friends, they were okay, but it bothers me that one was black just so we can tick that representation from the list, and the other character had to find herself a girlfriend in the epilogue (just briefly mentioned there, I guess for the sake of representation) even though she never showed interest in girls or had any comments that would include lgbtq themes, so one more thick there.

I decided that my review is already too long, and since I don't have anything nice to say I will wrap it up here.
Judging by the rates, more people enjoyed the story than not, but I personally don't recommend it.

I ended up needing to DNF this one. I was actually super intrigued but there was SO many f-bombs in this book I found it hard to focus on anything else. Everything was F this and F that. And it doesn’t normally bother me but I couldn’t concentrate there was so many… but it did start off well! I wish I could’ve enjoyed it I guess it just wasn’t for me.

This was so cute. I loved it and am still thinking about it weeks later! Such a fun look at how life can change so quickly, with the right people. Definitely have recommended to friends already!

Okay this one made me sooo happy and dragged me out of my reading slump. I stayed in one Friday night and could not put it down. I love when books do that.

This was such a cute story and I really loved Sadie. Her inner monologue was quite funny, and felt I could relate to her in a lot of ways.

I love love loved the Park Slope setting. When I lived in New York, some of my friends lived in Park Slope so I’ve spent some time there. It’s nice being able to picture the settings so clearly.

Of course I also loved Jack. I wish we got to learn a little more about him, I feel like we only got snippets. But I absolutely love his & Sadie’s relationship. Sadie’s friends were also gems too.

This book just made me so happy and I totally understand all the hype around it. I can’t wait to read more by this author!

4.5 rounded up to 5

This was an amazing read, and the fact that it's a debut is mind-blowing. The ending was the only thing that stopped me from being able to give it a full five stars, as I didn't like how quickly it came and was resolved and just how it was handled was not personally my cup of tea. But that doesn't take away from how great the rest of the book was. Will recommend this to everyone!

Will link to full review when posted.

I didn't love this book and I didn't hate it. It was very well written and kept my attention but I wasn't invested in the story or the characters.

This was good but the third act breakup had me screaming at the top of my lungs. I couldn’t stand Sadie in the last couple of chapters. Jack was fantastic throughout the book and he really made everything better.

Overall, this book was good but had a miserable ending and certain plot points were very “too good to be true” and unrealistic.

I read so many romances that when I come across one with a unique premise I haven't seen before, I leap on it immediately. And this book didn't disappoint. It was such a sweet, unexpected, uplifting story that I enjoyed from beginning to end. I found myself rooting for all of the characters, and I was sad when it ended!

A deliciously sweet (and unexpected) romance novel that will fill your mind with all things New York. Ballard does a fantastic job at weaving together multiple storylines without sacrificing the main character's love story. A slow burn that is oh-so worth the wait.

Here is the fourth book I read on the monthly tbr kindly gifted to me by @putnambooks as well as the eARC from @netgalley


Lease on Love
By: @falonballard

Storygraph Rating:

My Rating: ★★★★★

Now this is a book you can really get lost in! I love the main character and want to be friends with her.

This is a love story but it's so much more than that. This story is also about finding yourself and finding what you love.

I'll be honest, the story is a one in a million very unrealistic but I'm here for it and love a rags to riches forced proximity trope.

The Scenery laid out in this book is picture perfect and will make you want to buy cut flowers for yourself in NYC!

There is a little spice present but man is there a lot of build up! You could cut the sexual tension with a knife.

The supporting characters in this book are also amazing and you know what, just let me join the friend group!

All in all, definitely give this book a read! It is perfect for spring time and will give you all the comfort feels!

I loved this book so much! It was the perfect mix of heart and humor. Slow burns are not usually my favorite, but this one was fantastic. I loved the forced proximity trope mixed with the opposites attract angle. Sadie's found family/ motley crew of friends were wonderful and I hope we get to read their stories, too. The way that mental health care was treated in this book was wonderful as well. This is definitely one of the best romances I have read so far in 2022 and I look forward to the author's next book!

This book was such a breath of fresh air! The friend group was adorable and the romance included all of my favorite tropes. I will definitely be buying this book on my own, it would be such an awesome addition to my collection. Definitely a new favorite romance!

This book was so fun and quickly. It was such a fun read and these characters were so fascinating. I had an overall time with this book and it’s definitely worth the read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Content Warnings: grief, parental death (off page), parental verbal abuse/abandonment

I generally don't enjoy reading books that deal with a character's grief about the loss of a loved one. However, I was so focused on how much I LOVED Sadie, that I was able to look beyond it.

Give me a messy AF heroine any day of the week. Coupled with the fact that Jack and Sadie's romance is a roommates-to-lovers story, and I'm sold! Oh, and did I mention Sadie's BOMB friend group? If you're in the market for a slow burn romance (or should I say, sloooowwwww burn?) with REAL characters with REAL problems, I highly recommend giving this one a go.

For more romance reviews and to listen to my podcast, please visit www.boobiesandnoobies.com

This book was so refreshing! A self proclaimed asshole and a nerd boy who goes through a 90’s movie makeover, sign me up! 👏🏻 The tension was hot and the trauma sharing was inspiring. I love how they lifted each other up and fell in love as friends first. Highly recommend this read!

Lemme tell y’all this is everything. It’s about how Sadie, a recently fired millennial drunkenly believes to have set up a date when in fact as set a potential roommate meetup. When she sees living arrangement, she thinks it’s too good to be true and dives in headfirst to follow her dreams, even if it means having to live with nerdy, loner Jack.

I feel in love with this friend group! Also I’m not normally a fan of the slow burn, but this slow burn was epic. Both of our MCs don’t feel worthy of love and they express to one another their interest, but they agree to wait until they are both ready.

What I liked:
-The banter. Oh the banter! It was great.
-millennial careers: questioning our careers, what choices should we make next, burnout. All so relatable
-the tension was thiccc and the steam was worth the wait!
-found family
-forced proximity (for the WHOLE book)

What I didn’t like:
-negative self-talk. Our MC had extreme negative self talk and it really triggered me or got too repetitive

TW: grief, death of parents, job loss, negative self talk, car accident

Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for my ARC copy. Lease on Love is out now!

This book deserves all the hype it's been getting! Fun, quirky, and oh-so-romantic! If you want a millennial love story set in NYC, this book is it.

I thought this was fine. Not my favorite romance, as the love interest felt really flat to me, and the main character was pretty one note. The dialogue wasn't my style, bordered on cringey. The third act twist was underwhelming and felt shoehorned in for the sake of having a conflict. Lots of telling, not showing. The set up was definitely cute and the writing was easy to breeze through, but overall the book isn't up to the level of the slew of recent romance books.

This was super, super, super cute. Cute and fun enough that I read it in almost one sitting. Sadie has such a snarky personality and you can tell that she would be a lot of fun to have as a friend as I'm sure Gemma and Harley would agree. The romance had me hooked from the start. I loved the "will they, won't they" of it all. Once Sadie and Jack finally got together, the kind of story line lost me a little after a conflict. Also, the pet names really drove me crazy hahahaha.

Even though I have some gripes, this was still incredibly fun and I adore it. Will definitely recommend and have already purchased a copy of my own.

Read this book now - engaging can't put it down read. Highly recommended for summer. The characters are charming and you will enjoy their back stories.