Thank you Putnam Books and NetGalley for a chance to review this ARC! Publication date: 2/7/2023

I am a sucker for second chance romance and all of the cliche that comes with the rivals to lovers trope. This book hooked me from the beginning and took me on a rollercoaster of emotions. This book delivered some solid MCs and secondary characters! If you are in the market for a sweet rom com read, be sure to put this on your TBR.

Lana is having her own Elle Woods moment. She thought she was getting engaged, but instead was broken up with. Then she finds out that her high school boyfriend Seth, the man who totally broke her heart, moved to LA and will be competing with her for a promotion. So where does she go from here?

While I wanted to love this book, especially after reading Lease on Love last year, this book was at best was average for me.

I had a hard time getting into the premise and even following along with the story. The main character, Lana, was not a character I liked in any which way. She was juvenile at best, and and all around horrible character.

Though I enjoy second chance romances in general, Lana and Seth were lacking in chemistry.

I did like that the book talked about therapy in depth and taking care of yourself.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun, relaxing, and quick read. I enjoyed the main characters Lana and Seth. Lana has a great sense of humor and I appreciated how she wasn't the typical female lead. She was funny, she swore, she liked superhero movies, pop culture, awkward at times, and felt like a real person. Her character had great chemistry with Seth. I enjoyed the competition between the two. It created a great conflict and plot. The pacing was consistent and easy to follow along. I liked the lines from the articles at the start of each chapter. I really enjoyed the ending. It was satisfying and didn't rush or drag, which can be tricky. I highly recommend this book and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you penguin group Putnam and netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I love that this book jumped right into the story! I love the premise of the book and it made me feel giddy to see what would happen with the lists.I love Lana’s colleagues banter in the group chat and the support they always gave her! This book felt so real to me and I was so invested in The storyline and the characters it just brought me so much joy! It was very inspiring in the way that Lana and Seth are swapping out toxic routines with new healthy changes. This book made me feel so many emotions and I loved it! The ending was beautiful and I just couldn’t stop smiling! I loved the depth of the characters so much it really made me fall in love with them! Just all around perfect!

Okay, I started this journey in September, and have been putting it off, and off, and off. I started and stalled within the first few chapters. The countdown on NetGalley loomed over me.

I, first, would say I was a huge fan of Lease on Love, and was absolutely my new favorite author was Fallon Ballard. When I was given this as an ARC, I died and went to heaven.

Here is what I loved about the book:
I love the authors writing style and authenticity.
I love the intros to the chapters with quotes from the main characters articles.
I love the Slack thread between coworkers.
I love that they had a really health apology after everything. Sometimes the apologies don’t happen and I think seeing this communication between characters is so healthy.
I loved that Lana was not perfect, and had mom issues. Daddy issues are so 2022. I think it’s nice to see she worked through that and came to healthy conclusions for herself and stopped people pleasing.
I am such a sucker for second chance romances…!

Here is why it’s not a 5 star book for me:

It starts very office work romance, which makes me want to barf.
It started so slow I lost interested and put it down for months. I didn’t immediately invest.
The miscommunication trope was here in that workplace romance which is a no for me. Work and miscommunication is a recipe for a disaster,

After really enjoying Lease On Love last year I was stoked to get my hands on this ARC - thank you to NetGalley for the copy!

It started off with a Legally Blonde moment and ended with How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days vibes (two of my favorite movies) so points for that!!

But the second chance romance lacked for me because we barely got a glimpse into their original relationship 🤔

✨workplace romance
✨second chances
✨learning to live on your own
✨setting personal and professional boundaries
✨gray sweatpants 😏

Ahh I love a good second chance romance. This is a good mix of Hating Games vibes and How to lose a guy vibes. I really felt like this book took a different and fun approach to the second chance romance. It was fresh, fun and new. The story was interesting and I cant wait for all my friends to read this contemporary romance.

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

CW: toxic work environment, emotional cheating, family tensions

Falon Ballard's writing has such a readable quality. This story immediately pulled me in and I couldn't put it down. I really appreciated how the concentration was on Lana's journey. She needed to reach a level of self acceptance/self-love before being truly able to commit. I loved that this book featured therapy and just a chaotic character who did not have everything figured out.

Steam: 3

This was such a good book! It really took me through every emotion! Happy, sad, mad, it was so funny too! I highly suggest this to readers who love romcoms.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

First, thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC of this book!

As someone that absolutely loved Lease on Love, I was excited and nervous to read Ballard’s newest novel. What I wasn’t expecting was to like Just My Type even more!

Things I loved:
- Strong character development, especially for Lana.
-The humor sprinkled throughout.
- Great pacing! Every time I had to bookmark the book, I was itching to get right back to it!
- I loved the addition of the Slack channel convos between the coworkers.
- The quotes from Lana and Seth’s respective articles at beginning of chapters
- The second chance romance trope, which happens to be one of my favorites!
- Very hot romantic lead!
- Great side characters
- The growth from Lana. It was so heartwarming.

My only complaint is that it felt like it had too many Marvel references, and this is coming from someone that loves Marvel. I understand that it was a character choice but it distracted me from the book just a little bit!

Overall, I thought Just My Type was amazing and was hard to put down and I could have easily read it all in one sitting. I recommend it to all who love a rom-com!

Add this one to your TBR friends! It’s a good one!

Lana, a serial relationship fan, must write a series about being happily single to try to win her own newspaper column - a massive career goal for the journalist. Her competition? Former freelance traveling writer, Seth, who’s tasked with writing about settling down and committing. He’s also her high school ex-boyfriend. Oh and they hate each other. A lot.

This was such a great read. Lana was just a mess at the beginning, probably one of the funnier first chapters I’ve read and it set the tone for the whole book. Lana went through quite the character arc and I honestly felt so proud of her and wanted to crawl into the pages to hug her. I adore epistolary elements in a story and these message chains and emails did not disappoint at all! The “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days” vibe was so enjoyable. I also loved that both characters went to therapy and valued its importance. We see Lana during her appointments and the impact of her past and current sessions. I applaud the author for including these details.

Thank you to netgalley and putnambooks for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This book slayed. I was expecting some sort of rom com twist on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days going into this, but I was totally blown away. I definitely have an obsession with second chance romances, and the amount of tension and pining in this book was insane. The slow burn killed me in the best way possible. I loved this book so much, and thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC!!

Thanks to Netgalley and Putnam for the eARC!

Hhmmm. I feel a lot of things for this book and not many of them are good.

First let’s start with the characters. I was not a fan of Lana. She is the girl who is outgoing and stubborn; who does things without thinking and who apparently drinks waaaaaay too much alcohol. (Seriously why is drinking like a sport here? They drank so much, even I felt sick. 😬) I think a great way to describe her is with this one scene. She asks her friend why she doesn’t just ask the guy she likes out. Because that’s what Lana would do. The friend says, “I want him to want me enough to ask me.” And Lana thinks, “I don’t understand but that’s her Decision.” And I felt like that encompasses her character. She’s always about doing, not thinking.

Then Seth. I honestly don’t have many feelings for him because I never felt like we got any real interaction with him. The closest was the workshop and even then we didn’t SEE him much there. It all felt so…. Lana focused.

The other characters all felt throw-away. I didn’t remember any names except the bff - was she Ana? Mia? 🤦‍♀️ Obviously not even her. They were all interchangeable and I didn’t feel attached to a single one. Also Natasha was a big jerk. :)

The plot was also…. Very silly? I hated the past and that whole schpeal, and I hated the reunion and that she was drunk and with someone at the time. 💀 And honestly the relationship as a whole felt like…. They didn’t actually fall in love again. There was no tension or anything about loving who they are NOW. They just never stopped loving their 18yo selves. Even though they should have changed a lot in 12 years? I guess they didn’t. Okay.

Also, Lana needs to “find herself” before she can love. Sure girl. Have fun with that. She then finds herself in a week and everything is so happy again. 🤐 um what.

The last 50 or so pages felt like nothing. 😂 I skimmed a lot of her vacation because it just felt like a time-waster.

I did however like SOME scenes. The middle portion from like 20-50% wasn’t bad. I was actually enjoying it a little. Then after that is where it lost me. Lots of stuff happening that didn’t make sense with where the characters were at - confessions and changes of heart…. It was so weird.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you really like the loud outgoing FMC who drinks too much and second chance romances where they don’t re-fall in love. 😐

I was absolutely in love with Ballard’s last book, LEASE ON LOVE. So, this one was at the top of my most anticipated ‘23 reads … but it fell a bit short for me.

The writing and pacing was great! I loved that they were both writers and I can’t pass up a good workplace romance! But… I found myself wanting more of their backstory to get those yummy second chance emotions. Then, when I found out why she was SO a mad at him, I was just under whelmed! Also, while I love the idea of the workplace competition - this one screams for a visit with Toby in HR!!

If you love Marvel and puns and books about writing, give this one a try!!

Really could not get into this, Lana just felt too flightly and immature for me and I found that I could not connect with her. I am bummed because I was looking forward to this book.

ARC REVIEW - THEY are in the endgame now . . .

Falon Ballard's novel is a feel good, heart warming read. I was able to read it quite quickly. The banter that immediately appears in the first few chapters of the book is funny - I kept laughing & smiling from some of the one-liners. I became quite attached to Lana and Seth.- I found them lovable, relatable with their struggles in themselves & together, and completely and they drove me CRAZY because every time I thought they were getting it together they got in their own way. I could not wait for them to figure it all out which kept me pushing forward because I needed them to discover what I already knew as the reader. In no way does this mean I was unsatisfied with Ballard's novel. I really enjoyed the read - AND the Marvel references!! I look forward to the next one!

This is one of the most entertaining Rom-coms I've read. I loved every bit of this. Thow in a little spice and some great friends. Chefs kiss perfect!! I will be reading more by this author.
I just reviewed Just My Type by Falon Ballard. #JustMyType #NetGalley
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Thank you NetGalley, Falon Ballard and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of Just my Type. This is my personal review.
I had such high hopes for this book. The storyline sounded like a winner for me but sadly it fell flat. The characters were ok, but the story could not hold my interest.

2.5/5 stars! I love a good lovers to enemies to lover contemporary romance. Unfortunately, this book just didn't do it for me. The book is toted as an adult contemporary romance but the majority of the book reads extremely YA. The characters are shallow and unlikable and there was that deep chemistry that you normally see in former loves that was lacking here. I was hoping for something like "The Hating Game" where the tension between the rivals was palatable but this book didn't have any of that.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

A thoroughly enjoyable romance read! When I first started this book and read the first few chapters I was unsure if I was a fan of the writing style or if I liked the main character, Lana. However after getting through the first few chapters I really began to like this storyline and like/relate the characters!

If you’re a fan of the enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, and reunited exes tropes then this will be a big hit for you! The storyline was super unique and I thought the two main characters had some great chemistry. Gave it three stars because while I enjoyed the book it was just missing something for me! I sort of wish there had been POVs from Seth, the male main character, or that there were past/present POVS. Since there weren’t different POVs and you were simply hearing about the past through conversations being had in the present I felt that I was missing some of the connection to the characters individually and to the relationship between the two characters.