Member Reviews
I received an ARC and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I love second-chance romance and enemies to loves. This feels a bit like both. The banter is fun.
It's perfect for a beach read or a break. This one doesn't depend on flashbacks to confuse the plot but is a straight shot forward, which is refreshing.
I recommend this for the romcom crowd.
Happy reading!
This was my first Falon Ballard book and I'm excited to go back and read her other book now!
Just My Type was such a cute little rom-com with an enemies to lovers work place trope.
This second chance romance has great banter and characters that have such nice growth!
This book has definitely has how to lose a guy in ten days vibes!
The banter is so fun in this book between all of the friends and Seth and Lana. There were so many times when I was giggling and laughing out loud. Especially during the texting exchanges.
Super cute, totally recommend!
Enemies to. lovers, "it was always you", workplace romance!!! What more can you ask for? If you like books like 'The Spanish Love Deception' or movies like 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' you'll love this book. I just thought this book was a lot of fun, I think romances aren't always meant to be never been done before, masterpieces but I was able to turn my brain of for a few hours and dive into this slightly unbelievable at times but entertaining read.
Rating: 3/5 Stars
When Lana, serial monogamist gets dumped a la Legally Blonde on a date that was supposed to end in her engagement to her boyfriend of 4 years, she finds herself on a work driven mission to understand who she is as a single person and write about it. Things get complicated when her long lost love Seth shows up in LA without warning to write for the same online publication as she does.
When these two are put in charge of each other’s dating lives, will they find themselves brought back together or driven even farther apart in their quest to get their own column at their online newspaper?
I REALLY loved Lease on Love, so for me, this one fell just a little bit short of Ballard’s debut novel. It was still quirky and cute, but the story line was hardly realistic and a lot of the time Lana got on my nerves for not having the fortitude to set boundaries but also having some type of self-awareness to realize her work situation was unhealthy. Seth also didn’t feel fully developed as a character, and the last ~20 or so pages made me want to strangle him for blaming all of his and Lana’s relationship problems on her drunk behavior and his desire to not have her resent him. These problematic details really prevented the novel from shining the way I had hoped it would.
Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Group - Putnam and Falon Ballard for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Read if you like:
+ Influencer-esque Stories
+ First Love Trope
+ LA based novels
Nope. This was a big nope. I loved Ballard's debut and dived into this galley as soon as I was approved. But this was a flop for me after about the first third. It was not believable and the lead character was taxing. I was hoping for so much more here.
Super fun rom com! Starting off a little angsty, Just my Type finds its groove about 1/4 of the way in. Once the characters were established with their story lines mapped out, the wring became more engaging, and I was excited to discover what would happen next. The two main characters, Lana and Seth, dated in high school, broke up in college, and then reunited 10 or so years later as they found themselves working for the same newspaper.
With unresolved feelings and regular miscommunications between the two, each goes on their own journey of self discovery before being able to be honest with each other. Ballard gives the two wide berth for growth and development, and they don’t disappoint. I hope she considers writing a second book featuring some of the side characters, as there is at least one, May (Lana’s best friend) who should get more page time. If you like the movie How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, I think you’ll find this book enjoyable.
This is Ballard’s second book, and I have already made plans to read her first.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and have written an objective review.
This book was so cute! Definitely giving how to lose a guy in 10 days but give it a twist of second chance romance and 'enemies'!
This book has single-handedly made me a fan of second-chance romance, and it's "How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days" vibes make it all the more light, bubbly romcom-y. The only thing that made me cringe was the number of Marvel references, which I definitely could have done without (although that might be a matter of taste). If I loved this book, then I can't even imagine how much I'll love Falon Ballard's next book which plays with Hollywood romantic comedies.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Putnam Books for this ARC!
Thank You Netgalley for this ARC!
I am a sucker for a second chance romance and Just My Type did not disappoint! This was a quick but fun and light read for me and it was a refreshing change after some of the books that I have recently read left me in a reading slump. This book pulled me right out of it! I love the banter and I loved the two main characters, Lana and Seth. I sometimes have a hard time really connecting with the main characters but I really cared about and enjoyed them both.
It does get a little spicy which I like. It is a single POV which I kind of would like to have seen Seths POV but it doesn't take away not having it.
I would definitely and have recommended this book for friends that are stuck in a reading slump!
A workplace second chance, enemies to lovers romance with 2 high school sweethearts challenging each other to a variety of dating challenges that are then used as content for their relationships/dating column on a trendy LA website. Overall, I did not connect with these characters and found the sexual objectification of Lana for journalistic content to be off putting.
Sincere thanks to NetGalley & GP Putnam’s Sons for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
A fun and witty second chance romance/enemies to lovers. Great chemistry and banter. Engaging page turner.
I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.
Lana Parker is a serial monogamist who is only does long-term relationships. One ends, the next one starts pretty quickly. She does not do well alone and always needs a guy. However, at age 30, she finds herself dumped on the night she thought she was going to get engaged. Now, she is determined, after everyone has pointed out that she does not like to be alone, to in fact, be solo for a while.
Seth Caron is a serial dater who does not do long-term. After his breakup with Lana in the first month of their freshman year of college, Seth is never anywhere for one place long.
Both are journalists vying for the same job at an LA publication. Their boss decides to pit them against each other - Lana to do things to encourage self discovery - Seth to do things that encourage settling down. As they complete their challenges set forth in this competition, we learn more about their back stories and that sometimes, one needs separation and together time to be their happiest.
LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!
A serial monogamist gets challenged to stay single, then the one who got away (who is NOT a serial monogamist) enters the picture, at which point they need to compete for the ONE job they both want. It is cute, I felt like I was more intrigued with getting to the end and the reunion between the love interests than I was about the actual characters. Was not my favorite, but in the moment I was fully invested.
Just My Type was a fun romantic comedy full of second chance romance and enemies to lovers banter. Lana has never gotten over her first love, Seth, whom she fell madly in love with at the age of 14. Unfortunately, she has also never got past the pain of losing him, and she still blames him for much of the hurt. Fast forward 15 years and Seth appears at Lana's workplace looking fine as ever and throwing Lana for a major loop. Now Lana's boss has decided to pitt Lana and Seth against each other in a contest to see who will be given a promotion. Seth has to try to stop his player ways and fall in love. Lana has to try to stop her long-term romance ways and have a one-night stand. Soon the two are spending time together and they realize that what they both want is now right in front of them. This is a steamy one, and I loved it!
This one was entertaining while I was reading it but ultimately it will be one that doesn't stick with me for long. Just a middle of the road rom-com for me.
First off, I want to say that if you didn’t love this and haven’t read Lease on Love yet, I would still give Lease on Love a try.
I was a big fan of Lease on Love, so I was very excited to read Just My Type, but unfortunately Just My Type did not live up to its predecessor. It’s a cute, fast romance, sure, but I found the main character to be so immature and annoyingly petty that I was rooting against her for most of this book.
Spoilers incoming:
<spoiler>The fact that Lana held two grudges against Seth for SO LONG really grated on me. The first, that her high school boyfriend didn’t want to take money from her mom (who she herself has a fraught relationship with) for college, and then ended their relationship because he felt as though he was holding her back, was so petty to me. I understand that she was upset, but to be holding onto that and using it to be completely petty and immature towards him 12 years later was an odd choice. The second grudge, being mad at Seth because he wouldn’t hook up with her while she was drunk and in a relationship (two years prior to the events in this book), was also so irritating.
Seth continually confessed his feelings towards Lana, starting at around 50% of the way through this book, and yet she still continued this one sided petty office rivalry with him and didn’t seem to believe they could be together (for reasons I thought did not make sense). </spoiler>
This book did give a little bit of a How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days vibe, with a different plot. I think people who won’t be annoyed by the main character will enjoy, that just wasn’t me.
Just My Type is a contemporary fiction/romance blend that has a woman finding herself plot with the very present backdrop of her first love is back in town and now they're competing for the same job AND they have to do a lot of activities together because their boss is a manipulative and meddling human. I love Ballard's writing so much, I fell into this book so easily and so quickly and just devoured it. I really appreciated the therapy in this book, I loved the way Lana really does come into her own, while having the realization that actually, she's always been capable of standing on her own two feet. In general, everything about this is both fun and emotional in a way that I really loved.
I do feel like there were just a couple of characterization pieces that needed to be smoothed out a little and to some degree, I would have appreciated having Seth's point of view. I also wanted there to be more at the end because things went from being really hard and really stressful to just sort of falling into place in a way that felt really abrupt in some ways. I just wanted a little more from the ending. Overall though, if you love a list of activities and second chance romance is your vibe, I would recommend this one so highly!
Thank you to @putnambooks for the eARC from NetGalley! This will be published on February 7th. This was a quick romance read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This has both second chance romance and rivals-to-lovers tropes, which were fun to read. There is one aspect of the premise that I had a bit of an issue with and will talk about near the end of the review but otherwise, I really enjoyed everything else!
The one aspect that bothered me was that Lana’s and Seth’s boss crossed some lines with the challenges that were set for them and forcing them to spend time together. While it was important for the setup of this story, it also felt like it could violate some HR rules.
That being said, though, I enjoyed the character arcs for Lana and Seth and their relationship. I appreciated that she was trying to learn how to be okay with being single. I appreciated that the second-chance romance had a reason for the original issue that wasn’t really something that Seth had done wrong for the most part. The things that they did together in the book (speed dating, a tourist bus, etc) were a lot of fun to read about!
I loved that Lana had a strong friendship group at work and another good best friend as well. They were all very supportive and it was good to have some focus on them too in addition to the romance.
This was fun and cute! If you’ve read it, let me know your thoughts!
From beginning to end, you are laughing. Lana's life is truly pathetic and worthy of being the subject of a sitcom. The absurdity of first chapter is hilarious. Reading this book was something else. I could definitely see this on TBS.
I have to start by saying, I am usually not a huge second chance romance fan, however 'Just My Type' had the perfect mix of that and my all time favorite trope - enemies to lovers. Overall a very cute read that I was able to fly through and enjoy every minute of it.
Our main gal, Lana, seems to be a little unlucky in the love department, finding herself dumped when she's expecting a proposal. To top it all off the high school ex she never quite got over is announced to be her newest coworker with whom she has to compete with for the big promotion.
The nature of the competition felt very 'How to Lose a Guys in 10 Days' to me, which is a great thing because that might be one of my favorite movies. The plot overall flowed very well, was paced perfectly and I found myself swooning at most of the joint activities. I also loved Seth, he was wonderful and this book would have benefitted so much from a little more dual POV action. The speed dating? The sun-flowers? Say less.
I do have to gripe a bit at the classic rom-com miscommunication. I hate it. I wish authors would skip it. I can't wait to read a great rom-com that features no "oh no they aren't going to make it" at 85% through.
Regardless, I loved this book and I can't wait to see what else Falon Ballard has in store.
4.5/5 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam/ G. P. Putnam’s Sons for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.