This gives all the funny, loving vibes, this book is write perfectly! I couldn’t put it down! I loved it from the start to the end! Would definitely recommend

3 Stars This was a very cute rom com/comedy of errors! Isla's been made to feel like the failure of her family. She's got a lot of student debt and when she falls behind, she get's kicked out of her apartment. Since her brother is out of town, she decides to crash in his condo while he's gone. Too bad that her brother's best friend, Cade, is already staying there. Isla then gets a gig housesitting for her boss and Cade catches her at the mansion she's housesitting. Cade swears he won't tell her family about her secret if she'll be his fake girlfriend. All of this culminates in--you guessed it--Isla falling for her brother's best friend.

This had some of my favorite tropes, including brother's best friend and forced proximity. The characters were all very funny and likeable, with cute banter between them.

Isla Jane has always been made to feel like the failure of the family. While juggling a boat load of debt, she gets behind and ends up getting kicked out of her apartment. While thinking she'd sneakily stay at her brother's house while he's away, she runs into her brother's best friend Cade, staying at the apartment with permission. In an attempt to not look like a failure, she tells Cade she is storing her things, and finds a side hustle of house sitting in order to live, eat, and not seem like a failure to her family.

Through a comedy of houses, a few fake dates with Cade, and confidence of figuring things out for herself, Isla comes to realize she needs to do some growing up and growing out of others" opinions and embrace herself.

Cute read, laugh out loud funny, and generally relatable to those of us with imposter syndrome of simply being "grown up".

#arc
#netgalley
#renttobe

Thank you Netgallery and the publisher for this ARC.

4.0 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book had several of my favorite tropes.. brothers best friend, forced proximity. I love everything Sonia Hartl writes but it did take me a little longer to get into this one but after it picks up it was hard for me to put down. I really liked Isla she’s a very relatable and funny character. Her and Cades relationship was a pleasure to read but also frustrating at times I wanted to yell at them and tell them they are perfect for each other. I really wish the ending didn’t feel so rushed, but I’d recommend anyone to read this if you’re looking for a great romcom.

My rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🔥🔥

📦 Brother’s Best Friend
📦 Lifelong Friends
📦 Friends to Lovers
📦 Faked Dating

Isla and Cade have been friends for their whole lives. They are witty and sarcastic and so, so funny together. When isla gets kicked out of her apartment, she heads to her brother’s in hopes of crashing while he’s in London for work. Little did she know Cade was there too! Isla walks in and is greeted by a fresh out the shower Cade, who’s towel just magically drops upon her arrival! She can’t get the image out of her head and now, feelings she didn’t know she had are starting to arise.

Isla and Cade go through A LOT in this book. Her parents are the most supportive but always putting her down. It’s something she has to learn to deal with and so does Cade, since her parents helped raise him, too (hello, little neighbor)
Will their love be enough?

I loved reading this book and I couldn’t put it down. The sarcastic, witty dialogue between Isla and Cade is spot on. She talks a lot like I would talk and I related to her and her struggles.
I also truly loved the plot of the story and her brother Seb and her best friend Neeta. I hope that has a book too!

This book releases in August so go to GoodReads and and it to your TBR today! You don’t want to miss it!

Thank you @hartlsonia and @netgalley for this advance copy!

Rent to Be is an overall enjoyable story if you like to read contemporary and quirky rom-coms, but I think that romance isn’t this story’s strong suit. The arguments between Cade and Isla could have been easily prevented if they had just spoken like adults, and at times it felt like the only thing holding them together was their sexual tension (don’t let the cartoon cover fool you, this book is surprisingly spicy lol). What I really found more interesting was Isla’s financial situation and how her high-achievements in college actually led to life long student debt. I think this book is most enjoyable if this is something you relate to or if you need reassurance that things will be okay even through financial hardship.

Arc provided by NetGalley 😁

Brother's best friend and fake dating and you thought I wouldn't read it?

As soon I I saw it, I wanted to read it! And I was not disappointed, I couldn't put it down, it was sooo addictive (even though I didn't really liked the main female character).
Isla just got kicked out of her apartment and has nowhere to live. Due to some circumstances, her path cross Caled's, her best friend's brother. Isla's brother isn't in town for a few weeks so they are the only one left.

Isla is a character I didn't like: she loooves to loathe in self pity, is a bit egocentric, and I couldn't really understand some of her feelings that are the direct result of her actions.

Caled is what we can call an introvert, but from DAY 1, I just liked him! he's showing his love by little actions.

Their relationship will be hard but I love the evolution of hit, the realisation of their feelings and everything that goes with it.
I also really liked the fact that Sonia Hartl discusses really important subject like finding a job you truly lobe, standing for what you believe in or student loan.

Overall it was a really good read!

Let me put it this way.

I sat at work and read this all day instead of doing my job. Holy schmoly. This was exactly what I needed. Brother's best friend, close proximity, fake dating. The bickering was fantastic.

I'm definitely recommending this to friends.

9.5/10

From the very first page, I was hooked on the hilarious and relatable protagonist, Isla Jane. As someone who also struggled to find a job that I loved after college, I could completely relate to Isla's journey.

But the real star of the show here is the sizzling chemistry between Isla and Cade. Every interaction between them had me practically swooning! And the fact that they have to pose as a couple at corporate events only adds to the tension and excitement.

I also have to give a shoutout to the writing style, which is so easy to read and fast-paced. You'll find yourself flying through the pages, eager to see what happens next.

Overall, "Rent to Be" is a must-read for fans of breezy, fun romance novels. It's the kind of book that will leave you with a smile on your face and a warm feeling in your heart. Five stars all the way!

Thankyou Netgalley for giving me this yummy and bubbly romcom eARC for me!!

The story immediately opens by casting Isla as a pretty unlikable main character (which I'll rant about later).
Isla never grew as a person, but between how fast the story moved and how charming Kade was, I still enjoyed it.
It was a very quick read with a good amount of funny moments and very little down time. I found Isla dreadful, but hey, someone for everyone right? I'm sure theres readers out there who relate to Isla.

My problem with Isla:
She hasn't paid rent to her roommates in 3 months, and is surprised when they kick her out. It did not occur to her how forcing friends to financial support her might put a strain on the friendship.

She refuses to take any responsibility for her situation. According to the first person narrative she has not made any financial mistakes, it's all the system out to get her.

She also complains about how she is TOO good looking. How her parents raised her tough to not rely on her looks. Queue the eye roll.

Did I google rent prices in Grand Rapids Michigan to see how much 1/3 of a 3 bedroom apartment would be? Absolutely. The math of working full time and not having any money to contribute to rent doesn't work for me.

Writing: 5/5
Character Development: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Spice: 2/5

Warnings: Language, Sexual Content

Themes: Romance, Brother’s Best Friend, Fake Dating

Rent To Be is about a girl still trying to find the advantages of getting a college degree. After she gets kicked out of her apartment she convinces her boss’s boss’s boss to let her house sit, but her brother’s best friend finds out and blackmails her into pretending to be his girlfriend so his co-workers will stop trying to set him up. I really enjoyed reading this book. Sadily, Isla’s situation was very relatable with student loans and ending up in a depressing low paying job. I really liked her and Cades relationship. They have known each other since they were kids and it didn’t feel too insta-love to me. Also Isla was crazy and had me laughing at all the truble she seems to find herself in.

This book is great for anyone who loves a friends to lovers fake dating relationship and seeing the hard truths about growing up.

I received a free copy and am leaving an honest review.

This is a cute and funny read, which also touches into topics surrounding problems with economy as a young person just out of college, and also prejudice about people struggling economically, done in a good way. I really liked the beginning of the book, but toward the end it got a bit boring, the same unecessary misunderstandings, and the ending felt rushed in all parts of the plot. The epilouge was too cliche, and with way too much new information.

Sexy, cute, and fun! New author for me and was happily surprised with how much I liked this genre! Would recommend!

Pub Date 15 Aug 2023
Rent to Be - Sonia Hartl
My Rating - 4⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you NetGalley & Alcove Press for this Advance Readers Copy of Rent To Be by Sonia Hartl ❤️

Isla Jane is living the millennial nightmare. She’s got a shiny new MBA and no way to pay for it, thanks to her dead-end entry-level job, and nowhere to live, thanks to her miserable salary. Going home to her parents is not possible, but for once Isla’s brother may be her saving grace. He’s out of town on business for a month, meaning the guest room in his condo is blissfully empty.

Or so Isla thinks, until she runs into Cade Greenley, her brother’s best friend—who’s crashing there while his own condo is undergoing renovations.

This is my second book by the author, the first being Heartbreak for Hire which I loved.
All round this was fast-paced and very fun to read. What makes it even better is it was full of some of my favorite tropes.

I found the main characters likable especially Cade. Their story, their issues are quite relatable as lots of millennials are experiencing it... trying to navigate life and its expectations, debt, career, family and love.

But I fell Isla took things to the extreme. No matter whats expected of you, there's absolutely nothing wrong asking for help over and over again.

And oh the steamy scenes 🌶 🌶 🌶 loved it. Cade is something else.
I loved him and the part of the story the flashes back to their childhood even more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this early :)

This book was so cute. Enemies to lovers, brothers best friend AND fake dating trope? SIGN ME UP!

I loved Isla and Cade so much, they were so cute. I absolutely adored their banter. Learning more about their characters as they became more comfortable and opened up to each other made me a tad bit emotional. Isla and Cade were both so strong, them working through their troubles and past together was so special to me!!!

I will post about this on socials closer to the pub date. Rent to Be is a fun rom-com in book format kind of book. My favorite quote is: "If only I thought about you as often as you thought about me." Rent to Be is about Isla and Cade. I really loved learning more about them. This book reminds me a little bit of a more adult version of Paper Towns by John Green meets the movie The Perfect Date.

This was a quick easy read even though I felt quite frustrated with Isla’s behaviour. I got the feeling that she felt the world owed her something just because she had a MBA. If you don’t pay your rent you’re gonna get kicked out and you should respect the property of the people you house sit for and not wear their fur coats by the pool! At least she had started to grow up a bit by the end of the story, which I felt was a bit rushed.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

A huge thank you to Sonia Hartl, Alcove Press, and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Rent to Be comes out August 15, 2023.

Isla jane is having a rough month, once her student loan payments start up for her shiny new MBA she loses the ability to pay rent and honestly feed herslef more then dollar store ramen. When her roommates end up kicking her out, she decides to make use of her brothers empty condo seeing how going to her parents is completely out of the question. Too bad er brothers best friend, Cade, is already making use of said empty apartment. To avoid Cade telling her brother who would tell her parents, Isla ends up sleeping under her desk. This leads her to her first house-sitting job after over hearing one of her bosses in need. But when Cade finds out that she is house surfing in an effort to keep a roof over her head, they strike a deal. Cade wont tell her brother about being homeless and Elsa will going to several company outings as his fake girlfriend. Will she be able to keep up all of her schemes or will she find the biggest scheme is pretending she doesn't have feelings for Cade.

I really enjoyed reading this book, I felt like as a fellow millenial it had alot of relatable parts to it. The novel was well written and fast paced. Isla goes through alot of ups and downs and shows alot of character growth in the end. I really like Cade and though that he worked through alot of trauma from the way he grew up. I would have loved if the book was dual POV, I think it would have added more depth to their love story. Overall if you are looking for a book full of romance and humor Rent to Be is the book for you!

The premise of this book sounded pretty good so I decided that I would give it a try! I was going on a beach vacation and I thought it would be the perfect beach read, which it ended up being. This book is great for someone who wants to read a quick read with a decent plot and characters. The main character Isla, is a recent MBA graduate student who is down on her luck and needs to move in to her brothers place while he is out of town on business, While there she later finds out that her brothers best friend, who she has a MAJOR crush on, is also staying there. There are so many tropes in this book and little tangents that it is hard to figure out what the author was trying to accomplish. Like did they want us to feel bad for Isla for being the black sheep of her family? Did they want us to root for her house sitting business? I'm not sure.... I also thought that the author went a little too far with Isla and her financial issues. She really harped on the fact that even though she had her MBA, she was still stuck in this awful job that paid her like shit and so she was basically homeless. I did enjoy the ending of the book and it was wrapped up well. But this was not the lighthearted book that I originally anticipated it to be.

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this, and it was definitely relatable as someone in their mid-20s - in terms of the corporate world and in terms of making friends/finding a support system. It's hard out there. I liked the core romance as well - Cade was sweet and shy and clearly cared for and loved Isla.

The only knock I would give this book was, while a super quick read, the beginning did have a lot of "telling" and background info that had me worrying I would actually put it down. It got better once we hit 10-15% in though.