I’ve really been enjoying the Uptown series, so it was a given that I would read House Rules. I think Open House is my favorite, but this is a close second. There was so much heart to Lana and Simon’s story, it made me ache, feel warm, and not one part of me was uninvested. I’m not a fan of the second chance romance trope as much as I used to be because of the angst factor, but I loved seeing Lana and Simon come back together and have to navigate both the ways they’ve changed and how they haven’t and figure out how to make it work without losing themselves completely within each other. Full disclosure, I was going to give House Rules four and a half stars but while analyzing it all, I thought myself into giving it five stars because it deserves every one of those stars. It’s beautiful, real, and complex while giving you all the feels — it’s marvelous and I also have to amend my statement about it being my second favorite since now it is my favorite in the series!

~ Sonja, 5 Stars

I just could not get into this book for the life of me and I wish that was able to as I follow the author on Twitter and she makes me laugh

Le sigh

MAre~Slitsread

House Rules is a second chance romance that was really cute and well-written. It is my first time reading Ruby Lang and now I want to check the other books in the series.
This book deals with heavy issues so I'll advise to check for trigger warnings first.

WELL.

Now I'm kicking myself for not reading this book sooner. This is a 2020 galley, I have no great excuse whatsoever, but better late than never?

This is a second-chance romance story. The MCs used to be married until life took them into different directions, but then the stars aligned and they met again after almost two decades and became roomies, and dun dun dun...

If you know me, then you know that I love my second chance romances, I read a whole lot of them, but this is my first time reading one that did not have flashbacks. Ruby Lang effortlessly weaved Simon and Lana's past into their present without being showy? too tell-y? I cannot English!!! but it gave readers enough information to understand how present!Simon & Lana have changed from their 20-something selves and how their divorce shaped their years after, and I truly appreciate the lack of whiplash (lol).

Also, the hunger (!!!) - probably the first time I've used this word to describe the connection between MCs but Simon and Lana are so hungry for each other, and I don't just mean sexually.

Overall, it's a quiet and intense also at some parts emotional read for me, especially the part when Simon and Lana came to a crossroad similar to one that separated them years before. Tears, just tears...

I tried really hard to get into this book and it's completely possible it was just my mindset at the time. I can see myself enjoying House Rules at a later date but right now, it just wasn't for me. I really liked the other Ruby Lang books I've read.

Two people need roommates, but an ex-husband/ex-wife duo end up having to share a flat as platonic friends. This was a hilarious romcom.

I totally requested this without reading the description on @NetGalley because of the super cute cover. The premise is that a divorced couple decide to be roommates to save money 17 years post divorce. Totally unrealistic premise for me - New York is a huge city, put an ad on Craigslist. This is also part of a series, but I totally don’t think you need to read the other books in the series to understand this one. Anyways, it was a quick listen on @Scribd, but it was just a meh book for me.

Thanks to @NetGalley and Harlequin - Carina Press for my ARC!

This is a really sweet story that doesn't minimize the characters feelings, or gloss over the complications of exes meeting again. Lang delves into communication issues, making the initial split quite believable, even though there wasn't a huge inciting event. It's very rewarding to see how this couple plays out years after their divorce!

Ok, I'm going to call this one as a DNF. I have tried to pick it up multiple times and the characters are just not working for me. I tried. But it is a no go for me.

This is my first book in this series, and my first book by Lang. This book is a combination of second chance love between a previously married couple and New York City Real Estate.

The lack of affordable housing in NYC has Simon and Lana back together as roommates. Lana and Simon's housing situation were very relatable, and part of what made them feel so real. The demise of their marriage and their current circumstances as roommates, all felt very real. At times, it felt intrusive reading as the two seem to recognize who they were in their marriage, who they are now, and fear about what it means in the current. Overall, there wasn’t any fluff in this book, just two mature people becoming themselves, and finding their way back to each other.

This was wonderful!

Ruby Lang is a new-to-me author, and though this is the third in her Uptown series. it worked just fine as a standalone.

Though of course now I have to read the first two books ASAP. But I digress...

Ms Lang immediately drew me into Simon and Lana's story. I loved that they are both in their forties, which IMO increased the possibility that their second chance romance could actually work. It's been seventeen years since their divorce, after all--who isn't going to change in seventeen years?--and they're not the same people whose misunderstandings and miscommunications made them choose to be apart then.

Of course they're going to have new misunderstandings and miscommunications now--it's a romance novel, and we need conflict!--but now that they both now what they were missing when they were apart and how good they can be together again, they'll work even harder to stay together...right?

You'll have to read House Rules to find out for sure. Except spoiler alert: the publisher tells you right in the blurb that they guarantee an HEA or HFN, so yeah, this time these crazy kids are going to make it. Which means you're going to have to read House Rules instead for the loveliness that is their second chance romance, to see the pleasure that Simon takes in his concerts and his teaching, and to witness the strength that Lana hadn't realized she had in her, to meet Muffin the cat, and to confirm that no, smoking hot sex scenes aren't just for the twenty- and thirty-year olds in romancelandia.

(Thank god.)

Rating: 4 stars / A

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Simon Mizrahi and Lana Kuo meet again years after they went through a separation that made wary of love. Will this time around things be different for them?

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and the first book I’ve read in this series. House Rules was an underwhelming romance. I applaud the author for writing characters over 40 who were previously divorced and seeing each other again after 17 years apart. I am a huge reader of romance with characters over 35, so I was excited to see one offered from a publisher and also one that featured a diverse cast. My problem with this romance was it never really grabbed me and it felt a bit flat.

Lana Kuo left her husband Simon Mizrahi when she realized she needed something more in her life, something that made HER happy, not her husband and not her father. She admits she still loved Simon but she felt stifled and felt she needed to leave New York to find her passion. It was evident that her leaving still impacted Simon and even her somewhat, but now she is back in New York and when she finds an apartment to sublet and knows it is too big and too expensive for just her, she suggests that they lease it together with rules of course to protect themselves.

I liked the premise of this story and I enjoyed the fact that Lana came back to New York stronger in many ways than when she left and determined to always ask for what she wants and to not settle for less. Apparently Simon saw the changes in her both physical and emotional and was proud of her, but to be honest Simon was kind of a d*ck. It was obvious Simon had a career he enjoyed, loved even, but as a musician he had that broody artist’s soul; he was set in his ways, and always expected people to do what he wanted. I just never really felt the closeness, the emotional connection even though their physical connection was very heated. I almost felt they used sex to avoid talking and figuring out their lives together.

There was a depth and maturity to Ms. Lang’s writing that I appreciated greatly and that translated into the way the characters were portrayed and the issues they faced in their arrangement and eventual renewed relationship. I did enjoy House Rules but for me that romance aspect was lacking and while I appreciated their cohabitation and getting to know one another again if you take out their sexy times, they spent way too little time talking about what mattered in order to have a healthy relationship.

This book was so good, I loved it!! I love how real and relatable the characters in this book are, and that the book is set around a property in NYC! This is such an original concept, and I enjoyed that. This was such a down to earth story about ex-spouses living as roommates. They are working on coming to terms with who they are, and what they want out of life, and how they can be together again. This was such a great second chance romance, and I really enjoyed it. I would recommend this one!

Thank you Netgallery for my eARC of this book, all thoughts are my own.

I absolutely love Ruby Lang’s writing. Each of her books I pick up is an instant journey into escapism and this was no different. What a great read.

I’ve enjoyed Ruby Lang’s Uptown series and this, the last and third, may be my favourite. The hero and heroine, in keeping with Lang’s urban setting (another kudo for the series), have been around the block. They’re in their forties, were married over fifteen years ago; it ended badly. Now, reunited after a chance meeting, they’re cohabiting thanks to the New Yorker’s ever-present search for a great apartment and reasonable rent. They’re roommates in the Harlem-set building featured in the first two series novellas. Lang has cleverly made setting constant and introduced a new couple into each narrative. By novella three, you’re loving the place, feeling cozy and comfortable with its familiarity, and intrigued by the new couple who becomes its denizen. At 44, Simon Mizrahi has settled into life as a music teacher and choral conductor. He’s achieved professional success. At 42, after travelling the world to learn a unique craft, Lana Kuo returns to NYC as noodle-maker at a Pan-Asian restaurant, hoping, finally, to have a job with health insurance and benefits. She’s content with where she’s brought herself, having learned to ask for what she needs and made her peace with her past: leaving Simon, quitting school.

What I loved most about Simon and Lana was their melancholia. They weren’t angsty, or depressed. They were subdued, NOT ebullient (too much ebullience in romance, as far as I’m concerned). In the relationship department, it’s obvious they’ve both dated, but nobody has stuck. Sharing an apartment, they easily fall into a relationship and it’s a likeable one. They take care of each other, share a temperamental cat, and fall asleep, too often, on the couch. Their jobs are exhausting and they support each other in them. They also fall into a hot, intense intimacy, always with a streak of sadness. Will this last? Do they love one another? What happens when the sublet is up? How vulnerable can they make themselves? The speculations meant Simon and Lana spent a lot of time in their heads and, as a result, so do we. Though this usually bothers me in a romance narrative, I was okay with it. It made sense: after seventeen years apart, hurt, doubt, vulnerability, how can they not factor in this reunited former husband-and-wife?

Mostly, I love how Lang writes: it’s spare, elegant, and tender. Here is Lana, thinking about Simon:

Curled up underneath his arm, she was aware at that moment she felt more secure right here, right now than she ever had before. And with that realization, she knew she loved him. She didn’t still love him. She simply loved him, and it was like a new wound on top of the old, a fresh surge of love where there’d been a scar.

In a few sentences, Lang captures the healing, realization, and rightness of Simon and Lana. Oh, there are impediments, hurts to heal, honesty to come through with, but the new love on the old in this reunited, melancholic pair, they belong together. The pesky cat, Muffin, aloof, indulged, too often grouchy, withholding of affection, she belongs with them too. A lovely epilogue ensues. Lang’s House Rules is slight, but no less powerful as a romance narrative than many a padded longer treatment on offer from the genre. With Miss Austen, “House Rules” is indicative of “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Ruby Lang’s House Rules is published by Carina Press. It was released in February and may be found at your preferred vendor. I received an e-ARC from Carina Press, via Netgalley.

I enjoyed reading several aspects of this book! The pacing was wonderful, characters were well drawn, and the reading experience on the whole was delightful.

Unfortunately, I set this book down and never really picked it back up after about 20%. Maybe I will circle back to it at some point.

HOUSE RULES is the third book in the Uptown series by Ruby Lang and does not disappoint. HOUSE RULES is a sweet, second chance love story featuring a 40 something couple (previously divorced from one another) who become roommates. Meeting again after seventeen years, Simon Mizrahi and Lana Kuo now get to rediscover who they are while figuring out how to live together as roommates. It’s wonderful, fun, smart, and so raw. I can’t recommend Ruby Lang enough!

I don't normally care much for second chance romances, but I'm a sucker for roommates and forced proximity so I thought I'd give this one a try. Ruby Lang is an amazing writer. This book was so good I'll definitely be checking out more of her back catalog!