I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

4.5 stars!

Lease on Love is an adorable romantic comedy about Sadie, a formal financial analyst starting a floral business, and Jack, her landlord/roommate still grieving the death of his parents. Complete opposites. And somehow it works.

This book is hilarious. Some "rom-coms" end up being not really funny, but this book is genuinely hilarious. Sadie's internal dialogue? Yes. The friend group? Yes. THE NICKNAMES??? YES.

Every relationship in this book was well done. Everything between Sadie and Jack felt natural and real, and all of the friendships were really fleshed out. Every single character could've stood on their own - it's impressive how much complexity the author was able to fit into these pages.

The only thing keeping this book from a complete 5 stars for me is the ending. The final act tension didn't fit the pace and tone of the novel, and it was out of character enough to throw me at the end. Despite this, the book was an absolute joy and I highly recommend it!

If I were to recite this book's review as a recipe, (which idk why I'd want to do but oh well) I'd say three parts love, two parts lust, a cup full of beautiful friendships and a teaspoon of drama mixed it all up, only to add one last secret ingredient - a bucket load of angst, (because this book might've just won the slooooww burn competition of the year) and there! it's done.
Extra points under presentation, for that gorgeous cover indeed!

4.37/5✩

What a great debut novel from Falon Ballard! I rated this 4/5 stars overall.

Things I loved:

There’s a lot to love from this story! First off, Jack is the perfect book boyfriend. He’s ridiculously supportive, selfless, thoughtful, and seems to know what Sadie needs at any given moment. Oh, and it helps that he’s rich and can spoil his girl. Lol. Sadie and Jacks relationship is swoon worthy and also HOT. Their spicy scenes were 🔥🔥

I also loved every single person in the friend group. The found family in this story is just phenomenal - I want to be in this friend group! The text message conversations added an extra layer to the book and I was totally obsessed. I would read a whole book of just text conservations with this friend group!

Things I didn’t love:

I felt the third act conflict wasn’t really conflict-worthy. It just felt out of character and not a big enough deal to warrant such a fight. However, I did enjoy the texts towards the end of the book that Sadie sent Jack. They were so sweet.

I also thought that everything for Sadie’s new business came too easily? Maybe thats nit-picky, but that just felt way too easy for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Would recommend!

QOTD: Do you have a green thumb?
My A: Yes, but no because I kinda cheat. I have an abundance of happy indoor plants, but they’re all low-light, neglect me for three months and I’ll still grow plants, so they only half count.
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It's funny...For somebody who doesn’t like cities, I really love reading romances set in them! A sweet opposites attract that takes two accidental roommates and turns them into best friends and eventually, so much more. Big Warning: This book will pull at ALL of your heartstrings. I loved witty and big hearted Sadie, her hilarious friends and the relationship between Sadie and Jack. Sadie was the loud to Jack’s quiet in every aspect. Jack was smart, sweet and selfless, the perfect match for Sadie IMO! This is a slow burn, taking place over *I think* around 9 months? This twist is, they are both aware of their feelings for each other. Jack is still healing from the loss of his parents as a single child. He’s spent the last few years completely isolated and deep in grief. Even with all of that, he still finds ways to go above and beyond for Sadie... BaBs, takeout, The Real Housewives... SWOON. That’s all I can say about Jack. The career path Sadie takes is super fun and I could picture it all perfectly! I do wish we'd been given a dual POV. I just think that romances are ALWAYS better with them and we would be able to connect with Jack even more if we see things from his POV as well.. All in all, a super fun book everyone will love!
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BLURB:
After getting passed over for an overdue—and much needed—promotion, Sadie Green is in desperate need of three things: a stiff drink, a new place to live, and a one-night-stand. When one drink turns into one too many, Sadie mixes up a long-ignored dating app for a roommate-finding app and finds herself on the doorstep of Jack Thomas’s gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone. Too bad she’s more attracted to his impressive real estate than she is to the man himself.

Jack, still grieving the unexpected death of his parents, has learned to find comfort in video games and movie marathons instead of friends. So while he doesn’t know just what to make of the vivaciously verbose Sadie, he’s willing to offer her his spare bedroom while she gets back on her feet. And with the rent unbeatably low, Sadie can finally pursue her floristry side hustle full-time. The two are polar opposites, but as Sadie’s presence begins to turn the brownstone into a home, they both start to realize they may have just made the deal of a lifetime.

I almost gave up on this story within the first few pages. I'm glad I kept going with it, as the story was good. But I really dislike books that involve a lot of profanity. It's just not needed. Call me old school, but I'd never call anyone, much less a friend, "bitch."

The story itself was clever. I enjoyed the dynamic between Sadie and her friends, the mystery that Jack added to things. I especially enjoyed how Sadie's friends were there for her, even when she found herself revisiting old wounds. They had her back, no matter way, and were invested in seeing her dreams come true, just as she was invested in theirs.

Did the storyline itself make up for all the f-bombs throughout the book? Not in my opinion. May be fine for a younger audience though. (I'm Gen X.)

When Sadie drunkenly swipes right on Jack in an app she doesn't end up with as date as she had expected. She ends up with a roommate. However Jake is not like any roommate I have ever had. Kind, supportive, and a bit of a hermit, Jake makes Sadie's stomach do flip-flops the size of which she cannot ignore. He seems to care for her too, although he holds her at a distance. Is this simply the best housemate situation ever or the start of something even better?

This book is not short on appeal. My particular favorite thing is Sadie's group of friends. They are the ride or die troop that everyone dreams of having to rely on. The type of friends who will drop everything to help you in a moments notice and also have fun and engaging group texts every day. I would love a Thanksgiving invite from that crew.

Sadie is a complex character, strong but also self-doubting mess. Everything always seems to go her way easily but she is still going to indulge in self-sabotaging thoughts constantly. Jack is a bit of a generic hero. Tragic back story but all he really does is admire Sadie and make her life easier. He has no real personality of his own out side of being endlessly accommodating. The dynamic between them was so uneven it made me uncomfortable. In the beginning Sadie buys Jack a lot of coffee but he gives her so much all of the time while dealing with her emotional baggage. Sadie took a lot from everyone, and I understand that at times in all relationships the person needing and the person giving goes in cycles but it was hard to not find her pretty selfish and self absorbed.

I love a slow burn so I appreciated they took things slowly but it didn't increase my anticipation at all. I think I kind of preferred them as roommates. I wanted Sadie to work a little harder and not be given everything, including Jake feeling that he had to be the one to fix himself. The inevitable but unnecessary conflict at the end did nothing to change my thinking.

I like Ballard's wit and writing and am looking forward to what she writes next. I was pleased to receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have some mixed feelings about this book. I loved the first half of this book, but then towards the end, I found myself slowly losing interest.

Some of the things I loved about this story: I felt like this book started strong - strong women in a great friend group who were going through the realistic ups and downs of adulthood. I loved that it took place in Brooklyn, I loved that she is a florist, I loved that all of the characters have depth and separate storylines that were easy to follow. I loved the meet cute between Sadie and Jack, and I loved Jack - sweet sweet Jack.

Things that I didn’t love - the slow, slow, slowest burn. I don’t mind a slow burn, but I think this one affected the pace of the story. I didn’t like the conflict at the end, I felt like the story just didn’t need it. I didn’t love at the end how insecure Sadie and Gemma seemed. I felt like they started out strong and although they had a lot of self-doubts, it seemed crippling towards the end. I do think the things I didn’t love are just “me” things, and would still recommend this book, it has a solid story, it’s funny, and the romance is sweet.

Lease on Love comes out February 1, 2022! Thank you netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! I absolutely loved this book. Once I started, I could barely put it down and I finished it in one day.

Sadie thinks she’s up for a promotion and ends up losing her job instead. During her alcohol-fueled pity party, she gets on a dating app, makes a match and sets a coffee date for the next day. Only when she shows up it turns out she actually made a match on the roommate finder app. Jack is renting out a room in his brownstone for next to nothing and Sadie can’t pass it up. She makes a total 180 with her career trajectory because of it. She loves the brownstone but she can’t figure Jack out. He barely talks to her and never shares anything about himself.

Things progress over time (a really really really long time) and they both start sharing about tragedies in their pasts. Their friendship eventually grows into more. Jack is really the sweetest most doting hero! And Sadie is so full of life and love even though it takes a lot for her to realize it. I also really identified with her feelings about owning your own business and was inspired her tenacity. I loved their cute nicknames for one another, too.

The conflict towards the end of the story seemed a *tiny* bit blown out of proportion, but I’m not really in a place to make any statement like that since I can’t relate personally to what either of them went through at young ages (which ultimately played into their reactions). But don’t worry, there’s a HEA!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was So. Much. Fun. The first line of the very first chapter had me laughing and there were plenty of laugh out loud moments throughout.

The MC, Sadie, gets fired from her job after f-bombing her way through a work meeting where she wasn't given the promotion she worked hard to earn. Sadie is snarky and confident on the outside, but a mess on the inside, due to an emotional past. She's surrounded by her friend group from college, who are all stand-out supporting characters. Their in-person interactions and group text messages felt so natural and realistic...reading this book will make you feel like you're one of "the gang".

Enter Jack, the mysterious tall, dark, and handsome stranger, who offers Sadie a room to rent in his brownstone for mere pennies. Their "meet-cute" is hysterical and you will be rooting for Jack from day one. We don't learn much about Jack very quickly, and to be perfectly honest I would have loved to learn MORE about Jack and Sadie's pasts. Their romance is a sloooooooowwwwwwww burn, which honestly felt right, given the circumstances.

This book is a hilarious, heartwarming story that proves family is more than blood, but the friends and people who love you, support you, and stay with you, no matter what.

Thank you to @putnambooks and @netgalley for the ARC. Lease on Love will be available February 1, 2022.

This was a super fun, laugh out loud rom com that for the most part delivered the goods. Sadie (also my eldest daughter’s name) had a big ol’ potty mouth which was a bit much at times, but she had a heart of gold. It’s a slow burn but delivers the steam once it gets there. Sadie was endearing in her own self-deprecating way, spunky but sensitive. If you love a good friend group this is your book. Sometimes I wish the friends would get out of the way but not here – great personalities, banter among friends and the group texts cracked me up. There was some great texting between Sadie and Jack. Jack was pure perfection and the perfect balance to Sadie’s loud personality.

Sadie’s road to success felt a little too easy (partly because of Jack but also because of how quickly the business took off) but two other things nagged at me a bit more. I wish we went a little deeper into Jack and Sadie’s past and the events that shaped them. It was lightly touched upon but a little more dimensions would have been good. It didn’t feel like a big miss but left me wanting for more.

My biggest beef was with the end of the book. I felt the build up to a big reveal/conflict/wrongdoing and it fell short. I just didn’t think it was that big of a deal, especially given what we knew about Jack’s story by that point.

Overall though I really enjoyed it. It was fun and energetic and a great cast of characters which is why I ended up with 4 stars. There is a fair amount of cursing so if that’s not your thing go in with caution. Also light touches on parents death and child abuse.

Quote: “Oh god, let this be the moment he kisses me. Because there’s a good chance I might die if he doesn’t kiss me. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything as much as I want, right now in this moment, for Jack Thomas to kiss me.”

Song for Sadie and Jack: Forever After All by Luke Combs: “Just a t-shirt in the kitchen, with no make-up and a million other things that I could look at my whole life. A love like that makes a man have second thoughts. Maybe some things last forever after all.”

What a fun slow burn romance! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve loved characters this much. Sadie, Jack and friends have my full heart.

Sadie is a financial analyst who’s up for a promotion. When she gets passed up for the promotion and asked to train the new guy with no experience, she loses it and gets fired. After spending her night getting wasted - as one would in that situation - she agrees to meet someone on a dating site. Except she was drunk and it wasn’t a dating site at all. She instead finds a new roommate. Enter Jack-of-Hearts.

The whole cast of characters form a friend group that anybody would want to be apart of. (I’m really hoping for a sequel or two!) Though they cuss like sailors and drink copious amounts of wine, they are super mature in how they support each other and work through their issues. (Therapy is great y’all!)

If you want a good laugh and a sweet slow burn romance, look no farther and add this to your TBR for 2022!

Sexy AF hot dang! I loved this story and this prose was everything. Absolutely everything. As I get into romance more and more, I find myself gravitating toward this type of story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

“You’re beautiful… I know you’ve heard that before, how beautiful you are. Because it’s true.” He lowers his head, placing a single kiss on the flat divot at the center of my chest. “But your heart is the most beautiful thing about you, Sade.”

Lease on Love was a truly adorable roommates-to-lovers romance between two people with traumatic pasts. I loved the help and healing they brought to each other and the personal development they made amidst the romance storyline. The slow burn was just that - slooowwww - including finger locking as a stage of physical affection. But it was perfection and made absolute sense with Sadie and Jack’s story, and their relationship was realistic, sweet, and steamy. The friend group that acts as chosen family was wonderful, the banter and nicknames were fantastic, and I loved the roomie and job situations. The one thing I thought could use more development was Sadie’s abusive background causing her to lack self confidence and be self-deprecating. It could’ve been helpful to give more context to her calling herself “selfish” all the time. Regardless, really enjoyed this book! Highly recommend.

Thanks to Putnam Books for the ARC!

I was a little hesitant about Lease on Love because I was so disappointed by one of the comps, The Flatshare, but Ballard managed to give me the kind of novel that I wanted The Flatshare to be, and this rom-com debut is undeniably adorable! I physically had to force myself to put it down, rather than stay up all night to finish it in one go. Sadie is exactly the kind of heroine you just have to root for, and watching her grow her business (excuse the pun) was a treat. The sexual tension and build-up with Jack was *chef kisses* too. Plus, Sadie's friend group and the text exchanges were the best kind of quippy and who doesn't love found families?

*Spoilers Ahead*
While I loved so much about this novel, I am knocking off a star because I found the argument between Sadie and Jack towards the end (because every rom-com has to bring the lovers together and then pull them apart for some reason to finally allow them to live happily ever after) to be...well...kind of ridiculous. It really seemed like Sadie was making a big deal out of nothing and (as someone diagnosed with PTSD) I know that trauma can react to things in unexpected ways, but it didn't quite ring true for me.

I'm still going to recommend this one to all my rom-com lovers though because I seriously loved the premise and every single character, especially Sadie.

A delightful debut! I read Lease on Love in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. The set-up is a millennial spin on a classic rom-com: Sadie gets fired from her job and for ~romance reasons~ winds up moving in with Jack. Jack becomes her new roommate and his house seems almost too good to be true. But this is New York City, Sadie isn’t going to turn down cheap rent in a stunning brownstone! Jack and Sadie's relationship builds from there. This book is just as much about Sadie’s growth and belief in herself and her burgeoning flower business as it is about the relationship. If you enjoy flowers, beautiful real estate, a well-developed friend group, an elusive but lovable hero, and a slooooww burn, this is the book for you! Perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Jasmine Guillory, and Beth O’Leary.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Steam: 2/5 stars
Tropes: Forced Proximity, Grumpy (Him)/Sunshine (Her), And They Were Roommates
Tags: slow burn, mental health rep, women's fiction
CW: Frequent alcohol use, grief, parental death, abuse

Thank you to Putnam and NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

With Lease on Love by Falon Ballard, we are treated to a slow burn with a number of well-developed characters. Though the conclusion fell short, this was still an enjoyable read.

slow burn, but definitely worth the wait. i liked it, but i do have barbs with sadie — i thought she was pretty hypocritical, especially with the reveal towards the end. that being said, i can see why she reacted the way she did, it just hurt to see.

#netgalley

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy.

This was an enjoyable book. The two main characters were written beautifully. You could see how their relationship changed throughout the story. At times this story was a little slow, and it felt like a drag just to get through it. I enjoyed the premise of the book, roommates hating each other to falling for each other. If you are in the mood for a slow-burn romance this is for you.

Lease on Love by Falon Ballard had more swear words than I was happy to read, and I ended up DNFing the book rather early on. Most books have swear words and it's easy to look past them, but this one has more than I'm used to. It's too bad, as the story sounds like just my thing!

This was a cute story about a financial analyst who finds a second career as a florist. Sadie feels like she has the worst luck when she is fired, but things start looking up when she happens to find a man looking for a roommate for really cheap rent. After she moves in with Jack, she begins a new floral business that she has wanting to open for a really long time.

This story was sweet and I really liked the ensemble of characters in this one. They are a found family and they are all crazy and fun. Jack was a loner and was lost in his life and crazy and obnoxious Sadie helped breathe life back into him. This book felt a little more like women's fiction to me with a couple explicit sex scenes. It focused more on Sadie's journey in finding her success with some added romance.

Her story in finding success went a little too smoothly for my taste and the conflict towards the end was not really conflict-worthy in my opinion. But I think people will enjoy this book if they're looking for a fast and easy feel-good read.

Steam level: 🔥🔥🔥
⚠️: grief, abuse