Second chance romance with enemies to lovers in a workplace setting. I loved Falon Ballard's debut novel and this one is the same way! Loved it and have a new favorite author
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own

first of all, thanks to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

this book was such a positive surprise! in fact, I don't usually read rom-coms, but for some reason this year I've been giving chances to several books of the genre and there were few that I managed to like as much as this one.

childhood sweethearts and rivals to lovers are some of my favorite tropes and were the main reasons I wanted to read the book. but even though I'm not a big fan of second chances, the chemistry and emotions between the characters were so raw and real that they won me over.

Lana's growth as a person through her journey of self-discovery was so honest and admirable. I really enjoyed reading how she found her inner strength and admitted her mistakes. oh, and her group of friends was also one of the factors that made this book so enjoyable for me.

a negative point is that the use of pop cultural references was a bit too much, it really got me annoyed as it didn't seem to add much to the character.

overall it was a lovely book that i read in a few hours and it left me with a warm heart <3

After being so impressed with the authors debut, I couldn't wait to get my hands on her newest! I love the enemies to lovers troupe and also the banter between the main characters was everything! The last half of the book was unputdownable and Ballard is now an auto-buy for me!

I have been on a romcom kick lately, so Just My Type was the perfect read; the Legally Blonde reference at the very beginning pulled me in. If Lana was not a fictional character, we would be best friends. Her love of pop culture is seen through out the whole book; however, I did think the use of pop culture references was a bit over done. Also, I am here for the trope of lovers to rivals to lovers.
If you are looking for a fun romcom with lovable characters (Lana deserved the world!), be sure to pick this up soon!

I sometimes cast books while I’m reading them, but I wasn’t doing that with this one until Lana said that Seth resembled Captain America; then, I could only picture Chris Evans as Seth.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC! (My first ARC… I’m screaming!)

I adored Falon Ballard’s debut Lease on Love so I was so excited about her second release, Just My Type, a second chance/workplace romance. Lana is a serial monogamist who dreams of writing pop culture pieces instead of her dating column. Seth is a traveling writer ready to put some roots down. And they’re exes—who end up pit against each other in a writing competition where Lana’s tasks teach her to be single and Seth’s to have him stop serial dating… and the winner gets their dream job. I loved the high school sweethearts turned to enemies to lover story here. It played out to me like a classic rom com. It felt like Clueless and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days mixed with Legally Blonde all blended together. The writing was fresh and bingeable and the story was super engaging with some steam and a slow burn tension that was just beautifully done. Lana is wonderful too, I loved her growth as she finds her footing and her self and drive. I thought the therapy rep was really well done, and I love Seth. I just wish there had been a little more to show he was a serial dater because it almost didn’t fit his character and I would’ve just loved some of his POV. Even so, I couldn’t put this down. I read it in a day and just loved it. The romance was great and fun—I loved their tasks and their reconnections. I also loved the side characters, Lana’s best friend May, especially. I feel like Falon Ballard just really nails the friend group dynamics in her books. The characters all just feel very supportive and genuine. With Lana, and also Seth, I like they felt flawed. Seth needed to communicate more and Lana had a lot of growing up to do to find herself and I feel like these flaws really made for a beautiful story as the characters put themselves to the tasks with these tasks. It felt fun and fresh and everything you could ask for in a romance!

Lana is pitted against her new coworker, who happens to be her ex-high school sweetheart, in a series of challenges revolving around their individual love lives. The whole setup seems like an HR nightmare and the fact that Lana is supposed to be learning how to be on her own but is forced to carry out her tasks with a dude doesn’t make any sense.

But putting logistics aside for the purposes of the story, I found this book much more enjoyable than Ballard’s first book. Just My Type did a great job of conveying how much emotion and muscle memory is attached to first love and how the smallest things can bring up those memories.

While seeing Lana and Seth reconnect was satisfying, I really appreciated all of Lana’s lessons learned from completing each item on her list by the end of the book!

This was just okay. I love second chance romance but it's harder for me to love when its enemies to lovers + second chance because of how they are treating each other in the middle. If they claim all the things they do by the end, their actions didn't always make sense in hindsight - I get that they've been hurt but it just didn't add up for me. The plot also seemed a little unrealistic to me - which was funny because the characters therapist seemed to agree with me. There were sweet moments but when it comes down to it, it's hard for me to believe this all happened 12 years after they dated. I really wanted to like this book more than I did.

Rating: 4/5
Warnings: Parental Abandonment
Steam: 2.5/5 (on page scene)
Tropes: Slow Burn, Second Chance, Workplace, Frenemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity

Thank you to NetGalley and GP Putnam’s Sons for access to this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Just My Type will be released on February 7th, 2023.

Lease on Love was one of my favorite reads of 2021…I adored just about everything in this book and was thrilled when I got this ARC. It’s a very solid sophomore novel, I didn’t love it as much but still enjoyed it.

Things I Loved: Omg the humor, the banter, the group chat was just as good as Lease on Love. Seth was such a gooey cinnamon roll. I loved watching Lana grow as a person and learnt to stand up for herself. Ugh, the last 20% of this book was so so good (it’s also when we finally got some steam). The mutual grand gesture was so sweet. Falon writes strong female friendships so well. Harry and Sally the fish were my favorite. Pop culture/bookish references where just the right amount. The tattoos…I melted

Things I Didn’t Care For: A lot of this story felt like one large HR violation, Lana’s boss really crossed the line with some of her requests. Lana (while she did mature) was childish at times...but also, if you don’t really have parents this makes sense. The boxing scene felt out of place, it was sudden for a first class + she was in therapy, the revelation could have come out there.

Holy cow... I didn't think anything could beat the friends-to-lovers trope in Lease on Love, but I did not account for the rivals-to-lovers and second-chance romance in Just My Type!

Lana and Seth were childhood sweethearts, until they graduated high school and left for college. At their ten-year class reunion, there was an encounter that each of them more hurt and angry than before. Now, two years later, Seth has shown up out of the blue angling for a writer position at the website Lana works at. Her boss, sensing that there's some history between these two that she can exploit to get more website traffic, pits them against each other in a dating challenge, where the winner gets a column at their parent company's website. Lana has been a serial monogamist ever since their breakup, bouncing from long-term relationship to long-term relationship with men that who didn't really love or appreciate here. On the flip side, Seth has spent the last few years travelling and freelancing and hasn't had a serious relationship. Their challenge is to go against their type - Lana is single and needs to learn to get comfortable standing on her own. Seth needs to learn to put down roots and find someone to settle down with. What starts out as terse confrontations slowly but surely morphs back towards friendship as they are forced to spend more time together, until all the buried hurt and anger makes its way to the surface and they're forced to face the past in order to see if there's a future for them.

Lease on Love was one of my absolute favorite books to come out this year, so I really hoped that this could live up to it. I really didn't think anything could top Sadie and Jack, but Lana and Seth manage to exceed expectations! Rivals to lovers hits completely different than friends to lovers. Instead of the slow burn and mutual pining, we get competitive banter and angsty chemistry. Just like LoL, our characters are surrounded by an amazing group of friends who really offer so much to the story, chiefly humor. I've always loved the side characters as a mechanism for the author conveying the main character's emotions without having long introspective narration of what's going on in their heads. And here those group chats we see on page offer so much in terms of humor and levity. Seriously, this book is just *chef's kiss* and makes Falon Ballard another must-buy author for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! After reading Lease on Love I knew Falon Ballard was another author I'd have to keep my eye on. For me the book started off really really strong which kept me engaged, I was HERE for the tension between Seth and Lana. Also I really liked reading the little slack convos and all of the other side characters in this book who kind of helped keep the story floating along in the right direction. Also the ending???? Is there any confession of love as sweet as two literal WRITERS pouring their hearts out onto a page?!

If I had to critique one thing it was that somehow "pop culture" related mostly to stilted marvel references that just didn't fully hit the mark for me or really add anything to the character. I also think some of the early snark was lost a bit in the middle but again, the book wrapped up quite beautifully.

This was such an excellent second chance romance! I really loved the tension brewing between the two characters even before we were introduced to Seth which made his on page appearance a delightful surprise. Lana’s character development was incredible throughout the book. Her slow growth to self love was honest and raw and that made her reconnection to Seth that much sweeter. Loved it!

Full disclosure, this was my first five star ARC. Sometimes, I pick up a book and can’t put it down and this one was no exception. This is one of those books that grabs your attention from the first sentence (especially since it had an Elle Woods reference) and causes you to stay up way too late at night reading it (finished this one at 3 am).

Just My Type was my first Falon Ballard book but now I'm going to be rushing to read Lease on Love ASAP. This one had some of my favorite tropes, the characters felt like real people, and the side characters were pretty lovable as well! Falon’s writing style was very enjoyable to read and allows you to get lost in the story. I knew Just My Type was going to be a 5 star read just a couple of chapters in. In all honesty, this may be one of my favorite rom-coms!

What I loved:
🌟Second chance romance, plus some work rivalry
🌟The absolutely perfect balance of humor, spice, and swoon-worthy romance
🌟The characters are real and relatable. You’ll see some character growth too!
🌟Just My Type will make you feel all the emotions. Especially Lana! She will make you cry, laugh, and smile the whole time.
🌟Literally everything. But especially the epilogue. I won’t spoil it, but just READ THIS BOOK.

If I could change anything, I would make this one a dual POV. But that’s just my personal preference!

All in all, I loved Just My Type! If you love a rom coms, you have to check this one out! It’s available for preorder now!

Thank you to NetGalley, Falon Ballard, and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I really enjoyed this one! Seth and Lana were HS sweethearts and its pretty obvious that neither of them ever got over the other. Now they're being pitted against each other for a promotion, and things get heated!

Some of the things I didn't love: Their boss, Natasha, was not good. It was clear she was manipulating them, and she crossed the line a LOT. Even Lana's therapist picked up on that and seemed very concerned about it. As part of this manipulation, Lana kept being made to do her solo challenges with Seth along. Since the point of the challenge for her was to learn to be independent and not "need a man" basically, this was super counter intuitive and seemed almost like Natasha was sabotaging Lana's efforts to grow. I'd like to high five that woman in the face.

The things I did love: I really liked the dynamic between Seth and Lana, as well as the relationship Lana had with her great group of friends. Seth was definitely swoonworthy, and seems like a legit great guy. The "bad blood" between them was a good part because of their poor handling of their college breakup, and Lana's ability to hold a grudge for a long time. The chemistry between them was undeniable, and I liked how things wrapped up.

I read this book in one day. I loved the plot, the MC and the sub characters so much. I liked how the book navigated the FMC unhealthy way of jumping from one relationship to another. Personally i would have loved a dual POV only because I loved Seth so much.

I read this book in just four hours with only one short break, that's how great this book is. It is absolutely adorable! It exceeded my expectations for sure. Ballard's writing got me hooked in just a few pages. Seth and Lana feel like real people and I truly felt for them, especially towards the end. Lana's perspective on love reminds me a lot of myself and I enjoyed her backstory and the inclusion of therapy. I was truly smiling at Lana's shenanigans at least once every five minutes. And don't get me started on the epilogue!!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin for allowing me to read this before publication!

I ADORED reading this. It essentially felt like watching a romcom happen inside my brain. Does that make sense? Yes? No? Maybe? Well, that's just to say that this was everything I wanted it to be! So much so that I read it all in one sitting. It had the perfect amount of humor, spice, tenderness, tension, meaningfulness, etc. It also had some of my favorite tropes; the second chance romance, the work rivals, when the guy fondly calls her by her last name! It was much more in-depth than that, of course, but seeing so many of those tropes working together was so fun. And the competition pushing this book forward was truly, genuinely one of the greatest things that could have been put in a romantic comedy.

This is my first novel by Falon Ballard, and it won't be my last. I love how engaging her writing style was. It felt like I was an active participant for this entire book. My mom looked at me like I was crazy while reading this because I couldn't stop laughing, gasping, and muttering words to myself. Again, it felt like I was watching everything happen inside my head, and I love when a good book does that. I liked how real it felt and how much depth Lana and Seth had. I liked that it took on a lot of important topics not just related to love but things that can apply to life in general. Like that, it's so important to know your worth, to ask for what you deserve, to feel comfortable and confident with yourself, and not to be afraid to ask for more. It felt like all those things were being addressed naturally, and I think it brought attention to situations many people will resonate with.

I also just fell in love with Lana. She reminded me of so many people I know in my life, and I even saw hints of myself in her. I swear she made me go through every emotion: compassion, frustration, happiness. I felt so much for her as a person and woman. It was such a joy seeing her journey through this book.

And, yes, I think the people will definitely fall in love with Seth. No doubt about it.

I loved how heartwarming this was. And I loved seeing the rivalry and tension, but also how the characters grew and realized things about themselves. I think this will be a very well-loved book when it is finally released! I can't wait to get a hold of a physical copy!

Thank you to Netgalley, PRH, and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the chance to read this early in exchange for a review! I'm so excited for everyone to read this one!

4✨

Just My Type follows Lana and Seth’s contentions relationship competition for their lifestyle blog. After 12 years apart, high school sweethearts turned strangers, Seth comes barreling back into Lana’s life AND workplace. The blog puts them against each other in a competition: can Lana be okay single, and can Seth end his womanizing tendencies?

What follows is a sizzling enemies/rivals to lovers, second chance romance that will make you SWOON. The speed dating scene? My heart was a puddle.

Lana’s journey of finding her inner strength through various tasks was so heartwarming to experience. The tension between Seth and Lana during their joint tasks was so much fun to read. And the love confession!! I’m a sucker for great love confessions in contemporary romances, and theirs was perfect.

Pick this up if you like enemies/rivals to lovers and second chance romances when it comes out on February 7th! Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC.

An absolutely lovely romance/romantic comedy that will have you laughing, sighing, and maybe even shedding a tear. If you enjoyed Ballard's first novel, Lease on Love (which I did!), you will lose yourself in this one as well.

When the first line of a novel references Elle Woods, a reader knows that are in for a fun ride. Ballard emulates Elle & Warner's disastrous proposal that wasn't as the introduction to Lana Parker - relationship columnist, serial monogamist, and still in love with her high school boyfriend. Enter Seth Carson - writer, serial dater, and still in long with his high school girlfriend. Unfortunately, miscommunication, life, and other roadblocks have prevented the two from even speaking (except that one night...) for twelve years.

Will a little friendly workplace competition bring them closer together or will other paths to happiness prevail?

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the eARC!

What reader doesn't want to read a romance novel about writers? "Just my Type" is sweet, fun, sassy, and a bit spicy - all the ingredients needed for a great read!

This is the kind of happily ever after I am here for! A second chance romance with soul searching and healing that leaves even the reader more self assured. I enjoyed reading Just My Type from beginning to end.