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.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Alcove Press for allowing me to read this book and give my honest opinion. I LOVED this book. This book went way too fast for me. Isla, a girl freshly out of college with her MBA is kicked out of her apartment (rightfully so but still sad) and she is forced to bring her stuff to her brother's condo. Instead of her brother being there, his best friend Cade is there. Cade talks her into pretending to be his girlfriend. This book was so good in so many ways. I didn't even see the one house and I creeped out! I wish the book was longer (or we'd get a sequel!)

This book had it all for me and that was it. I had to read this to see what it was all about. I was not disappointed and enjoyed the content. Enjoyed this book. I want to find more of her books.

Isla is a quirky and funny main character who truly grows up in this story. At times I cringed while at others I cheered for the decisions that she made. Cade and Neeta are fantastic support characters for Isla. Their interactions are relatable, and they are likeable.

the whole miscommunication to add drama plot points is just so overdone and takes away from the story for me.

I really wanted to love this book because it sounded like it would be a lot of fun, but it was just rough. I really wanted a comedy from it since that was the vibe I was getting from the synopsis, but it took on a lot of serious themes, and it just wasn't really funny. There wasn't even any romance, either. I got to about 50% before tapping out, and we had some tension, and it was nice, but it took forever to get to those moments.

Rent to Be by Sonia Hartl is a feel good book for the ages. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Highly recommend.

The West End Library was my favorite place in the world. It had a pyramid-shaped fountain out front, three levels with a giant iron staircase winding up the center, and a wall made entirely of multicolored glass.
Isla is a quirky and funny main character who truly grows up in this story. The story opens with her on her last time, with no place to live, and too embarrassed to seek help from her family. Through some not so smart decisions, some funny encounters and help from a long- time “off-limits” crush Isla works her way through this mess of a life she has created. At times I cringed while at others I cheered for the decisions that she made. The choice to do house sitting added a safety net for living arrangements, and the opportunity for a pretty fun backdrop. And how can a character whose favourite place to be is the library be all that bad?
Cade and Neeta are fantastic support characters for Isla. Their interactions are relatable, and they are likeable. Neeta provides a great foil for Isla, as well as a destination for her. Cade draws out the best in her, even when he’s not showing the best of himself.
At times I found Isla and her family a little immature. I was disappointed in her parents reaction when she finally opened up to them. I was hoping for a better solution with them. (It did explain her personality though).

4.5 ⭐️
This was such a great story! It was full of some of my favorite tropes. It had a sassy main character. It had a feisty love interest. It had fantastic banter! And it had so much heart and the family dynamic really hit on some personal issues for me. I just loved it!

I really enjoyed this rom com by Sonia Hartl! Isla Jane is likeable and so relatable to the young 20 something trying to navigate life, debt, career, and love after college. Cade and Isla’s banter had me laughing out loud and rooting for them the entire time. The middle was a little long, but the story tied up well. Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

This sizzling, voicey romance with brother’s best friend and forced proximity tropes had me reading past midnight!

Isla is a recent MBA-grad struggling to make ends up despite her fancy degree and gets kicked out of her apartment when she fails to pay the rent. Since her brother is away on business she decides to crash at his vacant condo, only it isn’t vacant, it’s occupied by one very handsome best friend since childhood who has always gotten her heart racing when she’s around him. In exchange for his silence about her squatting at the condo, he asks her to pose as his girlfriend for the summer events at his company’s corporate forced fun in sun events.

I personally loved how much class differences and financial struggles were addressed. It felt very timely and true to a majority of millennial experiences. I also loved the steamy scenes!

I think this book will resonate best for millennial romance readers who prefer the brother’s best friend trope.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review