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A review by madeline
Lease on Love by Falon Ballard
4.0
What a super delightful sleeper hit!
Sadie Green is eagerly anticipating a promotion she's spent years working for, sacrificing holidays, weekends, and her dating life -- and then it goes to her boss's new son-in-law. And when she (maybe a bit forcefully) expresses her displeasure, she's not just out a promotion, she's out a job. At a happy hour with friends, Sadie realizes two things: she wants to date, and she's going to need to move out of her apartment and get a roommate. In the haze of several margaritas, she thinks she's set up a coffee date for the next day, but what she's actually done is set up a meeting with a potential landlord, the shy, gorgeous, emotionally unavailable Jack Thomas. The two strangers-turned-roomies are total opposites, but each one encourages the other to chase dreams they'd thought long abandoned, but will they be brave enough to make a leap into love together?
After seeing a few other people say this book had been a surprise hit for them, I don't know why I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much. Jack is definitely the breakout character here: he's a warm and gooey cinnamon roll, a man who just wants to love and support Sadie. He starts out pretty closed off (physically and emotionally), but recognizes that if he wants to be in a relationship with her, he's going to have to make himself vulnerable. We love a man who has been in therapy for years and can communicate and apologize well.
Sadie feels like three shots of espresso in a fun way. Her arc to me was a little less convincing -- she talks a lot about spending time and money on therapy and hasn't been in a while, but the way she talks to herself without ever challenging the negative feelings didn't seem like the coping strategy of someone who'd spent years in therapy. Still, she's fun and kind and fairly self-aware.
If I were five years younger I don't know if I'd have loved this as much - it has big millennial energy - but it's a fun, smart, slow-burn read. I'll be watching Ballard to see what comes next!
Thank you Penguin & NetGalley for the ARC!
CW:sexism, parents deceased in an accident, narcissistic parent, emotional and verbal abuse from a narcissistic parent (off-page, remembered), copious alcohol consumption, sex on the page
Sadie Green is eagerly anticipating a promotion she's spent years working for, sacrificing holidays, weekends, and her dating life -- and then it goes to her boss's new son-in-law. And when she (maybe a bit forcefully) expresses her displeasure, she's not just out a promotion, she's out a job. At a happy hour with friends, Sadie realizes two things: she wants to date, and she's going to need to move out of her apartment and get a roommate. In the haze of several margaritas, she thinks she's set up a coffee date for the next day, but what she's actually done is set up a meeting with a potential landlord, the shy, gorgeous, emotionally unavailable Jack Thomas. The two strangers-turned-roomies are total opposites, but each one encourages the other to chase dreams they'd thought long abandoned, but will they be brave enough to make a leap into love together?
After seeing a few other people say this book had been a surprise hit for them, I don't know why I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much. Jack is definitely the breakout character here: he's a warm and gooey cinnamon roll, a man who just wants to love and support Sadie. He starts out pretty closed off (physically and emotionally), but recognizes that if he wants to be in a relationship with her, he's going to have to make himself vulnerable. We love a man who has been in therapy for years and can communicate and apologize well.
Sadie feels like three shots of espresso in a fun way. Her arc to me was a little less convincing -- she talks a lot about spending time and money on therapy and hasn't been in a while, but the way she talks to herself without ever challenging the negative feelings didn't seem like the coping strategy of someone who'd spent years in therapy. Still, she's fun and kind and fairly self-aware.
If I were five years younger I don't know if I'd have loved this as much - it has big millennial energy - but it's a fun, smart, slow-burn read. I'll be watching Ballard to see what comes next!
Thank you Penguin & NetGalley for the ARC!
CW: