ARC Review: Just My Type

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lana Parker hasn’t been single for more than a few weeks since she started dating her high school boyfriend, Seth Carson. When Lana and Seth broke up, Lana was heart-broken, but due to a dislike of being on her own she’s been bouncing from long-term relationship to long-term relationship ever since. Lana is a journalist for a trendy LA-based website where she’s been in charge of the dating and relationships column for years, even though her passion is writing about books and movies. Seth is also a writer and when he moves to LA, Lana’s boss sees an opportunity for drawing people to their website: a competition. Lana and Seth will each complete a series of tasks and write an article about each. Relationship-prone Lana’s tasks will force her to embrace being single and commitment-phobic Seth’s tasks will push him to consider settling down. Whoever gets the most hits on their article series will be chosen for a desirable writing position. But with the competition pushing them together, they may stand to gain even more than a new column.

I’m always hesitant going into second-chance romances because I often can’t forgive the incident that broke the couple up in the first place. However, I wanted to give this a try because I loved Falon Ballard’s debut novel, Lease on Love. I’m so glad I picked this one up because this is the second chance romance I’ve been wanting. Yes, Lana and Seth did have conflicts in their past, but during their time apart they both grew as people and once reunited, it was so easy to root for them to get back together.

I loved Seth; he was an amazing love interest. However, I loved our female main character, Lana, even more. I truly don’t think I’ve ever related to a character to the extent I related to her and it made me feel seen, haha. She was nerdy without having that “I’m not like other girls” vibe and throughout the story she learned how to appreciate being on her own which I really loved reading about. I also loved Lana and Seth together–I loved their banter and interactions and was rooting for them so hard while reading.

I thought the competition aspect of this novel was really interesting and the challenges Lana and Seth were tasked with felt like a perfect way for them to interact and rebuild their relationship. I felt that reading about each task that they checked off made the plot really fun and engaging. A few other aspects I have to mention were the amazing secondary characters and the normalization of therapy, both of which I really loved.

This book made me feel a wide range of emotions–it made me smile and laugh on countless occasions, and the ending even made me happy cry. This was such a feel-good book and I cannot recommend it enough!

If you love “it was always you” vibes and lovable characters, I am begging you to pick this up! Even if you don’t typically enjoy second chance romances, I definitely think this one is worth a shot.