A second chance romance with a How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days twist.

Was a quick, easy read. I liked the self awareness of the main character. That self awareness did come relatively easily, but that is the point of the genre in some ways, and at least it was there. ( )

Lana is like a perpetual 13 year old for most of the book, and though she does march toward being a grown up during the story she starts as such stunted thing it is hard to figure how she has so many great friends. I should mention she is 30 at the start, so it is reasonable to expect she has grown up some. Otherwise, it is a sweet if unsurprising romance, the story is a riff on How to Lose a Guy, and I have to say I thought it was better than the movie. The book and its characters are all very very southern California, and that frequently appeals more to other people than it does to me. At the start I sort of hated it, but it grew on me and ended up being a perfectly fine, if unexceptional, light read.

Should you read this?
Last night I got stuck in the purgatory of subway construction and it turned out that it took more than 2.5 hours (on 6 different trains) to get home from Times Square, Usually the trip is about 30 minutes. As I was standing on the platform of the Queens Plaza 7 station (which is elevated, and fully outside) during a very cold spectacularly drenching rain at 3:00 in the morning for 18 freaking minutes this turned out to be the perfect audiobook - enough to take the edge off of my misery and requiring me to possess no working brain cells other than those I needed in order to hear. If you have a need for a book like that I would recommend this. ( )

This was a little boring, predictable, and a little inorganic. The heroine read as immature and indignant but all around wrong. I'll try her first book, and others for the time being, but perhaps not as a priority (LOTS of skimming) ( )

The column that Lana Parker has been writing for an online news site has been about love and relationships even though she has had several boyfriends who have left her. Her ambition is to write about pop culture, and she is given that chance when her high school sweetheart, Seth Carson comes to town and her boss, Natasha suggests that they compete in a writing contest with the winner getting to write his or her own column for the LA Chronicle. Lana has complicated feelings for Seth, and she knows this contest will only muddy the waters, but she reluctantly agrees in hopes of not only getting her dream job but also getting some emotional closure with Seth.

Just My Type does many things well - a second chance love trope, a personal growth story line, and a high stakes angst. However, several parts of this book don't hit the right notes. The writing competition, that could have included much more humor, comes off as a little sad and inappropriate. The mother/daughter dynamic is underdeveloped, and Lana is a protagonist that seems immature and stubborn. Overall, Just My Type would have been a much better story if it had focused more on the relationship between the main characters. ( )

I loved this book! Absolutely loved it! It’s been a long time since I picked up a romance that just worked for me on every level as this one did. Lana and Seth were both absolutely fantastic characters and I loved the way they were with each other. I love a good second-chance romance and I definitely feel like Lana and Seth deserved to get a chance to try again. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a try.

Lana is at a low point after the proposal that she thought she was getting turns out to be a breakup. She decides to stop jumping from boyfriend to boyfriend and stay single for a bit. She may write a relationship column but she knows that she needs to work on herself. Imagine her surprise to walk into her office to find her ex-boyfriend from high school. To make matters worse, they are paired up to compete for the one job that they both want.

Lana and Seth had fantastic chemistry and I felt like they really belonged together. They did have a few issues to resolve and I really appreciated the way that things were handled in the story. I hated that their boss had them competing against each other and that the competition was so incredibly personal. I really did feel like they understood each other and I loved watching them grow closer throughout the story.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Tegan Ashton Cohan did a fantastic job with this story. I loved the voices that she used for both the male and female characters. Once I started listening, I was completely captivated by the story and had a hard time setting the book aside. I do believe that her narration added to my enjoyment of this delightful story.

I would recommend this book to others. This book was full of great characters, a lot of laughs, some swoon-worthy moments, and some moments that touched my heart. I will definitely be reading more of this talented author’s work in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Penguin Random House Audio. ( )