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I know it sounds cliche but the illustrated romance covers have really caught my attention. Seeing the cover for Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey immediately made me want to read it. The cover is purple and quite eye catching. Plus, we have the whole renovation aspect and really this book just had my must read it attention. I finally picked it up off my TBR cart in November. Ultimately, Fix Her Up was okay – enough for me to read on to the second book in the Hot & Hammered series.
Georgette Castle’s family business is renovations. They flip houses, stage houses and do contracting. As it turns out though, Georgette “Georgie” the youngest of the family does not care one whit for the family business. Instead, she is a children’s entertainer — a clown. And she is working on getting her business off the ground. As she’s been so focused on her own business, she hasn’t really had time for love. In fact, she only has ever had eyes for her older brother’s best friend – Travis Ford. Travis is back in town after leaving the pro baseball team he was on and he is working for Georgie’s brother.
As it turns out, Travis has a bit of a reputation for being a player on and off the field. He is now hoping to get a new job as a stadium announcer. Travis needs to clean up his reputation and prove that he is family friendly. The most family friendly person he knows is Georgie. And so, the two embark on fake dating that eventually becomes real.
So, Fix Her Up was a quick read at least. However, I just felt really awkward while reading this book. I guess it made me feel kind of like a prude. This book is very bold with its adult scenes. Which is fine, and I thought I was down with. However, it’s just not for me at this point. There’s a lot of dirty talk and Travis is very much an alpha male. At one point though, there’s a scene where they’re in a public baseball field, I think at the school, and just can’t resist and I was like — THAT IS WHERE CHILDREN PLAY YOU OWN A HOUSE and eh. However, I thought this was okay enough to read Love Her Or Lose Her.
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Love Her Or Lose Her is the second in Tessa Bailey’s Hot & Hammered series. I decided to give this book a chance even though I wasn’t super keen on Fix Her Up. You see, I was suckered in again by the illustrated cover. Plus, the concept is one I like – which is a second chance at a marriage that is failing. It seemed like this would be a good end of month pick me up kind of read.
Love Her Or Lose Her follows Rosie and Dominic Vega. The two have been a couple since middle school. They used to be best friends and so connected and close. However, now they don’t really talk and just kind of exist and orbit each other. Rosie is fed up and has had enough. So, she leaves Dominic. With the support of the Just Us League, she begins to make moves towards achieving her dream of opening a restaurant. Dominic is adrift without Rosie and will do anything to get her back. In fact, he agrees to go to couples counseling with Rosie. She’s chosen the most hippie counselor she could find. Dominic is all in and Rosie learns that maybe she has a role to play with their marital troubles as well.
Well, I think this is the last I’ll read of the Hot & Hammered series. It isn’t that this book was bad, it wasn’t. However, I am just not invested enough to continue on. Granted, I didn’t have the third book on my shelf, but I do not feel compelled to seek it out. Dominic is just super alpha and it kind of blinds him a little bit to Rosie’s needs. The adult scenes continue to be a little bit much. I would have rather read about them working out their issues without every single scene being so sexually charged. On the other hand, I did like how much this book delved into the love languages, as to me, it is something that I do really believe in. Overall, Love Her Or Lose Her wasn’t terrible but I also wasn’t too upset about accidentally kicking it into the bathtub. Also, the two main characters are of color and as far as I can tell, the author is white, and IDK, that just seemed a bit weird to read now in this day and age.
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Fix Her Up made me feel awkward too! I just don’t think I like that amount of dirty talk. I still have an ARC of Love her or Lose Her but I’ll probably never read it.
Amber Elise @ Du Livre recently posted..Reviews | People We Meet on Vacation and Pretty Little Wife
I read Fix Her Up when it came out and I had mixed feelings about it. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll be reading the rest of the series but I really love the covers though.
Love your review!
Inah @ Fueled by Chapters recently posted..All Last Summer by Stephanie J. Scott | Book Review