Fix Her Up: A Novel

This book!! THIS. BOOK! I adored it in every way possible. I love this author's work, and brother's best friend stories are my favorite trope! This one was especially delightful, and I could not get enough.Georgie Castle is a bit of an afterthought in her small town on Long Island, and even with her own family. As the youngest sibling, no one ever takes her, or her opinions, seriously. Plus, she's chosen a job as a children's party clown, so she's not really doing much to help her own cause. But, she loves kids, and she's great at what she does. She'd like to see her company expand, but to do that, she needs people to take her seriously as an adult businesswoman. But first, she has to use her own unique approach to get her big brother Stephen's best friend, and the guy she's loved since she was a kid, out of the horrible rut he's in.Travis Ford was an amazing professional baseball player who left their small town after making his own dreams come true in the major leagues. He lived the life, and sampled the benefits (including MANY of the female variety), over the 5 years of his career. But, when an injury sidelined him, and his teams started playing hot potato with him, he had to call it quits. Now he's back in town, and has been drinking himself into a month-long stupor. Until Georgie busts into his apartment, throws leftover Thai food at his head, and tells him his moping time is OVER. So, he talked to his best friend, Stephen, and started working for the Castle family remodeling business. He's trying to get his life back under control, and that really becomes imperative when his agent calls him with an amazing job offer. He could be the new commentator for the NYC baseball team, but the family friendly network isn't sure if he'd be a good fit. He needs to show them he's a changed man. Who better to help him promote a better image than the most wholesome girl he's ever met?Georgie and Travis had known each other a long time, but they each thought of each other in completely different ways. She's loved him forever, with no hope of anything ever happening between them. He's always seen her as his best friend's awkward kid sister, who constantly tagged along behind them. They haven't seen each other in person in years. He walked out of his parents house to go to college, and hasn't returned or spoken to them since. They were a hot mess and screwed him up badly. Stephen was really his only contact back home. Georgie never really had any interest in leaving, and she's built her business, and bought a home she plans to remain in. Georgie had an amazing family but she was always the odd girl out. They still see her as a kid, and they don't respect her as they should.Georgie, her sister, Bethany, and the wife of an employee of the family business, and a girl they went to school with, Rosie, start a self-empowerment group to keep each other motivated to reach their goals. They agree to start to let go of things and people that hold them back, or hurt them. Their meetings were often hilarious, sometimes poignant, and always entertaining. Rosie and her husband Dom will be the main couple in book 2, and I'm SO EXCITED for their story. Marriage in trouble stories typically bring ALL the angst, and usually aren't my jam. But, I'm so excited to explore that storyline as a romcom!There was so much tension between Georgie and Travis, and watching them finally combust was pure magic. This story had all of the author's typical awesome dirty talk, and Georgie and Travis' connection was so magnetic. They were both so lovable, and you just wanted to root for them so much. I loved the way Travis realized what was happening to Georgie within her family, and stood up for her, like no one had before. I loved that Georgie wasn't about to let anyone treat Travis like he was only worthy of entertaining them, due to his past reputation, and that he didn't deserve respect as a person. They were both fierce in their defense of the other, and it was awesome to watch. There were many moments that had me tearing up, and I loved all the emotions I felt as the story went on.Travis' grovel at the end was particularly gratifying, and I loved Georgie's reaction to it, as well as her siblings' reactions. I was so emotionally full at the end of the story, that I just burst into tears when it was over. I seriously adored this book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I'll just be over here anxiously awaiting book 2.

This was not what I expected but I can’t say I didn’t devour this. My dark circles have shamed me all day for staying up so late to finish this. I rated this 4-stars based purely on the entertainment factor. I seriously could not put this down, but that’s not to say there aren’t some elements of the story that could have been better.First, I love Georgie so much. She is such an amazing character. She’s funny, cute, silly, and fiercely loving. She’s grown up crushing on her older brother, Stephen’s best friend, Travis. Travis was always hanging around their house because he had a bad home life so she sees him all the time. He was always into baseball and ends up in the MLB. Georgie was the dorky younger sister who showed up to every game to cheer him on. So she still has those butterfly feelings when Travis is forced to retire from playing professional baseball due to an injury and moves back to town.At the beginning of this story, Travis is really brusque, defensive, and depressed. His entire dream is ripped away from him too early and he feels lost without being able to play baseball anymore. When he moves back into his hometown, Stephen tries to cheer him up but Travis refuses to leave his apartment or do anything except wallow. Enter Georgie. She literally pours food all over his sleeping back to get him out of bed. You get the sense that she is exactly who Travis needs to push him into some kind of action.“I mean…” She winked at him. “I think I’m safe.”“You are one thousand percent safe.”“Okay, you don’t have to be quite so adamant. I do have a thimbleful of vanity and I’d like to keep it.”I liked seeing Travis warm up to Georgie. He starts to see her as more than just his friend’s younger sister, but to rely on her as a friend who challenges and supports him. In turn, we see that he has always been someone who validates Georgie’s feelings. Everyone in her family and in town brushes her off as a little kid (even though she is a grown woman), but he sees her efforts to be heard and taken seriously. He sees how much people in her life don’t seem to appreciate her. And he stands up for her. And that makes Georgie like Travis even more.It’s clear that they have some kind of chemistry and attraction between them, but it isn’t until they start fake dating that it kicks into high gear. So now you have two tropes: the friend’s sister & fake dating. The fake dating was done so well. We all know how it’s going to end, but whew! The attraction between these two was fire. The fake dating was done so well. Georgie wants to be seen as a grown woman capable of making her own decisions. Why not prove to everyone just how grown up she is by dating the good-looking athlete everyone looked up to (and who has an infamous reputation for being a womanizer)? For Travis, a new career opportunity comes up for him, but he needs to change his reputation to something more wholesome and family-friendly. Why not do this by getting into a serious committed relationship with the town’s clown who plans children’s birthday day parties for a living? But of course, we all know how the fake dating trope ends.So let’s talk about what I thought could have been better. The fake dating trope: good. The brother’s sister trope: bad. We hardly get interaction between Travis and Stephen. Honestly, I think they hang out maybe twice in this book. Fortunately, we get just enough information that Travis hung out at Stephen and Georgie’s house a lot when they were younger to make this trope work okay, but it could have been done better. I didn’t really seem like Travis really cared much about what Stephen would think. There wasn’t as much inner turmoil regarding crossing the line from Travis, in my opinion.“You bought my favorite dinner and turned my climbing tree into a fireplace.” She stroked her fingers over the hair curling at his neck. “You’re batting a thousand in the gestures department, Ford.”I saw some reviews that didn’t like how Travis only started to like Georgie after she started changing how she dressed, but I didn’t agree with that. Well, first, the makeover trope doesn’t bother me. I love a Cinderella moment in my romance stories. Second, there were clear signs that Travis was starting to like Georgie even before she started to dress differently. Third, they kind of grew up together. He always saw her as the dorky younger sister and sometimes it does take a “moment” to knock some sense into someone. The way she dressed just made him surer, and I think he would have gotten there sooner than later even if she didn’t change the way she dressed. But every reader is different so you may not like this aspect of their romance.Another thing that could have been done better was the sex scenes. If I read these in isolation, then yes, they were steamy and well-written enough. However, they didn’t seem to fit the lighter romantic-comedy feel the rest of the story had. Outside the sex scenes, Travis would talk to Georgie more as a friend. But during the sex scenes, he does a lot of dirty talk and their sex is more on the rough controlling side. I don’t mind alpha male type romance books, and Georgie definitely gives consent and enjoys when Travis is more controlling during sex. My issue was that it seemed off with the rest of the book. Maybe if Travis was more suggestive and flirty with Georgie outside the bedroom, the actual smut scenes would have flowed better.Don’t let the cute illustrated cover fool you. While this is a romantic comedy, the sex is a lot more in the general romance aka smutty category. I am not dissing the general romance genre, I happen to like reading that genre. It just felt like this book wanted to mesh both of those together and it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been. The ending isn’t as strong as the rest of the book, but I can see how some people will love it. It’s a very typical HEA ending.Overall, I loved Travis and Georgie’s relationship and really enjoyed this book!** Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for providing me with an ARC for review. Any quotations used are taken from an uncorrected proof and are subject to change.

Good: Georgie is awesome and funny, if a little too timid. She says outrageous things but has no experience with men, which I find confusing. And apparently her off to college out of Port Jeff experience didn’t do enough to pull her out of her shell. But as a heroine, I liked her a lot - especially at the beginning when she was being awesome and sassy.Travis is fine. There were good hints of depth, but I never really felt his pain. But he recognized his faults and seemed to own his growth which was nice.Bad: the ending was annoying. It was too filled with tropes for a story that could have had so much more heart. There were various inconsistencies that didn’t feel fully true to character for Georgie. And I never got a good feeling for Stephen and Kristin. They are supposed to be comic relief but they were just obnoxious.Also, fireplace mantle building. Big romantic gesture. Really poor planning. If he were a carpenter he would know you can’t cut a live branch from a tree and expect to turn it into furniture. Not for at least 2 years. Possibly longer. Seriously, I am so irritated by that lack of attention to detail that it still sticks with me. And I realize most people reading this book had no idea this was a ridiculous gesture!Overall: it was fine. I read the whole thing. Not worth $8.99, but okay for a simple read.

Really enjoyed this book. It was fake dating , but it was done really well. Found myself grinning more while reading it than I have in recent memory. I just wish there had been resolution for Rosie and Dominic.

I really really loved this one! It had me literally laughing out loud. The sexy scenes were very steamy. The characters were so enjoyable.

Llego en perfectas condiciones

I was hoping for a real plot, I love this type of novels, but it really had no plot and the writing was very cringey.

Really loved the story as well as the characters, great character development and the plot was well thought-out. It is a very well-written book.

Q: Who’s your new auto-buy author?A: Mine is definitely Tessa now (You’ll get to know the reason soon😂)I freaking loved this book aaaaahhh!!!!! This book has every trope which I love and damn, the plot is just wow!!! 😭😭❤️❤️This is the first book in the Hot & Hammered series (each book is unique and could be read as standalone) and I can’t wait to get my hands down on the other books now 😭😭You’ll love this book if you’re into:-sports romance-fake relationship trope-brother’s best friend- fun, quirky and strong female character-childhood crush-age gap-witty banter- super-steamy romcom 🥵🌶 (When someone tells me a book has good steam, I’ll definitely make a run for it 🤣🥵)CW: For those who prefer closed-door romances, I’ll warn you its super steamy and also includes toxic masculinity.