Book Review: Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey

Series: Hot & Hammered Book #1

Format: ebook

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

How I Got It: NetGalley

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Avon

Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads

Georgette Castle’s family runs the best home renovation business in town, but she picked balloons instead of blueprints and they haven’t taken her seriously since. Frankly, she’s over it. Georgie loves planning children’s birthday parties and making people laugh, just not at her own expense. She’s determined to fix herself up into a Woman of the World... whatever that means.

Phase one: new framework for her business (a website from this decade, perhaps?)

Phase two: a gut-reno on her wardrobe (fyi, leggings are pants.)

Phase three: updates to her exterior (do people still wax?)

Phase four: put herself on the market (and stop crushing on Travis Ford!)

Living her best life means facing the truth: Georgie hasn’t been on a date since, well, ever. Nobody’s asking the town clown out for a night of hot sex, that’s for sure. Maybe if people think she’s having a steamy love affair, they’ll acknowledge she’s not just the “little sister” who paints faces for a living. And who better to help demolish that image than the resident sports star and tabloid favorite?

Travis Ford was major league baseball’s hottest rookie when an injury ended his career. Now he’s flipping houses to keep busy and trying to forget his glory days. But he can’t even cross the street without someone recapping his greatest hits. Or making a joke about his… bat. And then there's Georgie, his best friend’s sister, who is not a kid anymore. When she proposes a wild scheme—that they pretend to date, to shock her family and help him land a new job—he agrees. What’s the harm? It’s not like it’s real. But the girl Travis used to tease is now a funny, full-of-life woman and there’s nothing fake about how much he wants her.

Review

***I received this book via NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review***

This was a fun book full of tropes I'm not a fan of. The characters are interesting and easy to like. But this combines unrequited love, dating a friend's sibling, and fake dating. The over-protective older brother thing just always rubs me the wrong way. 

Georgie is a fun heroine. She is navigating growing up and having her family see her as an adult. I think this is a relatable situation. I enjoyed reading about the interpersonal dynamic especially between her and her sister, Bethany.

Travis is a former baseball who was forced out by an injury. He also had a tough history. Personally, I like damaged characters like this. (I am not analyzing what that says about me) I do wish his childhood was explored more. He is a pretty standard romance hero. 

The romance was cute. There's some fake-dating elements. It's super tropey. Georgie and Travis have good chemistry and push each other (in a good way). I found the sex scenes a little off-putting though. It was very aggressive which on its own doesn't bother me. But it felt like it didn't make sense. Maybe I'm just too judgy.

I enjoy the female friendships/sequel bait. I am definitely interested in the next book. It is about a struggling married couple and I'm all about that.

Thanks for reading!

Holly