Fix Her Up: A Novel: 1 (Hot and Hammered, 1)

Product Information

When you are first introduced to Travis and Georgie, you do not expect the scene that you read. That's how Tessa bring the BAM to the beginning of the story. Known from their childhood, and been neighbors who live in Long Island (which is where I am from **squeals**), and grew apart because of their own differences. Travis becoming a professional baseball player, whom throughout out ends up getting injured and his career comes to an end. Georgie has known him since she was little, the youngest sister of Travi's best friend Steven. Always running around and following them as a child. She always attended all his games, Travis' biggest cheerleader, Georgie became enamored by him. To him, Georgie has always been Steven's little sister that no one pays attention to. But after one hangover morning, Travis' perspective towards her changes in the best of way. She is now all grown up, has bought her own house, is a clown for a living... YUP! You read that correctly, one of my favorite female characters of 2019 is a CLOWN FOR A LIVING! Georgie herself was surprisingly, not totally unlikable, just naive. But again, that's kind of the plot so I'll let it slide. However, one of her major goals in the book is to make sure "Travis knows his worth." To any younger reader reading this, please know that it is not your job to be your boyfriends therapist. Which is what Travis needs severely. A therapist. Can we please stop writing books that encourage the "I can fix him" narrative? Things like this just made the entire novel feel off. It felt like a first draft, where you just get it out and then adjust as you go along, moving around scenes to make the story flow. This story had no flow. It was just oh I love this dude hehehe I'm a clown ugh I am angry caveman for no reason wait what is a feelinG????? These characters were like aliens trying to be humans at times. There was so much extra inner monologue explaining that just did not!!! need!!!! to be there!!!!! SHOW not TELL! All this did was tell and it made for a complete disconnect from the story and the characters.

Throughout the entire book, the constant narrative of "I'm unhappy with my ball and chain of a wife" is pushed from EVERYWHERE. Okay, so the writing? Terrible. But one of the biggest problems for me was the pacing and the way events were placed in this story. From the very beginning, shit was just off. The first scene we're given feels like it should have been further into the book, not the introduction. The whole Just Us League (which is literally just women hanging out??? and having drinks????? IT'S NOT A CLUB IT'S JUST HANGING OUT GOOD GOD) should have been something that was introduced way earlier on if it was supposed to be the "heart" of this book or whatever. It was literally just a way for the author to introduce Rosie so that she could get us interested in a spinoff. Narrator voice: it did not get me interested, I skim read most of these parts because they did nothing for the plot and felt so randomly thrown in. If it was introduced way earlier, it'd be different. But nope. I can accept the part where he thinks of Georgie as the girl who actually saved him from being a complete mess all the time. Because that's true. Because she did/say some things that helped him.Georgie and Travis, oof. It's cringe. Random heartfelt, serious conversations come out of nowhere and feel extremely out of place. Their conversations consists of those weird serious ones and Travis manipulating her and constantly pointing out the age difference while Georgie tries to fix his problems. It's weird. And I didn't care about their relationship at all. She began her writing career in 2013 and until date, she has written a number of books that you will find very romantic. Tessa Bailey has also done different series like “Line of Duty” and “Crossing the Lines”. In the Line of Duty series, there are about six books with the pioneer book known as “Protecting What’s His”. The novel was published in 2013 while the second novel that was also published in 2013 is known as “His Risk to Take”. The men are always complaining about their wives in the book. Especially when it's Travis' POV and no women are around. A spicy, hilarious HGTV-inspired romantic comedy trilogy from the #1 New York Timesbestselling author of It Happened One Summerand Hook, Line, and Sinker!

I can only describe the intimate scenes as uncomfortable and kind of gross. It was humorous to hear myself making unintentional sounds of disgust.Dammit, Georgie. You had to be exactly what I need, didn’t you?”
I love the illustrated cover trend, but I have to start this review by saying that the cover of Fix Her Up doesn’t quite match the story. I thought I was jumping into an uber cute rom-com, and though this did have some cute and fun moments, it was a bit emotional and a crazy hot brothers best friend story. I've actually never read the "in-love-with-brother's-best-friend" trope and I think the trope sounds great and I was so excited for this esp. because I hadn't read any romances lately and my other current read had zero romance (as a subplot) in it too. I loved watching Georgie come into her own and start to believe in herself. That was my favorite part of the book. It wasn’t about her appearance changing some or her new clothing etc, it was about her finally feeling comfortable in her own skin. I also loved the ‘Just Us League’ and I’m dying for Rosie and Bethany’s books! I’m sure they’ll be just as great as this one was! I love Tessa Bailey's contemporary romances... the books are super sexy, but also deliver on an emotional level, and provide a lot of re-read romantic moments. -- Lucy Parker, author of Act Like It and The Austen Playbook

Tessa does it again. I laughed, swooned and had to look over my shoulder to make sure no one was reading the sexy scenes with me. Well-written, with great pacing and lovable characters, I absolutely loved everything about Fix Her Up. Mariana Zapata Along the way I feel like the story started to fall into the “one sex scene after another” and the plot doesn’t go anywhere tropegeorgie mentions a lot how her family and the town they live in still see her as the child, the little sister she was when she was younger. travis assures her that he sees more than that. but he destroys his case when he calls her "baby girl" constantly. i probably missed a few, but i have counted 49 times. i can get behind the concept that he calls her that during sexy times, but outside of bed it's mostly inappropriate. if you see her as an adult, don't call her BABY girl all the time. travis is supposed to be this very mature guy who has all this sexual experience. if he really would have had all this experience, one could think he'd have his sexual arousal a bit more under control. he doesn’t. travis is literally a 16-year-old teenager. there is not one chapter where he doesn't have a boner, thinks about sex or imagines a very normal situation in a sexual context. this boy is horny ALL OF THE TIME. he gets a boner from a hug. this is so incredibly ridiculous.

The story plot itself continues after agreeing to a deal of being in a fake relationship for the sake of his career and hers as well. Pretending turns into wanting more between them both when it comes down to the emotional and physical side of a relationship. Travis' restraint is at its thread or truly wanting Georgie, while she is virgin who is still enamored with her childhood/teenage crush. Once they are together however, everything around dissolves and it's only them two. The witch craft that Tessa has with her writing is one that always fascinates me and truly does leave me flabbergasted. And once you read their story, your heart will forever be melted with Tessa's writing. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about Travis being a bit alpha and possessive which is definitely true. Something I noticed while reading is that the book almost reads as a dom/sub relationship without fully taking it there. There’s a fair number of sex scenes (so be warned), and the language used by both parties reads more kinky than I would have expected from a mainstream romance. There are moments where the language veers into some virgin or even little kink (as Georgie is a virgin and it’s made a big deal of and she also comes off as very innocent). I honestly think if the author embraced that a bit more and made it more explicitly kinky, people might have had less issues. But since it’s not discussed by the characters, it comes off a bit weird. the ridiculous emphasis placed on georgie’s virginity makes this feel like an early 2000s book, except it was written in 2019 lol I get it. She used to never take care of her, always dressed like she didn't care what people thought, and was considered a child by almost everyone, including her big brother, so obviously Travis treated her like one too. And seeing the change in her, seeing she's beautiful, he couldn't resist her.

Publication Order of Serve Books

this book was wildly entertaining. now it’s not something out of the box and extraordinary but i thoroughly enjoyed it. it’s the vibes honestly. i loved the plot just as much as the romance. it was giving the rom and the com in rom-com. Tessa Bailey is one of the most prolific American female authors who has done excellent work in her career as a writer. She has written a myriad number of books that are available both online and locally. She is married and a mother of one. Tessa Bailey currently lives in New York City with her family. Her main passion is writing and reading romance, but whenever she isn’t either of these, you will find her enjoying a good argument and a recipe of about thirty minutes. Their families are friends. Georgie grew up with a huge crush on Travis. But he only sees her as his best friends little sister. So when it's Georgie that throws food, yes I said food, at his sorry behind to get his head on straight, Travis takes notice. That's the point where their friendship begins. I loved that the book didn't bounce right into a fake relationship. No, they became friends first. That made the set-up perfection. It didn't take over the story at all. It was just a small piece. Loved that.