“Fix Her Up ticks all my romance boxes. Not only is it hilarious, it’s sweet, endearing, heartwarming and downright sexy. It’s a recipe for the perfect love story.” – Helena Hunting, New York Times bestselling author of Meet Cute
A steamy, hilarious new romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey, perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne!Georgette Castle’s … Tessa Bailey, perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne!
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…
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Fun little book but seriously hot!!!
Nobody takes Georgie seriously- she’s a professional clown for goodness sake- so she sets a plan in motion to appear more mature and to repair the manwhore image of her brothers ballplayer best friend by pretending to be his girlfriend. Phew!! That’s a lot. But it is truly cute, Georgie is hilarious & Travis is panty melting.
This sizzling hot book will find you cheering for the characters. When her brother’s best friend, a baseball star who recently retired due to injury, comes home, innocent Georgie finds herself drawn to him. He has a reputation as a lady’s man, and he’s not about to take advantage of his friend’s kid sister. He pushes her off, but it isn’t long before he finds himself responding to her.
While I enjoyed this book and thought it very well written, it’s not for the skittish and tame. This book is filled with hot sex, BSDM, and crude language. If you’re looking for a clean romance, this is NOT it. However, if you’re looking for a book that will find you rooting for the characters to get together and don’t mind the steamy bedroom scenes, you’ll likely enjoy this one.
This is the first book in a series. I hope to read the others at some point. This was a perfect book to read when under duress.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank them for their generosity, but it had not effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey is a romance with a good portion of sex thrown in. Georgie has been in love with her brother’s best friend since middle school. He is a professional baseball player. She is a clown. Literally. He comes home to lick his wounds when his career has ended due to an injury. And it’s been a month now, and no sign of him. Georgie hears from her brother than he is holing up and drinking and feeling sorry for himself. She goes to his apartment and gives him what for, starting with throwing melted ice cream over him and then lo mien. He is not happy. She is a pest. It does, however, snap him out of his funk, and he reports to Stephen, Georgie’s brother who runs a house-flipping business, for a job. Things proceed awkwardly until Georgie and Travis agree to pretend to be in love: she to wake her family up to the fact she is an adult. He: to provide a family-friendly image to the head of a network that is looking for on on-air broadcaster. Ya gotta know where this is headed.
This is a cute story that didn’t really need the sex to make it readable. That’s what Tessa Bailey does: sex. The two falling in love was an entertaining journey between two simplistic characters that do at least have senses of humor. Georgie is a birthday party clown, her own business, but she recognizes how much more she could do if she could provide more services. She just doesn’t have the confidence. Travis has lots of demons from his childhood, which he needs to expunge. His parents, especially his father, had never been supportive, in fact had been purposely negative, tearing him down at every opportunity. Georgie saw this and determined to fix it, which she did. Travis finally got it, too. It was a fun read.
I was invited to read Fix Her Up by Netgalley. All opinions contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #fixherup
Georgie still feels like an invisible third child at 23. She works as a birthday clown, and put aside enough money to buy herself a little house that needs a lot of work. And you would think that her family of house flippers, interior designers, and construction workers would be all over helping her start her first project, the fireplace, but you would be wrong. When her brother’s best friend is the only one who shows up for Sunday brunch for her housewarming, Travis is the one who offers to help. Mostly out of gratitude for Georgie tearing him a new one for wallowing in misery and squalor after he comes home from a baseball career ending injury. Georgie has had a crush on Travis for most of her life, and she hates seeing him depressed. When Travis has a chance of being a baseball announcer, he need to clean up his image fast. Who better to help than the sweet as cream Georgie? The problem with short term fake relationships is the possibility that someone catches real feelings and gets hurt. So as long as Travis can keep from falling in love with the dynamo who defends him even from himself or breaking her heart by turning into his crappy parents, everything will be peachy! So you know how that is going to turn out! Enjoy these two cuties and the Just Us League’s antics! Happy Reading!
I really enjoyed the connection the two shared. They are so great together. I love how she supported the man. And the ending was swoon worthy.
I read Love Her or Leave her first and wished I had them in in order. Cute love story. I would like to see the author write one sweet love scene to go along with her steamy episodes.
Tessa Bailey is a new author for me. I heard both good and not so good reviews about this book, but since I wanted to explore and find new authors to read, I got this book and I’m not disappointed. This is a story of second chance romance between two people who have known each other since childhood although the infatuation that grew into love was one-sided during their younger years. Both the hero and the heroine lacked self-assurance. Travis believed that he was a failure just like his father always thought of him, while Georgie was the funny girl whose family always thought of the middle child who has nothing to contribute to the success of their construction business because all she knows is being a clown in kid’s birthday parties.
I laughed, swooned, and cried reading the interaction between the two main characters. It showed how one’s love and caring can infuse self-confidence into the one he/she loves.
Definitely worth the 5-star rating!
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey is GOLD. Tessa is a genius, her writing is always on point, and I know I will love her characters and her stories; the only question is how long does it take me to get there. Answer? Usually just by even knowing the book exists as all else will follow!
And Fix Her Up? The premise had me hooked from the get go, but then I met Georgie on the page. And let me tell you, I truly did fall in love then. She is earnest and kind and endearing and charming and so gosh darn loveable and I want to be her friend please and thank you!
And then we have Travis…oh Travis, how I long to both cuddle you and smack you upside the head! Charming, stubborn, just a bit blind, charming, and so loveable, especially when you see beneath the façade.
The secondary characters are amazing and I cannot help but hope they’ll each get their own story, and I am living to experience them! My heart breaks even as it gets healed pages later.
The emotions are real with this book, let me tell you! In the span of just a few pages I have laughed, snorted, sighed, mentally swooned, and gasped. We’re ignoring the fact that tears may have almost fallen. And it happens continually throughout this book; it grabs you and doesn’t let go, and you will love that experience!
And the chemistry? It is HOT! Even as they fight it. It’s there simmering away beneath the surface, and I am LIVING for it. Tessa is a QUEEN when it comes to dirty talk and shmekshay times and I was definitely enjoying how she used her powers in this story!
P. S. Everyone needs a Dale in their life! Unless you can get a Travis…then ABSOLUTELY get a Travis!
P. P. S. I am now HUNGRY for Rosie and Dom’s story!
I really enjoyed this cute and funny read. Georgette and Travis are both really relatable characters. The emotions and insecurities that they have are very real and relatable and I found myself really sympathizing with Georgette. I loved how they have known each other for years, they have this easy and comforting connection between the two of them. I loved how he was quick to help Georgette fix up her house and I loved watching them try and deny their feelings for one another but eventually were unable to deny the attraction between them. Their road to happily-ever-after was not simple. They had a lot of ups and downs but I loved how they navigated their challenges in the relationship. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
MC Georgette Castle’s family runs the best home renovation business in town. She loves planning children’s birthday parties and making people laugh. Georgie is ready make some life changes, firstly dating which she hasn’t done in awhile. There’s her Brother’s best friend Travis Ford, he was a major league baseball’s hottest rookie when an injury ended his career. Now he’s flipping houses, but he can’t even cross the street without someone recapping his greatest hits. Georgie has a wild idea that they pretend to date, to shock her family and help him land a new job and Travis agrees. This is a cute rom com but I was surprised with some of the raunchiness. Thanks to the Book Club Girls, Harper Collins Publishing, and NetGalley for an ebook copy. This is my honest review.
This book was FUN! It was my first Tessa Bailey novel and I originally read it because Love Her or Lose Her was suggested to me when I asked for recs with an already married couple. My OCD usually prevents me from going out of order, so of course, I had to start with book 1.
I’m so glad I did! I loved Georgie! She was quirky and fun and had a mostly take no crap attitude. The thing that stuck out the most for me was that she wasn’t taken seriously as the “baby” of the family. See, that’s me…the baby. I’m the youngest of 7 and there have been times in my life when instead of seeing me as the adult that I was, people saw the kid I used to be. I’m not sure how that happens, but it’s a real thing. *Side note – trying really hard NOT to do the same thing to my youngest, now almost 20.* But I digress…
Travis was great and I enjoyed his inner monologue when trying to reconcile what was happening with his feeling for Georgie. Contrary to other reviews I’ve read, I actually liked the “baby girl” nickname. I realize this is in conflict with what I said above, but somehow it worked for me.
The ending was a little predictable, but that didn’t make me love it any less because it felt right. I can’t wait for book 3 because I loved Bethany and need to hear her story!
This book is steamy AF, so you’ve been warned if that’s not your thing.
/5
Fix Her Up is a cross between little sister/big brother’s best friend romance and pretend relationship to real lovers romance. This book is a total pickup me up read, totally predictable and way sexy but a feel good read to cure even the most down in the dumps reader. Georgette Castle has been seen as the little sister or a kid for all of her twenty-three years so much that instead of joining her family’s renovation business, she hangs out with kids at birthday parties as a clown performer. Her entertainment business is going pretty good but she has plans to grow bigger if she can get anyone to see her as adult. Her brother’s best friend and Georgie’s childhood crush, Travis Ford is wallowing in self pity after his major league ball career ended from an injury. Marching in like the annoying little sister, Georgie drags Travis back to living his life until Travis starts noticing his best friends little sister. Both find unexpected support and understanding in the other as they quickly become friends. An incredible broadcasting opportunity is offered to Travis if he can show he’s changed his playboy ways and little Georgie is willing to play his girlfriend. Real feelings and lust cloud up the game plan as Travis and Georgie swing their way to a sweet HEA that will stay on my bookshelf to re-read and cheer me up when skies get a little gray. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.
First Tessa Bailey book I’ve read, and it won’t be the last. Loved the characters. Loved that it made me laugh.
I love the tropes Brother’s Best Friend and Fake Relationship, and Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey includes both in it. Thanks again to the #Romanceopoly2020 Challenge for having me read this book because I’ve had it on my TBR for a while now. Last year was a rough year of being sick, though, so I’m slowly but surely catching up on previously released books.
I’ve read previous books from author Tessa Bailey, so I know I was going to get a fantastic story out of Fix Her Up. I fell hard not only for the tropes that were in this book but the characters, Georgette Castle and Travis Ford.
I’m not going to give a detailing of the book because the synopsis does an excellent job of describing the book. Here are some things that I loved about Fix Her Up:
1. Female Protagonist, Georgette Castle. She plans birthday parties for kids and dresses up as a clown. Her personality is adorable, and she is determined to be seen as an adult and not as a little kid. Unfortunately, her family sees her as a bit of a kid still, even though she is grown and has her own business. She has the help of Travis Ford to convince her family that she is grown, also though he’s hesitant to help her since Georgie is his best friend’s little sister.
2. Male Protagonist, Travis Ford. He used to be the hottest baseball player rookie until he got injured. Now he’s back in his hometown trying to live his life. Unfortunately, his character is seen as a player, and everyone still sees him as that, even his best friend. There’s only one person that doesn’t see him that way, and that’s his best friend’s little sister, Georgie. I liked how Travis fought hard not to fall for Georgie, but he couldn’t help it in the book. He saw Georgie as a grown-up and not as a little kid anymore. He was very protective of her and wanted to help her.
3. The fake relationship that Georgie and Travis decided on doing to help each other. I knew one or both would start having feelings. It happens. These two were meant to be real, though, and not fake.
4. The club that Georgie was in with her sister and every woman wanted to be apart of eventually. The men were scared over this club.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy was how everyone treated Georgie in the story. Travis did the same thing at first until he started realizing how everyone else was treating her. Georgie’s family drove me nuts with blowing Georgie off as a kid. There was a particular scene in the book that I wanted to go through the book and hug Georgie. Travis, though stepped up and helped her.
Oh, and if I haven’t said it, yet, I love brother’s best friend romances. Georgie’s brother didn’t like the romance brewing between his best friend and his little sister. The overprotective brother had it handed to him at the end, though. There was a lot of hot romance scenes between the main characters, so be prepared to take a cold shower afterwards.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, definitely. If you are a fan of romantic comedies and contemporary romances, then this book is for you. I also <3 the cover of the book too!
I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
I really enjoyed this book and I enjoyed Georgie’s character the most. She was so strong willed and I absolutely loved her snark. She has had a crush on her brothers best friend Travis for years, and when he comes home after a career ending shoulder injury, she sees he needs some help getting his life back on track. Travis was a womanizer (which we all know how much I love those) but since he has come back to his hometown he realizes that all the people in his life before were there only for his glory. Once it faded, he had no one left that really mattered. He needed a fake relationship for a job offer and she needed it for everyone to take her seriously. He didn’t expect to have such strong feelings for his best friends little sister, but we all know, you can’t plan life sometimes.
I read a sample of this book and was automatically hooked. I had to get my hands on the book once I was done with the sample. It’s a must read if you’re into sappy romance novels like I am.
OMG! This is an amazing hilarious read. I absolutely loved this story. Travis is a mess and Georgie is a HOT mess, together they steam up the pages and create a perfect couple. This is the first book in Tessa Bailey’s Hot and Hammered Series. It is a serious Rom Com, I can’t remember the last time i laughed this hard over a Rom Com. The characters, main and supporting , compliment each other perfectly. I love that I can see along the way more characters that I want to know more about. I can’t wait for more books in this series!
I echo a quote I read recently in Entertainment Weekly that declares that Tessa Bailey is the Michelangelo of dirty talk. This is a deliciously apt statement. The chemistry between the two protagonists is off the charts, and the writing is witty and engaging.
I think one of the hallmarks of a successful romance novel is that any of the included “romance” is to only entertaining, but actually serves that plot and demonstrates a development in the characters. This is true in this novel, where we see both Georgie and Travis evolve as people while also enjoying Bailey’s aforementioned mastery of dirty talk. The supporting characters in the novel also feel fully fleshed out, which doesn’t always happen in this genre. This is going to be me new go-to book that I gift because it’s so entertaining and endearing.
Shouting from the rooftops to go buy this stinkin’ cute romance because it’s one of the best romances I’ve read this year. This was love at first page. I couldn’t stop laughing during the first chapter and the book is so well written. Plus it never hurts in my book to throw in an older brother’s best friend as the hero.
This book hit me straight in the feels, giving me lots of hilariousness and all the entirely relateable youngest sibling issues. I loved everything and I’m so excited for more characters in this series to have books. Features lovable characters and strong female friendships.
The Just Us League needs to be a real thing, I’d definitely join.
Some background on why I read this now: I’ve been drafting my latest #romanticcomedy which now includes a racy scene for me as an author. The cover has been done for a couple of months now, and it came out looking illustrated, and very chick-lit looking. When I trialed the cover, mentions of Fix Her Up came up in comments. I remembered that people were shocked by the racy prose in Fix Her Up when they thought they were picking up a sweet RomCom from the cover. I had to get this one off my TBR list to compare. So, I was already warned about the heat level.
About the Story/the characters: Since I already knew about the heat level, it allowed me to move past the sexy parts to really see the story, which was very entertaining. I loved this new spin on a heroine finding her place in the world and a hero, trying to break out of his mold. The fake romance trope is cute and well done here to up the sexual tension. There are a lot of funny parts, crazy antics that you could see happening on screen–the For Us meeting that went out of control, throwing lo mien on Travis, the clown birthday parties. All cute, funny, original spin on #romcom tropes.
Travis is written so true to form, baseball player drummed out of the league due to injury, not finding anywhere to fit in and wanting to just be left alone. This is really his story, as I see the most change in him.
Georgie sees herself as she could be, but when no one else does, she realizes she has to prove it to others. Her family times, especially that dinner where they were all together made me cringe. It reminded me a lot of Me Before You and how Louisa’s family constantly puts her down or ignores her.
With all the characters, but especially Travis and the guys, I kept getting a Southern rural vibe, probably because that’s what I know (I grew up there), but still. I did not get The Hamptons/Long Island/ wherever they were. I got Backwoods Carolinas where Braves’ baseball plays on TV all summer long, guys call grown women “baby girl,” and people know each other and are always in each other’s business. Small town antics are small town antics everywhere, I guess.
So back to the sexy parts: Yes, this is hotter than most cutesy romcoms, but it’s not anything to be shocked about. (Also, most popular cutesy romcoms are YA if you think about it–read: Netflix) Unless you’re all about the Hallmark channel heat level for your romantic comedies. I would say it’s more dirty talk than dirty action. If you’re not into open-door sex or filthy mouths or sexual play, then yep you will be shocked here. If you like Penny Reid and Sierra Simone, you’re going to wonder what all the fuss is about.
The one thing I didn’t like is the manwhore/virginal girl trope. It annoys me so much in general. Here, I think it has a bigger purpose than just a trope for the sexy parts, so I tolerated it. It’s part of how people see them and how they see each other, so it kind of works.
Overall this was a funny, entertaining read. And though I may subtitle mine “A Dirty Romantic Comedy” both mine and Bailey’s are tame compared to some I’ve read. Lesson here: Don’t judge a book solely by it’s cover. But do be drawn in by it.