Today I have Ely from Of Wonderland on the blog. Last year we did a discussion post on Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. And we thought it was high time to do another one. This time it’s Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey. I mean what is better than talking about books with your best friend. So here we go. 

Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered #1) by Tessa Bailey

Pages: 400
Publish date: June 11th 2019
Publisher: Avon
ISBN: 9780062872838
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU – QBD

Fix Her Up:

Angel: General contemporary romance isn’t something that I normally read a lot of. That sounds strange I know. However, I normally read subgenre’s of romance like historical romance, military romance and sports romance and this is what I would consider a general romance. I was a little hesitant going into this one, but it received a lot of hype from romance bloggers and booktubers so I was game to give it a go. And Ely is always my partner in crime so I dragged her along for the ride. 

Ely: I think I probably read maybe two or three contemporary romances a year, so this is not my normal cup of tea. But like Angel said, we’re partners in crime so I had to give this a go too. And oh boy. This was a ride…

A: We haven’t really talked to each other about our thoughts yet, but I have a feeling that our thoughts are along the same lines? I was disappointed. It’s not a bad book by any means, but it’s not good either. I think I just had quite a few issues with it. 

E: Honestly the most enjoyable thing about this book was reading particular scenes and just knowing deep in my soul that you would have disliked it as much as me. Look, it’s going to be the right book for someone out there, but those someones weren’t us. I feel like we should mention some positives here? What did you like?

A: I agree with everything you just said. I was reading it first and I knew, I just knew. But of course, there were positives. Overall, I did enjoy the romance. It uses one of my favourite tropes of all-time best friends siblings. And the angst and romance between Georgette and Travis were really sweet. How did you find the romance as a whole?

E: I also really like Georgie and Travis for the most part. They are sweet together, and honestly, I can’t resist a hot athlete romance. I thought they had some great banter, and the way that Travis really respects and supports her was nice. But I know we had problems with at least one of the same aspects…the sex scenes.

A: Oh gosh they were horrible. Like cringe-worthy, I want to skip, kind of scenes. After finishing the book I went and read some reviews of Fix Her Up and a couple of her other books. And a lot of people had the same response. They were just really bad. They are poorly written and sounded so out of character. The first time it happens I had to stop and re-read because it felt so different from everything else that was written. It really did take me aback. 

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E: I definitely agree. They just made me feel so uncomfortable. I think I said to you after I read the first one that I would’ve just left if I’d been Georgie. Like just the things Travis said to her made me want to put my head through a wall. It was just kind of strange, and as you said seemed so out of character. 

A: While I didn’t like the sex scenes. I really did enjoy both Georgie and Travis. I think they were both pretty fleshed-out characters. They both had pretty good character arcs and I enjoyed seeing the journey that they both went on. I think I did like Georgie more, she was just easier to connect with and understand. What about you? 

E: I think that’s what made me so sad about those scenes—I loved Georgie and Travis so much that it kind of unfair that the sex scenes weren’t more in character for them. I do agree with what you’ve said, but I also felt a little disappointed in part of the story. Maybe the later books will go more into it, but I would have liked to have seen more change in Georgie’s life. I feel like there was a big focus on Travis’ career and less so on Georgie’s. Am I the only one?

A: Oh no I totally agree with you. There is such a big deal made throughout the novel about Georgie’s career, but then I felt that it fell flat and we really didn’t see much from it. I did enjoy seeing Travis overcome everything that did happen regarding his career. But it would have been nice to see Georgie get that satisfaction too. Talking about Georgie’s career. While I really loved seeing such a unique career aspect in a romance novel, I felt that at times it was being made fun of? Or was that just me? 

E: Oh it was definitely been made fun of. Like sure, I get it—birthday clowns = funny. Plus, definitely not your typical romance heroine kind of job. But there was something about the way it was dealt with that just got on my nerves. I don’t even know how to put it into words, but there was just something. I did understand why her family treated her like they did, but there was something about that dynamic too that felt flat to me. What did you think about the club Georgie was in with the other two women?

A: I absolutely agree. It was just strangely presented in the book, and the reader is able to tell that Georgie does love her job. But I didn’t feel that the author represented it right. I did enjoy Georgie’s girl group, but again I felt that it fell flat. It was getting some great traction and then bam – nothing. I always love some good women bonding in novels over men and their lives, yet I didn’t feel that it had enough attention. Maybe that was the problem, there were just too many things happening in the novel that there wasn’t enough time to focus on everything. What did you think? 

E: I’m glad you said that because I feel the same. Maybe we’re kind of spoilt because we just have each other and so we’ve got to be each other’s number one supporters? But I just felt like they didn’t really care about each other that much. Like just thinking about the girls in the Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas, which we both obviously love, those girls are willing to do anything for each other? While these one’s kind of felt like they had this group and they were helping each other, but only to a point. I just feel like there’s so much more they could’ve done. Again, maybe I’m just thinking that way because God knows you’ve gone much further to help me with things than they seem to?

A: YES! I felt that the only relationship through the book that had any connection was Georgie and Travis. Otherwise, everything else felt forced. Talking about relationships, Georgie. Was it only me, but did you hate them? Even after Travis stands up for her, they don’t really change. They still act the same towards Georgie and nothing else is said. I love family dynamics in books and I felt there was nothing in this one. Reality is I didn’t really care for many of the other characters. 

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E: Oh her family is the absolute worst. I hated every single one of them. Her sister treats her terribly, even after they make this girl group thing. Her sister-in-law is just plain awful. And her mother is weird? Like weirdly distant but also a little too involved. And her brother? Ugh. Nope. There was definitely something weird in his relationship with his wife. Like rocking up to everywhere she was and dragging her home? So weird! If I was Georgie I would’ve either left or killed them by that point. 

A: I’m glad that I’m not alone. I’ve read a fair few awful families in books but this just felt so strange. I felt that they had no respect for her or even themselves really. Her parents were MIA, did we only meet then once? I can’t even remember. But it was such a strange relationship. And her siblings, argg. You could see that Georgie wanted more from them, but they gave her nothing. 

E: I think we met her mum twice? For someone who showed up in her daughter’s life so little, she really overreacted to things. Like when the whole relationship with Travis made the news or whatever, and the sister said she was mad that she didn’t know about it. Like I don’t know, maybe if you actually spoke to your daughter? I know that it’s part of the story and all but you get me. It’s just aggravating. What about the stuff with Travis’ parents, how did you feel about that?

A: I totally get you. It was like why do you care? I didn’t really care much for Travis’ parents either. But I do think it gave backstory to Travis and the way that he interacts with people and the thoughts he has on relationships. It gave the reader reasoning for Travis having this wall. And it was great being able to see Georgie break down that wall, slowly. 

E: I agree. It kind of annoyed me at the time that there’s this whole mystery around it. I found it really hard to follow what had happened, and then when we were told I was like ‘oh, that’s really simple’. I don’t know, the build-up made me feel like it was going to be this huge thing. Now I guess it’s time for the big question…would you recommend this to other readers, romance or not?

A: For sure. It was like okay, it was a messy divorce. There are a lot of those. And yes it does mess with a child. But the whole town knew everything about it, why was the reader hidden from it? Ahh, the big question. And I will be honest, I had to say no. There are so many more amazing romance novels out there. Especially contemporary one that does so much more, that are so much more. Honestly, I’m just really disappointed. What about you?

E: Exactly, like divorce is pretty common these days, unfortunately. Doesn’t make it any less sad, but just the way it was hidden made it seem like something really, really bad had happened. I’m going to have to agree with you there. While I don’t think this is the worst contemporary romance out there, it’s definitely not up there on the list either. I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely not continuing the series. I cared even less about Rosie and Dominic’s story. 

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A: No I agree it’s not the worst one out there, but it’s not something that I would recommend to customers or other readers. I’m also with you on the series. I will not be continuing it for sure. This really was the only one that caught my eye, and I didn’t enjoy it. I’ve heard some not great things about the other books as well, so I think this might be the end of the series for me. I might be willing to give Tessa Bailey another go in the future, but not for a while. 

E: Yeah maybe if she puts out something that really grabs my attention, but I doubt that’ll be any books in this series. I swear, one day we won’t get sucked into romance books because of their pretty covers. But I guess that’s worked out fine for us until now, right?

A: It has worked up until now. We have had pretty good luck when we buddy read a book. I guess our luck had to run out sometime. Hopefully next time we can read something that we both love. 

E: Yes, next time we get to do a discussion like this let’s hope it’s less of a rant and more of ‘omg this book’ like most of our regular conversations are.

A: Sounds perfect. Are there any books that you would like Ely and I to buddy read and have a discussion like this? Let us know! 

E: Well thanks so much for doing this with me again. We always have way too much fun doing these. But hey, we’d be doing this without our blogs too.

Have you guys read Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey? What did you think of it? Are your thoughts similar to mine and Ely’s? Let’s Chat!