Title: Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 397 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
A brand new romantic comedy from New York Times bestseller Tessa Bailey!
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:
The first installment in a promising new series, Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey is a sizzling hot romance.
Georgette “Georgie” Castle is the often overlooked and easily dismissed youngest daughter. At twenty-three, she has forged her own quirky path, but she is growing weary of not being taken seriously. She is smart and sassy, but Georgie continues to let her familial role define her decisions. Her first unexpected step in making much-needed changes is forcing her longtime crush, former baseball player, Travis Ford, to snap out of his self-pity over losing his career to a shoulder injury. While continuing to push him out of his misery, Georgie discovers that not only does she want, but deserves, more respect from her family. Finding an unanticipated ally in her older sister, Bethany, they, along with their friend, Rosie, begin a club to help empower themselves. She also offers to help Travis repair his image in hopes of nabbing a sports commentator job. But will Georgie’s heart survive when it is time for their fake relationship to end?
Due to his dysfunctional childhood, baseball has always been Travis’s ticket to a better life and a sense of belonging. In the aftermath of losing his career, he is depressed and certain his father’s predictions have come to fruition. Equally frustrating is how he is defined by his well-earned womanizing reputation. Needless to say, Travis is caught in a downward spiral that shows no sign of ending until Georgie’s well-timed intervention. Now working construction with his best-friend and Georgie’s older brother, Stephen, Travis is reluctantly back in the land of the living. Shocked by Georgie’s sudden transformation from his best friend’s sister to a vibrant, sexy woman, will Travis continue to resist his burning hot attraction to her?
Travis and Georgie’s interactions are an enticing blend of heart to heart conversations and off the charts sexual tension. Their discussions are endearing and heartwarming but unfortunately, their emotional connection is overpowered by their simmering sexual attraction. The overly long and detailed extremely smutty fantasies become tedious and Travis’s nickname for Georgie and her reaction when he says it is distasteful in light of the changes she attempting to make.
Despite a few minor irritations, Fix Her Up is a tantalizing, super steamy romance. Georgie is a delightful breath of fresh air and watching her come into her own is quite uplifting. Travis is an overall likeable character and it is immensely gratifying when he finally discovers his self-worth. Travis and Georgie’s romance is believable but just as Georgie and Travis are on the cusp of finding happiness, a misunderstanding and familial interference bring their romance to an abrupt end. Tessa Bailey brings this charming romance to a swoon-worthy conclusion that is absolutely delightful.
