I really enjoyed this companion novel to Fix Her Up. Rosie and Dominic are married, but they have been going through the motions ever since he got back from Afghanistan. Rosie is fed up and tired of being unhappy, so she makes the decision to leave her husband. He wants her back and to her immense surprise, he agrees to go to marriage counseling to see if they can save their marriage. I thought Rosie and Dominic had amazing chemistry. That was not the problem. I did think Dominic was a likable, but frustrating, character. It was so frustrating to see him do nice things for his wife in secret and to think that she didn't need anything but his paycheck. I loved how stubborn Rosie was and how willing she was to put her own happiness first, for once. It was nice seeing her finally go after her dream of owning a restaurant. I thought this author did a great job of showing these two people slowly let down their guards to each other and try to work on their marriage. Marriage is tough and these people were willing to put in the work to fix it. I also liked that Rosie started to acknowledge what role she played in the breakdown of their marriage. Yes, Dominic was cold and distant after coming back from Afghanistan, but Rosie played her part as well.

So what didn't I like about this one? Well, it was a bit annoying that Rosie got turned on about EVERYTHING Dominic said and did. I thought the author went overboard with that. For example, Dominic wrote Rosie a letter to explain how he felt about her. This was homework right after joining therapy. Even though there was NOTHING sexual in the letter, Rosie was so turned on she couldn't see straight. Oy. Also, I was so incredibly frustrated with Dominic's decision to keep the secret from Rosie. I won't give away any spoilers, but I just wanted to strangle him for continuing to lie to her.

All in all, this was a great read and I am really looking forward to the next novel in this series.

Not going to lie, I was a little scared to read a romance about two people trying to put back together a marriage that’s been falling apart for years. But I trusted Tessa Bailey to do it so, so right—and she delivered.

Really. In the space of one scene I went from tears trickling down my face to hysterical giggling. Rosie and Dom are an absolute delight, as are all our favorite characters from the town at large. There was something about this couple’s quiet hurts that I found really resonated with me.

Love Her or Lose Her is funny, deeply emotional, impossibly sweet, and—obviously—extremely sexy. I adored it.

Thank you to HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

Tessa Bailey is quickly becoming one of my favorite steamy romance authors! I loved this book, Love Her or Lose Her, following Dominic and Rosie. After meeting these characters in Fix Her Up, Bailey’s previous book, I was excited to learn more about their relationship. Rosie and Dom have such an intense chemistry, it’s so much fun to read. And honestly, I wanted to try her Argentinian food because it was described so deliciously in the book.

5 stars to Tessa Bailey and her novel, Love Her or Lose Her. I can’t wait to read more from her!

Dominic and Rosie are high school sweethearts. After they married, Dominic left to go overseas and serve his country. Their relationship struggle during his time away, and when he came back, they didn't find their original footing. After years of living with a stranger, Rosie decided to leave her husband. This was just the wake up Dominic needed to realize things had to change.

After reading Fix Her Up, I was really intrigued about Dominic and Rosie's relationship. Usually romance novels are about the meeting and falling in love, whereas this one is about a married couple on the rocks.

You follow Rosie and Dominic as they finally come to terms that their marriage isn't perfect and they need to make some changes. After Rosie leaves Dominic, she suggests they go to marriage counseling, thinking there's no way Dominic will say yes, but he does! They meet with this strange, hippy counselor and do some intimate, strange activities to work through their problems.

Overall, I did enjoy the book. I found their problems to be pretty relatable, they got in this routine and forgot to spice it up and DATE and COMMUNICATE. I feel these are very common mistakes that happen in marriages everyday. I did become frustrated with both of them, for their secrets and lack of communication. I just wanted to scream at them to stop being so stubborn!!

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

4 Stars / 3 Steam Fans

I enjoyed this next book in the Hot & Hammered Series because it deals with a topic that is not usually talked about in contemporary romance. Married couple Rosie and Dominic are at a low point in their marriage where they decide that it is time to let things go. However, neither of them wants to let go of the love that they have, so this is their journey to find out if love is worth the fight. I did feel like there were a few topics that were introduced into the journey that was not resolved or explored, but overall there was a lightness, strength, and sexiness that connected Rosie and Dominic's journey to things that happen during real-life marriages.

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I wanted to LOVE this as much as I loved Fix Her Up and this book just fell short for me!! I was a little disappointed truth be told. It just didn’t live up to my expectations or Fix Her Up.

Fix Her Up was such a great read unfortunately this one didn't come close to hitting that same mark. It was oh so steamy but I just couldn’t connect with Dominic and Rosie. It lacked overall plot and / or twist for me. If you’re looking for a second chance romance, definitely give it a try. I hope you enjoy it. For me it was just alright. I definitely needed a little more from Dominic and Rosie.

Thank you Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’m shocked that I enjoyed this as much as I did. Book one in series, Fix Her Up, was...not my favorite. Didn’t love the couple together, didn’t really like the male lead at all, didn’t like the gratuitous use of “baby girl” as a pet name. (FIFTY-TWO TIMES.)

Another strike against Love Her or Lose Her is that it centers on an already married couple whose marriage is ending. Cheery, huh? And also not something I think of myself as enjoying.

So it’s a bit of a miracle that I read this one at all. But I read the synopsis and was intrigued. So much so that I requested an arc.

Dominic and Rosie are amazing together. So believable. I don’t think anyone could deny their passion for each other. They have, however, fallen into a terrible rut. They don’t talk. They don’t share their feelings. They don’t know anything about each other’s lives anymore. The only element of their marriage still standing is the physical. Whoo, boy. They are still going strong in the department.

What I loved most about Dominic and Rosie’s story is how much they both grow and evolve over the course of the book. Especially Dom. Some negative reviews I’ve read complain about how “alpha” he is. And that’s true. He was raised by extremely traditional parents. Especially his father. And so, as a husband, he believes his role is to provide, to protect, and to never ever ever show weakness or emotion. Which is, of course, exactly what Rosie needs him to do.

Dominic is a lesson in toxic masculinity. It was heartbreaking to watch him wrestle with his feelings and self-perceived “weaknesses.” Fortunately, he thoroughly and convincingly changes for the better. Both his and Rosie's stubbornness was frustrating, but believable.

Side note: this one also features a ridiculous pet name (honey girl) ((eww)) but it’s less frequent and, thus, less hideous than in the first book.


So glad I didn’t give up on this series and gave Rosie and Dom a go.

4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

So I might have been in the minority in that I really liked the first book in this series and I was hoping I would like this one just as well. I had a hard time connecting to this couple, probably because it's not a storyline I can connect with since I've never been married and dealt with the issues that can spring up in a long term relationship. I did start to love Rosie more, she was a little bit of a sad-sack in Fix Her Up. Seeing her relationship and the world through her perspective and her relationship in this book I could understand her better. I like Dominic okay, I think the character arc was believable and the relationship and issues seemed so as well. I love the supporting characters and wished we had more interactions with them -- although sometimes I found myself caring more for the supporting characters than the main couple. Overall, I think it was a strong addition to the series as a building-block to the next book in the series.

Childhood sweethearts Rosie and Dominic married nearly ten years ago before Dominic's first deployment overseas. They used to spend hours just talking and sharing their hopes and dreams for their future, but over time, the talk has fizzled out. To the point where they practically live in silence - except for their routine sexytimes on Tuesdays.

Then one day Rosie has decided she's had enough. She's tired of being silent, she's tired of putting her dreams on hold for no reason. So she leaves.

But Rosie and Dominic's relationship is built on a foundation of true undeniable love. Neither one really wants to see the marriage end. When Dominic agrees to marriage counselling, both Rosie and Dominic will learn what the other needs in order to salvage their marriage.

When they think progress is being made and they can move forward, could a long-kept secret by Dominic bring things crumbling down?

I think I can honestly say that Love Her or Lose Her is the rare romance I've read tackling issues within a marriage where the people are still together. Typically they're either already divorced for years and find their way back to one another or they're just divorced. I liked seeing the work Rosie and Dominic put into their marriage, that they put into the problems in their marriage to try to fix what is broken. I loved that Tessa Bailey gives readers both sides of the coin. The story is told from both Rosie and Dominic's point of view and you can see where each played a part in how their marriage has gotten to the point it's in at the beginning. Although I will say that Dominic is painted as more of the problem with his inability to open up to Rosie. It's something that has long-reaching consequences, but by the end I don't feel like we truly figure out why Dominic slowly closed himself off to Rosie. Was is things he saw overseas? His upbringing? Is it the fact that they've been together for so long? All of these are kind of batted around as possibly reasons, but I never felt like we get down to the actual source. Likewise with Rosie. I don't know if it's supposed to be a little superfluous or vague enough that readers can see themselves in and more clearly identify with the characters so form that connection. If it's a commentary on how marriages - relationships in general - are constant work. That once you slack off in putting in the effort the results will never be good. Part of me sees this and agrees, but part of me wanted just a little more out of Rosie and Dominic fixing their problems.

I didn't read the first book in the series and for all intents and purposes you don't really have to, but I do wonder if, as secondary characters, we see a little more of the marriage problems creeping up in Rosie and Dominic's relationship before where we start at the beginning of their own story. Based on how the other secondary characters are featured in this one, I'm going to assume that's a yes.

Speaking of, Tessa Bailey had a few great sparking moments between a couple of said secondary characters that has completely ensnared me into needing to read the next book when it's available.

Love Her or Lose Her is the first book I've read by Tessa Bailey and for all that I think it's supposed to be more light-hearted, I thought the seriousness of dealing with a broken marriage was well done. The fact that sometimes love may not be enough is startling, but that just means you have to fight harder for it if it's truly important.

I'm not gonna lie - I love Tessa Bailey and I loved Fix Her Up, so I was super stoked for Love Her or Lose Her and Rosie and Dominic's story. As a married person (whose relationship is far from perfect), so many parts of their story hit so very close to home, which made the reading experience very cathartic and emotional for me. It meant a lot to me personally to see Rosie stand up for herself and prioritize her emotional needs - it is so common for women to put our needs and feelings on the back burner for so long that we forget that we even have them, let alone the fact that they are not being met. I also really appreciated that BOTH partners had to take responsibility for the things that were wrong in their relationship. However, a lot of the plot and issues in their relationship stem from a massive failure (on both of their parts) to communicate. While that is so very true to life, it is also one of my biggest pet peeves in books AND in this case, the failure to communicate was on a scale that I just could not understand and it honestly dampened my joy in reading. That being said, I really did enjoy the book - it had all the emotions and heat that I've come to expect and love from Tessa Bailey. I"m really excited to continue on with the series, especially since the next book appears to be enemies to lovers and there's a child involved! 4 out of 5 wine glasses.

Absolutely loved this follow up to Tessa Bailey's first in the series. I loved all the characters and the fact that this is about a marriage that is in trouble rather than a couple first starting out. I liked seeing the characters progress and grow to a more healthy place in their relationship.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I don't have a lot to say about this book except that I wish I could give it zero stars. I don't know how I went from enjoying Fix Her Up to HATING this sequel but I do. I'm just plainly done with reading Tessa Bailey's work too. It took me too long to get through this book and I just didn't care about these two after a point. It went from okay to terrible. It was repetitive and there was nothing worth rooting for with Rosie and Dominic. Dominic is a cave man who is crap at communicating and apparently all they have in common with their marriage is sex. So. MUCH. SEX. Cringe-worthy sex scenes that I just skimmed through at some point because it was non-stop. Why can't you communicate without eye-fucking each other or wishing you could tear each other's clothes off? Come on, already. They should have gotten a divorce honestly. Who buys a house in secret and sits on it for over a YEAR? A psychopath, that's who.

This book made me question my love of romance books. Am I too cynical for them? Do I hate them? No. I just hate this one.

While we get a little look at Dom & Rosie in the first book of this series, Fix Her Up, I was so glad to see that they were getting a book to themselves. I wasn't the biggest fan of Fix Her Up, but I really enjoyed this story. Dominic & Rosie are high school sweethearts & have been together for 10 years, but Rosie is realizing that their marriage isn't what it should be. I loved the look into their relationship & seeing what they had to work through, and I really enjoyed how much Rosie grew. This had some great steamy parts too. I want more of Dom & Rosie!

A marriage in trouble story is basically the most serious of second chance romances, which we all know I have a love/hate relationship with. But Rosie and Dom loved each other so much, and you were pulling for them the entire time. I loved this story.

Rosie and Dominic Vega had a picture perfect relationship, until they didn't. How did it happen? Rosie doesn't know, she just knows she can't live like this anymore. Rosie has always wanted to open her own restaurant, but she's shelved her dreams for a long time, never thinking it was the right time to act on them. Dom has gotten so quiet in the years since he came home from deployment, and Rosie doesn't know what to do when he just doesn't talk to her anymore. He just works and comes home, and things never change. They've been dancing around their issues for years, and when things boil over, they're both left not knowing how to move forward. When Rosie finally decides to leave her husband, her love, her childhood sweetheart, she thinks there's no going back. But Dom isn't willing to give her up without a fight. He agrees to do WHATEVER it takes to make her come home, and when she proposes last resort marriage counseling, he doesn't bat an eye.

Their marriage counselor was hysterical: a pothead hippie, with office decor straight out of the 1960s. But, he certainly knew his stuff, and he helped them realize they weren't speaking the same love language. As an aside, I learned about the 5 Love Languages in my pre-marital counseling class. And thank god for that, because my hubs' language and mine are VERY different. In fact, they are the same as our hero and heroine. Dom (and my own husband) shows his love with acts of service, and Rosie (and me!) with words of affirmation. This struggle resonated so strongly with me, as we've had to learn to interpret each other's languages over the years, and its not easy. Watching them struggle to understand each other just really hit home in my heart. And Dom's letter to Rosie? *Swoons Forever*

Rosie and Dom had flaming physical chemistry like whoa, but their emotional intimacy had been sorely depleted. Watching them find their way back to each other's hearts was painful, and beautiful, and I just loved their love so much. They both had gotten so bogged down in the day-to-day, that things were totally out of control before they knew it. I'm sure everyone can relate to that in some way. But they both compounded the issue by not communicating, and not sharing their feelings, along with other important truths, and it just made everything worse.

Rosie and Dom's friend group is truly outstanding, and seeing all their interactions were as enjoyable as they were in book 1 (which I also loved with my whole heart!). Having a new face added, in Wes, and seeing his spark with hilarious Bethany was so great, and I can't wait for their book up next!

This book had my emotions on a yo-yo the whole time, but always, I was pulling for Rosie and Dom. Hoping they could each get out of their own way, and make the changes they needed to make to be all they could for each other, and for themselves. They both learned how to support each other, while letting the other person fly, and it was so satisfying. I highly recommend this story.

This is the second in a series, I read and enjoyed the first, Fix Her Up last year. As much as I liked the first book I freaking loved this one, way more than I was expecting to actually. It was just as racy and steamy as the first book but it also had so much emotional depth which was just a great balance for me.

I really liked that this focused on a married couple that was having issues. For me, that’s much more relatable than a super young couple trying to figure things out. So many of Rosie and Dom’s problems are ones that I think many married couples face and it was refreshing to see said issues explored honestly. The characterization of both of them was fantastic, I really felt like I knew both of them by the end and felt like they were both portrayed in a raw and authentic manner.

Guys I just loved this one and if you like your romance novel super spicy then don’t miss this one! I love when the second in a series is just as good, or in this case, better and I’m so excited to see where it goes next.

Heat Factor: Sex is the one thing that’s not a problem in their marriage.
Character Chemistry: At times felt a bit one-sided
Plot: Toxic masculinity + lack of communication = marriage in trouble
Overall: Bailey closed it really well, but I had some hangups.

Okay, so, on the one hand, this book is actually a pretty good marriage in trouble book, and on the other hand it has some content that had me frowning.

For starters, marriage in trouble in contemporary romance apparently has this “I’m going to surprise my spouse by spontaneously leaving them and asking for a divorce” thing that makes me completely bonkers. They also apparently involve one partner, usually the one who spontaneously decided that the relationship is over with no warning for the other partner, being unwilling to make an effort to fix the marriage. In real life, this marriage is already absolute garbage.

So okay fine, we’re in Romancelandia, and we need that drama. In this case, Rosie married her childhood sweetheart, Dominic, and everything seemed magical and wonderful until he came home from Afghanistan with an inferiority complex and they stopped talking to each other.

We meet Rosie while she’s selling perfume, working for a horrible manager in a job she absolutely hates because she really wants to own her own restaurant. On this particular evening, the one night a week that she falls into bed with her husband because they just can’t resist each other anymore (?), she’s decided she’s not going to be in an empty marriage for another day. It’s like she picks the one unsatisfactory thing about her life that she can control and goes after that rather than taking the opportunity to course correct anywhere else.

Dominic doesn’t come across particularly well in the interaction when Rosie leaves. He doesn’t say anything to her when she comes home and then basically treats her like a piece of meat. Only a few pages later, we find out that he demonstrates his caring for her in invisible ways, because he’s the provider and it’s his job to take care of his wife and he shouldn’t be rewarded for it. Unfortunately, since Rosie has no idea that Dominic isn’t taking her for granted, she has no opportunity to realize that Dominic appreciates her. Ergo, when Dominic asks her what he has to do to fix things, she says therapy because he’d never agree in a million years, and when he does agree, she doesn’t make a good faith attempt to find a therapist, she admits to picking the most “woo woo” one she can find.

The good thing about this marriage in trouble is that once they start the therapy, they actually start communicating and things immediately get better. It’s like, I don’t know, relationships thrive on good, open, honest communication or something. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of toxic masculinity going on in this book, and Dominic just can’t fully be honest. He also categorically refuses to acknowledge that Rosie might not be meeting all of his needs and takes all the blame for the marriage problems on his shoulders. It’s clearly a marriage of equals. So on the one hand they really start to see each other again and talk and it’s really nice, and on the other hand, we have to save up some drama for the final explosion of action.

Let’s talk about that toxic masculinity. One of the problems that Dominic has is that he needs to be the provider, that as the provider he’s demonstrating his love to his partner. On the one hand, this seems like a legitimate expression of caring. But...when I was in high school, a peer said to me, “I just think the man should be the provider” as the reason that she wasn’t that worried about what she was doing after college and my head exploded. Because why would you voluntarily destroy your earning potential and independence like that? So I understood where Dominic was coming from as a character, but this was spectacularly unappealing to me.

Since the provider aspect was Dominic’s way of demonstrating his caring, I had to take that with a little grain of salt, but that wasn’t all. Dominic uses the endearment “honey girl,” which, combined with the paternalistic provider thing made me feel like he didn’t see Rosie as a full-fledged adult human. He also possessively identifies her as his wife. He wants to have sex with his wife. He’s not going to let others come between him and his wife. It’s his responsibility to take care of his wife. Again, it doesn’t seem like he’s acknowledging Rosie’s personhood and value other than as his wife. He’s also possessive in other ways, but they’re pretty typical romance “you’re my woman and I need to take care of you and know you’re safe” sorts of reactions to situations.

Then there’s this cooking thing. Rosie wants to own a restaurant, and she absolutely loves cooking. I didn’t think a thing of it that the kitchen was her domain in her house. It was a little sad that Dominic said that her demonstration of her love for him was preparing him food...but she actually prepared it for the household, not just for him. Anyway, enjoying cooking and taking that responsibility for household maintenance is totally legitimate. BUT THEN, Rosie and her friends go to Manhattan for a ladies’ night and one of her friends says, “He about died when I told him his dinner was in the microwave.” And I was like, her husband can’t make his own dinner? Or get leftovers out of the fridge? Is he an adult? And just like that, Rosie being the cook in the house wasn’t an aspect of Rosie’s personality anymore, it was her role as the woman in the relationship.

So here I am, on the one hand really enjoying how these two fix this marriage (I admit I got teary when it all came right down to it), but on the other hand I got hung up on all this other nonsense going on. As I read, I simply reminded myself that everybody's not me, and these two figured out how to love each other in their own way.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

So different but so worth reading!

Most romance books are boy meets girl and they fall in love, argue and get back together and live happily ever after. Love Her or Lose Her is anything but because it starts after the happily ever after when the shine is off and they have to start working on their marriage. Rosie decides that she wants more out of the marriage and asks for a separation while they figure out whether or not the marriage is worth saving.

Rosie Vega always dreamed of having her own restaurant but her dream fell by the wayside and one night at work she realized she wanted more out of her marriage. Dominic Vega wanted to take care of his wife and provide for her because he knew they were always attracted to each other but when they forgot to show their love to each other, things started to fall apart. The marriage counselor of funny but so accurate!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed Fix her Up and this was a different take on most romance, with Married couple and can they get back together. This book is super steamy, sexy, sweet, sad, and emotional. I really enjoyed Rosie and the Just Her League from the first book. But Dominic is not my type of man so he was a little bit of a turn off for me. Manly Man.

I love Tessa's writing, the characters I remembered from the first book months afterward which is huge! She writes wonderful scenes, plots, and great steam! Loved the addition of Wes :) and can't wait for Bethany to get her time.

*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy via NetGalley.

I absolutely loved this. It gave me all of the same feelings as the first book and I devoured it in just a few hours (thanks to smutathon!!)

It was so refreshing and heartwarming to read a story about two people fighting to stay together instead of people just getting together. Rosie was such a vibrant character and I loved her relationship with Dominic and all of her friends. Tessa Bailey has really created a great cast of characters here and I love seeing how each book unfolds and strengthens character relationships! I thought Dominic was HOT but I could definitely see him not being for everyone (super controlling alpha male- yes even I rolled my eyes at him sometimes!) but that's the beauty of reading- just because you enjoy the asshole book character doesn't mean you have to think that sort of relationship would be healthy irl. Boy, do we love some escapism reading!

Overall, fantastic romance novel!! Tessa Bailey never fails to impress

I loved this book more than I ever thought I would. Fix Her Up first introduced us to Rosie and Dominic, high school sweethearts turned hanging in the balance spouses. I loved Rosie in Fix Her Up and was solidly standing in the "you deserve better" camp but Love Her or Lose Her completely changed my mind. The love that Dominic has for her is soul shaking and the love they share is that once in a lifetime kind of love.
I needed them to end up happy and in a place where I could see them making it in the long run. They fought to fix their problems and ended up understanding each other in whole new ways. I couldn't put their story down. We also get to see more of Georgie and Travis (one of my favorite moments involves them), meet Betheny's match and find out a little something with Kristin and Stephen all of which have me anxiously awaiting for more in this series.