Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey is the second book in her Hot & Hammered series! We're first introduced to Rosie and Dominic in Fix Her Up and you guys I loved every moment of their story!!

From the very first chapter until the very end I was swooning and emotional. This book is everything you love and want in a romance. Rosie and Dominic are soulmates who have been together since they were teenagers. They've been through it all. They're flawed. Their marriage has taken a turn. Rosie and Dominic aren't the same people they used to be when they first got married. Now the two must fight and fall in love all over again, rediscover each other, and reunite once more but for good this time.

Their relationship has been all-consuming from the moment they met that at one point they forgot to communicate with one another. The passion and the fire has never waned but Rosie needs more from her husband and she takes a stand and decides to leave. Dominic gets a wake up call. All he's ever wanted is his honey girl . He's been taught to provide and now he must also learn to show his emotions and reveal his needs as well. This is hard for Dominic at first because he's such a quiet and broody man. When Rosie suggests couples therapy he's willing to do anything to win her back.

So much emotion, growth, and love with amazing friendships and secondary characters who were truly adored in book one. I loved Dominic's troubled side as well as his fierce and loving side. Rosie, too, grew so much. She became independent and fought for her dreams and for her marriage. These are two people who saw their faults and worked together. I was captivated and charmed until the last page. And enough said about the new hero introduced to torment Bethany!! I'm dying for their book next and I just know it's going to be a lot of fun. That being said, please do yourselves a favor and start this series!!


*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Avon (HarperCollins Publishers) through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

Rosie and Dominic are on the brink of divorce. Their marriage hasn’t been happy for a long time. Rosie is unhappy in her job and her dream of opening her own restaurant now seems unattainable. Dominic isn’t the best communicator and Rosie hasn’t felt closeness between them, except for their scheduled sex every Tuesday night. So she decides to leave Dominic.

And this wakes Dominic up; he doesn’t want to love the woman he loves more than anything. He’d go to the ends of the Earth for Rosie, so they go to couples counseling to try and salvage their marriage.

Rosie learns that Dominic isn’t the only person to blame in regard to their marriage’s failure. And Dominic learns that his communication, especially in regard to his feelings, has been extremely lacking.

When two people want so badly to make things work, will they be able to mend the cracks in their marriage or are the differences between them too irreparable to fix?

Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey is book two in the Hot & Hammered series. Dominic is the classic brooding man that never expresses his feelings; he’s more show than tell. And it’s very clear that Rosie and Dominic’s marriage is suffering from lack of communication. I really enjoyed seeing them give couples counseling their all because at the end of the day, they truly love one another. I also liked that book three’s couple was highlighted several times, making me excited to pick that one up in the fall! 4/5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley, Avon and Tessa Bailey for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Love Her or Lose Her examines the failing marriage of Rosie and Dominic, a couple we get to know and love in Fix Her Up. It takes us on their journey as their marriage appears to be beyond saving when Rosie finally finds the strength to walk away. Can they both put in work in to find the love they once had? Or is their marriage unsalvageable? ⁣
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You know how some churches require pre-marriage counseling? Well, this book should be included in every course as a textbook. This book offered such a realistic look at marriage, particularly a struggling marriage. I think it provides guidance, life lessons and even hope. I know I sure learned a lot in this story that I can apply to my marriage. I now know what my love language is but more importantly what my husbands’ love language is. ⁣
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Please don’t think because this book deals with marriage that it lacks anything in the romance and sex department. This book is romantic as you could hope. Watching Dominic learn how to open up and be what Rosie needs was amazing. For a man who thought he couldn’t find any romantic words he sure did make me swoon. And I loved how Rosie also learned that she had a part to play in the downfall of the marriage and that her actions needed to speak louder than words for Dominic. And let’s talk steam. Holy cow do they have chemistry. Wow! This is hot, a little dirty and definitely spicy. ⁣
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Overall, I am so happy Tessa took the chance to write a romance about a marriage. I really enjoyed all the emotions, chemistry, passion and steam Tessa brought with this story. I highly recommend to everyone but especially married couples.⁣
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I received an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Tessa Bailey's books were some of the first I read when I began reading ebooks and they quickly became some of my favorites, so it pains me to say that I was a bit disappointed in this one. Maybe I was expecting too much, but I just didn't feel the connection between the characters like I generally do. I enjoyed the premise of the book and I definitely didn't hate it, but it wasn't one of my favorites. I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC for NetGalley.

I just did not find this book enjoyable. It reads very old-fashioned, like Men Will Save The Day when I think modern romance deserves more equally-footed heroines. I probably will not read any more of this author.

Rosie and Dominic have been together for a long time. Lately, their relationship has been on the rocks, and Rosie has had enough of it. Through extreme marriage boot camp, the couple explore their love languages and relationship to see if they can figure out how to make it work.

There will be a LOT of people who love this book. I am just not one of them. Yes, I understand life/love marriage are complicated and working on a struggling marriage is a very realistic story that many people will find relatable. However, it's not what I'm looking for when I read a romance novel. I wanted to give it a chance since I am relatively new to reading romance and hadn't tried it before. I couldn't connect with the characters, I didn't enjoy the storyline, and I was constantly aware that I was reading a novel instead of finding myself lost in it.

SYNOPSIS | Rosie Vega married her childhood sweetheart (Dom), but since he returned from the military he has been emotionally absent. Rosie isn't sure what has happened to the man she fell in love with but she feels like her life has kind of stalled. Her girlfriends encourage her to demand more from life and to take the leap and finally pursue her dream of opening up a restaurant and she decides to demand more from her relationship too.

MY THOUGHTS | So this was even raunchier than Fix Her Up and whilst I am all for some steamy sex scenes, a lot of these just didn't sit right with me. Dom was extremely possessive of Rosie and it felt like he often referred to her as a sexual object. I also couldn't stand his pet name for her and every time he said "honey girl" I had to stop myself from cringing. BUT overall this was an enjoyable read, it felt better written compared to the 1st book in the series and I like that it was using the Love Languages as a foundation of the storyline. I am not sure that I will be carrying on in the series though.

I actually think I liked this one better than Fix Her Up. It wasn’t as light-hearted but I think I related to it more as someone who is in a long-term relationship. Tessa Bailey does a good job developing characters that you want to root for and I can’t wait for the next book!

3 1/2 Caffeinated Stars. I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Love Her or Lose Her is the second book in the Hot and Hammered series by Tessa Bailey. I read the first one earlier in the year, and I genuinely enjoyed it. Georgie and Travis were so much fun, so I couldn't wait to read about Dominic and Rosie.

Dominic and Rosie sure had chemistry, but I have to say I just never felt fully invested in them. I liked both characters, but I honestly didn't like them together. I just hated how one character seemed to take while one always gave continually, and I hated how they both didn't communicate with each other. Communication is such a massive part of a relationship that it annoyed me with how little was present.

The plot was quick-paced and straightforward. I obviously didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I enjoyed Fix Her Up, but it is a solid book. The characters had chemistry, and there were some genuinely humorous parts. I just wish that I liked the two characters together. I never felt the need to root for them, which ruined the whole romance part for me.

All in all, this book was cute, but I didn't connect with them. I wanted more growth and more communication. All in all, it's a solid 3 1/2 star book.

Love Her or Lose Her was more than a little disappointing to me. The chemistry between Rosie and Dominic just didn't do it for me. I didn't feel the connection between them. I was hoping this would be the first rom-com of the year that I loved, but sadly that wasn't the case. I tried so hard to love this book but I just couldn't get into it.

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

Love Her or Lose Her is the second book in Tessa Bailey's 'Hot and Hammered' series. After reading and loving 'Fix Her Up' I was so excited for this one. It wasn't as fun or endearing, but I actually loved the romance more. Maybe it's the old married person in me, but sometimes I love reading about already established/married couples and this hit the spot for me.

Dominic and Rosie were high school sweethearts who married one another. They've always been so in love and had a great relationship, but lately things have changed. I wouldn't say they've lost their spark... their chemistry is still there. But that seems like that's all that's there. They don't talk anymore, they don't spend time together (outside of their Tuesday night bedroom date) and Rosie has had enough. She decides they need some real help if they're going to make it work, so she moves out while they undergo some 'extreme marriage therapy', which is unconventional but a hoot.

Dom is a great guy. He loves Rosie something fierce and always provides for her, but with their sessions they both realize they aren't doing the right things for one another. Some people show love in different ways, and some people need love shown to them in different ways. It was the breakthrough they needed. I think this will be so relatable for some people. If you've been in a long-term relationship/and or are married especially.

Dominic is the type of hero Tessa Bailey loves to write. Alpha, stoic, sexy, and protective. This would have maybe been a 4.5 or 5 star read for me if I felt more connected to him. I feel like the biggest part of his character was his proving himself and providing for Rosie. Rosie had all these dreams and all he wanted was to be there for her and help her succeed. I guess I wanted a little more of what he wanted, and to be in his head a bit more. I think my favorite part of the book was watching Rosie come to terms with the fact that she had some blame in this and trying to do for Dom what he'd always done for her. I loved watching them love each other in the way they both needed.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was emotional, steamy, and made me laugh more than once. I enjoy Tessa Bailey's writing and characters and I'm loving this series. I have a feeling Bethany and Wes's book is next and I'm so here for it!

I was cautious going into this book after seeing some mixed bag reviews, but this was the book for me. I really enjoyed Fix Her Up, but Rosie and Dominic. YES! So first, I briefly have to say that I identify with these characters and their marriage in some ways - Rosie loves cooking (me), Dom was in the military and deployed (my husband), they are middle school sweethearts (married my hs sweetheart - close), and they have always had chemistry throughout their relationship (same). I really appreciated the whole love languages thing that was brought up. The army did a couples "retreat" that Nick and I attended and we learned about the love languages and although it's still kind of that weird pseudoscience type junk, it also has some truth to it. Different people give and receive love in different ways. This story kinda broke my heart 20 million times. Idk if it's because I'm already emotional (thanks, period; thanks, husband is away for army training), but I teared up/cried multiple times during this story. It was SO heartbreaking at times. It was sweet in other instances and it had the perfect amount of smut in my opinion and the smut was ON POINT. Of course, there were a few things that were cheesy and the pet names still aren't really my thing, but I can forgive those slight things because I loved seeing this marriage implode and Rosie & Dom work to save it. Also, I so loved the curly hair stuff mentioned because same, Rosie. Same. I'm dying for book 3 that will follow Bethany. There's no real news other than Fall 2020 and I AM READY.

Love Her or Lose Her is quite a good second-chance romance. It's a sweet story about a married couple who need to find their way back to each other. I really enjoyed this story and ALMOST gave it four stars, but I wish I had seen a little more story and a little less sex. This book is probably half and half. A good sexy scene can be great, but I really wanted to see Dominic open up more. He gets there in the end, but it takes awhile.
There's a lot of drama in this story. These two face so many issues. Well it's one issue with each of them, but they comes up in various ways throughout the plot. If you like several points of tension that build and resolve back and forth through the story, I say you should definitely give this book a shot. I really enjoy this Hot and Hammered series from Tessa Bailey.

It took me a while to get used to the structure of this book. It wasn’t your typical romance structure but the author’s smooth writing style helped ease the transition. I thought the pacing of this novel was really excellent but I wish the author had used the therapy sessions to provide a tighter structure.

I was very impressed with all the supporting characters and loved that this book portrayed a working class couple. I liked Rosie but never warmed to Dom. I thought his revelation about Rosie came too late in the book. I was also not very pleased with how paternalistic he was even in regards to his grand gesture. He gave Rosie to other people instead of realizing she wasn’t his to give. The narrative really robbed Rosie of her agency. Great writing and great structure were let down by the main couple.

Let’s start this review by reminding everyone that if books were thai food I’d generally order mine “mild.” A well-written and meaningful sex scene brings so much to a book. Unfortunately, I find that well-written and meaningful sex scenes are few and far between. Particularly in this genre.

This was the story of a marriage on the rocks. The only thing still working was the sex. So every few pages the heroine had pointy, tightened nipples and sopping thighs (thighs?!?!?) to remind us that the sex was so so good. I guess. It feels like a book where the heroine soaks her panties when her hyper-possessive husband looks at her is alienating and nearly farcical by the 8th or 9th “squirm” or “pulse.”

Also - just being nit picky but “honey girl” doesn’t work as a nickname. It yanks me out of the story when I’m already struggling amidst all the moisture. And it feels degrading. Also, “Wife” lacked charm the first time. By the last it was nigh infuriating.

As always - thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to offer an honest review.

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Rosie and Dominic Vega were high school sweethearts and got married when when he enlisted. They’ve always been each others best friend able to talk about anything and their chemistry? It sizzles! Ever since Dominic came back from Afghanistan their relationship has changed. They don’t talk as much, living together as husband and wife but except for their once a week sex-date not interacting. Rosie is heartbroken but wants to move on and start living out her dream and feels like Dominic isn’t going to stand beside her and help her accomplish them. She asks for a divorce and is surprised by how vehemently Dominic wants to make things work. So she comprises by going to last chance couples therapy. Love Her or Lose Her is a love story that puts communication first while still delivering the heat.

I really liked the premise of this novel and after reading Fix Her Up and liking it a lot, was confident Tessa Bailey would deliver a good story. Did she? Well, yes and no. I was really conflicted and my emotions were all over the place.

What I liked: I really liked Rosie. She obviously loved Dominic a lot but wasn’t going to settle for less than what she thought she deserved from her husband. She was confident, sassy, and her cooking sounded amazing. Seriously, I got hungry for cuban food reading this novel! What I also liked about Rosie was that when she realized she should take part of the blame in their failed marriage, she did…and felt horrified by it. I also liked her friends. Georgie was our heroine in Fix Her Up and she was just as charming in this novel, and Bethany, Georgie’s sister, who will star in her own novel next. Their sisterhood and support system were amazing and I had a lot of fun reading about that group.

What I didn’t like: I’m just going to say it.. Dominic. I usually like an alpha male, but this guy had way too much testosterone. Whew! His old fashioned attitude about what makes a good marriage definitely needed to be brought up to date. The heat between the two of them was crazy hot, but the way he spoke to her during those hot moments, for me, was a complete turn off. I hated his moniker for her… gosh, I’ve blacked it out of my mind, I think it was honey girl? Every time he said it, I just cringed. It seemed like the author was trying way too hard. Would such a taciturn guy really start calling her this name only when they had sex? To me, it was just weird.

So, the fact I didn’t care for half the couple wasn’t a good sign. However, I did like how going to therapy made them open up and see things in each other and in themselves. That, and Rosie’s character elevating their coupledom out of the trash heap with her genuine likability? I gave Lover Her or Lose Her a 3 rating, which on my scale is average. I like this author but I think she missed the mark on this couple. ❤️❤️❤️

I received a free copy of this ARC for my honest review and it was honest!

I was really looking forward to Rosie and Dominic’s story! Romances with married couples are few and far between and we need more if they’re anything like this one! This story was filled with so much heartfelt emotion. I definitely found myself in tears quite a few times. And call me old fashioned, but I love Dominic’s caveman style. Give me allll the heroes just like him. I really enjoyed the way these two worked through their problems and figured out their issues. It was gut wrenching at times and super sexy at others. This was such a fresh, unique story; I couldn’t get enough. Plus I loved the set up happening between Wes and Bethany and I can’t wait for their book.

Love Her or Lose Her is the second book in Tessa Bailey’s Hot & Hammered series. A love story about a marriage on the rocks and about growing into who you were always meant to be, this novel is fun, sweet, intense and heartwarming. It stands very well on its own; Georgie and Travis from Fix Her Up, book one in the series, make frequent appearances here but you don’t need to have read their story to appreciate this one.

When a man flirts with her at work, faithfully married Rosie Vega makes a startling discovery – no one has made her feel admired in a long time. In fact, when she stops to think about it, no one has even made her feel seen in years. Her husband Dominic barely grunts at her when she gets home from work, much less talks to her. He never waits to eat dinner with her or invites her to watch TV with him. Even the physical side of the relationship is messed up. They have sex on a schedule – hot and passionate sex every Tuesday night, completely devoid of affection like it’s a booty call with a stranger. This is Tuesday night but that minor flirtation with a stranger has made Rosie determined that she won’t be doing anything but packing a suitcase and walking out the door once she gets home.

That’s exactly what she does: She tells a startled Dominic that she’s done, packs a bag and goes to her friend Bethany’s. But Dominic isn’t ready to give up on their marriage, so he starts dropping by her new abode to drop off the coat she forgot, or to warm her car up in the morning, and talking to her at the gym where they both work out and urging her to come home. In fact, he talks to her more at the gym in a few short minutes than he has in several years previously. Rosie does want to go back – but back to what they were when they were first together, not what they are now. She’s not sure they can change, but the desperation in Dominic’s voice has her agreeing to give him one more chance to make things right. She concedes they need marriage counseling and then deliberately chooses a therapist who is the opposite of what Dominic would want. She’s fairly confident that when Dominic gets a look at the weed smoking hippie with pillows rather than chairs in his office, he’ll walk out and that will tell her exactly what she needs to know; that Dominic isn’t willing to do whatever it takes to get them back on track.

Dominic surprises her. He not only sits through the initial session, he does the follow up homework. Having been told to write a letter expressing his feelings, he pens a note telling her how he felt taking her to the high school Homecoming dance their senior year – and how sorry he is that he doesn’t make her feel cherished every day. It’s a good start, but will love notes and therapy sessions on fluffy cushions really be enough to put this marriage back together?

I love how this relationship is depicted. Rosie and Dominic are not unkind to each other, nor are they emotionally indifferent. They love each other. The problem is that they have been taking each other for granted, making zero effort to connect in any way. Rosie works evenings in retail, while Dominic works during the day in construction. They do everything separately and don’t even greet each other when they cross paths. It’s not until they start counseling that they realize how thoroughly they’ve been neglecting each other.

The fact that both have been neglectful rather than cruel made it easy for me to root for Rosie and Dominic both as individuals and as a couple. The two of them have been together since their early teens and know each other very well. That familiarity, along with the fact that they’ve been together over a decade, had led them to a situation where they see each other as fixtures rather than living, breathing people with hopes, dreams and feelings. I loved how Rosie realized she needed more from life and began to pursue it. I adore a heroine who takes charge of her own destiny. Dominic’s a hard-working, quiet, considerate man whose main goal in life is to make Rosie happy. His problem was that he thought he could do that by copying his parent’s marriage but it turned out that wasn’t what was best for his own relationship. Once the counselor shows him why what he’s doing is wrong, he begins to make the changes he needs to make to fix his marriage. The fact that both Rosie and Dominic cherish each other enough to really work through the situation was wonderful and I really appreciated that the bulk of the story was about learning to be a team, building a genuine rapport and connecting. Too often romances try to sell instalust as love. That doesn’t happen here; we get an in-depth look at what each character is feeling and thinking and then get to see them interacting and building emotional intimacy. That gave me all the feels.

This story was building towards DIK status but it ran into some snags at the end. What had been a fairly serious – but still fun and enjoyable – love story develops a case of what I call ‘the sillies’ towards the end. Rather than just providing us with a reunited Rosie and Dominic, the author pulls out all the stops and has every possible dream come true for the couple. In some novels this would have been a good ending but since this story was all about working on your relationship and working for your dreams, having everything go magically right in the last few chapters felt a bit – much. I would have preferred a more realistic ending that was in keeping with the story the author had been telling all along.

That is a minor flaw, though, and doesn’t happen until near the end of Love Her or Lose Her. And frankly, if the author was going to make any mistake, that is the perfect one to make in a genre known for happy endings. I think fans of the author will be very pleased with this book and readers who love stories about an emotionally intimate relationship should rush out and buy it. They will find a lot to love here.

Rosie and Dominic were high school sweethearts who got married before he went to serve our country in Afghanistan. He came home different and Rosie has not been happy in their marriage, she doesn’t feel seen and heard, their relationship is just physical and not emotional. Dominic is a blue collar guy from a working class family and his dad showed love by providing for his family and that is all Dominic knows, he is taken aback when Rosie leaves. Dominic is loves Rosie deeply and agrees to couples therapy with a very untraditional therapist.

Why I Loved This Book: My husband is a lot like Dominic. He loves me, but he doesn’t always know how to show it. Tessa Bailey did an amazing job writing Dominic’s character, she really got inside the head of a guy who was raised to believe that you show your love by providing and that is all you need to do. There is one part where Rosie realizes that it takes two to tango and that she had a part in how their marriage fell apart; I FELT what Rosie was feeling, nerves and anxiety and I realized that sometimes I am full of complaints for my husband, but I too, have some flaws. That night my girls were out and I asked my husband what I do that I annoys him and he told me - I am organized with my time, but I don’t always organize things like our china cabinet or storage closets the way he would like. I didn’t take it personally, I took it constructively and if he’d like to reorganize the china cabinet and storage closets, he can have at it!

So I will admit that when I read Fix Her Up last year about Travis and Georgie, a former baseball player and a clown, I laughed out loud quite a bit, even though I found the story a little childish and at times random with the whole Just Us League start up etc. That said, I enjoyed it as a romantic comedy enough that I was very excited about the next book in the series featuring Rosie and Dominic, especially since they were both characters of colour AND two they were both already married and this was going to be a second chance at love, marriage rehab-type book. It was everything I thought I would love and what do you know, I DID really like it!

I think this was less laugh out loud funny than Fix Her Up but it was also a lot less silly and a lot more of a mature love story. The premise is that ever since Dominic returned from war in Afghanistan, he’s become a strong, silent type and he and the once love of his life, Rosie, barely even communicate beyond once a week sex. Rosie has been feeling neglected emotionally for years and unappreciated and she’s incredibly unhappy. She decides she can’t take it anymore and chooses to leave the marriage. This is a story about the work that is needed to keep a marriage going and to make a marriage work. I loved that in a romance-land world where we read books in which entire relationships and happily ever after are built on sexual compatibility, this book showed that good sex is not enough for a HEA and love is not enough either- there needs to be effort to communicate and understand each other as well. And I found that both very unique and interesting and incredibly sexy about this book. The sexual tension in this is at a million degrees.

Some of the downsides, I would say, are that obviously Dominic has some unresolved trauma issues about his time in Afghanistan that aren’t fully dealt with here. Also, it’s easy to look at Dominic and Rosie and judge and feel like they didn’t have significant marital problems, but the author does an excellent job outlining Rosie’s hopelessness in her marriage at the beginning in a way that I think will be very relatable to anyone who’s ever felt “is this marriage even worth continuing.” Of course, also, some may find that their marital problems were solved a little to easily, although I would counter this with the fact that from observation, lack of communication is often a major factor in situations where neither party just sucks as a human being. I really liked the use of the 5 Love Languages methodology- it is definitely true that we all have different ways we understand love and how it’s communicated and that exploration within these 2 characters made this feel like a stronger love story.

I also enjoyed the continued exploration of female friendships and female support groups through the Just Us League. I felt like it felt less silly and more like a group I wanted to be a part of in this book. Does this book have the most feminist and empowering message to women, no. But I think it’s message is real and relatable. Sometimes you just want to feel supported by and encouraged by the most important person in your life- whatever that looks like to you, and love and work are always worth the effort to get that. I really liked this one. It had a lot of depth for being so fluffy and I’m super excited for the next book in this series. I’m also hopeful that Stephen and Kristin get a book too because I definitely see opportunity for that as well. I’m loving this series and am super great fun to Avon and Harper Collins through NetGalley for an advanced look at this. Highly recommend if you like romance novels about married couples or are interested in an uplifting book about healing a broken marriage.