I am so behind on my @netgalley reading. I even took this picture back in July but am just now getting a chance to read it. Thanks to @putnambooks and @netgalley for a chance to read, even though I am a little behind!

Aly has been fixing everything since she was young, from work problems, to love lives, to get parents marriage. After a chance meeting with an old boyfriend, Aly realized she has been fixing her boyfriends as well and starts a business doing just that. When her biggest client introduces her to her boyfriend, things may start to get a little messy. Aly comes face to face with her old best friend and boyfriend who broke her heart.

This was a cute read! You need to be in the right frame of mind for a lighter read. If you prefer your romances spice free, here is one for you. 🙂

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One of my favorite second chance romance reads in a while. The plot was classic but not predictable and the writing was so well done, reading it was like watching a movie.

📚📚Book Review:
The Fixer Upper
By: Lauren Forsythe
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4 stars
Genre: Fiction/Romance/Contemporary Romance
Thank you @netgalley @putnambooks for the arc ebook!

Aly dates the guy. They break up. That guy goes on to achieve incredible things. Yet, when Aly dated him, he was kind of a loser with no drive, goals, or ambition. And this keeps happening!

She shares this with her two co-workers, Eric and Tola, and they realize she must have a talent for "fixing" guys. They set up, The Fixer Upper, as a side gig which offers the service to women to fix their guys up. Basically Aly uses subliminal tips and tricks to get these men to do the work they need to do to get their lives on track.

When they get hired by an Instagram influencer/star, Aly comes face-to-face with her next client, her ex-childhood best friend, Dylan. The one she was in love with. Oh boy, how will this fix go?

Cute, quirky, funny 😁
Childhood friend to lover

Publication Date: August 2, 2022

the fixer upper is definitely more along the lines of women's fiction than romance, but has the right balance within the narrative to make for a satisfying read. the story itself revolves around aly, who is on he cusp of a big promotion within her marketing career despite the hurdles that come while working in a corporation that tends to overlook her contributions while rewarding sub-par performances from her colleagues - all while asking for her to clean up their messes. in this time, she's come to the realization that her past relationships have all gone onward to seemingly grow into the best versions of themselves after they've split. the combination of both work and personal come together to lead to a business idea with the help of her best friends and healing from her first heartbreak when said ex becomes her biggest, and most complicated, project yet.

as i said, this is definitely leaning more towards women's fiction, where the focus is on more than the second chance romance between aly and dylan, who both have a different interpretation of their last encounter over a decade ago. it focuses on what aly has worked towards versus what she truly wants from her life. a job where she's been constantly overlooked versus an opportunity to do something she finds fun and fulfilling. continuing to keep her life close to her chest versus being open and honest with those who care. allowing the past to dictate her present or confronting it her past to build a better future. i enjoyed the aforementioned conflict that was the crux of the narrative. aly is so accustomed to keeping everything together for everyone but herself, that when it all begins to take a tumble off her carefully built facade, it opens her up as a character and person more. i enjoyed dylan not outshining the main character and how very human he seemed with his own wants, how accustomed he became to molding himself for others, and how he comes to his own realization towards the end. and the way aly steps up at the end in such a romantic display was just so sweet that i was perfectly fine with the lack of an epilogue. very much worth a read if you want a story that leans more on personal growth of characters than heavy on romance.

This one is a hard one to rate for me. I am stuck between it was okay and I liked it. I think overall, I just head trouble connecting to the book. Several characters drove me absolutely batty and I wanted to shake several of them to their senses (if they even had any to begin with!) The ending was cute, and I was glad to see Allie fix some things in her life. Still just mostly an okay read for me.

Could not get into this book at all. The idea is great, but I don't think the writing style is for me.

This book wasn't for me. I wanted to like it, I just couldn't get into it. I'm sure others will enjoy this it just wasn't for me.

One: I love this cover. Two: This book was really good!

Aly is a fixer upper. She tends to accidently fix her boyfriends and she's constantly trying to fix her parents marriage. So, her and a few friends decide to start a business where they "fix" people and get paid for it.

I loved the concept of this book and had a great time reading it. I'm just sad that there was hardly any actual romance in this book :(

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc.

Thank you Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for providing me with an arc of The Fixer Upper in exchange for an honest review.

“It’s meant to feel scary when you’re falling. And then it feels like home. We’ll get there. We’ve just gotta do the scary bit first.”

I think it’s because I’ve read all there is to contemporary romance or any romance genre there is written that I find it hard to be impressed by books in this genre. It’s basically the same plot : Single girl with a flaw, (plus who has a hot OR a gay bestie), walks in the tall handsome dude, maybe they have history or maybe it’s a meet cute, miscommunication, they hate each other/can’t stand each other, forced proximity, one of them is hiding something and it blows up before they get the chance to come clean, groveling, big romantic gesture, kiss. *acknowledgement page staring at you*

And I’m not saying such kind of books aren’t charming because they are. I would gobble up such plots any time of the day. BUT the thing that makes the same kind of repetitive plots memorable is the banter, the chemistry, the personalities of our mcs and especially the diversity.

All in all this book was very well written. I loved the friendship between Aly and Eric and Tola but again Eric being the gay dude and Tola being the confident hot girl was so… basic? (forgive me for the lack of a better term). Like it has been done a hundred times before !! Straight girl has a gay dude as best friend. Straight girl has a conventionally hot girl as her bestie. Or in this book’s case, both. Aside from that I did like Tola and Eric (tho they could be a tad bit too much at times). Ben and Priya were lovable too AND IM PISSED AT HOW MY BEAUTIFUL PRIYA BARELY GOT ANY SCREENTIME. Also yeah Aly’s mom was very pathetic idc about the character development when the book was 90% over. I have no other issues regarding the characters or their personalities. Moreover, I feel like I’m more of an Aly than I’d like to admit but that’s a different conversation.

Spoilers :
What I want to actually point out is that Aly and Dylan had ZERO CHEMISTRY. If Dylan had liked Aly back when they were teenagers then WHY was he dating other girls and whyyy did the mean ass text message excuse sound fake. When they met as adults there was no tension, no angst, no “oh I accidentally let the way you take your coffee slip out of my mouth”, oh I’m jealous why am I jealous. Like so many little stuffs that could’ve made it infinitely better. Aly barely got a knot in her stomach when she say Dylan and Nicciki-what’s-her-name being lovey dovey. Dylan was a jerk. Period. And what Aly was doing was obviously not ethical so I don’t even think I liked her that much. And there was nothing memorable about this book.
Spoilers end

(Didn’t mean to sound like a professor analyzing and criticizing your work but I just have a lot to say)

3.5/5 stars rounded up

The Fixer Upper focuses on Aly, a 30-something working woman who just so happens to be the key to making the men she dates into "successful" people and good partners but she just hasn't found the person who is the one for her. When Aly's constant need to fix things puts her in a tricky situation, she accepts a job that doesn't quite fit with her morals but comes with a hefty paycheck. The only problem is that this new person she's supposed to "fix" is none other than the person she loved as a kid.

I think this romance was a cute read and I appreciate the workplace camaraderie between Tola, Eric, and Aly and how it was explored throughout the novel. I don't quite think that this book qualifies as a second chance romance. Aly and Dylan never formally had a relationship, just a missed connection when they were kids so really them being together romantically is still something new. I think that this is definitely a slow burn so patience is key.

Very average romance book. Nothing much to say. For someone who reads more than 5 books in a year this one is easily forgettable which is the kiss of death for a book.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the advanced copy!

Who hasn’t been in a relationship where you wish you could change something (or a few things) about them? Yes? Well, you are not alone!

It seems that Aly has the ability to fix things…. relationships, jobs issues, her parent’s issues…but cannot seem to fix her own life.

Her coworkers, Eric and Tola, take notice of this and suggest that Aly start to “fix” people/relationships as a side job. When she says yes, Aly’s coworkers decide that they should name this business “Fixer Upper”.

Hearing that Aly has a knack “fix” relationships, an Instagram Influencer who is dating an app developer, asks her to help convince her boyfriend to ask her to marry her before an audition for a reality TV show. Little did Aly know, that when she said yes, that she would be trying to fix her former childhood best friend.

Throughout the book, we watch as Dylan and Aly slowly start to renew their friendship and realize that they still have feelings for each other.

This is a good book to read because it focuses more on Aly’s self-growth rather than the “romance”, and that you should surround yourself with those who like you as you are, not someone that they want you to be.

This was a decent novel. I like romance novels but this one felt like it drug out. Her matching with an old flame and trying to fix him again is typical in todays world but I was expecting something a tad better. For a debut, it was good but I hope her next novels are not like this.

I got to 30% and just didn't care/was bored - I don't love when the MC gets with someone who is in a relationship when they initially meet.

3.5 stars for this fun, quirky romcom~

I had high hopes at first for this one - really liked the idea of the plot and the cast of quirky characters. What I really liked was some of the funny wit and humor that came from the cast of characters. What I didn't like was how they seemed less memorable than I hoped for. Our main protagonist was frustrating at times with her actions and desire to be the fixer of all broken things [mostly men]. While I know that it was part of the main story, it infuriated me that men that she dated went on to live much happier alternate lives... The plot seemed to be a bit repetitive at times, which threw me off from the main points of the story.

Overall, I do think there is some good story here, some entertaining conversations between background characters, and a lot of humor to be enjoyed here.

Thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for the digital ARC (:

Thank you to @NetGalley and @putnambooks for gifting me a copy of The Fixer Upper in exchange for an honest review.

🛠 Mini Review 🥂
I don’t usually read non-ya contemporary romances but this one looked too interesting to pass up. And I’m so glad I didn’t pass it up because I really enjoyed The Fixer Upper by @laurenforsythe_author. It was perfect for the mood I am currently in.

Aly has never had a relationship where she didn’t have to put in work. After looking at data her friends have put together, all the men she’s been with in the last few years have totally glowed up and are so much better than they were with her. And a few actually credit their glow up to her. She’s tired of it. But her friends think they could use this talent of hers. That’s where the fixer upper business comes in. They get hired to help encourage men to grow up and be a man. Women call on them and they deliver.

All is going well until a famous social media influencer calls on them for help and Aly finds out the boyfriend she needs to fix is her old best friend that she hasn’t talked to in years. Aly realizes a lot about herself and what she wants through this little side hustle and it may give her the confidence she needs.

I loved these characters. They were fun and interesting and I couldn’t put the book down, and that’s saying something because I was also listening to Book Lovers at the same time. I will def be reading more of Lauren Forysthe’s books!!!

If you like Rom Com’s I totally recommend this book to you! I gave it ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. While I love to read & I have a wide range when it comes to books, I love nothing more than a good ole romance story. This book did not disappoint!! This book had all the things I love in a good romance story; love, humor, friendships!! It would make a great rom-com movie too. I immediately fell in love with the friendship bond of Aly, Tola & Eric. They were each different but perfectly suited for the friendship. Same with Ben & Dylan's friendship. Being the ultimate fixer, Aly is charged with fixing Dylan up for his girlfriend. The story unfolds in a unique but fun way. While I won't spoil the ending, I recommend this book.

A big thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC copy!! I can't wait to read more by Lauren Forsythe.

I think maybe I've just had enough lately of books about white women and their troubles, but the opening chapters of this book just couldn't draw me in. DNFed, unfortunately.

Very good read highly recommended. I totally recommend this book to friends and family it does not disappoint. Hope to read more books by this author in the near future.

Aly is great at fixing up everyone else's love life except her own. So on a whim she gets together with some friends to make a business of it, not expecting to get hired by her ex-boyfriends current girlfriend to help her get him to propose. A sweet, feel-good British romance perfect for fans of Beth O'Leary or Laura Jane Williams. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Steam level: kissing only