The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe
3.5 stars
Closed door

Aly is a fixer. She fixes things around her like her parents’ marriage, her colleagues work problems, and her friends’ love lives. With the help of two of her friends, she starts The Fixer Upper, a business to help women “fix” the men in their lives by helping them realize their potential. When a high profile influencer hires her to get her boyfriend to propose, the boyfriend turns out to be Aly’s childhood best friend and first love, Dylan. She hasn’t spoken to Dylan in fifteen years after a misunderstanding that ruined their friendship and now she’s supposed to try to fix someone that she’s always thought was already perfect.

Oh the tangled webs we weave…This reminded me a lot of the movie, Hitch, with Will Smith (which is hilarious btw) where the men he helped were super grateful until the world found out what he was up to, and then suddenly everyone turned on him. Aly is running this secret business with her friends where she’s essentially talking men into doing things that their wives or girlfriends want them to do. It’s a little deceitful if you ask me and no one likes to be fooled.

Aly is very quick to help everyone fix their problems without being able to fix her own. She doesn’t have any boundaries, so she gets overlooked for promotions and taken advantage of a lot. She’s funny, smart and likable and I thought she was very relatable and I think if she had grown a backbone a little sooner, I would have liked this book a lot more.

I did enjoy the childhood-best-friends-to-lovers trope and I was rooting for Aly and Dylan the whole time. I liked the history and the banter they shared and watching them reconnect was sweet at times. There were some hilarious moments in this story and a lot of that was due to the amazing found family of friends that Aly had in her life.

There was so much lying going on that I started to get anxious when I could see where the lies were going to start to unravel. I’m not a fan of the miscommunication trope and this whole story is based on a miscommunication that happened fifteen years ago. And then keeps happening when Aly tries to convince the love of her life to propose to someone else. It was soooo frustrating.

Overall, this wasn’t my favorite but it still had some great moments. I liked the author's writing style and I will definitely read more from her in the future. Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam Books for the gifted ARC to read and review.

Sadly, this book didn’t work out for me. For one reason, this book was wrongly categorized as a romance when it is definitely a women’s fiction. The MMC wasn’t introduced until 20% in, which is most likely part of why I was bored up until then. I made it another 10% of the book when the FMC made a very sketchy deal for what I felt to be a unreasonable rationale and the lying about it was the final straw.

Love triangles can be a hit or miss for me, especially if not done right, and I didn’t have a lot of faith in my enjoyment given the first 30% I’d read. Forcing myself to continue didn’t feel like the healthiest option for me, so I decided to DNF.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of "The Fixer-Upper" by Lauren Forsythe, scheduled to release on August 2nd, 2022.

Overall, I rated this novel a 4/5 stars!

The book centers around Aly (Alyssa), and her friends' analysis of how she has a tendency to pick men who need help "reaching their full potential". They always seem to become more successful after she's dated them. Tola, Eric, and Aly decide to come up with a business idea where the three of them help others who need assistance with their spouses or significant others (mostly men) However, upon starting up this company, Aly doesn't intend one of her jobs to involve her first (and really only) true love Dylan, from about 15 years ago.

This was a fast-paced romance / chick-lit story. When Aly runs into one of her exes and realizes that she helped turn him into the guy he is today, she realizes that she has helped turn every man she's been with into a better version of themselves, but she's still alone. So, Aly, along with her friends/co-workers Tola and Erik, decide to start-up a little business called The Fixer Upper. For a fee, Aly will turn any guy a woman is dating into the man she wants forever.

I thought the premise of the story was silly. Do men really need to be fixed? I guess I've never really thought about it. However, I did like the love-hate relationship Aly had with her old flame Dylan. Of course, there is a lot of tension in their relationship, but the friendship and sparks are still there many years later. Both Aly and Dylan struggle with their painful past and the relationships with their parents, which obviously gets brought into their current relationships.

I enjoyed the sarcastic banter between all the characters. It had humor, romance, and some sadness, but overall, it was an entertaining read.

The main character Aly, is a fixer upper, whether it a romance, divorce, business deal, she is the person. Where Aly can fix others, she does not seem to know how to fix herself.
This was a fun story as Aly and a couple of her friends start a side business, helping people with their problems.
But on one of their jobs for a well known social media influencer, she is put in a hard spot, as the person she is asked to fix, was her best friend growing up, and someone she herself has always liked..
This romcom was a very fun read as we see these characters move through all of their own insecurities, to hopefully reach a better place.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for a copy of this book.

3.5/5

Aly has a history of dating men that need to be fixed. Once she dates them and leaves, they go on to make something of themselves. With two of her co-workers, Aly goes on to turn her skills into a business. The Fixer Upper will help you get your boyfriend/husband/fiancé on track. Need a proposal? Call The Fixer Upper! Got a guy that has no ambition? Call the Fixer Upper!

Now this side hustle is going well for Aly until she is presented with an opportunity to fix a man she already knows...and once loved. Instagram star Nikki is dating Aly's former best friend Dylan and Nikki needs him to propose. Aly agrees to the job so she can raise money to help her mom, but the situation starts off very rocky.

I enjoyed the premise of the book. I think Netflix could make a tv series off of The Fixer Upper that would be hilarious. I found Aly to be a little hard to root for. She lacked a lot of self confidence and all of the problems in the book could have been fixed with a simple conversation (a trope that nags me). The side characters (Tola and Eric) were fabulous! I enjoyed the banter among the characters and some parts really hit home for me.

Thank you to NetGaley and Penguin Group Putnam for granting me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I thought this book was solid. At first, I felt like I identified with Aly as being the family problem solver, but then towards the end, I did feel like she was more manipulative than I would have expected her to be.

Its also hard to support a book with a love triangle because it feels like no matter who you root for, you’re kind of in the wrong. However, I feel like I kinda ignored Nikki’s storyline in this book and I really really liked the second chance Romance between Aly and Dylan. I loved the end and was really happy with how it turned out. I loved their little moments together, especially the headphones, the pub, and the hot tub. It was all very sweet and would make for a very swoon-worthy romance if he wasn’t emotionally cheating on his gf.

Overall, I’d recommend this read because even though I didn’t love it, I found myself really loving parts of it.

This is definitely a chick-flick movie material book. The beginning you're sucked in, wondering what the heck "Fixer Upper" is. I was very interested in the beginning, but somewhere in the middle I just got bored. I wanted more action from Aly and Dylan.. I was really hoping that their romance would blossom earlier on and that there was a different turn of events. In the end, it was cute but.. just wasn't *it* for me.

Okay so this book got me based on the cover and I was so excited to read it. So before we get too far in I want to say thank you to Netgalley, Lauren Forsythe, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and Penguin Random House Audio for not only the complementary audio book but the digital copy as well. No that that is done back to the review.

So Aly was a character that I was invested in from the jump. I mean, any woman who will go to a restaurant by herself and read a book with a good meal is a woman I want to have a happily ever after. Aly’s mom though really was cringy for me. I was so mad at her until the end of the book and then I was so excited for her progress.

Okay so in this book Aly and two of her friends create a company, The Fixer Upper, and try to fix men from what the women in their lives think may be wrong with them. The basis for me was flawed because honestly you can not change people unless they want to be changed and maybe the person who needs the change is the one who is wanting the change.

Aly is faced with a dilemma when a famous influencer books her company to get her boyfriend to propose. Seems fine until you find out the boyfriend is Aly’s forever crush. Aly feels like she has to thought to get the money to save her moms house and chaos happens.

Dylan and Aly needed to be together but they didn’t get together until the last chapter. There was more character development and growth then romance in this book so please don’t think of it as that.

Overall the book was decent. The narrator of the audio book, Lily Howkins, kept me invested in the story and if it wasn’t for the audio book I honestly may have not finished it. This one I would say is worth a read but I will not be buying a copy or wanting to really reread it.

3.5 stars for this one - thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the advanced copy of this one. Here are my honest thoughts.

This book is 80% chick lit, 20% romance (definitely not what I consider a "romantic comedy" by any stretch of the label), and you'll be waiting until about 70% of the way into the book for the romantic storylines to take flight.

Aly and her two work friends, Eric and Tola, start a side hustle once they realize that Aly has been "fixing" all her previous boyfriends and helping them transform into the men they were meant to be.... once she broke up with them. Simultaneously, we watch Aly manage her distraught mother who is in an on-again-off-again relationship with her ex-husband, Aly's father (who currently has a whole other family and life outside of Aly and her mom, so TRIGGER WARNING, cheating is a heavy topic in this novel). AND THEN on top of those storylines, Aly and team Fixer Upper are hired to fix Aly's ex-best friend, who she used to love in her teen years, by his current and very famous reality star/influencer girlfriend. Oh yeah, and there's drama at Aly's place of employment, too. There's just a lot going on and because of this, the story takes a lot of setup, so when it finally gets rolling about 40% of the way in, you've already been reading for... awhile.

While I have some complaints (mostly mentioned above), I did like these characters and the premise for this story. The majority of this book is what I could call Chick Lit, but it focuses heavily on the importance of relationships. First and foremost, Aly is closest with her Mama. There's love between the two of them that turns into tough love, but their transformation and loyalty to one another makes any reader envious. Then, there's the relationships with her friends, who know Aly deeply but it takes awhile for her to realize it. Eric and Tola bring such great energy to the book and make it an inclusive read. We also get to see Aly in a variety of working environments, where she has different relationships with different folks, but ends up helping everyone. As someone who has worked in an in-between position (not entry level, not management), at times I found it hard to believe that Aly was able to support ALL OF THE PEOPLE while also doing her job so well she thought she was up for a promotion. This just seems a little bit far-fetched, without even adding in her hours spent as the Fixer Upper and her dedicated time with her VIP client.

The most important relationship in this book is between Aly and herself. Eric, Tola, and especially Dylan help her to see herself as she is, instead of her ideas of how she should be or her insecurities of what others think of her. If you took out some of the noise from the rest of the story, Aly's transformation, upon reflection, is beautiful and deep.

Some of the dialogue moved along too quickly (Aly and Dylan are arguing and within three paragraphs they're hugging?) and some of the storylines were unnecessary, but overall I enjoyed this read and would recommend it to people who like Chick Lit, semi-second chance, British humor, with a touch of romantic comedy? 3.5 stars from me.

"𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘯𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘵𝘰𝘰. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦."

I don't think there are enough good things I could say about this book. I think that's mostly because I saw so much of me in Aly.

Because, like her, I spent so much of my life trying to fix everyone else and their problems... ignoring the things going on in my own life. Because, I know what it's like to see the potential in someone, help them to see it to... just to have someone else reap the benefits of my hard work.

This book had a little bit of everything... a relatable main character, loveable friends/supporting characters, an insufferable social media-centric heiress... and of course, a happy ending.

Absolutely devoured this womens fic/rom com. The childhood friends and enemies to lovers were both done so well. Her growth was clear and the romance was satisfying. Def recommend.

Life would have been so much easier if we could hire a fixer! A fixer of relationship problems, a fixer of business troubles, work related life glitches, social media accounts etc.,etc! I could hire Aly and her group of friends who call themselves the Fixer Upper and actually make a living out of this gig. You find your self in an unfavorable situation and you’re stuck, you call the Fixer Upper to iron out the wrinkles of life! Unfortunately as much as they are good at fixing, Aly seem to fail at smoothing her own rough paths.

This is a short, fun, and unique rom-com. I may have not take it as comedy but its good enough for the time I spent reading it. A love story of second chances and of friends to lovers plot. I find the entire premise a bit unrealistic to be honest. I did enjoy their dialogues. The sarcastic banter between Aly and friends just adds more color to British humor. The chemistry between Dylan and Aly was good but still lacks the spark for me. Overall, its a good summer read!

Special thanks to Putnam via Netgalley for the advance e-copy of the book for review. To PRH audio for the complimentary audiobook. Since this is a review, I would like to say that there are some discrepancy in the narratives and dialogues between the e-book and audiobook. Since I read and listen as much as I can, the difference between the two is something I can’t just let go.

~Thanks to Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Fixer Upper in exchange for an honest review. ~
3.5 stars

This book starts particularly strong for me with a FMC who is learning to love spending time with herself, but as soon as we got into the real meat of the story, the ‘fixing up,’ I started to get concerned that this was going to spend the entire book generalizing about men and erasing any faults of women. It just felt unrealistic and a bit self-congratulatory, but thank god that was handled gracefully by the end of the book!

The irony came about when we’re introduced to the big-name influencer, Nicki, who hires the crew to fix up Aly’s childhood BFF/crush. For all the girl power being mentioned at the start, I was taken off guard by the sudden negativity being spewed at Nicki. (Seriously, wtf does “It tasted like someone had blended a Barbie doll with a My Little Pony. And then stuck a grapefruit on top” mean?) However, as soon as Dylan entered the room, I was HOOKED.

The banter, the bickering, the back and forth. Pretending not to know one another, making pointed comments, glaring across the board table, I was swooning over all of it. The small flashbacks of Aly and Dylan’s previous relationship really reinforced their history, making for a convincing second chance romance. As they slowly bond and move forward, I continued to love them, but I wanted more fireworks at the confrontation over their past. Miscommunication showed up quite often in their relationship and it was getting tiresome by the third act conflict. Speaking of, with this sort of setup, you can see the third act conflict coming from a mile away. I was hoping there’s be a little twist, a change of plans to make for a refreshing ending, but nope. The grand gesture was sweet and we finally saw these two kiss. Adorable, but no steam.

Aly’s character has a lot of background, there’s so much history to sift through. I think this could have done with a little cutting. Even by the end, I still didn’t think the side characters, or even Dylan had near as much depth because so much time had been focused on rounding out all sides of Aly.

The pacing was really quick, which I definitely think helped me blast through this book in no time, but I think this one requires some suspension of disbelief.

Fast, fun and easy to read British romcom that charmed the socks off of me! The main character, Aly is a fixer and loves to fix any problems whether it be a relationship with a parent or a child, she's your girl. But Aly struggles to fix her own relationships and problems. Together with a couple of friends, she forms a company called "The Fixer Upper' and it is designed to fix different aspects of individual's lives. One of Aly's first clients ends up being someone who is trying to fix a relationship with one Aly's previous boyfriends, which lends to quite some drama buildup!

thanks to netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a fun and fast read. I couldn't put it down!

Alyssa, is a chronic yes woman, with a one track mind on getting a promotion at work. When she runs into an ex, it makes her uneasy and she looks back at all her past relationships, realizing how often the men she left became bigger and better than she was and how unfair that felt. Cue the Fixer Upper. With her co-workers Eric and Tola, they set up a side hustle. Women reach out and request a little push to their significant others in hopes they will change, get the new job, etc. It started off fun until a celebrity influencer reaches out for her help. Hesitantly she agrees, only to find out her new 'fixer upper' is her childhood best friend and secret crush Dylan, who she hasn't seen since she left for college. He pretends not to know her and there starts this morally gray, and wonderfully messy story. Can she help him reach his potential, that his girlfriend see's in him? Will everyone find out they have a past? Will their old feelings return? Will Dylan find everything out? So many questions!

This story was messy in the best way, and the side stories about her work and family life were so heartbreaking. I loved her discovery to finding work/life balance. It is something I struggled with for a long time and saw through. I wanted to wring her bosses neck with all that sexist talk. He and some of her male office counterparts were so cringy and sadly accurate. Besides them, the rest of the secondary characters were so delightful. They had a great balance of support and calling Alyssa on her shit. I am stilling thinking about this story days later. You won't regret picking this book up!

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review. This book releases 8/2!

Aly has always been a fixer but she didn’t realize she had a business opportunity until her work friends pointed it out and they started a fixer upper business for women struggling in their relationships. Everything was following the script until they were approached by a social media influencer wanting her boyfriend fixed up so he could propose. The problem? The boyfriend, Dylan, is Aly’s former best friend and first love. Now Aly feels even more like a manipulator and starts to question everything she’s built while struggling to following through with the original plan.

I really liked aspects of this book but then not so much other aspects. I loved Tola and Eric; they are great supportive friends to Aly. Ben is a loyal friend to Dylan but also a good friend to Aly and I would love to see a book and Eric and Ben’s blossoming relationship. I didn’t really see the connection or chemistry between Nikki and Dylan. You could definitely tell they were just playing parts with each other. What Nikki might have liked about Dylan in the beginning of their relationship was not what she liked about him now hence her need to change him to fit her lifestyle.

I think this whole book really shines a light on relationships and how they should really be about two people complimenting and supporting each other as is. Each relationship will require a little bit of compromise but as long as they are on the same page about the big stuff then the little things won’t matter so much. This is definitely more of a British chick lit book more than a romance so if you are looking for a book with more romantic aspects this might not be the book for you. This book is on the shorter side so it’s an easy quick read.

Rating 3.5 stars


Thank you @putnambooks and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

“But it wouldn’t need fixing. Because we’d have each other.”✨

*thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun British rom-com! I thought the premise was unique & interesting, maybe a little too far-fetched but 🤷🏼‍♀️

I really liked that banter between the two MCs, but the entire reason they had issues was because of miscommunication and I had a hard time getting past that.

It was still a sweet feel-good romance that was a great debut! I’m excited to read what Lauren puts out in the future!!!

Read if you like:
- childhood friends to strangers to friends to lovers 👩🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻
- the miscommunication trope 🧏🏻‍♀️
- strong side characters 👯‍♀️

Rating: ☀️☀️☀️💫/5

Rating: 3/5
Warnings: difficult family dynamics
Steam: 1/5

Thank you to GP Putnam, NetGalley and PRH audio for access to this ARC/ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a great idea for a book! I liked the concept of the characters, but ultimately I found Aly really unlikeable and I didn't like the dynamic she shared with her mom. Family dynamics like this are hard for me to read in fiction, they aren't enjoyable and leads me to want to shake the main character.

I did like this theme of second chances, while this romance was not really on page, you did know they had years of shared history behind them. Ultimately, this was a quick read. I enjoyed the ending.

Aly doesn't date men, she dates projects. Nearly every man she's dated is improved by the end of the relationship -- better hygiene, more ambitious, less afraid of commitment. They all experience success in their next relationship while Aly is treading water. Then Aly's friends Eric and Tola have a brilliant idea to charge for her fix-up services. Aly can get your commitment-phobic boyfriend to propose or convince your guy to stop talking about that novel and actually write it. All is going well with this side hustle until Aly is hired by a celebrity who wants Aly to "fix-up" her boyfriend, Dylan... the man who just so happens to be Aly's best friend and first love from childhood, and whom she hasn't seen in a decade.

I really liked the friendship between Aly, Eric and Tola. Their dynamic was the best part of this book for me. The second-chance love story was fine, but I never really bought into Dylan as a love interest. I was more interested in the other facets of Aly's life -- her friends, her work ambitions, her complicated relationship with her parents -- than I was in the romance aspect of the book. I will be keeping an eye out for more books by this author.