I've been in a book slump and really needed a light read to get back into the swing of things, and this was just the ticket. Some of these types of covers lead to extra cheesy plots. While this books was certainly on the lighter side, I didn't find myself rolling my eyes or completely predicting where things would go. I did get a little frustrated with the main character's inner thoughts/attitudes at times but overall, I found this novel to be somewhat unique, and an enjoyable summer read. While the book doesn't have a ton of cliffhangers, I definitely found myself saying "ok one more chapter."

I can't say enough about this book! It was fun and flirty and rich! The heroine was not only admirable but relatable. I sincerely loved every second of this.

This book hit a little close to home - like Aly, I love helping people fix things. However, the underhanded, deceitful way that Aly and team went about "fixing" the men and relationships of those who hired them made for a cringe-tastic storyline. I'm glad they learned their lessons and had some consequences to handle.

The Fixer Upper was a British romantic drama read with a fun premise – it had Failure To Launch vibes for me, and felt fresh as it isn’t a premise I’ve seen all that much. I enjoyed the tropes at play within the storyline reunited childhood friends and second chance romance with a dash of enemies to lovers. The story was interesting and had a good pacing – for me it really grabbed me and held on once the two old friends were reunited / reconnected. Once we have Aly and Dylan connecting again, I found the story especially compelling and found myself taking each spare moment I had to read.

I love a story that has an interesting character growth arc for our main character, and it’s always nice to see them making forward progress against long standing patterns of behavior that do not serve them. I enjoyed our mains, Dylan and Aly, and the glimpses we got to their shared past. I also really enjoyed the secondary cast of characters within this story. They were all interesting, and left me wanting more of them as well.

Very happy to have had the opportunity to read an early copy and I look forward to more from this author in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the chance to get an early peek!

Absolutely a great read! I loved this book so much! Thank you for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review. I absolutely loved every bit of it!

Five Wonderful Things About the Fixer Upper
* Aly. Loved her from the start - such a strong, hard-working, principled woman. Felt for her so much. Loved seeing her develop from being the one who bends over backwards to fix stuff for other people, to finding a way to fix herself (and fight for what she wants!)
* Dylan and Aly's friendship: they were so appreciative of each other, knew each other so well, accepted each other for who they are. Their gratitude lists and adventures. I'm such a sucker for this trope.
* Quirky and fun side characters who became true friends to Aly and Dylan and were great support groups!
* Spitting facts about trauma (and how it plays in people's lives even later on), love (the reality of it) , life, dealing with the ideal as portrayed on social media
* Defining your own success and knowing what will make YOU happy, not what others think will make you happy

And my truth: I really enjoyed this book! It was a fun and modern read with feminist themes. The pining tugged my heartstrings. Made me laugh and tear up. Would have loved to see more from that ending though. Also, this seems more women's fiction than romcom.

Recommended for second chance romance lovers, those looking for a strong, female lead, and those who want to have fun with photoshoots and glamping. This book is out on August 2.

Thank you Putnam Books, NetGalley and Lauren Forsythe for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Will be posting on goodreads.com/readsbynaia and instagram.com/readsbynaia closer to pub date.

The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsyth

I enjoyed this book. It was different. Great characters, well-written. How can you be a fixer-upper when your own life needs fixing? I recommend do this book.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me this advanced reader’s copy for my review.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book. It ended up being a fast, fun read that was perfect for vacation or a beach read. I was a little disappointed by the lack of steam but that is totally a personal preference. There was great banter and I found it extremely entertaining. Will definitely pick up more by this author in the future.

Aly is a marketing expert who excels at helping clients put their best foot forward, a skill she also uses in her personal life, helping her boyfriends improve their lives even as her own stagnates. But when a chance encounter reunites her with Dylan, the first guy she ever loved - or tried to help - she has to decide if her reputation as a fixer is worth giving up a happy ending of her own.

The Fixer Upper is women's fiction with a strong romance plot line, but Aly's career, friendships, family, and general outlook on life are at least as important to the story, and far better developed than the sweet but somewhat bland romance. I especially loved reading about Aly’s developing friendships and her toxic (but, sadly, typical) work environment. The story was engaging and populated with realistic and interesting characters.

The only real negative for me was that Aly's narrative voice, while intelligent and witty during the sad and dramatic parts of the story, felt subdued and even depressive during what might otherwise have been lighthearted moments - a disconnect that kept me from becoming as immersed in the reading experience as I might otherwise have been with a story this multi-layered and compelling.

This wasn’t a bad read but I just can’t abide by the ending. I’m not sure these two should have ended up together, it seemed unnatural and forced after the way Aly schemed and lied to everyone. Very little romance and a lot of lying.

In full transparency, I did not finish this book and stopped reading about 50% in.

In an effort to provide feedback, here is why I did not finish and some general feedback:

- I was engaged with the premise until the whole idea of the "Fixer Upper" model was so simplified it seemed like these three people were just going to people, suggesting they change one aspect of their life, and people just did it? It didn't seem realistic to me, nor did it seem like a legitimate business.
-Aly and Dylan had no chemistry. In fact, I'm not sure this is even a romance novel. Dylan seemed to be more of her therapy patient than a love interest.
-The premise of this book functions on the idea that Aly can get Dylan to propose, but I think that raises some serious moral implications about the work she is supposed to be doing. I get she needed the money, but to say that you can manipulate someone into proposing is not a good precedence nor message to send.
-Dylan is not a romantic hero. If that's what we're going for here, then this isn't the kind of person I really want to read about in the context of a romance novel. He takes on debt, he has seemingly no backbone, he can't read a situation and make appropriate decisions in a social setting, and he can't seem to finish anything he starts. I already know men like this in real life and I don't need to know anymore in my romance novels that are supposed to function as escapism.
-There is entirely too much focus on the specifics of her job outside of Fixer Upper. I don't need to know all the details about the job and how the coordinates her job. I have an office job, I'm already traumatized.
-How was she able to get additional tickets to a conference for a different company without her own company authorization? That seems like a conflict of interest and extremely unprofessional.
-Aly experiences a lot of sexism within her 9-5, yet when she is provided an opportunity to ask for what she wants, she asks for business class seats on a train and extra tickets. That seems so inane and like a waste of time. Ask for more authority, a larger team, improved working conditions, more time off, heck ask for a program that will allow her to build out her other business, Fixer Upper. She asked for so little when she could've gotten so much more and that's the whole point of this novel, right? To demonstrate that. woman can get more from her business, from her life?
-This just didn't seem like a romance novel at all, which is what it is marketed as. Dylan and Aly had no chemistry, while they had some backstory it didn't seem like it ever really went anywhere, they had barely been in each other's presence for 50% of the novel, and I still had no idea if they even liked each other when they were younger or even at the present time.

Here's what I did enjoy:
-The beginning version of Aly where we get a strong heroine who helps people regularly was interesting. This aspect could have been really engaging and different, playing off the idea that she can help anyone but can't seem to keep them.
-Her friends and their relationship was engaging. I enjoyed them.

I will not be posting to GoodReads or Amazon, but wanted to provide feedback here.

"Love is only meant to to be terrifying right at the beginning, right before you fall. Then it's meant to feel like home."

Aly has been fixing everyone's problems her entire life. Others have grown and flourished while she stayed stagnant. She creates a secret side business with her friends Tola and Eric, the "Fixer Upper" to help women with relationship problems after her friends realize Aly has a gift for "fixing" up her ex's to be more successful than when she dated them. The team lands its biggest client, a famous influencer needing their help to secretly push her boyfriend to a proposal... the only problem is that boyfriend is Aly's former childhood best friend, Dylan, whom she ran away from 15 years prior.

A super light, fast read with a childhood friend romance mixed with enemies-to-lovers, and miscommunication trope. This story kept the pages turning, and most of the characters are enjoyable, Eric and Ben were my favorite. Parts of the book I found to be a bit rushed, specifically when Aly and Dylan mended their friendship and the ending felt a little unfinished for my tastes. I would have preferred at least one more chapter to close out the rest of the storylines.. Overall, a great beach read or for when you're in the mood for quick light clean read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Putnam publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars

This was such a sweet read I couldn't have asked for more. I love a good second chance romance and this one nailed it.
I felt like each character was perfect and made the story incredible. I found myself relating to Aly in some sense. Wanting to make sure everyone else is doing well, but sometimes forget about myself. I think this is a beautiful tale that teaches us that imperfection is inevitable, but it isn't something we should always avoid or try to eradicate. Ultimately, imperfection and adversity are apart of who we are, but they don't define who we are or how we should live our lives.

this is such a funny, fast, cute and quick read!

the premise of this entire book is something that I found so unique and pulled me in quickly! complete sucker for second chance romances so I loved that.

aly's the best at fixing things. whether it's an actual tangible thing or being there for her friends and family, she's going to do it. aly also fixes her boyfriends and comes to realize, she helps them become better people but she never gets to experience it.

wished there was more romance in this book but I think the author does a good job of making you root for aly and dylan to be together.

my absolute favorite part of this book was the friendship between tola, eric and aly. would die for this trio!

Aly has always been a fixer. A fixer of work problems, a fixer of her list of boyfriends with no potential, a fixer of her mother.
When Aly starts fixing small man problems for the women she works with, she does it for fun. She enjoys going out with her friends and helping women. When she is propositioned by Nikki, an influencer on the hunt for an engagement ring, she realizes she might just be in over her head.
Thus begins a phenomenal book of learning that it isn't always about fixing things- sometimes it's all about learning to love things as imperfectly as they are.

This book was a super sweet read that had me cheering at the ending. Set in London, it gives all the vibes of a perfect book, including an old flame that she is forced to see again after years. While this book is a romance, I thought it truly was heartwarming seeing the journey Aly had been on. It felt like a romance but read as a journey of a novel teaching you important lessons of life. The ending wrapped everything together nicely, and it was done in a way where I didn't feel like I was reading another run of the mill contemporary romance. This book is sure to be a best seller, and I highly recommend it to others. A definite 5 of 5 stars.

Five things I loved about The Fixer Upper:

1. From the very beginning, this book felt like a 90s/00s rom-com, to the point that I would lie awake at night trying to cast it. (Coincidentally, who IS the British version of Kate Hudson?) It was comfortable without being totally predictable. A HEA was practically guaranteed, but the path wasn’t obvious or boring.

2. The cast of supporting characters was wonderful. The business partners turned best friends, the parents with a messy history, the social media star girlfriend, the horrible boss, Helena Bonham Barker… each fit their respective role perfectly. I hope Tola gets her own story, because her fearlessness and drive were pretty mesmerizing.

3. The girl power! I thought to portrayal of women in the workforce was amazing, particularly how they have to wade so carefully through any interaction that may be seen as emotional. There is a whole women supporting women undercurrent that didn’t feel forced or gimmicky, and that’s not always easy to pull off!

4. Dylan. I don’t think words can express how much I adored this love interest. He was messy and earnest and fantastic. Together, Dylan and Aly were perfectly idiotic marshmallows and I just freaking love them.

5. Aly is a hell of a heroine. There is a fine line to walk where an assertive character is charming vs. overbearing, made even more complicated when that character is a woman. Aly had a plan— multiple plans, in fact!— and stuck to procedure as much as possible… until she couldn’t. When things went wrong was truly where Aly’s vulnerability came through, and I thought it was done incredibly well. Aly in control and Aly out of control were both equally lovable characters.

I am incredibly stingy with 5-star ratings, but The Fixer Upper earned that particular accolade and then some. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved everything. I cannot wait for this book to be released, so I can hold an actual copy in my hands. Until then, thank you so much to NetGalley and Putnam Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. It was a fun read. The characters had a quirky idea for a business. They were relationship "Fixer Uppers," it was their job to manipulate men into living up to their potential. The socialite influencer was an interesting character with unique ways of spinning things to make her the winner in the end. It was a sweet romance that connected long lost friends, and their connection created new connections along the way.

Aly (our FMC), Eric, and Tola are coworkers at a marketing company who stumble upon an idea: they’ll use their combined knowledge and manipulation skills to help people improve their partners. It’s a bit of a weird concept to explain, but it falls somewhere between Hitch and Good Luck Chuck, but they’re helping hapless partners propose, become better stay-at-home parents, or re-enter employment. They start a company called The Fixer Upper. As you would imagine, the one thing Aly can’t fix is her own love life.

Of course it all comes to a head when Fixer Upper is hired to “fix” Aly’s childhood best friend/first love Dylan. There’s a deadline, a huge payment promised, a semi-villainous bride to be (influencer and Kitty Litter Princess Nicki).

It has all the hallmarks of a late 90s romantic comedy and I enjoyed it for that. There was a nice sense of friendship between the Aly and her friends/business partners. Overall it was a sweet read.

Takeaways:
💕 Second chance romance
💕 Rom-com vibes
💕 Felt like a movie
💕 Clean romance

I was able to read this for free thanks to Net Galley, although that does not affect my opinion of the actual book. This book had a bit of a slow start for me. It wasn’t my favorite book, however it wasn’t super bad either hence why I’m rating it at a 3. I think I just expected more and I didn’t find myself connecting with any of the characters.

Something about second chance romances just makes my heart ache, but in the best way - growing pains, I think. "The Fixer Upper" was chock full of longing and nostalgia and heartache and yet, and yet, and yet... it was all the sweeter for it. Rewarding, too, watching the main characters come into their own. Love me a good flawed MMC. I struggled a little with the FMC at the beginning, but it was because I was meant to: she had some growing to do.