I loved this book! I read the first 20% over 2 or 3 days, but then I stayed up until 1AM to finish it. It does have elements of a slow burn/second chance romance, but the main focus of the book is our heroines growth. She really learns how to be honest with herself and fight for what she wants. I really loved getting to know her friends and her old best friend. A fun ride with a satisfying ending.

Such a fun and touching story. Aly stumbles into wondering if the what if she had 15 years prior can work out of to save her mother's indecision. A great read.

It was hard for me to enjoy this book just because i don't like any type of cheating. i find the painting of the current girlfriends as terrible overused.

This book was a quick, easy read. It kept me entertained and I was either laughing or yelling (usually at the MC). There were so many things to love about this book and I found it easy to adore.

Aly is a push-over, people pleaser. She is constantly helping other people fix their lives for the better, but she never takes her own advice. Aly has had a plan for years for her boring life and she does not want to derail that plan. Until her best friends bring it to her attention that she has a knack for making people take a leap of faith and fix their boring lives. They decide to make a company out of it called “The Fixer Upper.” Aly and her two best friends, Tola and Eric, are helping many women fix their significant others into better people by secretly manipulating the men. All is going well until a famous influencer hires them to fix her not so famous boyfriend, who just so happens to be Aly’s ex-best friend and first love. Through many trials and tribulations, Aly finally bucks up and learns to say no and takes charge of her own life, but she just might lose her friend that she just got back through the choices she makes.

I highly recommend you pick this charming romance up when it comes out August 2nd. It is definitely worth the read!

Thanks to Netgalley and Putnam for the Advanced Readers Copy of this book! Lauren Forsythe did not disappoint and I look forward to reading more of her work down the road.

I really struggled with this - I was expecting a fun comedy with a little bit of romance, a'la Bridget Jones' Diary. The start was promising and I was excited to continue but 30% of the way in, I started to struggle. I found the main character far too flat for a main character, the love interest is featured mostly as an off-page character, leaving all the interactions between Aly and Dylan to be snide and them lying to the people around them about their past. The pacing also felt off - the resolution to the main conflict comes literally in the last five pages, sort of out of nowhere, as the last time we've seen the MCs, they've departed on chilly terms deciding to go their separate ways. The whole book felt convoluted and at times, misogynistic, particularly as Nikki, Dylan's girlfriend was described. 1.5 stars, rounded up.

Spoilers!! Fixer Upper was such a cute, fun way to bring in my 2022 reading!! I would label this as a RomCom novel (British style). I loved the different story elements that were brought into play here. Basically set up as a friends-enemies-lover romance, Alyssa has to help a famous client "fix up" her boyfriend who she wants to propose to her. Turns out, this client's boyfriend is her ex-best friend from childhood. There were so many important themes I noticed in this book, which I loved - feminism/double standards, struggling with career and boss issues, grief/loss, chasing your dreams (also love), and also, being with someone who accepts you for who YOU are, not who they want you to be. It was just super cute and feel good, and an easy read.

YES! YES! YES!

Full disclosure, I am a rom-com junkie, so its not hard for me to love this one! Super cute rom com filled with charm, fun and the age old enemies to lovers trope! A perfect quick read!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe.

What a fun rom-com! Aly has always been a kind of "fixer-upper." She can make a boyfriend propose, make someone obtain their dream job, convince someone to attain the unattainable.

She and her friends decide to start a side business to make some money off of Aly's abilities. When a social media influencer with millions of followers reaches out for help they know they are going to start to rake in the business. Until the male half of the couple turns out to be Aly's "one that got away."

The book is a quick read, and predictable but that didn't bother me at all. It felt believable and the characters were likeable.

4 ⭐

"When you love someone for over a decade, it lives in your bones, like an echo.”

Aly is a fixer. She has been fixing everything around her: her parents, work problems and friend’s love life. After a chance meeting with an ex she also realized she’s been fixing her boyfriend’s too. That’s when she and her friends thought about Fixer Upper. They thought they could empower women by helping them fix their men. Help the men see their potential and act on it. Sounds easy until their biggest client Nicki asked for their expertise. Things get complicated when the Fixer Upper new project is no other than Aly’s estranged best friend Dylan. This was a fun and fast paced story. I can’t say it was a romantic love story over all because it was more than that. It was about women empowering women, the influencer lifestyle (the unrealistic part) and the issue of fixing everything else except yourself. The friends to enemies to lovers trope was just the cherry on top. I really wished there were more Aly and Dylan moments together and Hello I needed explanation and story behind the two digit years of silence and no communication. Overall this book was enjoyable. The funny banters between characters had me giggling. I need friends like Eric, Tola, Ben and Priya in my life. The work situation got into my nerves (coz it still happens) but I was glad Aly finally stood up for herself and finally acknowledged her worth. 

My favorite part of the book is the Five Wonderful Things. It was Dylan’s mum saying. Tell five things you’re excited about today and if you can’t think of five, you’ve gotta take yourself off on an adventure.

Thank you Netgalley and Putnam Books for letting me read this book.

This was such a cute romantic comedy! I mean I love anything to do with British men so there was no way that I wasn't going to absolutely love this!

I love a good rom-com and this one did not disappoint. I love when there is a happy ending. I will definitely be picking up more from this author in the future. Thank you Netgalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone has a talent, and Aly’s is fixing. She’s been doing it her entire life. Fixing her relationships, her parent's marriage, and other people's work troubles. From this, Aly and her friends, Tola and Eric, start a company called “The Fixer Upper” which is a business to help encourage men to grow for their partners. When Aly decides to take on a celebrity client, she runs into a childhood friend from her past.

Overall, this was a super cute book and I really enjoyed reading it! I am an absolute sucker for a second chance love/friends to strangers to lovers romance. I love the growth of our main characters Aly & Dylan in this book and just adored the side characters.

If I’m being nit-picky, I felt like the story took a bit to kick off but once it gets into the action it really hooks you!

Read this if you want:
💗 A cute British rom-com
🤷‍♀️ A “we do not know each other” trope
👩‍❤️‍👨 A friends to strangers to lovers storyline
🥳 Cute banter

Special thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam, G. P. Putnam’s Sons for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts!

Unfortunately, I found I just really couldn't get into this novel. I kept opening my kindle, reading a few pages or a chapter and then wandering off. It had a decent start but the addition of the marriage plotline with the ex when combined with how the pages & characters didn't grab me made this a DNF for me. I think it will be perfectly lovely for other folks, but just isn't a book that I wanted to continue trudging through.

As per my personal policy, I will not be posting a review of this book up anywhere since I didn't finish. Best of luck to the author on their release this summer.

I enjoyed the book but it just felt like something was missing. I think this book would have greatly benefited from being dual POV. If we knew how Dylan felt it would probably move the book along better. That being said I absolutely loved their fight and then the romantic gesture following it.

I received an arc through netgalley.

the concept here is amazing and i can really see these friends being amazing at this however it got boring too fast. I love a fixer upper with relationships but it really felt like they were mainly lying and guilt tripping people to get the answer they want and not this other story they imagined.

3.5 spoilers rounded up. Thank you to Putnam Group and Lauren Forsythe for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book left me feeling a bit stressed. I think the main character could have been a little more likable and a little less self destructive to allow for a happier read. Overall, I loved the humor and I didn’t always know what was going to happen next which is a plus. I wished for more character development and a little more chemistry between the main character and the love interest. I loved the ending, super cute and tied it all together well. I would read a book by this author in the future, I think for a first novel her writing style has a lot to offer!

Aly Alestri has a habit of improving everyone's life but her own -- her exes, her parents, her friends, her co-workers. Now she has to learn to stop putting everyone else's needs before her own. But can she do it?

This was such a fun read and I loved the best friends to enemies to lovers again. And while it was a quick fun read I did have to roll my eyes a few times because all of the issues in this book are all because of miscommunication and it just felt frustrating at every turn. While I over all enjoyed the banter and the relationship at the end I wish communications could have been handled better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read an ARC of The FIxer Upper. I am sharing my review voluntarily.

This was really well written and the characters were so thoughtfully created and shared. I felt the friendship between Aly, Eric and Tola grow as the story progressed. The premises was well done and had me sitting in an uncomfortable gray area throughout.

I loved the friendship between Dylan and Aly. It was authentic and developed believably.

I felt like the story started off slowly and I had trouble getting into it. I considered not finishing it around 30% because I felt like I’d been reading for so long without much enticement. I am so glad I kept going! This was thought provoking and sweet. I would have missed out on so much if I hadn’t finished. Once the EasterEgg crew is introduced the book flows quickly and is really interesting.

I went to sleep reflecting on this story and how parts of it show up in my own life. That is such a meaningful byproduct of reading a well written book and I’m grateful for it with The FU.

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for the ARC.

I loved The Fixer Upper, and found Aly a really relatable protagonist. I loved following her journey of self-worth, and realizing what she was meant to do. I loved how she stood up for herself in the workplace, and turned her "Fixer Upper" business into one for empowerment. The Fixer Upper is witty, and fun to read, and I flew through it in one sitting. I appreciated how Dylan and Aly became friends again first, before falling back in love with one another, and loved the second chance romance aspect of it. An overall predictable, but incredibly enjoyable read nonetheless!