I really wanted to love this book! I was excited for a blue-collar heroine working in a male-dominated industry. I love when tropes with associated gender norms get subverted (in this book, the heroine was supposed to be the “grump” and the hero the “sunshine”). I also love love love the idea of a budding romance during a hellish-sounding mandatory company retreat complete with (ugh) ice-breakers and team-building exercises.

Unfortunately, I found Tully, the hero, problematic. He falls into that 80s/90s romance hero trap of “Hey reader! You’re supposed to think my behaviour is ok because the heroine wants to climb me like a tree and lick my tattoos off, but even though the reader knows that because they have access to her POV, I can’t possibly know that because I’m not a mind-reader therefore I’m in reality no different than any other creep who tries to ‘wear down’ women who have repeatedly shown/told me they are not interested in me.”

It doesn’t matter that the heroine is secretly into him. He. Doesn’t. Know. That.

All he has to go on is her body language (she’s cold/bitchy towards him) and what she tells him. With her words.

A few snippets of things our heroine tells Nice Guy Tully in the first few chapters, in no particular order:
“Let me go.”
“I did not, ever ask you in here, much less want you touching my hair.”
“Get out.”
“Leave me alone.”
“Remove your hand.”
“Not interested at all.”
“Keep dreaming.”
“…fucking let go of my hand.”

And he had the unmitigated gall to offer to have a “talk” with another co-worker he thought was bothering Dawson. She correctly calls him out as a hypocrite to which he replies that he’s “not that kind of guy” and of course he’d back off if he made her “truly” uncomfortable. (I’m sorry but if you don’t back off after being told to back off in several different ways simply because you didn’t think she was serious, you ARE “that kind of guy.”)

Anyhoo.

Other bothersome bits: quality of writing not what I am used to, a lot of "telling not showing" when it came to MCs personalities (I'm supposed to believe Tully is a nice guy because everyone tells me Tully is a nice guy?), heroine who I thought was going to be a curvy badass ended up being insecure about her size (sigh), main characters were immature and didn’t communicate ever (except when Dawson was telling Tully repeatedly to leave her alone… she did communicate that quite well)… and also a unicorn “Very Good at Sportsing” athlete hero who randomly could have had his pick of the NHL or the NFL despite that not really being a thing that could happen based on how those two sports work on a professional level (hello new oddly specific pet peeve I didn’t know I had.)

I would have DNFed this book but it was given to me as an ARC to read so I would have felt bad leaving a review after not having read the whole thing.

I really tried to like this book very much. It had all the potential in a romance book: rivals to lovers trope, forced proximity trope, and a slow burn premise. But it all came out flat after finishing it. I did not feel the attraction between the two characters. It was all talk and no action. I wanted more for this book.

Enemies to lover trope
The dynamic between the characters was cute and I finished this in one sitting!!!

Dawson moves across the country in the pursuit of her dream job rebuilding motorbikes. When she arrives in town she finds out the job, that had been promised to her, had been given to the returning hometown hero Tully.

Now Dawson finds herself on a company wilderness retreat with Tully and things start to get steamy.

A cute enemies to lovers story.

New to me author Aliyah Burke writes an exceptional love story of self-discovery, real life emotions and connection in the midst of heartbreak. It's brilliantly written, with an engaging storyline, amazing characters that you fall in love with and want to know more about. The character development and chemistry between Dawson and Tully is passionate and heartfelt. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I laughed. I signed. I loved this story. Bravo to the author for showcasing diverse characters with real issues!! #TinkeringWithLove #NetGalley

When I think of romance, I think of books just like this one, that gives all the feels and satisfies every romance junkies' heart. This is a perfect book to snuggle up with on any day.

I enjoyed this one! Characters are captivating and plot line is intriguing! I stayed up long into the night to finish this one! I definitely recommend it with 4 stars!

This book was very cute! I had a lot of fun reading it. It’s a lighthearted easy read. I will be picking up more of this authors work!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this eARC.

I wanted to love this book but I couldn't even get myself that far into the book. Within 3% of this book, someone already said that the main girl and guy would make cute babies and they hadn't even talked or met on page yet. Some sentences needed editing too because some just didn't make sense, as if some words were missing.

This was a cute enemies to lovers interracial romance. I did like Dawson and Tully and how they got together. I will say that Dawson wasn't my favorite. Anytime her and Tully had a tiff she would put everything on him. The book kind of dragged in some spots and overall it was okay.

Tinkering with Love by Aliyah Burke is an enemy to lovers romance that gives us the grumpy/sunshine trope when Dawson Shay moves across the country to pursue her dream job of rebuilding motorcycles. She finds herself at a wilderness retreat with her fellow co-workers, and the handsome hometown hero (as those in town seem to call him), Tully Faulkner. He is always sunshine and bright sides, but when Dawson is in his presence, she is anything but that. Because as great as those around her believe him to be, he stole her job and seems dead set on trying to woo her.

I enjoyed this book and the setting of team building weekend with co-workers. With all the emotions Dawson had about Tully, watching team building and the way those around them reacted to and with them was heartwarming. It gave me found family vibes for sure.

I also enjoyed the fact that Tully was so smitten with Dawson. It was downright cute. If I had to pick a favorite character, it would be Dawson. But I always favor loving the "sunshine" of the trope.

One thing that I didn't enjoy was Dawson's flip-flopping/ hot and cold ways with her feelings. Those were the parts that were complicated to get through, but the ending once every misunderstanding and the flip-flopping finished truly won me over.

Tully was smitten from the absolute start, but it took Dawson a while to admit things to herself.

Overall, the friendships and the found family team building, and the ending took this from nearly a three-star read up to a four-star read!

Thank you Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by Netgalley and Entangled Publishing.

I received an EARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was so entertained by this book. I loved how hard the man fell for the woman in the story. He loved her from the instance he saw her and had to fight for her. I just love stories like that. I loved the cast of characters and how supportive they were. I loved Tully's friends and I hope we get more books that focus on his friends because they seem like they would make hilarious and fantastic main characters. I was hoping for more motorcycle vibes in this book. I feel like that aspect of it kind of took the back burner.

Love the premise of this book! A motorcycle loving woman and the man who stole her job - yes please! It was a quick read with lots of cute support characters and easy to like main characters. However, it lacked any real depth for me. Definitely an instalove story, which isn't my cup of tea (some will love it!). And the issues could have been resolved with communication.

I loved the sound of this book. A female protagonist who works on motorcycles? Yes, please! The fact that Dawson uproots her life to move across the country to manage a motorcycle shop only to show up and find out that the job promised to her was given to someone else had me rooting for her. However, this were very rocky in this book, and I don’t just mean the relationship between Dawson and the guy who took her job, Tully.

You see, Dawson is obviously upset over the whole job situation. She was promised a job, uprooted her life, only to find out that the job was given to “the hometown hero”. So instead of working on motorcycles, she works with vehicles at a sister company. This book had a lot of “love at first sight” going on and it didn’t really work for me. On day on, Tully was saying some very inappropriate things about taking her to his bed and giving her mouth to mouth because he knows she wants it. Just things that should have resulted in him getting harassment charges. However, Dawson lets it slide because he is “hot”. Which brought up the back and forth that pops up later. She would kiss him, or sleep with him, and then immediately shut him out because she “didn’t like him”. I just wish she’d have put her foot down and not been so googly eyed over some cocky dude who gets his way. This doesn’t even brush up on the fact that Tully makes a bet with his buddies that he can get Dawson to fall in love with him by the end of summer. What’s the wager? $10k. However, it’s totally alright because the losers pay that money to a charity of the winners choice. So it’s morally alright to do that. …. I think not.

While I had a HUGE problem with the romance aspect of this book, the one thing that I LOVED was Mr. Harrellssen. He’s this crotchety old man who takes a liking to Dawson, even though he complains about her presence the whole time. She makes him food, hangs out with him, and he is just this grumpy old grandpa that would quite literally shoot someone for you and bury the body with no questions asked. Plus, it helped that he hated Tully, and refused to let him on his property when Dawson why trying to escape him. He was just the sweetest, most genuine person in the whole story.

I really with that I liked the story more than I had did. I thought I was going to fall in love with this enemies to lovers romance. Especially given that Dawson is this badass chick. However, the back and forth with Tully, the way he conducted himself towards her, and just the fact that there were red flags popping up left and right, really left me feeling creeped out the entire time.

The ideas behind this story and the characters are strong, for me, I found the connectivity wasn’t there.
The main female character seems to have made some life changing decisions, the flow of events and personalities that followed were not quite believable. Along comes the male lead character who suddenly finds love, where are the sparks?
The writing style and relatability ‘feel’ fell short and I’m disappointed that this book didn’t deliver.
Thanks to the publisher, NetGalley and the author, I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Dawson is a female mechanic who moves across the country for her dream job only to find out it's been given to someone else. Tully is a motorcycle-loving former NHL player and the town's golden boy (to some).

As a fan of medium-to-slow burns, the instant love from Tully did not do it for me. It was okay, just okay. There were a few funny moments, and I loved the bromance scenes, but the story itself was just okay. Nothing grabbed me and kept me hooked. In my opinion, Dawson’s anger at Tully was misplaced and she was so hot and cold that it didn’t give grumpy/sunshine or enemies to lovers. It didn’t make sense to be mad at the person who was not involved in the hiring process, much less took over the company. There was just no chemistry and no build-up of attraction that won me over. I wished the story took place outside of the team building activity and took more than a week. I did, however, love Dawson’s ability to connect with everyone around her and build relationships.

Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“He’d suffered concussions playing both football and hockey, yet none of them had thrown him for a loop like she had. Dawson Shay.”

2.5*

The blurb and the cover.. 5 stars. The actual story, 2 stars. Sadly this one was a case of, it’s just not for me. I really had high hopes. Grumpy/sunshine is my favorite, and the heroine being grumpy takes it next level, but I could not connect with this one and it was mainly because serious feelings started evolving for one character before they even had two conversations. I am fine with insta-love in many cases, but here it just didn’t work for me.

This is JUST my personal opinion. I do not want to discourage anyone from trying this one out, because all the pieces were there I just couldn’t get over the heroes quick intentions for the heroine. I think that if instalove works for you, this book will probably work for you!

This was just….interesting.

I’m giving this a generous 3 stars because I love POC rep in books. Although I didn’t enjoy our FMC at all.

There were just too many issues for me, like it was so insta-love I was immediately turned off. Our FMC was so unlikeable—like so judgmental it began to really bother me.

I love a good grumpysunshine romance, but this fell flat for me, unfortunately.

I was really excited to read this book and it started off so good but it kind of dragged on. Like if they would’ve had one conversation while on the hunt a lot of the stuff would have been solved. This might just be me. However, I still like the story it self. I like the way Dawson interacted with people around her. She was good at seeing what people need. I just wish she did it with herself more. Tully must have been kind of an jerk as a teen it seems like everyone kind of love hated him. I don’t have much to say about him. He was cool and all I see where the author was trying to make him down to earth but I think he was a little too down if that makes sense.
Overall, I would recommend you give this one a try. It’s a 3.5 star read for me

I recieved an arc of this book. Overall I like the book. The premise is about a woman who moves across country to a new job fixing motorcycles only to find out the job as has been given to someone else, a very handsome someone else. Sparks fly,  but her goal is to make him look bad to get her job back. We romance readers know where this is going, and it did not disappoint.
I liked the fact that she was in a bigger body, but it was never an issue between the two main characters. Her mother had some issues with it...  but her mother also just had a lot of issues in general. But between the 2 MC's it was never an issue. He liked her as a whole person and I like that. She was confident with him except for a few instances, but the moments of being self conscious were fleeting and I liked that.
I will say that this story did have some elements that would be considered work place harrassment so it you have a problem with that maybe steer clear, but it was mostly just work place romance stuff.Over all this was an enjoyable read, but nothing stuck out to me, good or bad really. I think the connection between the two MC's was hard for me to find because of the animosity she had for him and he didn't push back on her two sided behavior enough. So am I happy I read this. book, yes. Will I read it again? Probably not.