I'll be the first to admit that I enjoy a modern-day retelling of the classic fairy tales, so it was a no-brainer that I jumped at the chance to read Beck Anderson's Fix You.

Kelly is dealing with the loss of her husband and now being a single mother to two boys. Andrew is a movie star who only wishes to have some normalcy in his otherwise hectic life. Kelly and Andrew have an amazing chemistry, and it was a treat to watch the two of them battle and overcome their demons and open themselves up for love.

What I loved about the book is that the author took her to develop the characters. I love that! I love when characters are given space to grow through the novel. It adds more depth and dimension to them and makes them seem more human.

I am excited to read how Kelly and Andrew's story progresses in Book 2.

As an author of a contemporary romance set in the celebrity world of Hollywood, I’m always interested to read someone else’s inside perspective on a movie star’s life. Having already read another one of Beck Anderson’s novels, I was confident I would be treated to a good story in Fix You. I’m happy to report that was exactly the case.

Both Fix You and The Jeweler feature heroines who are dealing with loss and grief, which can be a difficult emotion to write about. It can be easy to over-dramatize the emotions associated with deep loss, just as easily as it can be to underwhelm a reader with a character’s apparent lack of feeling while mourning a loved one. Just as when one writes about love, there is a fine balance to be maintained when addressing the delicate subject of death and grief. Beck Anderson has proven to me, not just once but twice, that she can convey these complicated emotions organically with her characters and I greatly admire this skill of hers.

When Kelly Reynolds loses her husband at the beginning of Fix You, the reader is taken along on her journey to mourn and to move on with life so that she can remain an involved and caring mother for their two children. In the process of recovery, Kelly finds herself on vacation with her sons and her parents in California. One morning she goes out for a jog and ends up running into one of the world’s most sought after movie stars. One brief introduction to Andy Pettigrew, the famous actor, leads to another brief interlude and soon Kelly finds herself easing into a most unlikely new friendship.

“Remember when you were first learning to drive?” I take another deep breath. I’m not sure if I’ve been breathing in any reliable way since we crossed the condo’s threshold.

“Yeah, I do, actually. Everything was a giant ordeal. My dad took me out in our neighborhood. I sneezed and ran the car up on Mr. Hattingfield’s yard. Took out his mailbox.”

“I haven’t been very social lately – except with people I know. Heck, since the boys were born, I haven’t been super social at all. Okay, I wasn’t ever amazingly social to begin with.”

“But your point?” I think he’s kind of grinning. At me. He could be close to laughing.

“I have one. Stop smiling. You’re not helping. The point is, I’m back at the aware-of-every-little-part-of-a-social-interaction stage. Like beginner driving, when you check the mirrors, and you have to think, Turn on the blinker. That’s the stage I’m in. I don’t even know where to look. Do I look right at you the whole time we talk? Do I look you right in the eye?”

I stop to breathe for a second. He turns the mug all the way around by the handle before he responds, his eyes on the tea bag. “You’re fine. You need to breathe, and you need to not tap the spoon on the table. Other than that, I find you pretty socially capable. I might even venture to say charming.”

“Where do I look?” This has devolved into a social etiquette class offered by a movie star to a woman whose mind has completely left her in her moment of need.

“You can always look at me.” He looks up from the mug, right into my eyes.

I agree. I think I could look at him for a nice long while.

Naturally, Andrew (as he prefers to be called) prefers to keep his personal life as private as possible, and given the situation Kelly is currently working through her mindset is in a similar place. The two enjoy a budding but secret friendship, and when Andrew makes an unexpected visit to Kelly’s hometown of Boise, he soon finds that her quiet lifestyle is exactly the kind of life he dreams to call his own. The two spend limited time with one another but quickly come to rely on each other for a much needed change of pace from their individual normal routines.

Content in their bubble of distraction, Kelly and Andrew easily find ways to avoid sharing some of their deeper personal struggles with one another, but as their affection for one another begins to grow hiding these issues becomes more and more difficult. Both Kelly and Andrew are in mentally fragile places and Fix You soon transforms into a dramatic love story as a result.

I’ve enjoyed reading Beck Anderson’s books recently and it is easy to see why Fix You was picked up by Gallery Books for a re-release. Beck is a skilled storyteller and she navigates her characters quite naturally through some very extraordinary circumstances. As a reader, I experienced a wide variety of emotions while immersed in the story and practically read this book through in a single day, after finding it nearly impossible to set down.

For those of you who enjoy a good Hollywood novel or a story about finding love a second time around, I highly recommend Fix You. I happily rate it 4.5 stars!

I am so sorry, but this book just wasn't for me. It had a great premise, but unfortunately, it fell just short for me. I was not able to finish the book. I am not using NetGalley’s DNF feature as it negatively affects reviewers.

I have so many mixed emotions about this book. I understand that Andy is younger but he was just too immature for my liking. It just didn't work when a mom with two kids is involved. I really wanted to love this book but it just fell flat.