It was really nice to see a couple work through their communication issues and recognize that they were both at fault. A great second-chance romance.

Lover Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey is the second book in the series focusing on Rosie and Domonic. After returning from military service, Rosie's husband is quiet and withdrawn. Eventually she gets tired of sitting back and watching her marriage crumble, so she leaves. Her husband must decide if he is willing to go to couple's therapy and rekindle the relationship. I enjoyed this book. The pacing was great, and it was really refreshing to see main characters who were slightly older and already married. Really enjoying the series so far.

This book has angst, steamy romance, great friendships, and a woman finding her way again. It's rare to find a romance book that depicts a marriage in trouble and also contains the hot (chili pepper) factor of a fresh love story. I would recommend this to fans of the romance genre, especially readers who may be looking for a story that feels more true to real life.

Love Him Hard

I know the title. I know the backstory from Fix Her Up. I was Team Rosie before I saw the other side.

They say there are three sides to everything. And in the case of the Vegas, it is obvious. We get caught in our own version of things. Blinded by our own justice, our dirty glasses, and our prejudices- it's unavoidable in most cases. But when we get things wrong, damn, does it go wrong.

Seeing this (insanely hot) man do everything for his wife is both heartbreaking and swoony, too bad she has no idea! Dominic is the silent doer type. He doesn't need fanfare or a pat on the back. He just needs to do everything he can for his reason for being, Rosie.

Somehow over the years, deployments, and silence, Rosie and Dom stopped being eveything to each other. They let insecurities and life drag them apart. Until one night Rosie had enough. It was both traumatic and wonderful.

Prepare to sob your hopeless romantic heart out as Rosie delivers the death blow to their marriage. Prepare to stem the tide of tears. Prepare to need tissues for snot bubbles because Tessa Bailey is not pulling punches.

Love languages and finding yourself again after years of marriage will resonate in any ones brain. It even made me look deep at the similarities between my husband and Dominic. Sometimes romance novels teach me naughty things. This one taught me something that helped heal a misguided and thought to be occasionally neglected heart.

I enjoyed this title, as I always enjoy her titles. My apologies for sending the review so late, I rated on Goodreads, but failed to follow up on NetGalley.

Thanks,
Laura

This is my favorite Tessa Bailey novel. We have a couple on the rocks who have settled into the day to day life and realize that they don't really have any idea who the other person is anymore. Married couple fix it novels are the best because they already have the years of familiarity and trust and seeing them use everything in the toolbox to put it back together is lovely. I loved both characters and spent the whole book empathizing with them but really wanting them to get it together. Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 Stars
Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey has been on my Kindle TBR for three years, and I finally decided to get the audiobook. I didn't read the first in the series, but never noticed I missed anything. The story is right up my alley, I love a good married couple romance. My 29 year marriage had very similar issues, so this story really hit home for me, but….well, read on.

Dominic was deployed and since his return, his wife Rosie has felt a disconnect. They have HOT, passionate steamy sex every Tuesday, but that’s it. There is no communication other than daily roommate stuff. They don’t date, they don’t spent time together. But the second she sees him, her panties get wet. 🤮

She is working at a miserable job she hates, but has dreamed of opening a restaurant for years. So she came home one night and decided she’s done. Dom is shocked. The doofus had no idea there is a problem in his marriage because he provides for her…so much he bought her a house without telling her!

So they go to see an emergency therapist who can either cure marriage or decide it should end in 4 sessions. THIS PISSED ME OFF. I happen to be a pot smoking hippie, so I have nothing against that, but they made a joke of therapy.

I love sex scenes in a book, but for me story comes first. The only thing this couple seemed to have was hot sex. I wrote this note while listening. “OMG How many times can her panties get wet? She may need a doctor since it happens no matter where she is and it’s beyond her control.”
“If there was anything in this world worth fighting for, it was his wife.”

Dom was such an old fashioned New York caveman. He loved his wife so much but had no idea how to show it except by being a jealous oaf. He and his friends couldn’t even stand that their wives went for a girls night and had to follow them! I did like, however, that Dom finally SAW his wife, but it made me sad it took so long.

Likes:
•I loved reading about an already married couple finding their way back to each other.
•A very relatable storyline except for the quack of a therapist.
•It showed that both partners are at blame for the problems.
•He finally really saw his wife.

Dislikes:
•Dominic clearly had some kind of PTSD but it was never even suggested.
•The therapist is an insult to therapy.
•This couple couldn’t be near each other without him getting hard and her getting wet.
•I like sex scenes, but there was more sex than story.
•3rd person.

The Narration:
The fake New York accent for him didn’t really work for me. I liked her narration for the female parts.

The Down & Dirty:
I really like Tessa Bailey, I’ve met her several times, and I have liked some of her other books. But Love Her or Lose Her missed the mark for me. It started great, I loved the premise of a marriage on the rocks being healed, but there was just too much that detracted for the story for me to recommend this one.

Rating: 2.5 Stars, 4 Heat, 3.5 narration

Strong beginning but I started to lose interest halfway through. I thought the dialogue was poor and the amount of times "honey girl" was repeated should have been turned into a drinking game...honey girl is such a gross nickname. It's always nice to see a married couple fighting for their marriage so that was nice! And holy hell the spice level took me by surprise haha!!! This was my first by Tessa Bailey so I know what to expect from now on.

Tessa Bailey is hit or miss for me and this one was sadly a miss. DNF at about 30%. Dominic was toxic and I could not root for them staying together.

DNF'd. I know the etiquette for reviews is to mention the book and not the author but I'm starting to think that Tessa Bailley is not the author for me. I'm 3 for 3 with her on just not liking anything in her books...sorry.

Tessa Bailey is a QUEEN of romance, there is no surprise there. She is an author that needs to be on everyones shelf. It feels like Bailey is just getting better and better with each novel she puts out!

As a big fain of Bailey and her writing style, this book was a big win for me. She manages to perfectly balance comedy and drama and keep you invested in the story. These books function as a stand alone but also give you a richer experience when you read them as an interconnected series.

I never bought into the hero's growth throughout the book. It was more a case of telling instead of showing. I felt like we were supposed to want them together because he was a vet, not because he was doing the work to be a better husband.

I didn't love this one nearly as much as the first, but it's still pretty good. I felt like there was a lot more repetition in this one with the protagonist and her husband going around and around in circles instead of moving in one direction. I have to give Bailey credit though, writing a romance novel about a married couple on the verge of divorce.

My other quibbles with the story are stupidly personal. No one from San Antonio talks like Wes and I'm afraid that's going to completely ruin the next book for me. It's like cowboy western talking, not San-Antonio-is-an-urban-area talking. Also, real estate doesn't work that way. These are dumb things that would not bother me if I wasn't from Texas and had worked in real estate, so ignore me.

Anyway, first one is better. This one is fine.

I have really started to enjoy more adult romance! So I decided to try Tessa Bailey's books! I was not a huge fan of the first books in this series however, I enjoyed this one a lot more!

I loved the book and would rec it anyone who wanted a wonderful second chance romance to read. I didn't connect with the characters as much as I usually do with Tessa Bailey's but I still loved the book. It was well written and the trials that these two go through really do make you see that marriage needs that TLC and spark just like dating. Dom finds this out when Rosie leaves him and he has to win her back. This one has heart-wrenching moments and rolling-on-the-floor-laughing moments; so a little bit of something for everyone. Pick it up and read it for the Just Us League part if nothing else.

I loved the characters and the storyline development of this book. It was absolutely one of my favorites so far and I can't wait to delve in to the next one that this author writes. The storyline was simple, enjoyable, and entertaining.

I found this book to be a bit boring. The sex seemed to be all the couple had going for them. At one point I just wanted them to make up their minds. Like the title said Love her or Lose Her!

Oh how I loved this book. Rosie and Dominic Vega were high school sweet hearts, but as adults the distance between them seems to grow more every day. When Rosie decides she's had enough, Dom makes it clear he's willing to do anything to win her back, and into couple's therapy they go.

Dom is completely, ridiculously, utterly GONE for Rosie. He wants nothing more than to take care of her, and doesn't believe he should get credit for doing it, which results in him secretly performing acts of kindness that she's unaware of. He realizes that he's been going about this all wrong, and must find a way to better communicate how much she means to him. Between his dirty talk and devotion to Rosie, I couldn't get enough of Dom.

Meanwhile, Rosie has a vision for her future that she's tired of hiding. I love a heroine who finds the strength to stand up for what she's worth, especially when it means leaving a hero because she knows she deserves better. You get the sense that with or without him, Rosie is going to be okay, and I love seeing that in a romance heroine.

Packed with humor, angst, and the trademark Tessa Bailey heat, this book won me over so completely. I particularly enjoyed the deep dive into love languages and how both Rosie and Dom needed to learn how the other best expressed love and the way they liked to receive it. There were such excellent moments of them both realizing how they've failed themselves and each other, and the choice to try harder and find their way back to each other was really powerful. I cannot wait to pick up the next book in this series!

After seven chapters, I just cannot continue to read LOVE HER OR LOSE HER. Unfortunately, this is a DNF. I realize by the end Dom would have shown growth and his and Rosie’s marriage would be stronger. I just don’t care enough.. I'm not feeling any chemistry between them. Dom’s dialogue and actions are gross. Too much misogyny for my liking.