Tools of Engagement 🔨

I need allll the Tessa Bailey books and I need them NOW!
This lady does not disappoint one bit. Each book in this series was filled with so much drama and steam and if you’re looking for the perfect series to get lost in than this is it!
This enemies to lovers romance is the perfect summer read!

Being a new homeowner, my man and I are CONSTANTLY coming up with new projects to do around the house and we have been on a straight up HGTV kick lately.... enter Tools of Engagement.
This book is like watching your favorite rom com mixed with Fixer Upper and Home Town (if you’re an HGTV freak like us then you’ll know).

I also loveddd the age difference in this book! It gave such a nice dramatic twist to the books that other romances lack and Wes was just the perfect supportive mature yet young and free man Bethany needed. The only reading this one wasn’t a five star for me was because it just took soooo long to get to the steam! 🙈

Out September 22nd, this one is a must add to your TBR list!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The third book in Bailey's Hot and Hammered series was...fine. I really disliked the first book, LOVED the second, and this one fell somewhere in the middle. I was excited to read it as the setup in the previous book for a quippy enemies-to-lovers couple seemed so promising! I generally liked both of the MCs and the plot points individually, but overall I think there was just way too much going on. I didn't find that the reality TV show plot added anything to the story and just seemed tacked on. If it was paired down, I think it would have felt less muddled and allowed for more character and couple development. The book has a lot of potential, but as written a lot of things felt unfinished and the romance ended up seeming secondary and not very fleshed out. This may work for others, but just wasn't for me.

Bethany Castle is perfect... at least that’s the image she’s obsessively maintained, but she knows something’s missing. When given a chance to flip a house, rather than simply stage one for her brother, she jumps at the opportunity, while simultaneously leaving her brother without a stager. When a television network gets wind of the sibling rivalry, Bethany and Stephen’s simultaneous house flipping projects turn into a new reality show. To add another wrinkle, Bethany’s new co-star and foreman Wes Daniels gets under her skin. Wes is new in town to take care of his niece. He signed on to be Bethany’s foreman, mostly since he can’t resist arguing with her... and looking at her. Can these two enemies figure out how to work together on this project, and maybe beyond?

I’ve enjoyed this series thus far, but for some reason this didn’t land for me. There was a lot to keep me invested: I already love the cast of characters, and loved the premise, and it certainly had the passion we’ve come to expect from bailey. Bethany’s struggles hit close to home, but there was just something missing in this for me. Perhaps it was Wes’s bravado that rubbed me the wrong way or that Bethany’s personality seemed entirely reduced to her perfectionism. Regardless I know that fans of the series will still want to give this one a try, and certainly find wonderful moments.

Another great book by Tessa Bailey! I am thrilled to see Bethany get her own story and to see the person behind the façade. In Tools of Engagement, Bethany finally gets to work on her first flip, but somehow Wes Daniels ends up being her foreman. Remember him from Love Her or Lose Her? Wes comes with his own baggage but is able to get Bethany to relax. Loved the story! I can only hope for more!

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an hones review.

OMG This book!! Definitely my favorite of the series and considering how much I enjoyed the first two books, that's saying a lot. Bethany and Wes (and Laura) were just so darn lovable and vulnerable! As always, the sex in the book was seriously steamy, so be warned.

I hope there will be a fourth book? Maybe Becky gets a story now?

Such a cute rom-com and a great romantic story. Loved this one!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

What do you get if you mix one uptight designer with one laid back cowboy and add in a house remodel? Tools of Engagement!

Read if you like~
🛠Fixer Upper vibes
👨‍👧A sweet uncle who steps in to be an adoptive father
💕Hate to love romance

This is one in a series from Tessa Bailey but could definitely be read as a stand-alone too! The book has fun peeks at some of our past favorite characters lives while getting to read Wes and Bethany’s journey to fall off a

Bethany looks like she has it all together. Her house, her clothes, her job, even her ponytail is perfect. But behind all of that perfection, she's hiding a deep well of insecurity. When she takes the plunge to step away from her family's business on a house flip of her own, much younger, totally inappropriate cowboy Wes comes along. The chemistry between these two is next level.

Their relationship is snarky, supportive, surprising, hot, and just really sweet. I love the characters in this series and you will too.

3.5 Stars

I really enjoy Tessa Bailey’s books. I think they are fairly consistent and well-rounded and she does a great job of balancing sweetness, spiciness, and humor. That holds true with Tools of Engagement.

While it had all of the aforementioned components, I did find it a little (just a smidge) lacking. It started off strong, but the ending is where I felt a bit let down. The last 20% of the book felt a little rushed. The final “main” conflict felt a little weak and left me wanting more. I felt like both characters, especially Bethany, did a lot of growing during the course of the book and I think there were some missed opportunities to really show that off.

The reality show component of the story was also a little odd to me. It felt forced, unnecessary, and unrealistic. It’s fiction though and it was cute, I suppose. I just don’t think I’d have missed it if it weren’t there.

That being said, I really did enjoy the book. Wes especially was a great hero. I thought that he and Bethany had great chemistry and good banter and loved the semi-enemies to lovers trope.

I thought that his niece Laura added another very special element to the story, but I also think that had some room for improvement. Now that I think about it, I really missed the tying up of those loose ends. I could have used more detail as to how that relationship and situation ended up. Especially since she ended up being this really special part of the story and her relationship with Wes was really sweet. I got emotionally invested in that – would have been nice to have more resolution.

I hate that I am able to articulate my criticisms of this book more easily than I can what I enjoyed. It doesn’t totally represent how I felt about the story, because again, I really did like it, but here we are. I think this is a great light-hearted, sweet, slightly steamy “beach” read. When you need an escape from all of the heaviness of the world, this will definitely suffice.

I loved this so much. This was by far my favorite in the series. I feel so many things that Bethany feels, Wes also had a lot of things that I connected with. My only nit pick is that it happened on a very fast time line but everything else is so cute. Laura is such a fun little character as well.

This book is the third in the Hot and Hammered series. I went into reading this book with some pretty high expectations since the other books in the series were just wonderful. And I must say… expectations met and exceeded. Tessa Bailey’a ability to create a good story with strong believable characters is just top notch.
I loved the two main characters, Bethany and Wes. Bethany is an interior designer who wants to try her hand at flipping a house, while Wes is a transplanted Texan who is working construction and decides to help Bethany with her project. Obviously wonderful chaos ensues. Tessa Bailey’s ability to make her characters relatable and the fearlessness at including difficult topics in her books always blows me away and this book is no different. Bethany struggles with anxiety and perfectionism, Wes is currently the guardian of his young niece and to top it all off Tessa Bailey throws in a reverse age gap (Bethany is older than Wes)! I swear, each of her books get me in the feels every damn time… I just want to give her a thousand high fives!
There were was a subplot point that I thought was a bit unnecessary in this book: the tv show. It was barely talked about and to me it didn’t really add much to the story. Granted, it did not detract from it but it felt kind of pointless. I didn’t hate it but I also was wondering why it was included while I was reading the book, since there were plenty of motivating factors to move the plot along. Also, I wanted to throat punch Bethany’s brother and sister-in-law, holy crap. Ms. Bailey, my hats off to you on writing such a wide range of characters, likable and hate-able.
4.5/5 Stars

Tessa Bailey never disappoints! This book is filled with the witty banter, steamy goodness and happy ending we know and love from Tessa. Wes and Bethany are hilarious and adorable together. Their sexual tension was written so well. Tessa is the queen of making a reader laugh, swoon and everything in between. I loved the continuation of the Just Us League and how we get to see where Georgie and Rosie are at. I really connect with and enjoy Tessa’s writing!

Thank You Publisher for Sending me and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book, but just couldn't get into it. I think it could have been really fun but I just couldn't get into the story. I think I have a difficult time when children are involved in stories. So it wasn't my fav.

Tools of Engagement is my favorite book in this series- maybe it's tied?

I love the banter and push and pull between the characters. I love how the age difference plays out. It is a funny, not super angsty, Tessa Bailey steamy story. Hard to put down!

Tessa Bailey did not disappoint with the third book in the Hot & Hammered series. The complicated and tension-filled relationship between Bethany and Wes is exactly what we saw coming in book 2. I really enjoyed the character development of each of them, as well. Bethany had things to work through on herself and Wes, being a foster child and being thrown into "fatherhood," created a lot of growth for him, too. This was a great addition to the series and I am so glad I was given the opportunity to read it!

I've been struggling to finish books lately *gestures at the world* and managed to pick this up at just the right time. It's not a perfect book, but it's highly readable and it was a comfort to go back to this little world with a flawed but loving family and a bit of Fixer Upper feels.


As usual, the banter and chemistry between Bailey's main characters pulled the book together for me and kept me flipping pages as they work together to flip a house. There were several plot choices that didn't make much sense to me, however. The whole book takes place over the course of a couple of weeks and we've got a man making some choices for him and his niece (he's her temporary guardian) that don't make a ton of sense given his background as a child in the foster care system.

Bethany is written as though she's struggling with anxiety and whew boy was her stuff relatable. A lot of her life is spent keeping up appearances for everyone else, worrying so much about things being perfect that she's making herself sick. She has a patch of skin on her neck that she rubs when she's having a particularly bad day and at one point Wes helps her through a panic attack. This seemed like really great rep to me (my spots are on my right shin and the back of my neck lolsob) but then she just works her way out of it without help from anyone. No mention of considering therapy at all or what she'd do when she and Wes had been together a while and the infatuation period wore off. I wanted her to seek out some help and maybe Wes, too. Love doesn't actually fix everything.

The choice to go on a house-flipping competition show was a pretty sudden plot development, seemingly on a whim and not especially in character for Bethany given her perfectionist tendencies. I get that it was a competition with her brother and siblings goad each other but this was her first flip so it felt weird. 

Still, I liked Tools of Engagement and if you enjoy Bailey's books you'll like this one. It's lower heat than some of her other books, but it's still got plenty of steam. It's not erotic romance but the chemistry between the characters is palpable and I wanted their HEA.

I didn't even mind that there's a child in the story. She's pretty great.


I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review.

2020 has completely killed my joy for reading. I have all of this extra time on my hands! You’d think I’d be spending it reading, and I’d be knocking out books left and right. That has not been the case so far. I’ve been in a complete rut.

So…thank goodness for you, Tessa Bailey. You’ve managed to nail yet another series where I’ve loved and adored every book.

I was so excited for Bethany and Wes’ story after devouring—and loving—Travis and Georgie’s book, and then Dominic and Rosie’s book. It’s usually the third book where the author loses me, but man, I have to admit that this one might be my favorite of the three. There’s just something about a bull-riding cowboy who gives good swoon…

Bethany Castle wants nothing to do with Wes Daniels. Not a single thing. Okay, maybe that’s not totally true, but Wes doesn’t fit into the perfect life Bethany’s created for herself. He wasn’t part of her plan. All she wants is to branch out from her current position in the family business as the staging guru and run her own flip.
She’s tired of doing the same old thing, and it isn’t until she discovers the new family flip is located directly across the street from her house that she finally gathers the courage to stand up for herself…and Wes (swoonily) becomes her Zellweger, that everything in Bethany’s life gets a bit…messy, because now she can’t avoid him, or the adorable niece he’s in town to help take care of... so what's a girl to do? Embrace the mess with Wes.

Oh, how I love and Enemies to Lovers romance and the snapping, heated, foreplay-fighting between Wes and Bethany was epically good. There were so many good things about this story. There is an age gap, with Bethany being 7 years older than Wes and I loved her insecurity about the gap. Wes has taken in his half-sister's daughter and he is beautifully inept as a first time parent. I love how these two stumble through adjusting to raising a child with his niece. Bethany has an anxiety disorder, which I just really appreciate in romance novels. Normalizing this issue and giving it to a strong, powerful, and smart female is the best sort of character writing.

Let me tell you, the steamy scenes between these two are freaking HOT. Kindle-melting hot. Dirty Talk for days and it's perfection.

My only qualm with this book (and I have this qualm often with books that feature small children) is that the child in this book is so very perfect. Besides waking before sunrise, she is the ultimate fantasy Kindergartner. It's just not possible. I always wish authors would throw in a tantrum, an eye roll, some back talk, some picky eating...anything to make this kid real and flawed as well. Instead we get wonderfully flawed adults and a completely unrealistic child.

Child perfection aside, this book is steamy, sweet, funny, sexy, and wonderful!

I really enjoyed this story and I can see why these characters are Bailey's favorites (she noted that she likes to save the best stories for last). As someone who is a perfectionist I could relate to Bethany's need to always have everything look picture perfect and I loved seeing her transformation as she begins to work with Wes.

I loved this entire series!!

Bethany is the perfectionist home-stager in the Castle house flipping family. She wants her brother to take her more seriously and so she takes on her own house flip. One of his crew members, Wes, who has STRONG sexual chemistry with Bethany is always giving her a hard time, goes with her.

This is a classic enemies to lovers with enough steam to peel your wallpaper off!