I received an eARC of Tools of Engagement by Tessa Bailey from HarperCollins Publishers/Avon and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
4 stars! Fun rom-com! I wasn't sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised! This is the third book in the series. Definitely recommend!

This book in the series was a good addition.I found the storyline a little less interesting than the previous works in the series. The sexy scenes were still very hot and heavy, though!

This was a super fun read! I totally read it out of order and now I need to investigate the rest of the series!!

I really loved the banter in this one and I’m hoping to find some more of it in the authors other books. I also enjoyed the fact that the main conflict wasn’t surrounding a miscommunication, but rather along the lines of actual issues. I also really enjoyed the dual POVs.

Didn’t like:
Ending felt a touched rushed for my liking and there was a bit of sexism in Wes’s actions and language that I could’ve done without (but it wasn’t consistent or major so do with that critique what you will).

Overall, I really really enjoyed this one! Definitely pick this up if you’re in the mood for a lighthearted rom com!

This was an awesome book and I loved it so much that I'm going through my backlog and reading all of Tessa's books again!! Well done!

I struggled the most with getting into this book than the others in the series. It wasn’t my favorite. I don’t know exactly why it wasn’t. I guess I just didn’t vibe with it like I did the other. Definitely not the worst, not my favorite either.


I voluntarily read an early copy.

WOW! This is one steamy book so be aware- what a fabulous read. Engaging characters, solid plot and a ton of romance (and then some) to keep you page-turning way past your bedtime! Funny, engaging and HELLA SEXY! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As sad as I am that the Hot and Hammered series is ending, I couldn’t have asked for a better ending!

Wes and Bethany have been sniping and circling since they first met but now, when they need each other the most, they’re both surprised and not to find the other is right there ready to help!

The exploration of Bethany’s anxiety and Wes’s abandonment issues were delicately but powerfully handled and created a bond between them that made their happily ever after even more satisfying. I also loved the scenes with Laura and the happy trio!

And getting to see Travis and Gerogie’s wedding along with catching up with Rosie and Dom was so much fun! And that epilogue, loved it!

I’m excited to see what Tessa Bailey gives us next!

I received a complimentary review copy of this book but all opinions are my own.

This book was utterly delightful. I adored both characters, their chemistry and the banter they shared.
Bethany and Wes provide you with plenty of chuckles, swoons and heart melting moments as their story unfolds. The book is well written and flows beautifully. A clever and potent blend of emotions, charm, drama, sweetness, humor, heat and heart will quickly grab your attention and have you swept up into these characters, their lives and their blossoming romance. I have not had the pleasure of reading the previous books in the series and that is a downright shame that I am to rectify ASAP!! I will be honest and say that if you have not read the previous books you do feel a bit out of the loop but you also feel intrigued enough to want to go back and check them out. So, whether you decide to start at the beginning or just want to jump right in, I highly recommend this book.

Tools of Engagement was a light and fun story. A perfect weekend read with the right combination of romance and steaminess. I loved Wes (cannot help to picture him as a younger Wade from Hart of Dixie). Bethany was a good character, complex and interesting; I connected with her in different levels but sometimes I just wanted to hit her in the head with my shoe. Laura was just lovely ad I liked the secondary characters too. I admit I haven’t read the other stories yet, but I certainly will now.
Overall, it was a nice read. Everything worked out well in the end and even when I felt that many things were a bit unrealistic, I enjoyed the story and I liked it.

This book was just ok for me. It seemed like a lot of events and characterization happened without any explanation, and a couple times I was paving backwards to see if I missed anything. The two main characters toed the line of being a little too close to cliches for me.

This is such a fun series! I read the first book, Fix Her Up, in one day last summer. I liked the second book, Love Her or Lose Her, less well, because it was very angsty and a little too relatable (with the couple going through marital difficulties.) This third book is a real treat!

I didn't love the main character, Bethany, in the first couple of books because she was the type of woman who seemed to have it all together! I definitely cannot relate to that. But as we find out in Tools of Engagement, this is all a big fakeout. Bethany has a lot of anxiety about putting up a perfect front so no one knows how much of a mess she is inside. Now THIS I understand.

On the "flip" side (this will make sense once you read the story), I loved Bethany's love interest, Wes, from the first moment I met him in a previous book in the series. The two of them are combative from the start, and there's a lot of sexual tension bubbling under the surface of their confrontations, which makes for a really fun book! Wes is also a single "dad" who is unexpectedly raising his sister's daughter, Laura, and the relationship that develops between the two of them, and Bethany (who also has zero experience with children), is very sweet.

This story also gives us a continuation of the stories from the couples in the first two books. I don't know if there are more books planned in this series, but I think that there are plenty of wonderful characters in the community of Port Jefferson, New York, to write many more stories!!

Thanks for the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Best book of the Hot & Hammered series, in my opinion! Bethany Castle and Wes Daniels are as far away from friendly as you can get... until they find themselves flipping a house together - and trying to beat Bethany's brother in a competition. There's steam and laugh-out-loud moments and I read it in one sitting!

Tools of Engagement once again shows what a talented writer Tessa Bailey is. I have enjoyed many of her books, but think her writing and storylines have gotten stronger. This is the third book of this series, and I did love the first 2 books, but think this was my favorite. Bethany and Wes were a study in opposites attracting, but the premise of an insecure perfectionist, and a rough around the edges young man from foster care were a great couple to throw together. Bethany is 7 years older than Wes, and has believed she had to live her life perfectly. Wes shows her differently, but it is Laura, the 5 year old niece Wes is taking care of who steals the show....along with house that needs flipping. Loved how the transition in this relationship evolved. Lots of mistakes and finding out how to love made this a fun enjoyable read.

Wes Davis, age 23, has found himself responsible for his 5-year-old niece, Laura. Laura’s parents have split up and left her in his care. Wes is a single man used to hanging around making money rodeo riding to keep himself in bar money. Now his life is turned upside down with all the things he must provide for Laura. He has found a construction job at a local company Brick and Morty. A local group of woman called the Just Us League has started bringing meals to them and offering babysitting for Laura. The League’s organizer is Bethany Castle and Wes can’t help but be attracted to her.

Bethany is a professional stager for her family’s company, Brick and Morty. Now, she is determined to try her hand at the physical side of flipping a house, but her brother, CEO of the company doesn’t approve. So, she informs her brother that she quits with Wes joining her and off they go to fix up a house.

When the press gets wind of this, they find themselves pitted against her brother on a TV show called the Great Flip Off. With a couple of local retired helpers and their own limited knowledge, they bravely head into the project.

There is a lot of oneupmanship in this book some of which is cute but with so much of it, it becomes overdone. I’m sure that readers will enjoy the humor and there’s a lot of that. So, enjoy the ride.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

What started out slow turned into a wild enemies to lovers sexy romp!

So, I combed through Bailey’s backlist because I swear, I’ve read her before. But… I guess not. Something I’ll have to remedy for the future because Bailey knows her stuff. With a clever mixture of trope goodness and hellaciously addictive banter this rom com easily became a book I couldn’t put down.

We have our hero, rodeo Texan, Wes Daniels, who’s become caretaker for his niece and works construction to make ends meet. He’s even wears a cowboy hat and says “darlin’” like a pro. Of course, he’s secretly had a thang for Miss Bethany Castle, the one-woman show that does all the furniture arrangements and staging for the houses Wes works on. When opportunity knocks and Bethany needs support of the construction variety, Wes signs up knowing full well he wants more than what Bethany can or will offer.

Bethany is out to prove herself and her big flaw is the need to constantly be perfect. She’s so worried about what everyone thinks that she never tries to be herself. Wes doesn’t mind her hang-ups and as their days flipping the house, she’s pinning her future on continue, even when reality television gets involved, Bethany finds herself falling for Wes’s brand of protective, sexy, alpha support.

What works? The banter, the close contact and the sexy scenes are off the charts. There is enough sexual tension to power the electricity of a big city between these two from page one. Bethany seems to forget whatever airs and manner she’s trying to exude around Wes. Our hero goes from determined to stay unattached to wanting to be Bethany’s everything.

There are secondary characters that helped acclimate me to the Hot and Hammered world Bailey has built, full of weddings, the Just Us League, and a little girl who calls Bethany, Elsa, because of her blonde hair and beauty. There is plenty of conflict external and internal floating between these two. From Wes’s concern over being a provider for his niece and Bethany’s ultimate fear that everyone will find out she doesn’t have things exactly as put together as she makes it seem.

But, I’ll say it again what makes this book amazing is: The Dialogue and the sexual tension. One of my favorite scenes is when they first start checking out the house Bethany plans to flip and they come across rats (eek!):

“First, we exterminate,” she heaved breathily beside his ear, patting him twice on the shoulder. “Can you take me outside, please?”

“Uh-huh.” In the slowest turn ever executed by man or animal, Wes started a sloth-like trek back the way they’d come.

“Can’t you go any faster?”

She ignored the shiver that traveled down her spine when his laugh ticked her neck. “Wouldn’t want to drop you, darlin’.”

“Your arms aren’t even around me. It’s all cling.”

“I just don’t want to lead you on. Sex is off the table, remember?”

They do this the entire book. Though the final grand gestures and some of the book’s wraps weren’t quite what I envisioned, I’ll be checking out more stories from Tessa Bailey in the future. For readers who enjoy enemies to lovers, Tools of Engagement is like a Sally Thorne and Lauren Layne mash up.

~ Landra

I’d been so excited for Bethany’s story since the first Hot and Hammered book, and I became even more excited when Wes was introduced in Love Her or Lose Her. As soon as I read about them together and their clashing vibes, I knew I needed to read it. If you love enemies to lovers meets HGTV, with an older heroine/younger hero, you need to read this latest rom-com from Tessa Bailey!

Bethany is the last of the golden trio to get her romance. She’s always come across as self-assured and on top of her life, but the reality couldn’t be farther from the truth. She’s a perfectionist with anxiety, which makes for a terrible combination that constantly has her second guessing herself and her decisions. Which is why it’s taken so long for her to finally leave her family’s construction company to go out on her own. And all of a sudden, she’s swept up in a reality show facing off with her brother to see who can do the best home renovation. To her surprise, alongside her is her nemesis Wes, a man that’s far too young for her who riles her up like no one else.

When I read Tessa Bailey, I always know I’m in for a fun and hot time. She writes the best dirty talking heroes, and though Wes is a bit younger than her typical hero, he can still dish it out like the best of them. I loved seeing Wes with his niece, who he currently has guardianship over. They were too adorable together! And I really enjoyed the way Bethany and Wes had so much fun banter together but also had plenty of meaningful, emotional moments. Their romance was entertaining from the get-go and I’m glad we finally get their story! This is a great finale to the Hot and Hammered series and I’m so sad to be saying goodbye to these characters.

Tools of Engagement is sadly the third and final book in Tessa Bailey's Hot and Hammered Series. I can not tell you how much I have loved this series. It's not often that I come a across a series where I instantly feel the need to read the next book once I finish the one before it. From the first book, in the series, Fix Her Up, Travis and Georgie's book, I have loved the ever perfect Bethany and the hot and cocky cowboy Wes! They are so polar opposite that they compliment each other perfectly, if that even makes any sense at all. The banter back and fourth between Bethany and Wes make you laugh out loud. The fireworks that go off when they finally come together, you can only describe as amazingly hot, steamy and screaming out loud, yes, yes, YES, please give me more!!! This was the one series, and book that was a bright light and full of laughs, and love in the otherwise uncertain 2020. If you want a laugh out loud read this is the book for you!!

Cute but mostly repetitive enemies to lovers rom-com with an older heroine, a dirty-talking hero, and some really steamy sexy times. There were some genuinely funny moments and cute one-liners, and I liked the idea of a house flip reality show plot but unfortunately, there really wasn't much done with it. I found the pacing to be way off and the story flowed strangely. It was a slow burn for most of the book and then everything happens in the last third. I had to go back and see if I missed anything when they both started thinking about love. When exactly did they fall in love? I really couldn't figure it out since there was very little relationship development between Wes and Bethany. Instead, there was a lot of space devoted to Bethany's insecurities to the point that being in her head was exhausting and repetitive. Wes was okay but he never came alive for me and while I've loved Bailey's intense, dirty-mouthed heroes in the past, in a rom-com format they seem out of place and honestly kind of cringey. I think the intense, possessive, protective Alpha doesn't work well in this format. I also didn't really get the big deal about their age difference and the niece and sister storyline was sadly underdeveloped. In the end, I felt nothing for either character and didn't believe in their HEA. 2 stars.

Welp, the Hot & Hammered series has officially come to an end! While this one definitely didn't top Fix Her Up for me, it did really redeem the series after a rocky second book and I am honestly pretty bummed to leave these characters behind me. My biggest complaint about this book (and the series as a whole tbh), is that Tessa Bailey REALLY loves her gendered language it just.. sits really weird with me. This book was full of phrases like "her feminine flesh" in regards to Bethany's vagina, and the love interest, Wes, kept referring to women as "females" and it just personally kept taking me out of the story and made me roll my eyes a bit. With that being said, I did manage to look past those aspects and I ended up really enjoying the story and found it to be a very satisfying conclusion to the series. I'm looking forward to whatever projects Tessa Bailey has up her sleeves next!

TW: addiction, child abandonment

4.5 Fun & Swoony Stars!
This third book in Bailey's Hot & Hammered series is a swoony enemies to lovers/age gap romance that will melt your heart. Bethany Castle works for the family construction business staging and decorating homes to sell. She has wanted to run her own flip but her brother never takes her seriously. Now she needs to do something drastic and the last person she expects to have her back is the sexy, way too young for her, Wes Daniels. Bethany is a perfectionist who worked hard at faking having it all together, and hiding her flaws. It scared her that he saw the real her and all her imperfections. She never let anyone in, but Wes had a way of easing her tension and making her feel secure. Wes grew up in foster homes and always had to be prepared to move on. He is in town temporarily taking care of his adorable little niece, Laura, until his sister gets her life together. Bethany is perfection in his eyes, and he never thought he could have a chance with her. So he loved to provoke her and get under her skin, the way she got under his. Their banter was their foreplay, and the sexual tension was explosive. But they made a good team, not only working on the house, but figuring out how to take care of Laura. But how can Bethany let Wes in if he is ready to leave at any moment? I loved Bethany and Wes together, they were opposites who made each other better. I totally swooned over how sweet, and patient Wes was with both Laura and Bethany. I really liked the fun reality show storyline too. I have really enjoyed this whole series especially this quirky, heartwarming, and steamy romance.