I fall in the middle with this book. I really enjoyed the themes in this story, but I wish I got more romance.

This book was more of a learning to love yourself first kind of a story, as apposed to a romance story. I did relate to Aly and her struggle with self-esteem. Its hard feeling like you aren’t good enough, or that you do so much for others and don’t get the same in return.

Her penchant for helping others is what helps her and her friends to launch “Fixer Upper,” and it’s through that that she re-connects with her childhood crush Dylan.

This is where I wish the romance was more prominent! I wish we got more lovey moments with them both. It took so long for them to get together (almost at the end), and it left me wanting.

3.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was okay. What I didn't like was this problem in this book was due to a misunderstanding. Which could have been fixed immediately. I also felt like there was no chemistry. The ending was rushed.

The beginning was a bit slow but I like second chances tropes so I knew I needed to go on. I’m glad I did, it was cute and the banter was great. This didn’t have any steam so it was PG and it was oddly refreshing.

While this book was funny in so many ways, it wasn't my absolute favorite. It reminded me of many 2000s movies meets newer netflix romcoms so the nostalgia was there. The cover was so pretty and reminded me of Emily Henry's books which is why I'd initially requested. What a funny plot line though of her having to fix her best friend.

This book was very fun. I love a British rom-com every now and then and this definitely fulfilled that. Romances are my favorites and honestly, I love when the main female character is a strong, hardworking woman. I felt like the way her insecurities came up. The one thing that was interesting about this book was that it was a unique take on a second-chance romance. The fact that Aly is approached by Dylan's current girlfriend is something very different. Watching Aly and Dylan fall back in love was interesting.

Overall, I thought this book was a good pace, showed some very realistic and relatable experiences and definitely just a fun read.

Aly has always been a “fixer.” She encourages and pushes others to become better, to find their motivation. Yet, she is stuck in a rut at her own job, hasn’t had a serious boyfriend in ages, and realizes all her exes have moved on to better careers, loves lives, and all-around success since she broke up with them. She and her friends begin “fixing” for hire, but everything changes when Aly is hired to “fix” her first love, Dylan. Seeing him again brings back some strong feelings, and she’s just not sure how to fix someone she loves just the way he is.

I loved the chemistry between Aly and Dylan, but I didn’t love that Dylan was still in a relationship when he rekindled with Aly, it felt slimy. I also feel like there was a lot of man-bashing in this book. Between Aly’s boss, the two men that came to her at work for “help” with projects, and all the men she “fixed” through her side hustle… nearly all the men portrayed in this book were total jerks. I just didn’t love that aspect. Aly seemed to really let people walk all over her, especially at work, and it took her a long time to realize she was stuck in a dead end job. Even her friend Tola seems to push her beyond what she’s comfortable with in regards to the fixing business. I did want to cheer for her when she finally stood up for herself at work, though, and feel like Aly showed a lot of growth throughout the book.

Overall this was a super cute second chance romance, and not really enemies to lovers but there is definitely some major animosity at first. It had a lot of great qualities. It could have been light and fun, but instead a lot of it just felt heavy and negative. I gave it three stars — liked it but wouldn’t gush over it.

How would you feel if your loser ex finally got their stuff together after you stop dating?

That is something Aly ponders after running into an ex, he’s finally gotten a steady job, his own place and a new woman. Her friends realize that Aly has a knack for putting in the work to “fix” her ex’s leaving them better than before she met them. Her friends think they should capitalize on her efforts, since her dream to get ahead at her job is met with misogynist men.

Leading her advice to help other women who want their men to commit or get motivated to change they start a business.

That is until a social media influencer asks for her help to get her tech boyfriend to see his potential. He just happens to be Aly’s first crush, and best friend Dylan. Though she ran away after a drunken declaration, and they haven’t seen each other in years.

While trying to help Dylan with a big presentation she starts to see her old friend and all the great times they had through a new lens.

The friendships and memories that Aly and Dylan shared was so precious. While their journey wasn’t easy it was a joy to read.

“The race through your twenties and thirties isn’t meant to be a competition. Success looks different for everyone, and we’re not all looking for the same things.”

This cute story follows Alyssa as she realizes that every guy she’s ever dated has come out a more successful and driven person after being with her, yet she seems to be stuck in the same place. She creates a business out of helping women’s significant others, & then she finds that she might just have a history with one of her clients. 👀

🏃🏻‍♀️This was a quick and fun read! I pretty much read this in one sitting. I had less than 30 minutes left, but could not stay awake to finish it last night 😅😴

👯‍♀️I really enjoy the side characters as well. Alyssa’s friends, Tola and Eric, are also her coworkers at her daytime job, along with her Fixer Upper job. I love their friendship and how her friends are eager to be there for her - no matter the problem.

💥This one is out today (2 Aug). So go check it out!
Thank you to NetGalley, Lauren, & Putnam Books for the eARC!

🤍If you love fun and quick reads, that also has a little tension/drama then this one is for you! I caught myself speed reading the end because I *needed* to know what happened!

A cute British rom com made for a quick read. I loved the main character Aly and she is the “fixer upper”…always in control, the work horse of her company, and someone who helps everyone else out. However the growth she has to go through to “fix” herself makes up the jist of the book. Satisfying ending as we finally see that growth. The book did not give me any real “feels” for any of the characters, though. The story was good, but the chemistry was not there as far as I could tell. An enjoyable read.

YOU GUYS 👏🏼 Put down what you’re doing and listen up. This is the rom-com you didn’t know you needed in your life, but I’m telling you that you do. You really freaken do!

Picture this - Failure to Launch meets Good Luck Chuck, minus the spice. I know that might deter you, because I know I love spice in my romance books, but this books slaps even without it.

Aly, is a fixer of people, only she doesn’t know it. When her two best friends show her that all her project boyfriends went on to become successful in life after she pushed them to their full potential they start a side business - The Fixer Upper. A business where they help other women with their man problems - getting them to commit, be a more devoting father, or growing a pair and going for that work promotion. When a celebrity hires Aly to help her tech bf launch his app and get him to propose, Aly is inclined to take the money. Only the tech bf she’s to fix is her childhood best friend who she hasn’t spoken to you in over 10 years, oh and was her first love. What can possibly go wrong?

“𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒. 𝐼𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑜.”

This book was the trifecta - cute as a button, witty and downright hysterical, and still hit you in the feels. I found myself relating to so many of the characters and every chapter kept me invested with what was going to happen next.

If you like British romcoms, childhood friends to strangers to lovers, second chance romance, grand gestures, secretly in love with you for decades, charming side characters, women supporting women - PICK THIS ONE UP! The cute and sexual tension between the two main characters makes up for the lack of spice and trust me you’ll love this one.

The Fixer Upper is one of those novels where the cover and synopsis completely gripped me...but the execution, unfortunately failed my expectations

i guess my main issue with this story was the romance, or lack thereof...
i could not, for the life of me, connect with Dylan.
how are we suppose to root for a couple when the love interest is with another woman for the whole book?!! i knew it was a thing but didn't think it was going to be the vocal point of the entire story...

Aly and Dylan used to be friends, things took an odd turn and now they're enemies working in a forced proximity. this alone had so much potential but then we get the major letdown of reasoning for miscommunication - Dylan's reasoning was poor as hell because it just didn't make sense...and he just never redeemed himself to me.

maybe i could've overlooked the OW aspect but it was constantly in your face. and i just cannot handle the H sleeping with the OW (not in detail but alluded to)

in the end, i was searching for something that rectified Dylan's character but it just never presented itself, and so, i think this is one of those stories where i kind of just wanted the H and h to go their separate ways in the end...if there was more authentic conversations between them and the exclusion of the OW, then maybe it could've worked but ... it's a no from me

i adored Aly though, and felt so bad for her at times because she's the type of person that goes out of her way to help and fix other's problems, giving up so much of herself, yet never reap the rewards she wanted. and even though the "fixing up your man" portion isn't a good thing, it was definitely the most interesting to read about

*𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘌𝘕𝘎𝘜𝘐𝘕 𝘎𝘙𝘖𝘜𝘗 𝘗𝘶𝘵𝘯𝘢𝘮, 𝘎.𝘗. 𝘗𝘶𝘵𝘯𝘢𝘮'𝘴 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯-𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸*

An endearing British rom-com. Aly always helps others, when will she help herself? A Fun, quirky and a quick read. Very enjoyable.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe which tells the story of Aly realizing all of her ex-boyfriends have moved on to bigger and better things after dating her and she’s “fixed them up.” Aly starts a business with her two friends (Eric and Tola) called “Fixer Upper” and is hired to help fix the men in other women’s lives. One of her clients hires her to fix her boyfriend, who happens to be Aly’s best friend from growing up Dylan.

I would recommend this book if you like friends to enemies to friends to eventually dating. It was a very slow burn, and for most of the book there is very little to no romance, if you’re looking for a romance book in the traditional sense. I would probably classify this book as more woman’s fiction with a tad touch of romance at the very end. The Fixer Upper is very enjoyable but be prepared for this to play more like women’s fiction (overall arching of finding one’s true self) and less like a rom–com.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided to me through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Lauren Forsythe and Penguin Group Putnam for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5/5 stars. I thought this book was an enjoyable read! The main character and her friends started helping women fix their male partners, and even though it seemed like the right thing to do at first, it became complicated when their biggest project involved a man from the main character's past. The relationship between Aly and Dylan was truly a slowburn, and it was clear that they were meant to be together. The dialogue was fairly realistic, and Tola's character gave this book a spunky energy that made it more entertaining. I do wish their discussions around feminism were a bit more nuanced and intersectional, but for the purposes of this novel, the amount of depth surrounding the topic seemed understandable. Lastly, I felt like the end of the book wrapped up quite quickly, but it did add to the effect that this story was just the beginning of these characters' lives.

Wow I wasn’t expecting all this. I loved it all. I loved how she was the boyfriend fixer upper lol. Dylan was hard to like at first but he grew on me and the friends in this book are everything. Auto buy author for me.

Reading the synopsis I thought this was going to be similar to the movies Failure to Launch and Good Luck Chuck. Sadly, I was left disappointed.
The premise was promising for a rom com but none of the characters had chemistry and the main female character was hard to root for since she was basically trying to steal one of her client's boyfriend.
This also had very little, barely there romance which is strange since this is being marketed as a romance book. Just felt a little mislead.
Unfortunately not for me.

**Many thanks to Shelf Awareness, Putnam, and Lauren Forsythe for the digital ARC provided via NetGalley!**

Bob the Builder, move over...YOU can't fix 'em...but ALY can!

Alyssa 'Aly' Aresti, that is...accidental 'fixer-upper' extraordinaire, who can't seem to date a man without breaking him out of a personal rut...but often gets stuck in her own. She's been aching to ascend upward in her marketing career, but keeps hitting roadblocks along the way, and has spent many an evening dining alone at restaurants. When she runs into an ex who has gone from Grungy Hippie Artist Failing to Launch to successful Project Manager and has managed to snag a wife and home along the way, Aly realizes her nudging ends up benefiting EVERYONE in her life but herself.

With some gentle coaxing and co-conspirator-style coersion tactics from two work colleagues who are eager to be involved, Aly agrees to launch "The Fixer Upper", a service of sorts where women can send their problem children...I mean, men...to Aly for that one last push towards an engagement, leap to professional growth, or encouragement towards active parenting. Much to their surprise, the mini-business takes off and catches the eye of Instagram sensation Nicki. Her boyfriend's mental health app is floundering, and her ring finger is oh-so-bare...and of course, Aly and her friends are all too willing to sign on, especially for the huge payday this high profile client will provide once Aly delivers the goods. When Nicki's beau walks in, however, time stops for Aly--it's her childhood best friend, Dylan, who she also happened to have a HUGE crush on...and the two didn't exactly leave on the best of terms. Will Aly make this project count to give Nicki everything she's always dreamed of...and can she stand by and guide the one that got away to the alter...with another woman?

This is a bit of a genre mashup, and probably lies somewhere in the realm of 60% women's fiction and 40% romance, which is okay as long as you go into this one prepared for the romance to sort of play in the background for most of the book. There's a lot of focus on Aly's friendships and just how wonderful and important they are...which may be true, but felt a little redundant by the third time the author said it. For an amazing guy she couldn't ever forget, Dylan was a fairly bland love interest...likeable enough, but not sure why Aly would have been pining for him so hard other than their shared history.

Honestly, this book is less about Aly's romantic relationships and more about the fact that women like Aly (and women in general) often find themselves needing to be endlessly selfless in order to feel 'worthy,' and THIS is where I connected with the narrative. Aly is so wrapped up in trying to be everything for everyone that she allows herself to be trampled over time and time again and feels that her worth is entirely tied to accomplishments rather than her inherent worth as both a person AND a woman. Forsythe's deep dive into Aly's relationship with her mother and father's toxic relationship was, again, MORE relatable and interesting than Aly's potential with Dylan. This is a book that (somewhat) subtly points at the fact that you need to fully love yourself before you can love someone else...but you'll have to see for yourself how (and if!) Aly learns that lesson.

I bounced around mentally with my rating for this one while reading...sometimes I'd feel incredibly enthusiastic about a passage, and then Nicki would start being a brat or something else would get on my nerves and the scales would tip yet again. Since this is a debut, it made me reflect on my own life, and despite its predictability, I grew to care about Aly, I'm going to round up on this one. Looking forward to hearing more from Lauren Forsythe, and in the meantime, I'll be picking up empty water glasses from the nightstand, turning off the lights in the (empty) family room, and moving the laundry from in front of our hamper INTO said hamper.

(Well, you'll notice Aly didn't attempt to 'fix' any of THOSE sort of habits...guess I'm on my own!)

4 stars, rounded up from 3.5

Oooooooh did I enjoy this one! It was so smart and witty.

Aly is a natural fixe - whether it is professionally or personally. She goes the extra mile to help her colleagues. She invests a lot of herself into her relationships - she sees the potential in people and wants to help. them reach it. She starts to realize, though, that people, especially men, take advantage of it. Whether it is coworkers or ex-boyfriends, they tend to take her advice and level up.

Soon her friend convinces her to take these skills and launch a business where she helps women "fix up" their partners. And it works, and before long an influencer reaches out and asks her to help fix up her boyfriend. And of course, that man just happens to be Aly's first love.

I loved this concept and how Aly's desire to fix was not just men, but in her career as well. I thought the book did a great job of weaving her personal and professional stories together in a way that was compelling and got me incredibly invested. I was incredibly captivated, and genuinely curious about how it would all get wrapped up. I saw a lot of myself in Aly, which is a credit to how well developed she and the other characters were.

This was so fun - it felt like less of a traditional romance and more of a story of growth and finding yourself, with a reunion of a lost love to keep it even more interesting. Highly, highly recommend!

I ADORED this book and finished it in less than a day. It’s romance with unexpected depth but in a way that didn’t feel heavy and instead inspiring. It managed to still come across lighthearted and truly enjoyable while touching on real and relatable human emotions. I would recommend it in a heartbeat. Pub date is this upcoming Tuesday, 8/2! Thank you to @putnambooks for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Who doesn't love a British Rom-com? The Fixer Upper is a quick, fun read about Aly who turns her talent of fixing everything into a career in fixing other's love lives, maybe even her own! Overall a light, fun easy read for summer.