The Fixer Upper is a second chance at love rom-com by Lauren Forsythe. Aly is a 30 something woman who has had many bad boyfriends who went on to be great husbands because she 'fixed them'. She and her co-coworkers set out to make a business of 'fixing' others relationships. One of her clients turns out to be a youtube star that is dating Aly's first love, Dylan.. Aly is hired to 'fix him' and make him into the perfect boyfriend suitable for a reality star. Most of the novel is really centered around Aly and her friendships. The second chance at love trope is in the background, but not really the main focus of the story until more than half way through. In fact, this part of the story is very rushed at the end..

Overall, a quick, fun read. Average as rom-coms go. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Such a good, quick read! I loved how fast paced it was and how it kept me so entertained the entire time reading it. The main character was so realistic and relatable it was hard not to love her. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others

Thank you NetGalley for ARC of The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe.

This is my first book by Lauren Forsythe, and I’d don’t disappoint. This was a super quick cute book. It’s a friends to enemies to lovers romcom. The book is about Aly helping a social influencer to give her boyfriend a push towards proposal. It turns out the boyfriend of the social influencer is a old childhood friend Dylan. I truly enjoyed this book!!

This was a fast and easy read. The characters were lovable! I love a good child friend to enemies to lovers and this book was good. I'm not too sure, I think something was missing but I can't pit my finger on it. Other than that unknown missing piece it was a decent read! *Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*

Where do I start? How do you even begin a review on a book that you didn't like?

I guess what I'll do is go into the things that I liked and then end with the critques but fair warning this is definitely heavier on the critiques.

Things that I liked was the friendship between the MCs Dylan and Aly with their respective friend groups. There was a great bond that you could tell was there and the groups coming together to help Dylan and Aly with their goals. I also liked Alys drive to want to move up in her big corporate world. Another thing I liked was the premise of this book but it didn't reach its potential. The writing itself was fine. There were a couple funny bits in the beginning and that did make me want to continue reading but when we get to the last third is where most of my critques lie.

Now we get into the critiques.

What is supposed to be a feminist take on women in the corporate world and in their relationships turns into a very all men are stupid and easily manipulated just having a wrong message. The idea they can change these men completely to get what they want out of them not even just their actions but their identity rubbed me the wrong way.

Second critque, none of these characters are super likeable and they all acted like children. No character growth to be seen. One major thing this book reminded me was I hate, LOATHE even, when the cheating trope is used.

And in that last statement lies my biggest critque of the book. Cheating as plot element. Lying and having others lie about where you are and who you are with to your partner is cheating. Especially when the someone you are with is on a very date like time with you where you just confessed your love to them when you are in a committed relationship. And then lots of physical affection and secrets as well. This whole thing could have been avoided. No flirting or emotional cheating needed to be here for plot progression. Added with the extremely rushed ending this book just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I ended up wishing that Aly and Dylan had just ended up going their separate ways.

These are all just my own personal feelings. Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for honest review.

great book of friends and working and finding love. I loved tola and eric. I loved that she finally stood up for herself in the work place and found something that she loved doing. . I loved that she told her mom the truth and stood up for herself. I loved that she finally found love with someone. Great story.

Very charming premise about women improving men's lives. Her friends show her the metrics of how she has increased the success of every boyfriend she has had. She says that the sample size is small, but to me, a dozen men shows a good track record. I was astonished at how humble the heroine was, but it was fun to go on an adventure. I received a review copy from NetGalley and have left my opinion.

DNF at 30%
Miscommunication tropes are all fine and dandy, but when when it comes to lying in a professional setting, I just can't go there. I really loved the premise of this book and would loved to have kept reading, but I could no longer root for the FMC who refused to be honest with her work partners.

I will not be reviewing this book on social media.

I'd classify this as a cute, no steam, second chance romance, with a slight enemies to lovers vibe. It's also a very slow burn. There are some great characters, I particularly liked Tola and Eric, Aly's friends, there's some good banter and amusing times between the three of them. The premise is a little unrealistic, but it's a cute romance and they're usually built that way in one form or another. The pacing is nice and steady, this is a pretty quick read and has an enjoyable HEA. While I tend to prefer romances that have dual perspective, this one works better being only from Aly's in my opinion. I don't think Dylan's character would be at all likeable if we got it from his as well.

That's where this book lost me personally, I didn't like Dylan. He's one of those people that need to be dating someone at all times, even if they like or are in love with someone else. Definitely, gave off cheating vibes. As Aly and Dylan are rediscovering their friendship, Dylan is still dating and sleeping with his girlfriend through most of the book which gave me a pretty ick feeling and took me out of the romance between our two MCs.

This book is good, it's written really well, and I enjoyed several aspects of it. I think it leans a little more towards fiction than romance, and that people who really enjoy flawed characters and interesting dynamics would probably get a kick out of it, maybe a little more than a pure romance reader.

A big thank you to NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, and the author for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Content: profanity, references to intimate relationships, NO SEX

This was a fun, sweet little romance that I enjoyed. There's no sex. The relationship is actually about the relationship, the friendship, the history, the future. I struggled a little bit with some phraseology- There's a bit of a culture gap. And I wanted to bang my head against a wall thanks to the near constant repetition of the word whilst. But all in all, a good read!

This smart British rom-com is a childhood friends to enemies to lovers story. I couldn’t put it down! I was so engaged; I was alternately laughing, crying and screaming throughout. I found the FMC so relatable especially in regards to her personality and family issues and I loved the supporting characters. It’s very PG, so just FYI if you’re looking for something steamy but honestly I didn’t even miss it.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun, fast read that is great for readers looking for adult romcoms without steam.

After realizing she has been taking on the problems of her loved ones, Aly figures she may as well put these skills to good use and organizes a way for women to take some of their partners emotional baggage off of their own shoulders and give the men in their lives the tools they need to make some of those changes for themselves.

I loved the way this addressed the unpaid emotional labor that many women provide to their partners, friends and family at a detriment to themselves and their own emotional health.

That said, there were a few elements I didn't love. First, the fact that the set up includes a love interest who is actively involved with another woman. This does make sense with the organization, but it just feels a little too much like pitting women against one another for me.

The second thing was the overuse of the miscommunication trope. There were a few times I just wanted to slap both characters until they just COMMUNICATED.

However, if you don't mind either of these elements, this will be a great book for you!

Thank you netgalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

"Love is only meant to be terrifying right at the beginning, right before you fall, then it's meant to feel like home."

The Fixer Upper is part romance (second chance, childhood friends to lovers) and part women’s fiction. After Aly runs into an ex, who has completely transformed his life since their breakup, she discovers a pattern in her relationships. Over the course of the past decade, Aly has been fixing up her misguided and lost boyfriends by motivating them and guiding them to better careers and personal growth. However, Aly isn’t reaping any of the benefits as they have all gone on to be more successful then her and in committed relationships. Her colleagues turn best friends, convince her to turn her unconventional talent into a business to help women frustrated by their partners and performing “emotional labor”.

Word gets out about her successful side venture and before long, they are hired by a popular social media influencer to help convince her boyfriend to take his business to the next level and propose. But things get very complicated when Aly discovers the boyfriend is her childhood best friend and biggest crush, Dylan, who she hasn’t seen in 15 years.

As they spend more time together, Aly begins to think Dylan is the one who got away…

This book was a pretty even split of family drama, work drama and romance. I enjoyed the book, but it wasn’t my absolute favorite for personal reasons. One, it is the heroine’s POV and I really enjoy dual POV books better. Secondly, it kind of has a love triangle vibe going on which is one of my least favorite romance tropes. Lastly, there is some heavy family drama in it and I wanted to shake Aly’s mom multiple times.

Overall, it was a unique and fun read, but not super heavy on the romance portion. It has no spice for those who prefer closed door/ kissing only books and is heavy on the women’s fiction as well.

Thank you to Net Galley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I just finished this, and I still have a huge smile on my face! I could relate to Aly’s struggles with finding her place and letting others use her. I liked the work storyline as well as the slow-burn romance and felt that they were balanced well, and the conflict kept me engaged. There are also lots of villains in this that feel super realistic and were fun to roll my eyes at. I had a good time with this and think lots of rom-com fans will vibe with it.

Thanks NetGalley & Putnam for providing me with an ARC of The Fixer Upper in exchange for my honest review.

This romcom was super cute & had me laughing out loud at some parts!
Aly is a fixer, she’s always been a fixer. She’s somehow managed to fix every boyfriend she’s ever had but never got to reap the rewards of her hard work. Aly’s friends convince her to turn her fixing gift into a business & that’s how they meet again..

This was a super quick read. I really enjoyed the relationship between Aly & Dylan.
Definitely recommend.

Aly Aresti works at an ad agency in London but now she has a side hustle as a relationship fixer. When she is hired by a reality tv star to fix her boyfriend. Her boyfriend turns out to be Aly's best friend from years ago. While, Nicki, the reality star and social media influencer, seems to not realize her boyfriend's past with Aly, it turns out she does and the whole thing is a publicity stunt.

Aly's and Dylan's past come back to haunt them when they finally admit their feelings for each other. Nicki uses the situation to further her own social media presence.

Aly has coworkers who also help with her fixer upper business, and their involvement adds to the comedy of the story.

Lauren Forsythe has written a really nice book that has way too much swearing that really doesn't add much to the story. The amount of alcohol consumed in the book also makes me wonder if some of the characters aren't alcoholics. Just my opinion. It is an entertaining read that will while away a few hours when the reader has nothing else to do.

Three and a half stars--rounded up to four.

G P Putnam and Sons and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

I really wanted to love this book, and there are elements in it that I genuinely did really like, but the biggest issue was really hard for me to overlook and that was that the romance of this rom-com just.... isn't there.

Ostensibly, the romance is meant to be between Aly and Dylan, two former best friends who split apart after Aly drunkenly confessed her love to Dylan and then left down, believing he didn't feel the same. Now the two are in their thirties and Aly runs a service to help fix up the life of men as requested by their girlfriends. Aly is hired by Dylan's current girlfriend to get him to propose to her within a month. I'll be straight, I hated Dylan for pretty much the entire book. I don't have a lot of patience for characters who expect people to know what's going on in their mind and Dylan spends most of the book dating another woman, flirting with Aly, and then whining about needing to make people like him. He puts literally nothing at risk for Aly and yet she is the one who is forced to fight for this relationship at the end.

In a rom-com, you have to love both lead characters and while Aly's storyline with her parents' on/off relationship and her work struggles make you really understand and feel for her, there is nothing about Dylan that makes you care about him in the slightest. Quite frankly, Aly could do better. All in all, I needed more from this romance because when it seems like Aly and Dylan might not work out, I was actually hopeful that that would be the case.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hasn’t most every straight woman been Aly? You date someone who’s just not quite done yet, break up, and they move on from you to be the perfect guy for some other woman. I’ve been there myself, with zero regrets and true happiness for the couples, one of whom’s wedding I went to.

This isn’t a light and fluffy rom-com, it’s more along the lines of Josie Silver’s One Day in December. It was an easy to read, lovely, bittersweet, one-that-got-away novel and I mostly adored it. I didn’t love that most of the characters weren’t more fleshed out - there are a lot of stereotypical personalities here (the gay best friend, the vapid influencer, etc.) but not as much depth as I hoped to see. The premise was an intriguing one and, issues aside, I enjoyed reading this debut novel.

I look forward to reading more of the author’s work.

I just wasn't feeling this one.

The concept was cool enough... "fixing up guys", but it just couldn't hold my interest.

The Fixer Upper was a cute, quick-paced romcom book with witty humor and a unique plot. Unfortunately, much of the plot felt slow and/or unnecessary to push the plot forward. I loved the blurb on this book - it's what drew me in - but I feel like so much time goes into setting up the plot that the actual plot is lost. Aly was a refreshing and interesting main character, though her inner dialogue got on my nerves sometimes. Honestly, I think this story would probably hold more interest as a movie, rather than a novel. Either way, this book was just okay to me.