Cover Image: The Fixer Upper

The Fixer Upper

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

A beautiful love story about mistakes and fixing things. A really fun cheeky read. Not too cheesy but ticks all the right boxes for a feel-good rom-com. Looking forward to more from this author

Was this review helpful?

I was drawn to the summary of this story but it ended up being just alright for me. It's a sweet childhood-friends-to-enemies-to-lovers British romantic comedy.

*Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam, the author, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I couldn't get into this title. Aly is always fixing her boyfriends enough for them to move on and find someone else. There is only one that got away that she cares about, but he's going to marry a popular influencer. She and her work friends start an online website where they will fix people's significant others to help them along. Meanwhile at work she is having problems with being walked all over. Her father wants to sell the house she and her mother live in because he and his second wife are having problems. Her work friends don't know much about her private life because she doesn't share. I just got frustrated with the character. I found her to be unlikable and I have issues trying to feel sorry and root for characters like that.

Was this review helpful?

I thought this was good, though the trope is used quite often in romance novels. The characters were funny and easy to like!

Was this review helpful?

I read this in a weekend! A quick, fairly mindless romance! Basically zero steam 😅 it was cute and held my attention, but I didn’t connect with the story or characters very well, and it fell flat a bit for me. Cute but not the best romance I’ve ever read.

Was this review helpful?

I was so invested in this story! I really liked how this didn't just exist in one category or rely on over-done storylines. I also really liked all of the characters and all of their dynamics. I thought this story was really nice and will probably re-read at some point!

Was this review helpful?

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

The fixer upper is a cute easy read. I enjoyed the plot. I also I liked the side characters.

Was this review helpful?

I was very hopeful when i requested this book from Netgalley. This story just wasn't for me. It had nothing to do with the author or the book. I will still recommend to anyone that reads in this genre.

Was this review helpful?

i.. do not know how to feel. it was good but at the same time it was not good.

Aly, the main character, quickly begins to notice that she was born to help people, and can do it all, from changing career goals to making men start pulling their weight at home (as you should). so, she proceeds to start getting paid for this, and creates the business ‘The Fixer Upper’ with her two friends. Yet, when she gets a new influencer, who needs help with her boyfriend, Aly quickly realizes how this can go wrong. Will she be able to help her old best friend and first love, deal with all their unresolved issues, and not.. fall in love?

frankly, this book was entertaining to read. the plot was a tad bit too dramatic, but it is a romcom, what can you expect?

i loved the relationship between aly and dylan, but most specifically their banter.

the reason i really cannot rate this book more than 3 stars is the whole reason this problem happened. it was all due to a misunderstanding and miscommunication…

and not even an extreme case where i can be understandable, no, this could have been easily resolved at the very start of the problem. but they never decided to even try.

overall, it was still a good book, and i was still entertained, but i have read better.

Was this review helpful?

I love a good second chance romance and this one did not disappoint! Aly is a "fixer" - she finds that she has been her whole life. So, she decides to start a company "The Fixer Upper" to help others "fix" others' lives in different aspects. Things take a turn when she is hired by a semi-famous influencer who's boyfriend was her first love. This book was fast-paced and delightful through and through! I would happily recommend to anyone that's looking for a great rom-com!

Was this review helpful?

The Fixer Upper was marketed as a romantic comedy, but I disagree. There’s only the slightest bit of romance, and while lighthearted, it isn’t particularly a comedy. It is, however, an entertaining work of women’s fiction featuring likeable characters and an original premise. that I enjoyed.

Aly is taken for granted in every aspect of her life. She is overworked and overlooked professionally. Her relationship with her parents is tumultuous. Romantically, she has wasted too much time and energy in encouraging loser ex-boyfriends to reach their potential only for them to finally turn into successful husband material for other lucky women. She’s lonely, and I couldn’t wait for her to find a backbone and claim the life she’s entitled to. I liked how she gains confidence while helping other women find happiness with their partners.

The beginning of the book is on the sluggish side, but once Aly’s childhood ex-best friend, Dylan, is introduced the ball gets rolling. I liked their rapport and traditions. They would make a perfect couple except it really does feel more like a friendship between them than a romance. I expected Aly to feel jealous of Dylan’s shallow girlfriend, but throughout most of the story she seems to feel guilt and nostalgia more than anything else, while Dylan seems content to just have his best friend back. It didn’t stop me from rooting for them to wake up and realize how much they love together. I needed their HEA! Aly’s supportive best friends add a lot of fun to the plot.

The Fixer Upper is Lauren Forsythe’s debut novel. I look forward to reading more from her.

Recommended for fans of:
Friends to lovers
Influencers
Workplace stories

Was this review helpful?

I thought this book was okay, but I wasn't overly thrilled by it. I always love friends to lovers and that was cute, but I really wish that they would just be open and honest with each other. The business idea was also kind of cringy and you knew someone was going to have a problem with it from the beginning. It was fine and I'm sure others would enjoy it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Putnam Group for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Was this review helpful?

I read this one and I just could not get into the story. The writing style was great and I know that this will be someones favorite, but it wasn't mine. I didn't love the content and I just couldn't figure out how to like the characters and what they were doing. The cover was great, and fit the story.

Was this review helpful?

Aly is a corporate woman with a side hustle as a “fixer upper”. Women hire her to orchestrate subtle run-ins with their men where she uses psychology to nudge them in to fixing whatever perceived flaw they have. Early on, I was worried this book was going to feel like every other mediocre “uptight woman climbing the ladder at any cost” style romance story out there, but I was pleasantly surprised. Aly was relatable and likable. The decisions she made, however ill-advised, made sense. I like the friendships that developed with her work friends. I liked Dylan and his easy going charm. I would have loved to have some more descriptive flash backs to young Dylan and Aly. Their teenage story felt like a YA story I would happily read. Overall a pretty cozy story that was easy to read.

Was this review helpful?

Alex is a fixer by nature. She has spent of much of her life repairing everyone else's problems. Romances, break ups, work issues, family issues - she has fixed it all. Her main area of expertise seems to be fixing up men to the perfect version of themselves. Or at least that's what it appears as all her ex-boyfriends seem to turn into model men after they break up. Little b little, she starts finding people in the office to help with their relationship problems. Her friends encourage her to make it into a kind of side business where she s helping those in need. And thus The Fixer Upper is born.

As Aly is helping other peoples lives, her own is a bit of a mess. She's a bit of a push over at work trying to please everyone in order to try and get a promotion. She is trying to support her mother who is continually making poor decisions. And she really has no love life to speak up. Word is starting to get around her ability to fix things and a social media influencer learns about it and wants her to "fix" her boyfriend. The boyfriend in need of repair was her childhood best friend who she hadn't seen since she confessed her feelings when drunk and then perceived that he had rejected her.

Aly and Dylan immediately have a tense dynamic when they see each other for the first time. They claim not to know each other in front of his girlfriend but are unable to stop the bickering that usually only happens when you know someone so well. Oh, the sparks that come from this bickering! At first, Aly refuses to take the social media influencers request for her to fix her boyfriend; but there is quite a bit of money involved if all get accomplished. When Aly discovers that her mother is going to lose her home unless she can buy it out - she decides to grin and bare it and accept the offer.

Both of these characters are stubborn and it takes a bit for them to be cordial with each other. Their chemistry shines as they argue. I could feel the tension and the sparks between them. Plus, there was so much history. The more time hey spend together the more the walls start coming down. As a reader, I could tell that Aly and Dylan brought out the best in each other. Their past isn't exactly what either was them thought and this causes each of them to question their futures. Each of them have a couple of close friends who support and challenge them on their journey. I really enjoyed it when the two groups interacted with each other.

The Fixer Upper is filled with comedic and angsty moments. Aly and Dylan really have a strong pull on each other. This is their journey with finding themselves. Each of them see the best in each other but usually fail to see it in themselves. Their character growth was enjoyable to watch and I also enjoyed the London scenery too. It helped bring everything together.

Was this review helpful?

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Was this review helpful?

This book didn't do anything for me but give me bad vibes. What woman goes after a man with a girlfriend? Think the author didn't hit the mark with this book.

Was this review helpful?

Although this book had a lot of potential I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Something was just missing in this

Was this review helpful?

Aly is a fixer. She has had her fair share of boyfriends who she literally fixed, their broken hearts, careers, parental fights. EVERYTHING! She takes this gift and starts a firm with her two BFFS Tola and Eric.

She takes a client who isn't just a run of the mill influencers boyfriend as she thought, no it is Dylan her bestfriend from years ago who she may have had a very big crush on and may have really broken her heart. UGH!

So she has an issue, she has to help him, it is her client. But how ethical is it to fall for your client while he has a girlfriend?

I didn't love this one simply because it was a bit too farfetched for my liking. The characters were likeable and I like the writing style but the main reason that Dylan and Aly didn't work out was just a misunderstanding and that doesn't sit well with me!

Try this one out if you aren't look for something too realistic 3.5/5!

Thank you netgalley and Lauren Forsythe's team for the ARC!

Was this review helpful?

I want to point out that the idea of how perfect this woman is at manipulating the potential out of anybody is hard to believe. And it’s so obvious that Aly and Dylan are perfect for each other. It’s so obvious that the girlfriend he had in high school was jealous of his friendship with Aly and so Aly ran away because of a misunderstanding and overreaction.

The descriptions of the things she hates about her coworker Hunter is literally the same. Word for word. “How he talked about playing the stock market for fun, how he still referred to his father as “Daddy,” and for some insane reason the fact that he liked to wear a cravat—that really pushed my buttons. Orange, spotty, pink striped. There was one for every outfit. Considering how many awful things there were about Hunter, it was shocking that was the one that got to me.”

If there was ever a time that I’d wanted to reach inside a book and smack the shit out of someone it is when Aly talks to her boss about the blatant nepotism that took away the job promotion she was meant to have. I want to smack both of them. And I want to quit this book but I have to see it through. She should have quit. Aly’s thought process about this situation annoys me.

Her grand gesture was super sweet and I loved it. I also love the quote at the end. However. this is a 2/5 for me.

Was this review helpful?