Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered 1) by Tessa Bailey

Georgette Castle’s family runs the best home renovation business in town, but she picked balloons instead of blueprints and they haven’t taken her seriously since. Frankly, she’s over it. Georgie loves planning children’s birthday parties and making people laugh, just not at her own expense. She’s determined to fix herself up into a Woman of the World... whatever that means.

Living her best life means facing the truth: Georgie hasn’t been on a date since, well, ever. Nobody’s asking the town clown out for a night of hot sex, that’s for sure. Maybe if people think she’s having a steamy love affair, they’ll acknowledge she’s not just the “little sister” who paints faces for a living. And who better to help demolish that image than the resident sports star and tabloid favorite?

Travis Ford was major league baseball’s hottest rookie when an injury ended his career. Now he’s flipping houses to keep busy and trying to forget his glory days. But he can’t even cross the street without someone recapping his greatest hits. Or making a joke about his… bat. And then there's Georgie, his best friend’s sister, who is not a kid anymore. When she proposes a wild scheme—that they pretend to date, to shock her family and help him land a new job—he agrees. What’s the harm? It’s not like it’s real. But the girl Travis used to tease is now a funny, full-of-life woman and there’s nothing fake about how much he wants her...

The first novel in the Hot & Hammered series, and my first novel from this author, I can't wait to read the next instalment. As a quick short summary - a great, slow build, hot and heavy romance.

The novel starts somewhat slowly, but throws you right into the situation and our leads. It seems more and more that the characters we read are getting younger in age - or, is that just as I'm growing older? - but unlike many contemporary romances, this novel is in the third person, which is a definite bonus for this reader.

I was a little skeptical of our heroine, I'll admit it's the first time I've ever read about a main character being in the clown profession, but still I pressed on, and I'm glad I did. Our spunky heroine continues to grow during the novel, and while this book at it's core is a romance novel, it also has messages about empowerment and that romance isn't the be all and end all of life. I was cheering for our hero, although I will note that there I were a few comments from him that I viewed as problematic, regarding some aspects of sleeping with our female lead.

The supporting cast were also fully formed characters and had interesting storylines, not just there to progress our two leads. The romance itself was formed well, and while a light and fluffy romance, also had down and dirty romantic scenes.

Overall, a great read, and a great first instalment of the new series.

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Rating: 3.5/5