Lyon of the Highlands (The Lyon’s Den Connected World)

The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe

Title:  The Fixer Upper

Author: Lauren Forsythe
Publisher: Penguin Group Putnam
Genre:  Romance, Women's Fiction
Format:  Kindle
No. of Pages: 299
Date of US Publication:  2 August, 2022
My Rating:  3 Stars

My Thoughts 

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. 

eARC kindly provided by Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley. Opinions shared are my own.

Description

In this funny and sharp romantic comedy, a woman with a knack for turning her boyfriends’ lives around starts a professional service to help wrangle men, only to be unexpectedly matched with an old flame.

Ever since she can remember, Aly has been fixing everything around her: her parents’ marriage, her colleagues’ work problems, and her friends’ love lives are just a few examples. After a chance meeting with an ex who has gone from living in his parents’ basement to being a married project manager in three years, she realizes she’s been fixing her boyfriends, too....

So, Aly decides to put her talents to good use and, alongside two work friends, sets up the Fixer Upper, an exclusive, underground service for women who are tired of unpaid emotional labor. Using little tricks and tips, Aly and her friends get the men to do the work themselves—to get out of the job they hate, sign up for that growth seminar, do more parenting. Before long, a high-profile Instagram star hires them to fix up her app developer boyfriend. There’s just one catch—he’s also Aly’s childhood best friend and first love. As Aly tackles her biggest “fixer upper” yet, she’ll have to come to terms with their complicated history and figure out how much to change someone she’d always thought was perfect as he is....