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FIX HER UP by Tessa Bailey

Series: Hot and Hammered #1

Release Date: 11th June 2019

Genre: Contemporary Romance

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.

Phase one: new framework for her business (a website from this decade, perhaps?)

Phase two: a gut-reno on her wardrobe (fyi, leggings are pants.)

Phase three: updates to her exterior (do people still wax?)

Phase four: put herself on the market (and stop crushing on Travis Ford!)

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…

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★4 STARS★

Georgette Castle is highly frustrated by the level of which she is dismissed and underestimated by her family. Being the youngest and a <strike>clown</strike> children’s party entertainer by profession, the weight is stacked against her when it comes to her bid to be taken seriously.

She has plans to shake up her image, and to do it she will need the help of an unlikely source. Travis Ford is her long time crush and one time major league baseball hero. She knows he sees her as nothing more than her the pesky kid sister of his best friend, but he’s about to get first-hand experience at just how tenacious she can be.

The first step in Georgie’s PR campaign is to buy and renovate a house. The second step an image overhaul and the third some life staging. Travis’ role in her plan requires him to be hands on with her house and her. The rouse of their fake relationship is beneficial to them both as it speeds up Georgie’s need to be seen and treated as an adult, and for Travis being with someone like Georgie goes a long way in cleaning up his image and furthering his job prospects.

The last thing Travis wants to do is babysit Georgie. The more he finds himself in her company, the harder it is <b>*wink*</b> to keep his hands to himself. It’s not just the physical attraction draws him to her; it’s the belief she has in him too. His upbringing is a stain he can’t wash away and no matter how hard he tries he can’t shake the feeling of shame and disappointment that dogs him. But with Georgie as his self-appointed cheerleader, she opens his eyes to his prospects and the prospect of them.

For me Georgie is the true hero of the story. She’s the underdog who went big and scored a home.  She set out to fix herself and it was so nice to see her not only realise her potential but also recognize there was nothing wrong with her to begin with.

Although incredible cute, do not be fooled by the cuteness of the cover. Fix Her Up is a deliciously steamy read which requires its own warning label.

About Tessa Bailey:

Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days.

Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.

She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband of eleven years and six-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.

Connect with Tessa:

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads |

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STRIPPED by Tara Wyatt

Series: Blue HEAT #1

Release Date: 15th May 2018

Purchase Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Detective Sawyer Matthews isn’t just having a bad day—he’s having the worst day. His hunt for the criminal who killed his team member has stalled and now… he’s got to play nice with his new, totally unwanted partner. It’s not that she isn’t qualified, or that he doesn’t like her—it’s because he knows what she looks like naked. So very, very naked.

Brooke Simmons finally landed her dream job working for H.E.A.T, an elite undercover detective squad, and she’s not giving up simply because she had a one-night-stand with her sullen—but undeniably sexy—new partner. They’ll just have to keep it professional. Easier said than done, considering their first case requires Sawyer to infiltrate a drug cartel operating out of a male strip show. Watching him do his best Magic Mike impression every night isn’t just hot—it’s torture.

Sawyer doesn’t need any distractions, yet his attraction to Brooke is explosive and he can’t resist going for round two. Or three. Or four. But as their investigation progresses and danger mounts, they’ll have to put their jobs, hearts, and lives on the line to fight… for each other, for survival, and for justice.

★3.5 STARS★

Brooke Simmons’ career is on the up, although the same cannot be said about her love life. She has an interesting list of priors when it comes to ex-boyfriends, and the latest in a line-up of disasters has led her to drowning her sorrows in a hotel bar. She has absolutely no business noticing the brooding guy in the seat next to hers but she does so anyway.

Detective Sawyer Matthews has suffered a loss that has impacted both his career and personal life. His best friend and colleague was recently killed in the line of duty and he’s struggling been to come to terms with the loss. He has every intention of drowning his sorrows alone but he can’t help but find his interest piqued by the firecracker in the seat next to his. The sparks of interest give way to a burning physical attraction, and the result is an explosive night that burns into both their memories.

Being the new girl is the least of Brooke’s worries when she discovers her partner is none other than the one night stand and starring role of her recurring fantasy. She’s worked her behind off to land a position on the elite undercover detective squad, so what’s a few moments of embarrassment? She’s fully confident that they can deal with the situation like adults and not allow it to distract them from their work.

Going undercover in a strip club is not how Sawyer envisaged coping with his growing attraction to Brooke would go. He’s torn between his desperate need to infiltrate the gang responsible for his best friend’s murder, and keeping the woman he increasing cares for safe, even though she can fully handle herself. The conflict between the two lead him make some decisions that compromise their safety but it’s matters of the heart that threatens to lead to the greatest fallout.

STRIPPED was my first read by Tara Wyatt and it’s a novel easily read in one sitting. I enjoyed the friction between work/personal life and it made the steamy scenes all that more illicit. The stripper element made for lighter moments but I’m not going to lie, I would have loved many more a scene of Sawyer in his glittery thong. The addition of the supporting cast gave a great segue into the next novels in the series, and I’m looking forward to Wyatt turning up the H.E.A.T.

About the Author:

Tara Wyatt is a contemporary romance and romantic suspense author. Known for her humor and steamy love scenes, Tara’s writing has won several awards, including the Golden Quill Award and the Booksellers’ Best Award, and has been nominated for the prestigious RITA® Award.

When she’s not hanging out with your next book boyfriend, she can be found reading, watching movies, and drinking wine. A librarian by day and a romance writer by night, Tara lives in Hamilton, Ontario with the world’s cutest dog and a husband who makes all her of her heroes look like chumps.

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