Tag Archives: Tessa Bailey

Love Her or Lose Her — Tessa Bailey — Hot & Hammered #2

“I think I said, ‘If you loved me, you’d understand what I’m going through.’ ”
“And I said, ‘I do love you, Rosie. That’s why I want to go through it with you.’ ”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Spicy Meter: 4.5 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Discusses army service and parent death. Also has a ton of very explicit sexual content, as to be expected in any book by Tessa Bailey.

“Love Her or Lose Her” follows Rosie and Dominic Vega, two high school sweethearts who, after surviving long-distance due to Dominic’s army service and then being married for 5 years, are deciding to separate. Well, ‘are deciding’ makes it sound plural. It’s more like Rosie finally came to terms with how Dominic isn’t fulfilling her anymore—or even trying to talk to her—and so she decides to leave. Dominic is not okay with it. At all. He knows Rosie is, and always has been, the one. And so they both agree: couple’s therapy it is.

This second chance romance was most literally just the book I needed to read. I don’t remember the last time I read a book about a separated couple that tries to work through their differences. These are the kinds of book we should be reading now. The ones that tell us that love is worth fighting for, not only when you’re chasing after your crush, but when its been years and things get rough.

I think Tessa Bailey isn’t a hit-or-miss author for me. I think I love all her books, even if I love some more than others. And I definitely loved “Love Her or Lose Her” the most.

I cannot recommend this book enough. I was utterly mad at their couple’s therapist, but overall, it’s a lovely, steamy read. I wouldn’t change a thing—definitely enjoyed it more than the first book in this series.

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“We build resentments toward our loved ones. Sometimes we’re not even aware of them. But they grow so strong, they prevent us from remembering what we loved about our partners in the first place. Maybe one or both no longer wants to give their significant other the satisfaction of showing their amusement, so the other person stops trying. And the laughter dies.”

Fix Her Up — Tessa Bailey — Hot & Hammered #1

“I’ve met her twice in my life. This time, I was smart enough to fall in love with her.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Spicy Meter: 4.5 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Describes child abuse, verbal assault, and sexual content. Involves gaslighting and diminishing younger members of a family.

“Fix Her Up” follows Georgie Castle, the youngest of the Castle family siblings, part of the family who runs the best renovating company in town—but Georgie deals with nothing of the sort. She went for working as a clown and planning children’s birthday parties instead of making houses pretty. She’s set on expanding her business when, unexpectedly, her childhood crush moves back to town after an injury kicked him out of major league baseball. These two things should have nothing to do one with the other, yet they do. Because Georgie’s family has no respect for her or her business, still seeing her as a child. But dating an ex-professional athlete could change that, right? Or so she hopes.

It has already been well-established that we love and stan Tessa Bailey in this blog. But gosh, was I not ready for this book. I am an absolute sucker for childhood crush books because I was lucky enough to end up with my childhood crush.

Georgie, although annoying and immature at times, was sweet and considerate and down-to-earth. Funny how a clown wasn’t funny tho. Or maybe that was just my perception. Nonetheless, “Fix Her U really delivered on how spicy it was. This book series is called Hot & Hammered for a reason, that’s all I’m saying.

If you like fake dating romances and books with professional athlete main characters, then “Fix Her Up” is for you. Can’t wait to see where this series will take me next.

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“If I ever start to lose strength again, I’ll just think of how it felt to lose the girl who loved me, even when I couldn’t love myself.”

Hook, Line, and Sinker — Tessa Bailey — Bellinger Sisters #2

“You can’t live life worrying about what people will think. You’ll wake up one day, look at a calendar, and count the days you could have spent being happy.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Content Warnings: Sexual content, bullying, objectifying and sexualizing men, and discusses parent death.

“Hook, Line, and Sinker” is the second book in the Bellinger Sisters/It Happened One Summer series and I was 100% there for it. It follows Hannah Bellinger, an LA-based director’s personal assistant who’s hoping to climb up to soundtrack making, and Fox Thornton, a self-proclaimed player and king crab fisherman. After a weekend in Seattle that took place in the first book’s timeline, they become friends and keep in touch even after Hannah leaves Fox’s small fishing town. Their unexpected friendship has left Fox perplexed, as he’s never had a woman want to be his friend only for his wits and personality. But Hannah isn’t interested in him, she’s focused on the crush she’s had on her boss for forever. They’re focused on staying as friends and that’s it, even if their hearts seem to have other plans…

Do I know what the title of this book means? No. Did it matter whatsoever? Also no. This book was the sweetest escape from reality. Hannah is such a complex and distinct character, I did not feel like I was reading a different story with different names but from the same point of view—which is something that I usually feel when reading series where the main characters have the same gender. Hannah was not Piper. “Hook, Line, and Sinker” is NOT “It Happened One Summer”. I would even dare say it could work well as a standalone. And I absolutely loved it.

Do not make me choose between these two books, I loved them equally but differently. “It Happened One Summer” was spicier, in my opinion, while “Hook, Line, and Sinker” was more emotional—and spicy too, just not as spicy. I wish I would’ve waited to read one of these books by the ocean. They feel like the perfect beach read.

I would recommend this book to people who liked “It Happened One Summer”, and to fans of books like “The Hating Game” by Sally Thorne and “The Simple Wild” by K.A. Tucker. If you like small-town loves and the clashing of two worlds, this is the book for you.

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It Happened One Summer — Tessa Bailey — Bellinger Sisters #1

“Trying to figure out what to do when no one is watching. And wondering if maybe that’s the stuff that actually matters.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Content Warning: Veeery sexual (consensual) content and discusses parent and spouse death.

“It Happened One Summer” follows the Bellinger sisters, Piper and Hannah, as they’re sent off to a remote fishing town after a Los Angeles-scale scandal. Following Piper specifically, this first book in the Bellinger Sisters series shows how the eldest of the sisters gets to know the town her late father adored. They meet a bunch of unique people, but there is one particular boat captain that’s caught Piper’s eyes… But in order to fall in love with him, she must fall out of love with LA and the spotlight, which is something she doesn’t think she can do. Set in a quaint-y, old town, this book is fast-paced and very entertaining.

Well, I must say this was the spiciest book I’ve read in a while—but that wasn’t why I gave this book 5 stars. I gave it 5 stars because this book had everything: a compelling love story, complex characters, emotional growth, and feelings other than just lovey-dovey romantic love. We see how the sisters grow to love the town they’re in and the people that live in it. We see how they become more aware of the value of things and the pleasure of doing good, honest work. We see them go through a rollercoaster of emotions, and we feel all the confusion with them. And yes. In the end, we get our happily ever after, but it’s made even sweeter because of how we got there.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romances. I am pretty sure it’s impossible not to like this book and its characters.

If you click here, you’ll be redirected to Goodreads, so you can add the book to your TBR list.

Or you could click here, and be redirected to Amazon, so you can order the book.

“You can be as high maintenance as you want, honey. But I’m the only one who does the maintenance.”