Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Fix Her Up

Tessa Bailey’s Fix Her Up brings the story of a childhood-crush-turns-husband kind of story between Georgie Castle and Travis Ford. Georgie is the youngest in the castle family, making her siblings and parents perceive her as a kid even though she is already 23 years old. instead of getting spoiled with brand-new items, her wardrobe is filled with hand-me-downs from Stephen and Bethany, her elder siblings. her job as a BIRTHDAY CLOWN also worsens this condition where she is never taken seriously by her family and people at Port Jefferson. but, she still has her own goals. she is determined to expand her entertainment business. this means she has to get people—especially her family—to perceive her as an adult. how? first, she revamps her entire wardrobe and she fake-dates Travis Ford, Stephen’s best friend, who happens to be Georgie’s childhood crush. Travis was this hot, major league, baseball star before his injury that caused him to retire at the prime age of twenty-eight. he has no purpose until his agent contacts him that a network is looking for a baseball commentator whose image is the opposite of Travis’ nickname Two Bats. in order to acquire the PG-13 portrayal, Travis makes the internet believe that he is a changed, ready-to-settle, man.

my review:

i’ve read two of Tessa Bailey’s works prior to this—1) It Happened One Summer and 2) Hook, Line, and Sinker. one thing that i noticed when i was reading this is that this and Hook, Line, and Sinker have a similar formula; about a woman who fixes a man’s problems and these two main characters (in both books) has the same internal conflicts.

i truly don’t understand the way Travis’ mind works because he seems to be aroused ALL THE TIME, there’s not a single moment when he does not objectify Georgie. do people always like this when they are attracted to someone???

i can tolerate the corny dirty talks during their intercourse BUT i CANNOT put up with Travis’ use of baby girl. i gag every time i see the phrase on the screen of my kindle and i don’t think i will ever be able to hear or see this phrase anymore. this is the lowest form of an affectionate name. i beg every author out there to refrain from using b*by g*rl.

this book is ridiculous but i think this one is way beyond my understanding: Georgie forgets to wear a bra. is it a common phenomenon among women because i’ve never experienced this???

every character in this book is annoying. everyone in this book gets on my nerves. except Rosie.

the Just Us League and Tough Mudder thing are useless plot devices. the Just Us League is just like a friend group you have when you’re in middle school and why would these people at Port Jefferson be dying to get in the group????? i assume that this group is supposed to add female empowerment to this misogynistic book but still fails nonetheless. and now the Tough Mudder event… it can be extracted from the book and everything will remain the same until the end.

i know that this is fiction but why does the conflict get resolved in a short amount of time???? also, Georgie and Travis’ internal thoughts about their doubts were not explored enough. the excessive amount of erotica truly wastes the pages of this book when it could be used to add depth to the conflict resolution and the main characters’ conversations. even i don’t remember if these two ever really talked things through without ending up in sex.

i just don’t understand the time setting and how long have Georgie & Travis been fake dating for Travis to propose to Georgie during his commentator job on the public TV network? why does Georgie accept his apology easily? and how about Georgie’s new office?

Georgie girlie you deserve better. yes, you are allowed to realise your dirty fantasy about Travis but his problems are not yours to fix. she should’ve gone on the date with that single father.

this book is such nonsense but i’m entertained nevertheless. such a fun time to see this stupid stupid people doing stupid stupid things.

Content Warnings

jachnax's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Content Warnings

pandalesque's review

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tense

1.5

This is the romance for your "woke republican" in your life...

OMG... I just finished this bcs I paid for it and wanted to have all the information to rant about it.
I thought I get a house makeover romance with smut and interesting family/friend dynamics...
The business/aspekt of flipping houses was so not central or even there it's sad.
The family dynamics are patriarchal, sexist bullshit that wouldn't be a problem if the book didn't try to "fix it" explore it in a even more humiliating way for the women.

+ Talk about being the youngest sibling and wanting to be taken seriously and being noticed positively and working for it
+ Attempt at positive female relationships

- In the first 5-10' mentioning of church and god...
- Characters are so artificially built and the plot so cringy
- 3rd act conflict / misunderstanding makes NO SENSE
- So heteronormative/cis-normative, it seems almost homo-/transphobic
- the smut between the MCs is problematic at best, bcs of the very shakey consent
- Submissive virgin FMC with toxic masc dominant possesif MMC
- Language used to describe body parts during s** was cringy ("(sensitive) flesh"...) to be fair, other authors unfortunately do the same.
- Basically just a story about him getting fixed by a woman and the MMC being/becoming a decent human being for once
- Jealousy and Posessiveness
- performative feminism that made women look annoying, not to be taken serious, .... (Club)
- Second hand talk about why she likes "clowning" but never really shown
- FMC juggling for a kid and it being happy isn't the genius move it's written out to be, in my opinion! All the men impressed because they can't distract a child if their life depended on it???

Problematic representation of wanting children and adult relationships:
- Character (male) not wanting a family and kids, until he falls in love with a woman and she changes his trauma, and insecurities and life... ?
He needs therapy... not her being his therapist, social worker, manager or enabler. Also there are people who don't want kids and don't have to change their minds.
- FMC parents almost neglecting her and never recognizing it
- Her brother *BERRRKKKK*, such a dick toxic masculinity guy adding 0 value to the story. Forcing/Pressuring his wife to have kids?????

- Also brother and MMC have no obvious "best friend" relationship in my opinion
- "she's all that"-moment... Of course she has a beautiful body and just had to wear tighter clothes... cringe
- all the relationships (around them) seem to suck too (brother, Rose's, parents?...)

I "CLIP" in audio books usually for good quotes or insights... this time I clipped bcs I wanted to come with receipts about the cringy, puke-y and misogynistic lines...

"Her face transformed with "feminine outrage"

"with the hand full of little sister tit."

"And this definitely marked the first time in history he'd been eager to get inside the head of a woman."

"There wasn't the typical feminine urge to squeal to her friends."

"...He kissed her like he was, taking care of her, soothing her, letting her know that he'd stand guard while she wept. And the responsibility made him feel more like a man than he ever had in his life.

"He gave her a look of pure man exasperation. you've got until I say ..."

"A man using her mouth. She never felt more like a woman."

"Sweet girl, so beautiful."...
"Sweet man, ... So strong."

"He never been in this place. torn between aching to f*ck and needing to talk. To just... hold her. "

"You wanna be with me?"
"Want? No. I'm saying I need you. ..."

Also the end... WTF. I think a lot of other low reviews already talked about some points I brought up and had some more good ones.

SMUT 🔥🔥/5

Content Warnings

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

landawn's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It was mildly entertaining, but I couldn’t get past the overuse of “baby girl,” and the emphasis on her young age and virginity. If that’s your thing, it would probably be a good fit.
The book itself was fine but I did find it wrapped up way too quickly in the last chapter or two, making the MMC’s change of heart/goals far less believable.

Content Warnings

reads2cope's review against another edition

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There were so many things I hated about this book. How the sisters treat Kristin, the „baby girl“ nickname, Trevor’s even worse nickname, how he constantly

talked about „owning“ Georgie and other misogynistic language, the ending!

but in the end it was a compelling romance and I’ll probably be reading the rest of the series in as a guilty pleasure.

Content Warnings

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Content Warnings

rachrreads's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was such a fun read but I couldn’t get over the “baby girl” nickname every 5 minutes. But it involved my favorite trope — fake dating, so of course I still liked this book. I’m not sure I really loved Travis all that much, but him and Georgie are adorable. Can’t wait to read book 2.

Also her brother and his wife are so annoying go away

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