isitcake 's review for:

The Sweetest Fix by Tessa Bailey

4.5

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This was so sweet! The 2 week time limit sets when the climax is going to happen but it was still so sad when it did, I was definitely tearing up at the end which is really rare for me. I loved Leo as a dirty talking lovable bear of a man and Reese is so sweet and people-pleasing, they really go together well. The dates they go on sound lovely, the side characters in Leo's bakery The Cookie Jar added just the right amount of third party perspective to move their relationship forward. Literally my only gripe is Leo being a baker when she's a dancer because those professions realllyyyy don't meld well so it made it a tad unrealistic, but this book couldn't be what it is without him being a baker.
Omfg and the NYC Pikachu. Fucking loved it. I was laughing every time he came back up.

Reese has always wanted to be a dancer. She lives in Wisconsin helping out her mom run a children's dance studio. She gets selected by Bernard Bexley, a famous former Broadway dancer, in his contest which would catapult her career, but the audition is tomorrow. Due to transportation issues  she misses it and ends up talking to a man dressed as a Pikachu in Times Square who encourages her to find a different way to contact Bernard - by talking to his son Leo. She goes to his bakery and they have an instant connection and attraction. She realizes what she's doing is wrong and tries to walk away but he tracks her down. She tries multiple times to push him away since she only has enough money to stay in NYC for 2 weeks and she doesn't want Leo to think she's using him, especially after he tells a story about his best friend in school using him to get to his dad to become a dancer. She makes up a lie about her being a chorus line girl for the hottest show right now and is forced to perpetuate the lie as they date over the following days.
Everything comes to a head on Valentine's Day. Reese had tried nonstop everyday to audition and get a job until this last chance auditioning for her dream job Chicago. She makes it to the final round and plans to tell Leo everything that night when she can tell him she has a job now and isn't planning to use up. Except she gets the call and is told she didn't get the part and Bernard shows up right then, recognizes her as the girl who missed the audition with him, and Leo reacts badly. Getting rejected by her last chance opportunity and dream job on top of being rejected by Leo is too much and she instantly books a bus ticket back to Wisconsin. Leo cools off for a few hours then tries to track her down. He finds out she's been living in a literal closet, sleeping on a beanbag chair, going to classes and every audition and killing herself for weeks. She never once asked him for help. He tracks her down at the bus station where he apologizes but it's too late. Reese's pride won't let her accept his offer to live with him, off of him. Weeks pass with her being miserable in Wisconsin until she gets a call from Chicago offering her the job, the dancer they went with didn't work out. Reese goes back to NYC and contacts Leo by mailing him a ticket for her first performance. They reunite at the theater and HAE. In the epilogue 8 years later they have a daughter and she's retired from dancing. Instead she's planning to partner with Bernard to run a low-cost consultancy to help dancers land roles.