A fun, cute read, an easy rom-com which I did enjoy. 3.5 stars

Thanks for the arc in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed this and though it was cute - very obvious what was going to happen but enjoyed it nonetheless

Was really fun to read a British rom com.
A fun read - childhood friends who become enemies who become lovers.
Sign me up always.

It does have the miscommunication trope, which is well done here thankfully. Would also have benefitted from some spice 🌶

A fun, cute, easy read with likeable characters and a decent plot. Enemies to lovers is one of my favourite tropes, so that made the book all the more enjoyable. I however didn’t feel too overly attached to the main characters, Aly & Dylan, but overall still found the premise of the book and the writing style to be enjoyable.

Absolutely loved this book!

The writing style was really good and I look forward to reading any other books from this author in the future :)

The Fixer Upper is feminist, original and humorous. It has a similar vibe to the film - The Wedding Planner. Ally sets up her own business in the romance sector. She, herself wants her forever happily ever after, but the way things go, well, there are some humorous things that happen along the way. Aly is the ultimate “Fixer Upper”, who has had boyfriends and yet they all need something fixing and that is something she can do. The only thing is, once fixed up, they then become more desireable men and end up with someone else. I’m sure there are many women who can relate and have been in that position of having to “mother” men and teach what I would call advance life-skills to and such like and find that either they move on, or you do. Aly is that person who does this, she fixes men up and makes them into better people, but she also at times seems to forget about taking care of herself. It’s a book that resonates. Alys’s life path is an interesting one. Things get even more juicy when her first love comes along and there’s quite a twist in the tale when he isn’t pleased to see her. This was quite different from how things normally go and I liked that.

This rom-com is sure to reel readers in on a brilliant route to pure escapism in areas of life lived by many, but rarely talked about and not particularly written about, until now.

The Fixer Upper is a fantastic read. I liked the writing style and the growth and development Aly had throughout the story. It is well paced and kept me invested.

The Fixer Upper is a delightful childhood friends-to enemies-to eventual lovers romance, with the interesting premise of a service for women which helps to 'fix' their partners.

Aly has started up a new business -- helping annoyed and frustrated women form better relationships with their partners. Her new client, Nicki, is a woman desperate to fix her boyfriend. Aly is also desperate and agrees to help Nicki. The only problem comes when she finds out that the man in this scenario is, in fact, Aly's childhood best friend and he is not best pleased to see her.

The closer they become however, and the more truths come to light on what hurt their relationship in the first place, the closer the two become...

This was a quick and easy read, the perfect romance to take with you on holiday. Overall a fun read with engagement characters and a lovely romance.

A fun, funny romcom in the vein of the classic 90's 'high concept' novel: Aly's fed up being the girlfriend who doesn't quite end with with the boy; she does all the work to fix her boyfriends, then they go and find their happy-ever-after with someone else. She decides to set up a service to help others - after all, what could possibly go wrong...? A sparky, witty novel about first loves and learning to love yourself.

A fun read, with engaging characters. A story of friends to “enemies” to lovers, and a perfect light holiday (or any time) read

An interesting read wasn't what I expected at all but an interesting read. Didn't feel overly attached to any of the characters which was a shame but it was an easy ready.

This is not the typical romcom trope I enjoy reading about but I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I loved the writing style which made the book easy to read and stay engaged in. The characters were all well-written and developed and I think there were some important messages on doing things to make yourself happy and not just to please others as it can burn you out in the end.

If you enjoy the wedding planner movie with Matthew McConaughey and J-Lo then this book will be up your alley as it has the same vibe.

The only disappointing aspect about the book was that Ally seems like a head strong knows what she wants girl but it is contradicted as you read on. I also do not think Dylan should have been easily forgiven for the act which caused the miscommunication when they were younger as it still was awful beahviour and we are meant to laugh and brush it off as a simple mistake! I think the author should have addressed the issue better and done more to make Dylan deserve Ally's forgiveness.

Also for once I wanted an epilogue and there was no epilogue....

Nonetheless, this is a good book and would recommend.

This was an easy and light-hearted read, perfect for unwinding.
I enjoyed the story of how Aly and Dylan reconnected, but the underlying idea of The Fixer Upper, an underground service to whip boyfriends into shape, didn't sit quite right with me.

As soon as I started reading this book I felt like I knew I was going to enjoy it. I really liked the way that it started, how easy it was to fall into the book with connection and how Aly likes to honour herself with ‘me time,’ regardless of her relationship status. It’s something we could all do a little bit more of!

I loved the sound of this book, the description sounded fun and entertaining and this book made me chuckle 🤭 It shares friendships that shows support and quick wit teasing, that can gently nudge a person into growing and expanding, that makes their lives better and gradually starts to show how Aly’s childhood influenced her fears of being in a relationship and although she was empowered in so many ways, how she ran away from what she would potentially want the most. A loving relationship. As time goes on she realises that she still has feelings for her childhood best friend through a work meeting, that makes it difficult.

Sometimes in life, we can forget about ourselves and spend our energy on serving others whether in business or regular life. This story tells of Aly who goes on a life learning path that a lot of us experience. It was a pleasure to read.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book with an honest review.

Aly and two of her work colleagues have set up a side line, as fixer uppers. Everything seems to be going well, until a celebrity wants their help getting her partner to propose - the problem being that her partner is Aly's old friend who she was in love with until he broke her heart. What will she do now?

Thank you Netgalley for this earc!
I did really enjoy this one. It's friends to lovers, to enemies, to friends, to lovers, and really quite an enjoyable read. It's light and funny in parts, yet entirely understandable and emotional in others. I was in two minds about Aly, the main, as sometimes I rather enjoyed her narrative, but others times, I didn't. Either way, it was a lovely read for a little bit of fun and a lot of romance.

A cute and fun story that also has a bit of depth to it. It’s rather thought provoking too in terms of how people in relationships are treated. The characters were great and well written . Overall an enjoyable read

After an encounter with an ex, Aly realises she's become the woman motivating all her (now) exes to make positive changes in their lives, only for their next partner to reap the benefits. That's when her friends come up with the idea of harnessing Aly's skills and setting up a discreet service for frustrated partners. It goes remarkably well until they meet Nicki, an influencer with a long list of expectations for her tech start-up boyfriend. The list is bad enough. But the boyfriend turns out to be Dylan, Aly's ex-best friend from school. And he was also her first love...

There are lots of things to love about this story. It's definitely a grower, and the second half is where the writing shines. I enjoyed the way we slowly unravel Aly and Dylan's past, and I loved Eric, Tola, Ben, and Priya. There are a couple of tired stereotypes, and I struggled early on with the ethics of what Aly agreed to, the lie to her friends about how much she was being paid, and why she agreed to the project. For me, it seemed like, for all Aly talked so much about her great skills, she lacked the most basic ones: honesty, and communication. I also struggled to relate her 'fixer-upper' persona, with her dogsbody at work persona, but I cheered when she finally had her eureka moments and confronted the people exploiting her good nature. I also cried (a lot) when she and Dylan finally stopped lying to one another.
As such, this fell more into the self-acceptance women's fiction category than rom-com - I didn't really laugh a great deal, and it was light on the romance. But that's fine. There are more important plot lines going on, and a lot of emotional baggage for both central characters to wade through. Still, the ending was satisfying and it was a good read which addressed several important themes, and with some sweet moments.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating:
Emotional Rating: 🙈😡😬😊🙄🥰😍😭😭🥰😍

*Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review*

Favourite Quote:

‘Love is only meant to be terrifying right at the beginning, right before you fall,’ she said softly. ‘Then it’s meant to feel like home.’

The Fixer Upper is a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance based around Alyssa and Dylan's messy reunion.
Alyssa becomes infamous for improving her ex-boyfriends and they become better for their next relationships. Aly with the insisted guidance of her best friends Tola and Eric become Fixer Uppers - aiding frustrated women in relationships by guiding and discreetly guiding them onto better things whether it be career, self-care or communication with their partners.
After multiple successful cases, the trio capitalise on their success, creating a website. It reaches social influencer Nicki who is desperate to improve and mould her boyfriend. She is ready for a proposal and Aly, desperate to pay off her mother's debt to her unlikable father, agrees to do this. The catch in this scenario is that Nicki's boyfriend is none other than her childhood and teen best friend Dylan - who decides to pretend he has no idea who Aly is.
Under the guise of improving his app development business, she sets out on improving Dylan's sociability and attitude towards Nicky's career but as always, this comes with setbacks and complications.
The closer they become once again, the more Aly notices how set-up and false Nicki is and what she wants from this arrangement becomes detrimental to her 'friendship' with Dylan.
This clear, easy-to-read romance was lovely to read. There were a few points I felt slightly bored and Aly could become infuriating.
Thank you for the eARC, I really appreciate it!

I love a female MC who is completely assured in how good she is at her job! Aly may have her flaws but she’s ace at her job and makes no apology for it. And rightly so. The Fixer Upper is a brilliantly fun read, of enemies to lovers and second chances. Forsythe spins a fresh premise into a pacey, humorous story. Looking forward to her next books.