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Love Her or Lose Her is the second book in Tessa Bailey’s Hot & Hammered series. A love story about a marriage on the rocks and about growing into who you were always meant to be, this novel is fun, sweet, intense and heartwarming. It stands very well on its own; Georgie and Travis from Fix Her Up, book one in the series, make frequent appearances here but you don’t need to have read their story to appreciate this one.
When a man flirts with her at work, faithfully married Rosie Vega makes a startling discovery – no one has made her feel admired in a long time. In fact, when she stops to think about it, no one has even made her feel seen in years. Her husband Dominic barely grunts at her when she gets home from work, much less talks to her. He never waits to eat dinner with her or invites her to watch TV with him. Even the physical side of the relationship is messed up. They have sex on a schedule – hot and passionate sex every Tuesday night, completely devoid of affection like it’s a booty call with a stranger. This is Tuesday night but that minor flirtation with a stranger has made Rosie determined that she won’t be doing anything but packing a suitcase and walking out the door once she gets home.
That’s exactly what she does: She tells a startled Dominic that she’s done, packs a bag and goes to her friend Bethany’s. But Dominic isn’t ready to give up on their marriage, so he starts dropping by her new abode to drop off the coat she forgot, or to warm her car up in the morning, and talking to her at the gym where they both work out and urging her to come home. In fact, he talks to her more at the gym in a few short minutes than he has in several years previously. Rosie does want to go back – but back to what they were when they were first together, not what they are now. She’s not sure they can change, but the desperation in Dominic’s voice has her agreeing to give him one more chance to make things right. She concedes they need marriage counseling and then deliberately chooses a therapist who is the opposite of what Dominic would want. She’s fairly confident that when Dominic gets a look at the weed smoking hippie with pillows rather than chairs in his office, he’ll walk out and that will tell her exactly what she needs to know; that Dominic isn’t willing to do whatever it takes to get them back on track.
Dominic surprises her. He not only sits through the initial session, he does the follow up homework. Having been told to write a letter expressing his feelings, he pens a note telling her how he felt taking her to the high school Homecoming dance their senior year – and how sorry he is that he doesn’t make her feel cherished every day. It’s a good start, but will love notes and therapy sessions on fluffy cushions really be enough to put this marriage back together?
I love how this relationship is depicted. Rosie and Dominic are not unkind to each other, nor are they emotionally indifferent. They love each other. The problem is that they have been taking each other for granted, making zero effort to connect in any way. Rosie works evenings in retail, while Dominic works during the day in construction. They do everything separately and don’t even greet each other when they cross paths. It’s not until they start counseling that they realize how thoroughly they’ve been neglecting each other.
The fact that both have been neglectful rather than cruel made it easy for me to root for Rosie and Dominic both as individuals and as a couple. The two of them have been together since their early teens and know each other very well. That familiarity, along with the fact that they’ve been together over a decade, had led them to a situation where they see each other as fixtures rather than living, breathing people with hopes, dreams and feelings. I loved how Rosie realized she needed more from life and began to pursue it. I adore a heroine who takes charge of her own destiny. Dominic’s a hard-working, quiet, considerate man whose main goal in life is to make Rosie happy. His problem was that he thought he could do that by copying his parent’s marriage but it turned out that wasn’t what was best for his own relationship. Once the counselor shows him why what he’s doing is wrong, he begins to make the changes he needs to make to fix his marriage. The fact that both Rosie and Dominic cherish each other enough to really work through the situation was wonderful and I really appreciated that the bulk of the story was about learning to be a team, building a genuine rapport and connecting. Too often romances try to sell instalust as love. That doesn’t happen here; we get an in-depth look at what each character is feeling and thinking and then get to see them interacting and building emotional intimacy. That gave me all the feels.
This story was building towards DIK status but it ran into some snags at the end. What had been a fairly serious – but still fun and enjoyable – love story develops a case of what I call ‘the sillies’ towards the end. Rather than just providing us with a reunited Rosie and Dominic, the author pulls out all the stops and has every possible dream come true for the couple. In some novels this would have been a good ending but since this story was all about working on your relationship and working for your dreams, having everything go magically right in the last few chapters felt a bit – much. I would have preferred a more realistic ending that was in keeping with the story the author had been telling all along.
That is a minor flaw, though, and doesn’t happen until near the end of Love Her or Lose Her. And frankly, if the author was going to make any mistake, that is the perfect one to make in a genre known for happy endings. I think fans of the author will be very pleased with this book and readers who love stories about an emotionally intimate relationship should rush out and buy it. They will find a lot to love here.
Buy it at: Amazon
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Grade: B+
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 11/01/20
Publication Date: 01/2020
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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What is the name of the third book in this series?
After reading the second book “Love Her Or Lose Her” , it says that the story about Wes and Bethany is called “Fix Her Up”. That isn’t right. Please help!
Goodreads has it as Tools of Engagement https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50488730-tools-of-engagement
This has gotten Bs up and down the board; hero sounds a hair too controlling for my taste to be honest,
I love Getaway Girl – it’s one my favourites by Bailey and definitely the one I’ve re-read the most so far.
Shoot! Meant to reply to @Dabney Grinnan.
Thanks!
I’ve enjoyed many a Tessa Bailey book. I recommend Chase Me and the over the top but very fun Line of Duty books (her heroes here are absurdly alpha). (Protecting What’s Theirs is big fun and on sale right now for 0.99.) I’ve heard great things about Getaway Girl and it’s on my TBR.
I just want to say – especially in light of the cost of this book – I also read and reviewed this one (I think it will appear sometime this week), and I gave it a significantly lower grade. I loved the first book in the series, but almost nothing about Love Her or Lose Her worked for me. Obviously, Maggie and I feel differently about it (Ha!), but if you are on the fence, maybe wait for more reviews to come in. I think the actual release date is 1/14?
I really disliked the first book in the series and gave it a one on goodreads. Looking at that site it seemed the ratings ran mostly 5 stars, 1 star or 3 stars, so I think the author pulls out strong feelings in the reader, whether for good or ill.
I really disliked the first book in the series too. So much in fact, that I feel extremely cautious now about reading another from this author.
I feel the two books are polar opposites. Rosa is a mature woman and treated as such by everyone around her, whereas Georgie was – something else. This book is also less about heat than it is about heart and connecting. I *think* you would probably like this one, although the library may be the way to go if you are unsure.
“the library may be the way to go if you are unsure.” The library is the *only* way that I go. (Can’t you tell that writers and publishing houses just love me? ;) )
We feel completely opposite about this series! I have had mixed results with TB; she does seem to polarize readers.
Thought it sounded good until i saw the kindle price. :(
I currently see a strong correlation between romance cartoon cute covers and higher than non-cartoon cover pricing.
I feel your pain. Prices on books seem to continue to rise, and publishers seem oblivious to the idea that romances tend to be a “luxury” item. These are extras that people buy to treat themselves, not necessities and publishers seem unwilling to meet readers at a reasonable junction between profit and consumer happiness.
And the competition is so cheap. Look at the prices of the best-sellers at Amazon in romance–only one book in the top 100 ebook best sellers is over 10. and the vast majority are 4. or less.
E-book prices are definitely a delicate balance. On the one hand, there is no middle man if you are a self-publisher, so a standard $2.99 list price makes sense, especially since KDP pays 70% royalties on e=books priced from $2.99 to $9.99. But when there are lots of people involved with a traditionally published e-book, a $2.99 list price might only earn pennies per contributor (author, publishing house, editor, whoever else). Joe Biel, who owns Microcosm Publishing, said in his book “The People’s Guide to Publishing” that it is an unfortunate race to the bottom for publishers to try to compete with Amazon’s KDP. But I really think it depends on the circumstances and genres in question. Romance and erotica in particular benefit from low pricing because of greater sales volume. And for a little treat- like Ms. Boyd said- especially for a story you can breeze through in an afternoon, KDP’s $9.99 maximum (for 70% royalties) seems fair to me. For short stories, I definitely never charge more than $2.99, $3.99 for novellas. Any other thoughts on fair pricing?
No romance ebook should be more than ten bucks. This is my personal opinion.
“No romance ebook should be more than ten bucks.” I’m with you there! Frankly, $9.99 would be a high end maximum as far as I’m concerned. Harlequin seems to be doing okay selling their category romance e-books for about $3.99, and their paperbacks are almost as cheap. Carina Press e-books go for $2.99-4.99, just based on a cursory glance on Amazon, and they pay their authors 50% royalties through Harlequin and 40% through third party sites. So it sounds like “Love Her or Lose Her” is way out of bounds in its industry e-book pricing.
And e-books are nearly always more expensive in the UK which I expect is due to the fact that the UK tax authority levies 20% VAT (Value Added Tax – e.g. sales tax). Print versions of new books (hard or soft back) are not taxed. So annoying and I really don’t understand the raison d’etre for taxing e-books. No wonder the used book market thrives! It’s been 40 years since I lived in California. Are new books (of any sort) subject to sales tax in the US these days?
20% VAT? That is BRUTAL!
“So annoying and I really don’t understand the raison d’etre for taxing e-books.” Because politicians everywhere will squeeze out tax money wherever they can get it. Do not get me started on how badly small businesses get slammed by taxes. Why do you think I’ve added erotica to my repertoire? I’m essentially what I like to call a “literary prostitute.” :) But hey, writing smutty stories is fun too, so I can’t complain about that too much.
As for sales tax on online purchases, I believe it depends upon the state rather than federal guidelines.
“I believe it depends upon the state rather than federal guidelines.” Ugh, I meant to write “federal LAWS,” not guidelines. Forgive my doublespeak there.
Even ten – bucks or quid – is often more than I can afford. Luckily for me, I’m able to access a steady diet of review copies or I could never afford my reading habit!!
I’m glad you can get review copies. Personally, I wouldn’t want the hassle of being obligated to review something. I just use the library for all my reading needs. If they don’t have a book I want, I either do ILL (interlibrary loan) or ask them to make a purchase. There are so many great books out there, that I don’t worry too much if I can’t get one through the public system. There’s always something else on my TBR list. And then I end up not even reading most of what I check out. Anyone else here a compulsive library user?
Same here. If I enjoy a book I’ve borrowed from the library, I’ll buy myself a copy, but the library is a great way to weed out titles that turn out to be duds.
I’m really looking forward to reading this.