So it took me a while to really read Love Her or Lose Her, the second book in Tessa Bailey’s Hot & Hammered series. Come to think of it, it was actually June of 2019, that I read the series’ first book, Fix Her Up. So I suppose the timing is actually perfect! I feel I am a minority when I say that I adored Fix Her Up. It was such a feel-good read to me, and it was chalk full of steamy goodness and I rated it an immediate five stars when I finished it! 🙌🏻

  But then more and more readers started coming out with lower ratings, pinpointing how they disliked the Hero, Travis, due to him being hyper masculine, and that he didn’t actually take the Heroine, Georgie, seriously. I was baffled, honestly. I didn’t get that vibe at all.But I didn’t back down on my rating. People are allowed their own opinions and not everyone is going to find my personal brand sexy and that’s perfectly okay!

Everyone still seemed pretty excited for the follow up book, Love Her or Lose Her, and I was pretty stoked when I got approved for an ARC on netgalley. But then some not so great reviews surfaced and I found myself hesitating about reading it. 😬

Now that I finally picked it up, I’m sorry that I didn’t do it sooner! 

Love Her or Lose Her is a second chance romance about a pair of highschool sweethearts, Dominic and Rosie. The couple married right after graduation with big dreams of their future together. Unfortunately, big dreams come as a cost, and ten years into their marriage, there is trouble in paradise. 

Now let me just say, I understand what other readers were talking about when they brought up their problems with this book. If a reader didn’t like Travis, chances are, they wouldn’t like Dominic either. But I had expected something much worse than what I read. Based on some reviews, Dominic is a sexist, possessive alphahole that doesn’t change by the end of the book. Honestly, I didn’t get that. Yes, Dominic is traditional. He was raised to believe that it is a man’s job to work hard to provide for his family. Alright, I know it’s 2020, but a good work ethic isn’t exactly a bad thing and it’s not like he just expects Rosie to stay home with no aspirations of her own. Far from it. They just both got lost somewhere building their field of dreams. 

  I’m not sure why we expect the hero in this romance to be perfect from the jump anyway, I mean, their marriage is on the rocks, obviously he’s going to need to work on SOMETHING! Now is Dominic possessive? Sure. But he keeps his possessive thoughts mostly to himself AND he learns that thinking like that isn’t a healthy way to go. I never got the sense that Dom himself was toxic, but perhaps could be considered a victim of toxic masculinity. When all is said and done, he learns a whole lot in a relatively short period of time. I think we could cut him some slack for being a bit traditional.

  My final thoughts would be, if you haven’t picked up, or DNFed this book based strictly on Dominic’s character, I’d try again. I really feel that he does make a positive change by the end of the book. There is also just so much more to enjoy! We got our original cast of characters from book one, we get to spend more time with the Just Us League, and there’s an amazing hippie couples counselor! And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Tessa Bailey book without some hot and steamy open door sex scenes! 🔥

   Yes, I found much to love about this book. 

Did I like it as much as Fix Her Up? Not quite, but it wasn’t the mess that I thought it could've been. Georgie and Travis are still my favorite. But now, I’m really looking forward to the third installment, Tools of Engagement! 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5