Review: The Fixer Upper

The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This rom-com from author Lauren Forsythe was a quick read with some witty banter and an interesting premise. There were, however, too many flaws to render it of any significant merit.

The story begins with an introduction to Alyssa (Aly), a thirty something woman with a path behind her of torched relationships, a less-than-ideal childhood and superficial friendships. She does, however, have the same two stereotypic friends I’ve repeatedly seen in this genre: Tola, a beautiful female friend who is living what appears to be an ideal life, and Eric, a gay male confidante whose flame burns bright. When Tola and Eric suddenly realize that each of Aly’s former boyfriends have, since their breakups with Aly, become madly successful, they crunch the numbers. What they discover is that Aly is consistently the catalyst for their success. The three then launch an impromptu business that sets out to give a nudge to men on behalf of their significant others in an effort to improve upon their shortcomings, from the short sighted boyfriend who doesn’t realize his girlfriend’s need for a proposal to the downright blind father who doesn’t realize he is failing as a stay at home dad. The trio insert themselves into the lives of these men for planned encounters designed to show them the “error of their ways.”

There were a few things that bothered me right out of the gate. First, the idea that men are really this stupid and easily manipulated is offensive. This didn’t strike me as light hearted or funny, but rather as pathetic and sad. Wanting others to conform instead of appreciating who they are is the ultimate example of the needs of a narcissist.

Second, Aly lies with impunity. She lies to her mother about not being available, she lies to her business partners about the financial specifics of a particular deal, and she lies about her familiarity with a former boyfriend whom she claims to have “just met.” Whilst the specifics that led to these lies were portrayed as “cute”, “noble” or just plain necessary, they destroyed any likability for, or even relatability to, her. The author’s attempts to justify Aly’s prevarications fail over and over again never quite making any of the lies acceptable, though every single character of import forgives her without so much as a second thought. It was this aversion to the truth, the deep seated flaw in Aly’s character, that made investing in her seem to be not worth the effort.

The third issue I experienced was one of authenticity. The story takes place primarily in London, the characters are decidedly British and yet the word choice, spellings and punctuation struck me as all American. Finding out the author lives in the UK came as a surprise, as the book read as if an American writer were trying to sound like a Brit.

Finally, the word yelp needs to be removed from this author’s vocabulary. Aly yelps, her mother yelps, Eric yelps, and the list goes on. I found myself shaking my head every time it was used, resulting in near whiplash.

I vascillated between a 2.5 and a 3 for this one. I enjoyed this author’s character development and pacing, I just didn’t appreciate the characters themselves. They were far too old to be behaving like immature adolescents, they possessed few likable traits and simply failed to engage me in their story.

Than you to NetGalley and Penguin a group Putnam for this ARC copy for review. Publication of Fixer Upper is tentatively set for August of 2022.

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