Love Her or Lose Her: A Small-Town, Grumpy-Sunshine Rom-Com Featuring Family Secrets and Marriage Boot Camp (Hot and Hammered, 2) Paperback – January 14, 2020

A marriage in trouble story is basically the most serious of second chance romances, which we all know I have a love/hate relationship with. But Rosie and Dom loved each other so much, and you were pulling for them the entire time. I loved this story.Rosie and Dominic Vega had a picture perfect relationship, until they didn't. How did it happen? Rosie doesn't know, she just knows she can't live like this anymore. Rosie has always wanted to open her own restaurant, but she's shelved her dreams for a long time, never thinking it was the right time to act on them. Dom has gotten so quiet in the years since he came home from deployment, and Rosie doesn't know what to do when he just doesn't talk to her anymore. He just works and comes home, and things never change. They've been dancing around their issues for years, and when things boil over, they're both left not knowing how to move forward. When Rosie finally decides to leave her husband, her love, her childhood sweetheart, she thinks there's no going back. But Dom isn't willing to give her up without a fight. He agrees to do WHATEVER it takes to make her come home, and when she proposes last resort marriage counseling, he doesn't bat an eye.Their marriage counselor was hysterical: a pothead hippie, with office decor straight out of the 1960s. But, he certainly knew his stuff, and he helped them realize they weren't speaking the same love language. As an aside, I learned about the 5 Love Languages in my pre-marital counseling class. And thank god for that, because my hubs' language and mine are VERY different. In fact, they are the same as our hero and heroine. Dom (and my own husband) shows his love with acts of service, and Rosie (and me!) with words of affirmation. This struggle resonated so strongly with me, as we've had to learn to interpret each other's languages over the years, and its not easy. Watching them struggle to understand each other just really hit home in my heart. And Dom's letter to Rosie? *Swoons Forever*Rosie and Dom had flaming physical chemistry like whoa, but their emotional intimacy had been sorely depleted. Watching them find their way back to each other's hearts was painful, and beautiful, and I just loved their love so much. They both had gotten so bogged down in the day-to-day, that things were totally out of control before they knew it. I'm sure everyone can relate to that in some way. But they both compounded the issue by not communicating, and not sharing their feelings, along with other important truths, and it just made everything worse.Rosie and Dom's friend group is truly outstanding, and seeing all their interactions were as enjoyable as they were in book 1 (which I also loved with my whole heart!). Having a new face added, in Wes, and seeing his spark with hilarious Bethany was so great, and I can't wait for their book up next!This book had my emotions on a yo-yo the whole time, but always, I was pulling for Rosie and Dom. Hoping they could each get out of their own way, and make the changes they needed to make to be all they could for each other, and for themselves. They both learned how to support each other, while letting the other person fly, and it was so satisfying. I highly recommend this story.

I was excited to read this one! I had asked for married couple romance recommendations in a Facebook group, and Love Her or Lose Her was one of those mentioned. I read the first book in the series to prepare and met Rosie and Dominic there.⁣⁣I enjoyed seeing a couple make an effort to work on their marriage. The therapy scenes with their hippy therapist were funny but also had some tender moments. Discovering each other again through the process was beautiful to watch.⁣⁣I loved that through it all, Rosie continued to pursue her dream of owning her own restaurant. I feel like she needed that as a way to come into her own and be the confident woman that was there all along. Dominic's growth throughout the book was exponential. He goes from a silent provider to a man fighting every day to show (and in his case, tell) his wife how much he loves her.⁣⁣I still loved Georgie's character and her ability to make her siblings uncomfortable. Also loved the build to book 3 between Bethany and Wes!⁣⁣My only issue was his name for her - honey girl. While I loved the "baby girl" thing from the first book, this one didn't roll off the tongue in the same way. It felt a little awkward and forced.⁣⁣Overall, I enjoyed this one but Fix Her Up is still my favorite of the 2. Looking forward to September to read about Bethany and Wes!⁣

I love this author, who wrote the amazing Clarkson series but I had a hard time with this one. I wonder if these two had gone into licensed therapy instead of the path guided by a pot smoking old hippie what the outcome would be. I was seriously disturbed by the fact that Rosie was all but a prisoner for ten years. No friends and no social interaction outside of the marriage. Her life and emotions under the control of a man who could easily be termed abusive emotionally and it could be argued physically as well. Demanding Rosie make admissions during rough (consensual) sex as opposed to giving her secure confident space to express herself with the demand of her impending orgasm. These were two seriously disfunctional people. His possessive desire to own her would hardly be addressed in four short counseling sessions. These issues are the kind that run deep and not the type that a bit of self awareness makes go away like turning on or off a light. I love the other two books in this series so I'd go for one of those over this disturbing tale. And I am almost hesitant to mention this in 2020 but I was uncomfortable that these personality traits were attributed to the only clearly non white couple. Readers will make their own judgments whether the machismo of Puerto Rican Dom isn't shaded by stereotyping. I wrestled with whether to review this book at all but when I found the issues causing a need to speak out I decided to go with it. In my opinion this author has many better stories/books to offer.

Love Her or Lose Her is a dual POV second-chance romance. Rosie and Dominic have loved each other since middle school, but after nearly a decade of marriage they’ve grown apart. Rosie, tired of being unhappy, decides to leave, and it’s the wake up call Dominic needs to fight for their marriage.This was a re-read of one of my favorites (my favorite Tessa Bailey for sure). I love Rosie’s determination to find happiness and find herself again. I loved Dominic’s deep love for his wife and willingness to fight for her and them. It’s a fantastic marriage in trouble, second chance romance.

It was fun seeing these characters again. I liked seeing Rosie and Dominic reconnect. The sexual tension and spice were good. But I also just really enjoyed seeing them break down walls and stop bring stupid. It was fun.