Tools of Engagement
Author: Tessa Bailey
Reviewer: Jennifer
Rating: A-
What I’m Talking About:
Tools of Engagement brings us to the end of Tessa Bailey’s Hot & Hammered series. I’ve enjoyed this short series featuring two sisters and a friend, each getting their HEA. This time around the romance and story focuses on the oldest sister, Bethany, and new-to-town hottie Wes.
Bethany and Wes’ story is an enemies-to-lovers story. They first met on a job site while working for her family’s construction company, Brick and Morty. Bethany is the interior designer who stages the houses her brother flips, but she wants to try a flip of her own and faces a wall when her brother won’t let her lead one for the company.
Wes works construction for Stephen and has been in lust with Bethany from the first moment she turned his flirtatious banter. She is his ice princess to his hot cowboy. Wes sees Bethany for who is she, even when her own family and close friends do not.
Wes jumps ship working for Stephen when the siblings into a fight about Bethany doing her own flip. Bethany finds herself with a foreman who is the sexiest guy she’s met, nevermind he is only 23 and she’s 30. The age difference is an issue for a while but they work through it because these two have bigger issues that need addressing.
Such as Wes coming to town in order to take care of his 5-year-old niece because his half-sister couldn’t deal with being a mom at the moment. Both he and Bethany are making big life-changing decisions in the middle of flipping a house for the first time. As they fix and repair the shack of a house, they are also fixing the insecurities they have and building a strong relationship between them and Laura, the niece.
Tools of Engagement is a funny and very sexy romance with tons of emotions for the MCs. I felt all the emotions with them as I was reading their story. I enjoyed reading the Hot & Hammered series, and Wes and Bethany were the best way to wrap up the series. I look forward to reading Tessa Bailey’s backlist while I wait for her next release.
My Rating: A- Enjoyed A Lot
Jennifer
About the Book:
In Tessa Bailey’s latest rom-com, two enemies team up to flip a house… and the sparks between them might burn the place down or ignite a passion that neither can ignore!
Hair, makeup, clothing, decor… everything in Bethany Castle’s world is organized, planned, and styled to perfection. Which is why the homes she designs for her family’s real estate business are the most coveted in town. The only thing not perfect? Her track record with men. She’s on a dating hiatus and after helping her friends achieve their dreams, Bethany finally has time to focus on her own: flip a house, from framework to furnishings, all by herself. Except her older brother runs the company and refuses to take her seriously.
When a television producer gets wind of the Castle sibling rivalry, they’re invited on Flip Off, a competition to see who can do the best renovation. Bethany wants bragging rights, but she needs a crew and the only member of her brother’s construction team willing to jump ship is Wes Daniels, the new guy in town. His Texas drawl and handsome face got under Bethany’s skin on day one, but the last thing she needs is some cocky young cowboy in her way.
As the race to renovate heats up, Wes and Bethany are forced into close quarters, trading barbs and biting banter as they remodel the ugliest house on the block. It’s a labor of love, hate, and everything in between, and soon sparks are flying. But Bethany’s perfectly structured life is one kiss away from going up in smoke and she knows falling for a guy like Wes would be a flipping disaster.
Release Date: September 22, 2020
Publisher: Avon
Series: Hot & Hammered #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format(s): paperback (368 pages), e-book, audiobook
Book Source: Publisher
Purchase Info:
Amazon (affiliate link)
Reviews in the Series:
Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered #1)
Lover Her or Lose Her (Hot & Hammered #2)