Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 14, 2020

Rosie and Dominic Vega are the perfect couple: high school sweethearts, best friends, madly in love. Well, they used to be anyway. Now Rosie’s lucky to get a caveman grunt from the ex-soldier every time she walks in the door. Dom is faithful and a great provider, but the man she fell in love with ten years ago is nowhere to be found. When her girlfriends encourage Rosie to demand more out of life and pursue her dream of opening a restaurant, she decides to demand more out of love, too. Three words: marriage boot camp.

Never in a million years did Rosie believe her stoic, too-manly-to-emote husband would actually agree to relationship rehab with a weed-smoking hippy. Dom talking about feelings? Sitting on pillows? Communing with nature? Learning love languages? Nope. But to her surprise, he’s all in, and it forces her to admit her own role in their cracked foundation. As they complete one ridiculous—yet surprisingly helpful—assignment after another, their remodeled relationship gets stronger than ever. Except just as they’re getting back on track, Rosie discovers Dom has a secret… and it could demolish everything.

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REVIEW: LOVE HER OR LOSE HER is the second instalment in Tessa Bailey’s contemporary, adult HOT AND HAMMERED erotic, romance series. This is Dominic and Rosie Vega’s story line.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Rosie and Dominic) LOVE HER OR LOSE HER follows the crumbling relationship between married couple Rosie and Dominic Vega. Rosie has had enough and finally decides that she no longer loves the man her husband has become since his return from active duty, but Dominic isn’t going down without a fight. When his wife suggests ‘extreme’ couple’s counselling, Dominic jumps at the chance to make everything right, a jump that finds him relearning to seduce the woman he already loves. What ensues is rebuilding romance and relationship between Dominic and Rosie, and the potential fall-out when Dominic finally reveals a secret he has kept for close to a year.

Rosie Vega has always wanted to open her own restaurant, and with the help of her friends and a GoFundMe page, Rosie sets out to make her dream come true. Dominic will do anything to put his marriage back together including following the instructions set out by their eccentric counsellor but when Dominic discovers that Rosie is going ahead with her plans for a restaurant, Dominic takes matters into his own hands thereby revealing a secret he has kept from the woman he loves. Herein lies a bit of a conundrum for me: yes, Dominic has a secret; he should have included his wife in his decision but to I did not believe that his actions warranted Rosie’s response.

The relationship between Rosie and Dominic has become stagnant and static. Dominic is over-protective of Rosie, but our heroine is oblivious to the extent to which her husband will go. The only thing our couple have in common is their fantastic sex life but there is more to marriage and relationships than amazing sex. The fact that Dominic was willing to give therapy a chance meant our hero was willing to step up to make things better. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including Travis and Georgie; Stephen and Kristin, Bethany, and newcomer Wes Daniels. There may be something developing between Bethany and Wes.

LOVE HER OR LOSE HER is a story of family, friendships, relationships and love. The premise is engaging and entertaining; the relationship struggles in the face of their deteriorating marriage; the characters are dynamic and captivating but I want to address the blurb that states Love Her or Lose Her is a romantic comedy because, IMO, there was very little humor or comedic text. I guess one person’s comedy is another person’s tragedy.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one FIX HER UP

Copy supplied by the publisher through Edelweiss

Reviewed by Sandy

Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans, and laptop, and drove cross-country to New York City in under four days. Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend, and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.

She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband and daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.

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